Date: 2006-04-11
From: Elk Garden

To: Massie Gap
Miles today: 6.5

TuesdayAmoeba Elk Garden to Massie GapMemere and Gray Feathers Massie Gap to Elk GardenMuch warmer than lately.On the way to set the Element at Elk Garden, Amoeba stops at the Park Office. The man who accompanied the park ranger yesterday at Wise Shelter is in the parking lot. The Park Manager is in the office.2 does and 2 yearlings.Start 9:40. More wispiness, more haziness than last 2 days, but still a blue sky.At the trailhead, hello to a man from Richmond backpacking for a few days. He¢ll take the horse trail north from Elk Garden and camp right at the top between 2 rocks. Like Amoeba, he¢s a Honda-lover. He¢s in a rental car right now (a white full-size domestic sedan) because his CRV plowed into a bale of hay dropped on the road by a truck he was behind. The CRV is now in the shop. He likes the Element. For Amoeba an upside to the Element is she can find it in parking lots (partly due to its color). A downside is it¢s drawing attention. Juncoes, friendly to the point of seeming magical.Amoeba¢s map says the land here is like ¢a bit of Montana dropped on the rooftop of Virginia¢.A fir and spruce forest, the fir fragrance strong, like Maine.11:30 Blue-blaze trail to the summit of Mt Rogers. More fir forest and fir fragrance. Cool and a little darkish but not dark. The sun is streaming through. There is still a bit of winter ice on the trail. Feels like Maine, Amoeba¢s favorite state.At the summit, hello to Mike (father) and Matt (son) from Herndon VA who are searching for the actual summit point. They and Amoeba take several paths, all of which lead to dead ends. There are 2 geodetic survey markers ¢Rogers, 1930, 1933¢, the one in the woods seemingly higher than the one on the rock formation in the clearing. They reckon that one is the summit. Mike and Matt are hiking the highest peaks in each state. From here they¢ll go to NC to hike Clingman¢s Dome. They¢ve already done some other state highest peaks, including Wisconsin, which is a small hill with a water tower on it. Matt is thinking of hiking the AT. They are staying at the stables campground, near Memere, Gray Feathers and Amoeba.Hello to another Matt and his female companion (whose name I didn¢t get, sorry) from Charlottesville. Matt hiked Springer to Manchester VT in 2002 and Manchester to Katahdin in 2003.Memere and Gray Feathers arrive. They¢ve met Nub at Thomas Knob Shelter, a hiker from Germany, here in the US just to NOBO thruhike the AT.Hello to a grandmother (Jean), grandfather (Bill) and grandson (Zack) from Norfolk VA. Bill has a brother in Abington and another brother in Lexington. Jean, Bill and Zack are hiking and biking in the area during Zack¢s spring break. Last night they stayed at a nice cabin near Creek Junction. None of them has seen the elusive Mt Rogers salamander. Better chances in misty or rainy weather.Amoeba says goodbye til tonight to Memere and Gray Feathers. Bill says I see why you¢re named Amoeba. You ¢split up¢. Or, I should say, ¢divide¢.At Thomas Knob Shelter, hello again to Harry and his son, who Amoeba met yesterday at Wise Shelter. Harry says that in the ¢large group¢ from Richmond (dads and kids) who were on the trail yesterday was the governor of VA, his kids, their friends and the governor¢s bodyguards. Harry learned this from a person who said ¢I¢m not supposed to tell you this.¢ The park ranger and the man with him at Wise Shelter yesterday must have been monitoring their movements.Gray Feathers and Memere have left an entry in the register saying hello to Amoeba. It¢s fun to see hello in a register! Thanks, you two.Large stand of dead tree trunks, perhaps firs. Lots of young fir and spruce coming up among the corpses.3:06 Mr Dean, wearing an orange cap, sitting in the shade of a large boulder, asks Amoeba if she¢s seen a Chinese girl on the trail on the way to the summit of Mt Rogers. She and he had had lunch together and he was waiting for her to return. Yes, she was about one mile shy of the summit when they passed.Out at 3:50. Hors d¢oeuvres of salsa, corn chips and white wine. Roughing it.Mike comes over for a while to talk and share hors d¢oeuvres.