Date: 2004-05-29
From: stealth site, 1/2 mile south of Tn91, Tn

To: Dave's Place, Damascus, Va.
Miles today: 21.8
Weather: scattered clouds

21.8 miles todayDave's Place, Damascus, Va.Free hostel tonightI really slept good last night. I fully expected it to keep on raining, so I made sure I found a bunch of leaves to set my tent on. I don't know why, but when you set a tent up on a bunch of dead leaves, it is usually completely dry in the morning. Even the leaves under the tent in the area that you lay on are dry. Maybe I shouldn't write about that because it is so nice to sleep in the woods where there isn't anyone else. Most hikers sleep in the shelter areas and to me that is the worst place to sleep. It's always a hard surface and with other hikers there, someone always snores. I woke up at 6am to the sound of a mockingbird singing to me. I wasn't ready to get up yet, so I just layed there for an hour and listened to him sing. I managed to sit up at 7am and pack my stuff up and then got out of the tent and rolled it up. I started hiking at 7:30am and hiked past Tn91 and when I crossed that road the new relo took me onto a cattle ranch that the ATC must have bought, because the grass was up to my knees and there was no signs of life. It was pretty nice to hike through that ranch. It took me out of the woods for about 15 minutes and i got to walk through the pastures. It was still early and the grass was wet, so my shoes got even wetter. They were still wet and muddy from walking in the rain all day yesterday. After a while the trail took me back into the woods and with the sun shining through the trees and the early morning fog, it was beautiful to see the sun's rays coming through. I got to Double Springs Shelter and made my coffee and ate breakfast. I was there about an hour and didn't see anyone else. I hiked on and was still having to work my way through some fallen trees from the storm the other night. I came across a little baby bird that could only fly about 3' at a time. He had all black and white feathers...don't know what kind he was. A little while later I came across this tree that was down and I saw an empty birds nest in it. That was too far away to be that babies nest, but it made me think that there must be alot of birds in trouble from that storm. I hiked on to Abington Gap Shelter and ate lunch and talked to 5 hikers that were out for an overnight trip. One of them had clothes on that smelled like mothballs. I guess he doesn't get out enough. I hiked on and came to the Tn/Va stateline and said hello to P.K. There were two other hikers there...Coughdrop and 2nd Wind. 2nd Wind said that he was getting off the trail today. I don't usually ask why because I know that must be a hard decision. I hiked on down to Dmascus, Va and got into town about 3:30pm. I ran into Freebird. I last saw him in the Smokies. I went to Mount Rogers Outfitters and asked Dave if he had a room in his hostel and he said no. I was trying to decide if I wanted to hitch out to the interstate and get a room when Jay came up and said hi. I met him at Kincora Hostel a few days ago. He said he had a big room in the hostel that had three bunks and I was welcome to stay for free. That was an offer I couldn't refuse since I really wanted to stay in town because there's a buffet at 11am tomorrow. Everything always works out on the trail...that's why I never worry about anything out here. I went to Sicilies Restaurant and ordered me a calzone and then I went to Cowboy's and ordered me a chicken dinner. I'm feelin' good. I'm in Va!!!!! It's one of my favorite states. Another great day on the A.T.