Date: 2004-05-08
From: Lost Mtn. Shelter

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

Another good day of hiking. Got to Buzzard Rock around mid-morning. What a good spot to take a break. There have only been a few places where you can get the 360 degree panorama view and this was one of them. Wizard, Bluegrass, and Big Stick[who rolled into Lost Mt. late last night] also took a break there. Hmm, while I am sitting here typing this I am wondering where Dingle and Skirt are. They swore they weren't going to take a zero in Damascus. Maybe they got out late and stayed at Saunders Shelter. Guess I'll find out next week. By the way, when I take an extended break I will try to type some of the journal so I don't have so much to type at night. Sometimes you are to tired to do even that so I will write little notes of things I want to talk about. I always want to have my journal up to date when I leave a town or resupply place. Got to the shelter around 3, after making the Mt. Rogers climb. My feet were tired and I was glad to get there. There is no camping allowed around the shelter so I grabbed a spot in the shelter. Lonesome Dove, CatDog, Hawk, Wizard, Palm Tree, and The Honeymooners were already there. The Honeymooners left Damascus the day I got there. Bluegrass and Stretch were going on till they found a campsite. The clouds were pretty dark where we were but you could see sunshine down in the valleys. Not long after I got there the rain started. Then the thunder and lightning. Right on top of us like when I camped in the storm back at the beginning of the hike. The rain stopped but it was just warming up for Act 2. Hail, not real big but a lot of it. That stopped then Act 3 started, dime sized hail with thunder in the background. The Finale was nickel and larger sized hail. What a treat it was to watch this from the safety of a shelter! To digress a moment. There were a lot of boy scouts in the area also. They were scrambling to get their tents up before the storm hit and one group was heading to the Mt. Rogers summit. That was a group of younger scouts and they got caught in the hailstorm. After the storm was over we saw them trudging back in their rain ponchos. As they passed one of them said, "That was interesting". We al cracked up and as the last one passed us he said, "I have a headache"! That one had us rolling on the floors! The entertainment didn't stop there. Out of the woods steps a deer and was soon followed by another. That started a scramble for the cameras but it didn't seem to bother the deer at all. They got pretty close! By time all this was done it was time for dinner so we all started preparing the night's meal. Preparing supper is the highlight of a hiker's day, no matter what kind of garbage you are going to fix! You would think it was enough entertainment for the day but more was in store. Not in a sense of animals or storms but in a view. Behind the shelter are some rocks you went up to get to the water source. From these rocks was a good view. I went up there and stopped in amazement. It is really hard to put into words what it looked like. A old, weatherbeaten fence surrounding a large open range. Very dark clouds in the distance and swirling white clouds highlighted by the dark background in the near distance. A valley down below and more ridgelines beyond the valley. The two deer from earlier were to the left and lightining was flashing in the distance. The sun was sinking lower in the west and a rainbow formed in the east! I seriously felt as if I had been transported through time to the open ranges of Montana or Colorado in the 1800's. Just incredible! Everyone else was there also and we all agreed it was not even something you could capture in a picture. One of the best "Oh Wow" moments yet. Whew! Long winded today. Going to bed.