Date: 2004-05-15
From: Apple House Shelter

To: 1.5mi South of Moreland Gap Shelter
Miles today: 16.6
Weather: scattered clouds

I didn't sleep much last night. The shelter was a dump, more like a corncrib than a shelter. I should have hung my hammock instead of staying inside. Was up early and down to Hwy 19E before 7:00am. The plan was to hitch a ride to Trail Days in Damascus. The hitching was slow, and I walked about half way to Roan Mountain before getting a ride from a gentleman and his wife. They dropped me at Bob's restaurant where I had a big breakfast and talked to several of the locals. They didn't have much knowledge of or interest in Trail Days, but told me that if I wanted to go to Damascus that I would first have to get to Erwin, then Mountain View, then to Damascus, all of which was about an hour's drive through the mountains. Nobody volunteered to run me over there - they had other things to do after breakfast on a Saturday.I walked over to the convenience store across the street and made a phone call home. After that I decided to put a hitch to Trail Days in the "too-hard-to-do" box, and walked over to the Snack Shack to sit at their outside table and update my journals. The timing was great. Just as I finished, the Snack Shack opened for business at 11:00am and I ordered up a big hamburger and chocolate shake. A couple of buddies who had retired from the military were interested in the hike. I answered their questions, and one repeated the answers to the other (who was hard of hearing) in a megaphone-like voice, i.e. "HE SAYS HE WALKED ALL THE WAY HERE FROM GEORGIA!" After sending the journal updates I got a quick hitch back to the trail in the back of a pickup jammed in with a bunch of motorcycle wheels and parts. When I asked if he built choppers, the driver said that he did a little bit of everything. He said he had a web site labeled something like "Crazy Man at Work." A tip if you get a ride in the back of a pickup - take off your cap or you'll lose it. I barely saved mine.At the trail I had a short conversation with a couple of southbound section hikers. The lady was a little distressed to hear that the herd of longhorns was still on Big Hump Mt. Apparently she had to run from one on her last hike. Her dog, a herder type, wisely chose to outrun his master instead of taking on the steer.Back on the trail the delicious breakfast and lunch settled into a leaden ball in my stomach as I climbed up from the road. The day was perfect, however, and I climbed up through a field of wildflowers. I soon had to stop for a little TLC for a foot. My left pinky toe and neighbor are like two little kids in the back seat of a car on a long trip; they start to get on each other's nerves as the temps get hotter and the trip longer. Nothing will do but to give each his own bandaid. As I worked to pacify the toes, a flock of crows set off a racket around a tree up the hill. I didn't climb up to check it out. They probably spied a snake or something.I stopped at a spring for water and three section hiking ladies that I had seen briefly on the approach to Little Hump Mt. caught up with me. This was their 9th day out this time, and one admitted that she had hit a wall and was ready to go home. They had one more day to go.The hike went slowly for a while, thanks to the effects of overeating in town. I took a half-hour break at Jones Falls, a beautiful waterfall a short way down a side trail. Then the thunder started to grumble and I poured on the coal in an effort to reach the Moreland Gap shelter for the night. The trail had been rerouted to follow the Elk River for a ways, and that was a pretty hike along it. There was just enough rain to force a stop to put on the pack rain cover. I ran out of daylight a couple miles short of the shelter and hung my hammock by a rushing stream. It was a very dark night down there, but I slept well since I was tired from the 16-mile afternoon.