Date: 2007-06-02
From: Niday Shelter

To: BriarPatch Hostel
Miles today: 16.6

I left my campsite with everything I own feeling damp from a night of rain and very smelly from days of humid hiking. Nothing dried at all overnight. My boots had been very wet from the afternoon downpours and with wet feet and rough terrain I developed 2 new blisters, one on the outside of each heel on top of calouses from earlier blisters.It was a short walk down to VA 621 where there was Trail Magic waiting in the form of a freshly stocked cooler with iced drinks and homemade cookies! What a country! It was a relatively steep climb up to the crest of Brush Mtn (yes, another Brush Mtn) where there was a fancy bench beside the trail - why here and what is it for? who cares, it's comfy!While walking an old woods road that led along the crest of Brush Mtn towards the Audie Murphy monument I stepped over a stick lying across the trail and jumped when I realized I'd just stepped over a short but fat Rattlesnake! It was about 2.5 feet long but very thick in the mid-section. I had missed hitting its body with my pole plant by only an inch or two and it never moved at all! I got several photos and left it where it was, again never having moved at all. In all the excitement I missed the side trail to the Audie Murphy Monument. Less than a half hour later Torpedo nearly stepped on another Rattlesnake in the trail when she was leading off.When we got to Trout Creek we all (Big Brother, me, Torpedo, Luna and Soho) soaked our feet in the cool water. Today had been a continuing series of 1,500 foot climbs to ridge tops, followed by equal descents to valley bottoms, only to do it all over again and climb the next parallel ridgeline.The climb along the crest of Cove Mtn to the Dragon's Tooth was the most extended climb since the Smokies and was much more rocky and interesting than any trail we have seen in quite a while. There were lots of high steps and walks along slabs tilted at odd angles while weaving in and out among tall rock fins. In many places these fins were almost vertical like the plates on the back of a Stegasaurus. The Dragon's Tooth turned out to be another large fin about 40 feet tall with a fine view across the Catawba Valley to the southeast. Unfortunately the thick haze limited visibility to just the closest adjacent ridgelines. The hike down to VA 624 was equally challenging and involved several ledges with steel bars placed in the rock faces for handholds. This 8.5 mile stretch took nearly 5 hours to complete, a much slower pace than usual for me on that kind of distance.At the VA 624 crossing there was a note tacked to a tree saying to call a number from a nearby store if you wanted a shower. So Big Brother and I walked the half mile to the store and called the number. Soon Scott arrived to pick us up and brought us back to his house for the evening. He had thru-hiked on 2002 with the trail name BriarPatch. he and his wife Mandy have hosted hikers on occasion since then. Big Brother had met Scott a few weeks ago on Big Bald when Scott was doing Trail Magic there and they both remembered each other! We took showers and did laundry then Scott cooked us burgers on the grill on his back deck while we drank beer and watched the lightning bugs dance around his yard. What a wonderful surprise ending to an evening with some very generous folks! After dinner we watched the weather channel and ate fresh hot brownies with ice cream!What a pleasure to meet such fine friendly folks with a generous sense of hospitality!