Date: 2009-05-10
From: Trimpi Shelter

To: US 11, Atkins, VA
Miles today: 22.2
Weather: clear sky

May 10 --The trail was a great place to be the entire day, Mothers Day, the weather was cool, sun in and out, no rain and the terrain was moderate to easy with the path a variety of flat, packed mud to an early taste of PA up on Locust Mtn with Dunkin' Donut muffin sized rocks, rubble and irregularly shaped and uncomfortably set big ones slowing the pace. I took a nice lunch break when I arrived at the Mt Rogers NRA Headqters, surprised to find the facility not yet opened for the season. With a garbage receptacle nearby, I popped open the can of King Oscar's Kipper Snacks that were with me since Damascus and savored every bite with 3 WASA crackers while stretching my legs on a nice bench in the shade at the rear of the building. Back in the woods I went, taking in all of what the trail offered, kicking rocks and roots all too often. I remember hearing somewhere that when driving a car, you make hundreds of decisions in an hour. Walking the trail is more like thousands. While moving, I must constantly look at the ground slightly ahead of me, decide where my foot will land, predict what it will feel like and how hard to push off, this while aiming my trekking poles, head up occasionally watching for overhead or other obstacles and keeping an awareness of my surroundings. Most movements and reactions are voluntary, some, like the blurted expletive after stubbing a root or rock, are not. The roots, I decided, grow in impulse spurts usually when my boot is about to pass over it, the rocks I haven't figured out yet. Since it was a weekend day, there were quite a few southbounders out for the day or weekend, and I never know what conversation to expect. I am usually willing to stop to chat, if they are locals, I try to remember to ask the local weather forecast. On the morning of May 8, I started out in the rain and as I was packing up to leave my site near a cow pasture, two people in black sleeveless shirts, and two dogs, were passing through the style, northbound, packs covered, in the steady rain. I caught them shortly up the trail where they were standing on the side of the trail and now I could see they were probly in their 20s, a guy and a girl. I stopped, said hello, both of them smiling boldly, and the guy says, "Ya know, you can eat these", as he was picking the leaf tips off of what I call stickers, they looked like the green stickers that grow in wet areas, esp. near the Jersey shore, that clump together and when the older are called bull thorns, and then he says, "Here, I saved this one for you", pointing to the tender shiny leaf. "No thanks", I said, "it looks like briars". "That's how smart the plant is, it tricks you to think its something else", he answered. I looked at him and said, "Works for me", and walked on, thinking later, that that's all I need, is something to cause me to hallucinate. Its bad enough that I can't see rocks and roots that are there, but stepping over and tripping over things that aren't there just wouldn't work. the surprise end of the day was the AT intersection with US11/VA683 where I found the Relax Inn Motel and that's just what I did.