Date: 2005-09-16
From: Montebello, Va.

To: 1/2 mile N of Little Irish Creek, Va.
Miles today: 22.3

22.3 miles todayStealth tenting1/2 mile N of Little Irish Creek, Va. I was up late again last night. I just can't seem to get to sleep early when I've got lights. :-))) I slept in until about 7am, then packed up my stuff and got ready for breakfast which was at 8am. There was 6 of us for breakfast, but only 2 were hikers...Landcruiser and me. Breakfast was delicious again. Lois felt sorry for me I think because she served me 2 breakfasts. I knew I was getting too skinny. :-))) We all took our time and enjoyed the good conversation around the table. Landcruiser is staying over again and slackpacking today. I talked with Goosebump and Rainbow Slick on the phone to see if they were coming out to the trail this weekend or next. They are meeting me next weekend, so that meant that I could hike on out and not come back today. I would have come back and just met them here if they were coming this weekend. I paid my bill and Lois took me to the trailhead at Fish Hatchery Road where I got off the trail yesterday. I said goodbye to Landcruiser and Lois, then started walking up the hill to the trail. It took 25 minutes of walking and about a 1000 climb just to get back to the A.T. I started walking south on the trail at 9:45am. It felt really good to know that I could walk as far as I wanted today without worrying about where I would be picked up at by Lois. I really enjoyed my stay at Dutch Haus, but I was ready to sleep in my tent again. :-))) My new shoes are fantastic. I don't even feel the rocks that I stepped on today. I could feel every pebble I stepped on with the old pair. I just got used to it and didn't realize how worn out they really were. My feet look so different with these new shoes. I saw the same old shoes everyday for 10 to 12 hours a day while I was walking for over 2 months. Even though I was still full from breakfast, I took advantage of a wild apple tree that was about a mile into my walk and ate a couple apples. I stopped at Seely-Woodworth Shelter to sign the register, but there wasn't one. I took a 5 minute break and hiked on. I was walking along and looked up the trail just in time to see a bobcat running away from me. I don't get to see too many of those guys out here. I stopped a little before noon and got water at a stream before I climbed up to Wolf Rocks. The nice thing about the views around here is that I'm so much higher than the surrounding areas, so you can see for a long ways. I got to Hog Camp Gap and needed water again. I had never been to the spring there, so I wasn't sure how far away it was. It was a long way. Probably more than a third of a mile off the trail. It was good water though, so I tanked up and filled both my water bottles. I climbed about 600 feet up to the summit of Cold Mountain. I's a nice mountain because it's all open on the top, so you get nice views and a nice breeze. I descended to Cow Camp Gap before climbing back up to the summit of Bald Knob. Bald Knob and Cold Mountain were both over 4000 feet high. From Bald Knob, I descended about 3000 feet. On the way down, it started raining. I could hear thunder, but that wasn't too close. It ended up raining for about an hour. That's a strange feeling on the trail this year because there's been so little rain out here. I knew when I got knew shoes that it would rain!! Oh well, I guess they got broke in on their first day. :-))) I crossed Rt 60 and about 2 miles later, I came to Brown Mtn Creek Shelter. It was only 4:30pm, but because of the weather, I decided to stop and cook an early dinner. I had the last of the pea soup for dinner that I had dehydrated. I signed the register while I was there and read through it while I ate. It had stopped raining completely, so after dinner, I started walking again. It started raining again, but not very heavy. I walked along Brown Creek for a while, then through the forest before I came to Pedlar Lake. The trail goes around 2 sides of the lake, so you get to see it for a while. It was very nice to look at with the misty rain falling on it. I kept walking and decided to start looking for a tent site earlier today than normal. I got to the new relo of the trail and in about 10 minutes, I saw a flat ridge. I walked up to it and found the old trail. I found a nice spot near there and set up for the night. It was still raining lightly, so I was happy to get inside the tent. I got into a bunch of chiggers somewhere in the last week. The little buggers have made a mess of my legs. I put some stuff on them that Lois had...hopefully it will get rid of them. This is the first time I've ever gotten into chiggers on the A.T. The only bad thing I can think of about today is that my shoes aren't new anymore. They've got over 20 miles on them and they're muddy. :-(((