Date: 2005-07-01
From: near Old Orchard Shelter (39 miles to Damascas)

To: Wilburn Ridge, 30 miles to Damascas
Miles today: 9.0

Day 49miles: 9 total: 579dest: Wilburn Ridge, 30 miles to DamascasNo storm last night. Grand winds this morning. You get the sense that the weather is more raw up here. Today I'll be a mile high in places. The miles I count are just trail miles: I do a good bit wandering. This is an ideal place for wandering.The hike up the hill is rocky with lots of roots washed out from the trail. There are fir, ferns, and mosses here posed in calendar arrangements. After a couple hours of well graduated climbing in the wooded dim, an opening appears above. It grows larger, then opens to a bald, with the sun pushing its light down through the haze, onto fine grass, dotted with bushes, and bolders strewn about. The wind is scurrying about, rather in a hurry to get somewhere else. But, it is difficult to imagine a prettier place to go. I wander up onto high ground where these large weathered purple hued rocks have congregated. I have a snack and survey the landscape. Mount Rodgers dominates the skyline to the southwest. Between there and this bald is a forest of mixed hardwoods and conical evergreens. Three riders pass. From here I think I can see most of the next 10 miles of trail. The map shows it making 3/4 of a circle about this opened area and then up over the higher prominences.I return to the trail which darts back into the woods and down the hill to get to a spring. I get some water and continue through the woods what feels like a mile before it opens again upon the bald. This place is called Scales: here three paths converge, one for horses, one for foot travel, and one undesignated. There is a parking pen with a restroom in the middle. There are horses tied up here outside the pen. It is confusing where the Appalachian Trail continues. Turns out: through the parking pen and up on the bald to higher ground.I follow the trail up the hill, but then leave it to exlore the high bald. There are some rock outcroppings that look like the peak. I walk past some stunted oaks that try to hide in each others wind shadow. The wind is constantly from the West. A close inspection shows brown edges to the leaves like they had been burned (or frost bit). You ponder the beauty of this place, and find cruelty in its heart. How severe the winters must be! Turns out the rocks are a false peak. The real peak would take me too far afield, so I return to the trail.I continue along the trail over the open space and view the little flowers. Some are familiar weeds, but others are new to me. There is a bright orange variant to a yellow flower that is blooming and making seeds at the same time. Like there is a rush in the short growing season. Masses of an unusual plant make an attractive texture with their layered leaves.The meanders a second time into the woods. There are springs and a little creek along this section. Then the trail climbs again to return to the bald.The place I have camped tonight is on the east side of a large rock outcrop, over wild strawberries, away from any wash. I have climbed on top the rock hoping for a sunset behind Mount Rodgers. There is a good cloud cover to disperse a sunset, the sun just needs to find a hole to shine through over the horizon. Well, not tonight. I am prepared for rain.