Date: 2004-09-26
From: Thunder Hill Shelter

To: Matts Creek Shelter
Miles today: 12.4
Weather: broken clouds

Slept OK. Focus had a tick bite on his leg that looked bad to me. We opened the blood blister to make sure that no tick parts were retained. The surrounding induration was beginning to look like a ¢Bull¢s Eye¢ to me. We talked about Lyme disease. He said that he had not been feeling well and promised that, if he did not feel better, he would get off the trail and seek medical attention. Left them both still sleeping this AM.   Started off with the golden light of the sun cutting through the golden dawn of the forest. The trees were just beginning to show their autumn colors and there was a single beam of sunlight that made its way through the foliage and lit up a single red leaf like a beacon in front of me. It was a creation that existed for me only and for that moment only, but it was spectacular.    I should have gotten a good look over the valley from Thunder Hill Overlook, but the air quality had created such a haze that it was difficult to see anything. Took a photo without much hope. Then it was a slow and steady descent to Petites Gap and a surprising and difficult and rocky stony climb up to Archie¢s Notch and an even worse one up to Highcock Knob. Coming down off of the Knob I met a SOBO, Boo Boo, and at Marble Springs met a local hiker who lives in the valley and was out enjoying the trail.   I had thought that the strange ¢scrapes¢ of white that I had been seeing on the exposed rocks on the trail were the result of encounters twixt rock and the numerous hiking poles that had passed that way. They are in fact veins of marble that cut very minutely through the rock. Hence the ¢Marble Springs¢ name.   This morning my Aqua Mira ran out ¢ at least the ¢A¢ Bottle did. The ¢B¢ bottle is still more than half full. I think that the ¢A¢ must have leaked. I had to take a chance with the water in Big Cove Branch ¢ it looked OK but you just can¢t tell.   Passed two SOBO just before I came to the shelter, one of them with a banjo on his back and sticking out over his head. They were pushing for miles and had no time to talk.   When I arrived here I decided that I could take a chance with the water in Matt¢s Creek also. I was soon joined by a kayaker who had left his boat at the junction of the creek and the James River, and had hiked up here using his paddle as a hiking pole. He said that he comes to check on the shelter periodically to read and write in the shelter journal. He is a Vocational School teacher and gave me a small cold bottle of Budweiser, which realy hit the spot and has, at least for now, stopped my hic-cups.   Speaking of the H-C, they come and they go, but mostly they come. They now can become ¢crescendo¢ ¢ getting faster and faster until my entire diaphragm goes into a spasm for 5-10 seconds. Not a nice feeling and certainly not helping my hiking. Will defiantly check out the Medical Facilities in Glasgow.      Also just now, as I was writing this entry in my journal, I had a visit from a bushwhacker ¢Jim¢ ¢ who has many complaints about he AT and the lack of a true wilderness experience. He is an Assistant States Attorney here locally and is very knowledgeable about the local trail history. It seems that he is a purist as far as hiking in the woods goes and is very resentful of the increasing use of the AT and the gradual erosion of the wilderness experience. He goes back to work in the AM.      Will try to call KT later, got a good signal last night and spoke to both KT and my daughter Julia.   Thought ¢          Enjoy what you have.