Date: 2004-05-29
From: Lost Mtn Shelter

To: Thomas Knob Shelter
Miles today: 12.2
Weather: scattered clouds

It was now the morning of May the 29th, my fiftieth birthday. It felt good. The sky was still gray but there was no rain. It was only 12.2 miles to Thomas Knob Shelter on Mount Rogers so there was absolutely no hurry. Things started clearing up as the miles passed under foot. At one point the trail was side hilling in the trees below a field. The sun came streaming through the damp air between the trees creating amazing shafts of light. The picture turned out pretty good. Later the trail crossed the field and wandered by some cows. One unseen cow was making some ferocious bellows. It gave me cause to hasten my pace, even on the up. Cows like this tend to bring back memories of a particularly traumatic experience on my first big western hike. It was the one in the Gros Ventre Wilderness of Wyoming, just east of Jackson Hole and the Grand Tetons, with my friend Chris G back in 1992. But that's another tale.My mood was kind of crazy. Birthdays have not been a real big high for me lately, as in, for the last ten years. This one really had me worried. The back country has always been a preferred birthday location for me. My big concern was that this birthday would pass in solitude. The really odd part was that instead of trying to hide the fact that this was my birthday as usual, I found myself announcing it to folks. Not only that but I was proud of the number. Even the kids back at that rope swing a few days ago learned which birthday was coming. That really got ¢em.On the summit of White Top Mountain I met up with Ole Man and Slow Train.After about 8 miles the trail came to a parking lot and crossed Virginia route 600 onto a big grassy knoll. There were information kiosks, other paths, little rock outcrops, day hikers, tourists and folks on horseback. This was a popular spot and for good reason. It was nice. It¢s known as Elk Garden. I caught up to Slow Train and Doc at a nice rock out cropping. Slow Train stayed for a while but Doc left shortly.Slow Train offered to help out in my silly attempts at self portraits. It had been one of those set the timer, perch the camera and make a mad dash up the rock, events. He took some photos of me on the rock too. It was especially picturesque with the clouds drifting by and contrasting with the deep blue of the sky and rich green of the grasses. My hope is that some friend can make a sketch from one of these that can be used on my personal stationary. This has been a though of mine for years but it's always been hard to bring myself to do this posing stuff. Slow Train moved on.I stayed to eat and soak up the beauty of the area for a while longer. That is until I saw Hummer heading up the hill. The thought of all that banter drove me on before he could reach me.By now some one had reminded me that this was Memorial Day weekend and that this was a popular area. Not long ago my concern had been that there would be no one at the shelter tonight with whom to share my birthday. Now my fear was that the shelter might be full. Be careful what you wish for. You may get it.The trail continued to climb in this open park. A northbound family of five thru-hikers was climbing a section of rock slab as it began to rain. We chatted briefly. They were home schooling on the trail. That¢s pretty crazy. Talking with someone later it became clear that this was the Canary family whose writings I had been reading in shelter registers. The rain forced me to depack and gear up. There were too many people on the trail here and I got that foolish anxious feeling that someone might pass me and just hiked faster. The rain was short lived and the weather improved through out the day.Back in the cover of trees the trail wove its way over bumps and dips and through yet another Deep Gap. This one was however at 5,520 feet. That seems high for a deep gap. The trail pulled up along a split rail fence affording a grand view across a meadow. A little further exploration showed folks out there on horseback and others picnicking on the grass. The scene was pastoral but rugged.A guy wearing a Park or Forest Service uniform was just hanging out on the side of the trail in the woods. This seemed curious. A brief discussion revealed that he was waiting for some folks who were counting flying squirrels. That was unexpected and needed further explanation for me. Apparently there were three college students along on this research project. They had set a bunch of traps (maybe 32). The plan was to record tag and release the critters. This guy had bushwhacked to the first ten or so and they had already found 4 squirrels. This was the best they had ever done. He was tired of the bushwhacking and was waiting for the younger folks to finish the job. That was pretty cool if you ask me. A little later that day I ran into the rest of the gang. They were carrying some strange gear which made them an easy mark for me so I surprised them with a greeting of ¢How many squirrels have you found?¢ They were surprised until I told them which way to head on the trail to find their partner. It wasn¢t much longer before the trail emerged from the trees and Thomas Knob Shelter revealed itself in the distance. There was lots of open meadow about dotted with the occasional tree or rock. The shelter was nestled on a little knoll with meadow before it and to the right but trees to its left. It was of a log cabin construction and had a steeply pitched peaked roof. This was gorgeous. I had no idea my birthday night shelter would be so picturesque. This was by far the best setting of any shelter on the trail so far.It was plenty early, only about 2:30pm. That¢s crazy early to stop but hey, this was the place to be for my birthday. It had been picked pretty randomly out of the Handbook and Companion but it turned out to be the perfect choice. Now it was time to check out the summit of Mount Rogers. Wow, to hike with nothing more than a water bottle, a rain jacket and a camera. What a pleasure. The summit was wooded but it was like a boreal forest. There were only fir and spruce trees. It felt a lot like the White Mountains of home in New Hampshire, all the better for my birthday. All right, I was also carrying my instant juggling bags. That's right. Instant, just add pebbles. I stitched them of little scraps of fleece and Velcro. Fill them with stones. Seal the Velcro and voila. Instant juggling bags. It was fun to juggle on the highest peak in Virginia on my Birthday. Chris, thanks for the motivation and juggling lessons.Back at the shelter, a family of four had arrived, David, Sarah, Cindy & Tim. They were good folks and we talked a good deal. The family was only about a year old but the kids were around 12. It was dad and his son and mom and her daughter. They seemed to be doing pretty well though there was an older kid, 15 or 16, who didn¢t join in this outing. The boy and dad had some experience in the woods but this was all new for mom and daughter. They were doing fine. There was some concern on the part of the little girl about the privy which was actually a pretty nice solar operation.To help share my excitement, I told the family it was my birthday. Dad said, ¢If we¢d known, we¢d have brought a cake.¢ My pack was sitting on the bench of the picnic table. A big grin came across my face as I dug out my puffy yellow jacket and unveiled the cake. They were really amazed. We all had a big laugh. Wrapped once again in my puffy yellow jacket the cake waited patiently on the table out of sight for desert time.A southbound section hiker showed up named Dan. Slow Train was there too. We were expecting Slow Barbara so the family moved upstairs. That was nice. A fairly steady stream of folks came by looking for the water. We would send them over the knoll behind the shelter and down to the bottom of the corral fence. It got to be funny. Folks would just show up carrying a water bottle and we¢d look at each other to see who was going to give the spiel this time. They wouldn't even get the chance to ask. Of course occasionally we got fooled. Someone would be looking for the privy.Everyone went about their dinner preparations. For half of us it was fairly ritualistic by now. The family folks were full of questions about thru-hiker eats. Of course everyone does it differently so they got a good cross section of tips and styles from the four of us. It was still light out when a couple with a dog showed up after dinner. She asked which of us were thru-hikers and apologized to the others. They had brought food for thru-hikers. These were trail angles, Patty and Jesse, with trail magic. It was incredible. They gave us raw spinach, tomato, onion, ham, sausage, rolls, salad dressing, coke, Oreos, grapes, bananas, apples and more. They were fabulous. They had hiked in three miles just to bring us food that we would not have packed our selves. We all hung out for a while eating and talking and eating and there was much merriment. As dusk approached they gathered up the leftovers and trash and said farewell. They didn¢t even know it was my birthday but what better present could there be.By now the natives were getting restless. Everyone knew about the cake and they were getting impatient. It was getting dark and thru-hikers don¢t generally stay up past dark, so it was time. We cleared a space on the table and unburied the cake from my puffy jacket. I added the 5 candles, one per decade, and lit them. It was a blast. Was there a song? Probably. With a wish in my head I blew out the candles. You can probably imagine what that wish was. We all gathered for a photo but Slow Train pushed the button. Sure it was only a 12.2 mile day, but this had been a fantastic birthday. Now it was time for sleep.