Date: 2004-06-02
From: 2 miles south of Buzzard Rock

To: 1 hour north of Hurricane Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 27.5
Weather: scattered clouds

27.5 miles today1 hour north of Hurricane Mountain ShelterStealth tenting 7:30am I'm sitting here on top of Buzzard Rock and my coffee is brewing and I'meating breakfast. I got up a little before 6am and decided to pack up and hike to the top of the mountain and have breakfast and I'm really glad I did. It is beautiful up here. I watched the sun come up over the mountain and I can see for miles....mountains in all directions. I found a nice warm spot on the rocks facing the sun and out of the wind.11am I'm taking an early lunch here at Thomas Knob Shelter. A group of 4 boyscouts and 2 adults were here, but just left. The poor guys had way too heavy packs. On the way up here this morning, I passed a girl by the name of Nickie. As she walked away from me she turned around and said "today is my birthday!!". She said it like she was really happy about it and she had to be over 50. My sister-in-laws could learn something from her. Especially Kayleen and Konnie. Kathy still gets excited because it's an excuse to have another Screwdriver. I know I'll get in trouble for saying that, but I've been getting in trouble with them for almost 30 years anyway.Just before I got here I came up on a buck that looked like he was either starting to grow new antlers or there were stubs where last years antlers had fallen off.He snorted at me and took off.Today is another beautiful day. I can see for miles. It was supposed to be a rainy day, but maybe that will hold off for a while.1:45pm The section that I just came through is probably my favorite section of the whole A.T. It is absolutely awesome. I can't even come close to how beautiful it is, especially in June. The rhododendrons are blooming. They aren't all blooming yet, but there are enough to give you lots of pink. I saw more short horses than I've ever seen coming through here before. I came through here last year with Wildflower and she really wanted to see the little buggers, but we only got to see them from a distance. Too bad she couldn't have been here this time. This year I went right up to 4 different bunches of them and saw lots of baby short horses. I have to tell Liteshoe that I finally found a horse I think I could ride. I took a bunch of pictures of the views and of the short horses. The sun is shining and the breeze is blowing and I'm having a great day.8:15pm I just got into my tent after a fantastic day. I stopped at Wise Shelterearlier today and took about 1/2 hour break and then stopped at Old Orchard Shelter and signed the register and got more water. I hiked down through The Scales just before that and then up and over Pine Mountain. I stopped at Fox Creek and ate dinner. I've ate so much today that I'm still stuffed. I carried too much out of Damascus and I'll be at Partnership Shelter tomorrow and there's a telephone near by that you can order pizza and have it delivered. I climbed Iron Mountain and then stopped at a shelter that was just opened up for use today. It was built to replace the Raccoon Branch Shelter that was torn down right after Trail Days. It was very nicely built. I talked to Yoga Monkey and Trail Musik who were there and going to be the first hikers to use it. At least there won't be any mice in it yet. We talked about1/2 hour and then I hiked about another hour and heard thunder in the distance, so I set up my tent and it has already began to rain. The thunder is also getting much closer. It was a great day and the rain did me a favor and held off until now.Now it's raining really hard. Another great day on the A.T.