Date: 2014-06-01
From: The Place Hostel 

To: Top of Whitetop Mountain
Miles today: 21.6

I don't need an alarm clock, my body tells me when it is time to get up and go hiking. This morning that was at 6:00. I couldn't eat all of my leftover pizza so I left a couple of pieces at the hostel for Trail Magic. I was hiking out of town by 7:00 following the Virginia Creeper Trail at first. I will be on parts of the trail several times today. The Creeper is a great example of how the local communities took an old railroad line and made it into a very popular recreational resource. It goes from the Virginia/North Carolina border south 33 miles, all the way to Abingdon,Virginia. It is supposedly the busiest bike trail in the east. It goes right through a great town Damascus, and there are several bike shops in town that owe their living to the trail. I had a 1000 foot climb up to the first shelter. I stopped at Saunders Shelter for pictures and to see my first shelter in Virginia. I changed my socks, took a short break and left about 11:30. It was a nicely built shelter and the privy even had a door on it and Lysol spray for hikers. I felt like I was being spoiled already. Virginia also does a great job of placing signs at trail crossings and gaps so you don't have to guess where you are at in your guidebook. I hit a detour that said a stream crossing bridge had been washed out and I had to follow a few signs that eventually got me back on the AT. I talked to a hiker that just stayed on the trail and didn't follow the detour and she said it was no big deal crossing the stream. I saw one small snake on the trail,it must have heard about my snake flipping skills and quickly got out of my way. I saw a female Grouse, she was acting strange like she was hurt and trying to lead me in another direction.I was only going one way and that was north I soon figured out what she was up to. I came across at least six small baby chicks that she was protecting and they scattered into different directions as I approached them. I hiked some more of the bike trail and then back into the woods. An elderly man told me this morning as I was leaving Damascus that I could follow the bike trail all the way and cut 10 miles off of my hike this moning. Since that would require me to skip several white blazes I didn't buy into that idea. I got to the next shelter, 6.4 miles in about 3 hours. I met Rover there at Lost Mountain Shelter fixing dinner. He was hoping to get energized to hike on but wasn't sure if he would try and tackle the next mountain. There was a 2000 foot climb up Whitetop Mountain and I told myself that I would rather hike it this evening than in the morning. It was loaded with switchbacks to make the climb easier but it was using all of the energy that I had left. On top was a nice bald that would have been perfect for pictures but the fog was coming in and spoiled it. Their was also a communications tower on top but I couldn't see it very well. I filled my water bag and dropped down slightly into some campsites with trees to block the wind. I was camping with Chainsaw (Florida) he snores, Erica(Virginia), and Three Piece with his dog Ben. He is travelling without a phone, camera, or guidebook. That seems impossible to me. I had about 4000 feet in climbs today and it was cooling off so I climbed in my tent to rest, warm up, and work on my journal.