Date: 2009-09-06
From: U.S. 501 James River

To: Buena Vista
Miles today: 20.7

I hiked 20.7 miles to highway US 60 outside Buena Vista, VA. It was a long day and I ended up with a blister on each heel from pushing too hard to make the miles. I started out saying goodbye to Kent and Luke when they dropped me at the trail at about 8:30 AM. I'd only gone about .2 miles when I met another hiker coming down the hill. It was a warm morning and he was dressed in long dark pants,Tee shirt and blue denim long sleeve work shirt unbuttoned in the front. He also wore a backpack that looked like a child's school pack. He appeared to be about 30 years old and looked very strange. His face was blacked with camo paint and he wore strange looking goggles, like welder's goggles, that magnified his eyes making them look huge. His hair was a couple of inches long and stood straight up! I didn't slow down but said good morning as I went past. He replied in a voice sounding like a 5 year old child: "I like to hike."I replied by wishing him a good hike and increased my speed up the hill. I looked backed as I rounded a turn and saw him slowly moving on. I was glad he wasn't going my direction. At the next shelter were a young couple and an older man from Great Britain. I stopped to chat and asked if they'd seen the fellow with the goggles. The young woman said he'd spent the night at the shelter with them and was "seriously weird." The young man said he'd stayed up during the night to keep an eye on him and that the guy never slept all night. I said goodbye and pushed on for the Punchbowl shelter where I planned to spend the night.The Punchbowl shelter is said to be haunted by the ghost of a 4 year old boy called Little Ottie. Ottie wandered away from school while looking for firewood one day in 1890 and his body was found 7 miles away near the present location of the Punchbowl shelter. I arrived a 1:45 PM and decided it was too soon to stop for the day. I was the only person at the shelter where I got water from the spring and ate lunch. I've never been at a place supposed to be haunted before. Ottie's ghost was reportedly seen in the shelter this past Spring. The shelter seemed the same as any other to me but I figured this might be my only chance to be a Ghost Buster so when I was all packed up and ready to move on I stepped into the empty shelter. I said: "Ottie, if you're here give me a sign." Nothing happened. There were strings dangling from the ceiling used to hang food bags away from the mice. I said: "Ottie make the strings move." Nothing happened. There was a flimsy piece of plastic lying i! n a corner. I said: "Ottie make the plastic move." Still nothing happened. I said: "Goodbye Ottie" and went down the trail. I guess it's a good thing Ottie wasn't a Class 5 Free Roaming Vapor as I wasn't equipped to handle that. Then again maybe that was Ottie I met in the morning roaming the trail.As I continued on the trail I decided to go to the Brown Mountain Creek shelter about 2 miles from US 60. If I had a cell phone signal I'd call for a shuttle and continue into Buena Vista for the night and a zero day on Monday otherwise I'd stay at the shelter. As luck would have it I caught up with a young couple out for a day hike about a half mile from the shelter. I asked if they would give me a ride into Buena Vista and they agreed. I'm spending the night in the Buena Vista Motel and after a much needed shower and laundry service will take a zero day Monday.