Date: 2005-05-22
From: Pickle Branch Shelter

To: Blacksburg Rd
Miles today: 0.0

The fella that tented next to me last night said the temperature was 40 degrees. Since I slept in my tent rather than in the open 3 sided shelter I was much wrmer than the night before although it was a fair amount colder than previous nights. I awoke rested and alert both from the sleep and the eager anticipation of eating at the Home Place - the best food on the Appalachian Trail.Four events occured this day that I will describe in my journals at least briefly. The first was my hike up and down Dragon's Tooth. I had only started to hear of its difficulty in the last couple of days and sort of ho-hummed it as another local hot spot that didn't necessarily stand out when compared to earlier climbs on the AT. Boy, was I wrong! It took 5 hours to cover 6 miles, some climbing was hand over hand and a little crawling up pitons that had been conveniently hammered into the vertical faces. There were areas where I tossed my hking poles down ahead of me and scooted on my butt while grabbing whatever hand hold I could find. Thank God it was in daylight!The remainder was merely tough and dangerous climbing. Because I had slept so well and was so food focused I had a very high energy level and attacked the climb with complete confidence. Still, it was easily the most difficult climb yet encountered during my adventure.A second noteworthy event concerned the dopes who carried their toddler aged daughter up the very same climb in a back pack. What in the hell were they thinking? It doesn't really matter how proefficient they were, one slip and Goldilocks is splattered like a cantalope on the jagged rocks below. The next event involved still more trail magic (it seems were on a roll with the generosity of the good people of Virginia in these parts). Just before exiting the trail to VA624, a kindly past thru hiker had left a cooler of iced beverages and sandwiches along with a stool to sit on while you rested and ate. He left a sign saying that the refreshments were for thru-hikers only. That being said, as I sat on the stool enjoying my gatorade a young couple of dayhikers came by and went down to the road. After a few minutes the young woman returned and we talked briefly about the trail magic as she read the sign explaining who the refreshments were intended for. Suddenly she popped open the cooler, snagged a gatorade and ran like hell down the trail to the road. I almost jumped up and tackled her, realizing that a very hot, tired thru hiker would miss out because of that kind of behavior. Not many things upset me, but that really got my goat.A little further down the trail I was passed by a young man who lives in the area. We hiked together for little more than half a mail and chatted along the way. When I told him of my plans to eat at the Home Place, he advised me to leave the trail at the next road rather than continue thru the next 4 trail miles as advised in the the trail guide. I would save about 2 hours of hiking and, much more important, be living large with a face full of fried chicken when my much faster fellow hikers would be walking through the door all hungry and tired. Right now, after the days events are over, they're 4 trail miles ahead of me but it was well worth it. The food at the Home Place is easily the best I've eaten on the Trail...some of the best I ever at. As you read this if you're at either Dana's Restaurant or Alley Cats Coffee Shop in Spooner, Wisconsin, get up from your table immediately and leave. Don't pay the bill, just leave. Drive to Catawba, Va and straight to the Home Place. You'll thank me for it. Michelle Ortmann won't, but you will. Right now I'm camped in the front yard of Home Place. I ate so much I couldn't even leave the property. Pitched my tent right there. Later on I walked up to the Country Store, got a Sunday paper, quart of milk and some V-8 juice. I lay in the tent that evening and night, reading the paper, cataloging my pictures and doing some journaling. The next morning I returned to the store for a breakfast of sausage and egg biscuits while my tent dried on the split rail fence. Side note: this particular morning began day 9 without a shower or clean clothes. What new aromas and fungi will I discover? It's like being a little boy again - you just revel in your grossness. The interesting thing is that the women are the same way. I remember commenting while eating at the Home Place that it was so nice to see a clean woman again. Pine Dragon commented that even the men smelled good. Pine Dragon is no longer allowed to sleep next to me in a shelter. We all laugh because we have to remind ourselves to wash our hands in the rest room. Food dropped on the floor is practically in our mouths before we realize we're not in the woods. Gentler people stare in shock and we rejoice in their reaction.