Date: 2006-04-29
From: Jenny Knob Shelter

To: 1/2 Mile South of Doc's Knob Shelter
Miles today: 21.5

Woke up and hiked the 6 miles to VA 606. Here about a half mile off the trail there is a small market that also serves food, Trent's Grocery. So I went and ordered myself a double cheese burger and fries. It was great! Not the best burger I have ever had but definitely one of the better ones. After eating I sat outside at a picnic table with John, Lilly, Da Bear and Tortoise. We had a few beers and talked for several hours... very relaxing.John and Lilly are recently married and from Atlanta. They don't have trail names yet so I have made it my mission to think up good ones for them. They both carry really light packs (18 and 15 lbs) and John has a phobia of sleeping in shelters. That should give me enough ammo to come up with at least a decent trail name. Da Bear and Tortoise are hiking together but didn't know each other before the trail. Da Bear is from Boston and got his name because he is big and loud... he also shaves his head. Tortoise is from Springfield, VA, which is about 20 min from where I grew up, and oddly enough went to high school with a couple of kids I went to elementary and middle school with. It is a small world.Mid-afternoon I left Trent's and carried a pepsi and some cupcakes back on to the trail with me... they will be a nice treat with dinner. I walked up a dirt road from the Market so I wouldn't have to back track to get to the trail head. About a mile up the road I came to Dismal Falls, which is a really pretty waterfall with lots of fast moving water. In order to get back to the trail I had to find a way to cross Dismal Creek. I noticed just above the falls that there was couple people using a downed tree to cross the creek so I walked over there to check it out. The creek at this point is probably about 30 feet wide and 1 to 2 feet deep. The log crossing the creek was probably about 2 feet in diameter at its thickest. So I decided to go for it and cross using the log (I actually didn't really have any other choices). The first half of the crossing was easy, but on the second half I made the mistake of looking at the water instead of the log and almost lost my balance. The final 10 feet consisted of me running off the log and jumping onto shore. I have been in the wilderness for a month and a half and still haven't gotten my feet wet. Ben - 1, Nature - 0.The next part of my hike seemed to blur together. I hiked really fast and songs and thoughts came and went. I was in the zone, and there was a 2 hour period where I just spaced out and let the miles fly by.Later in my hike I got to a section of trail that I hiked last October with my Dad, Uncle and Cousin. And it looks completely different from what I remember. When we hiked it all the leaves were still in the trees and most of the underbrush was very green and overgrown. But now, while at 2000ft almost all the trees have full leaves, at 3500ft none of the trees even have buds and it looks like it is still winter up here. It is very interesting to be hiking a section I have already hiked though, I actually don't remember it being as rocky as it is.Sometime in here I also saw my first Whitetail Deer, and they scared the crap out of me. There were 3 of them about 150ft from me, but I didn't see them till the noise of them running startled me. They ran across the hillside and rounded out of view, but I could still hear them running long after I could no longer see them.As I was walking it slowly started getting darker and darker, and since I was hiking by myself and I really didn't want to hike in the dark, I began looking for places to set up my tent. But since the terrain I am hiking on is so rocky I didn't have much luck finding anything. I finally told myself I would just hike as fast as possible and try to get to the next shelter before it was completely dark. But that's when I came upon a rocky overlook, (which I am sure will have an amazing view tomorrow morning) and found a cozy camping spot no more than 15 feet from the cliff face. It is my first night staying completely alone in the woods and it isn't as bad as I thought it would be. I actually kind of like it, it's very peaceful. The wind has picked up a lot now so some of the trees are making some strange noises, but all in all I think I will survive. Oh and my pepsi and cupcakes were and excellent treat with my dinner. I only wish that I had a beer or some whiskey to cap it all off. Maybe next time.