Date: 2006-05-31
From: Sleeping in my truck again, near O'lystery Pav, VA

To: Motel 8- Rt 623, Va (on the trail)
Miles today: 17.1

Last night was the warmest night on the trail so far. I felt sticky all night. I woke up at 5:45am and started my coffee and ate a big bowl of Frosted Mini Wheat's with some Grape Nuts and a banana with cold milk. I've got to be healthy after a breakfast like that. :-))) I got packed up and started walking at 7am. I came up to an area full of nice cinnamon ferns and took a few pictures. I kept walking and came up to a couple tents at 8am. Rama was just getting out of his tent and he said that was 6 Pack still sleeping in the other tent. A short while later, I ran into Pickle Toes and Waterfall. They asked me what time it was and when I said 8:25, they looked real happy and said that was a new record for getting up early on the trail for them. :-))) I got down to Walker Gap and saw David there. He didn't look too good.He said he's been vomiting and can't keep anything down. He has someone picking him up in a couple hours at Rt 623. I walked over to the spring and filled up my water bottle and tanked up while I was there. I started the 1,000 foot climb up Chestnut Knob and saw the first pink azalea I've seen so far this year. When I walked up to Chestnut Knob Shelter on the summit of Chestnut Knob, I saw A.T. sitting out front of the shelter smoking a pipe.It was a cool photo and I'm posting it on the page with this journal. Weeks and Pixie was still inside along with three other hikers that were still sleeping at 9:40am. I signed the register and then hiked on. The views from up top were hazy this morning with all the warm humidity in the air. I ran into Forrest just before I got back into the woods.He was trying to catch up to the hikers that were still at the shelter. Near the bottom of Chestnut Knob, I ran into a nobo by the name of Ann. At the bottom of the mountain, I ran into Grim Reaper and Wild Bill and told them about the scarce water coming up for a while and where to find the best water at.A little wind started blowing while I was talking to them and it felt great. That's the first air moving in a few days. I came up to Baloo next. At 11:50am, I heard some thunder not too far off, but it never started raining over where I was. I would have loved to have a free shower today. :-))) I crossed Lick Creek, then climbed 700 feet up to Lynn Camp Mountain before heading back down and crossing Lynn Camp Creek. I climbed up to Knot Maul Branch Shelter and stopped and signed the register and got to use up a couple more smiley face stickers. :-))) I kept climbing after I left the shelter and was moving along pretty good. I stopped a step in mid air because there was a 5 foot black snake stretched across the trail and I didn't see him until I almost stepped on him.I got a picture of him and had to walk by him because he didn't want to move. :-))) Just as I got down to O'Lystery Pavilion, I saw Ramblin' Man. He said there was a church group at the pavilion feeding hikers. I didn't go over there because Shortcut was waiting with the truck and we headed into town for an early dinner. We headed into Wytheville. I was going to eat stuff from the truck tonight, but I was hungry for a good steak, so we ended up at Sagebrush Steakhouse and I had a 14 ounce rib-eye, baked sweet potato and salad.I really have to get healthy eating like that!! :-))) While we were eating, Shortcut said she wanted to get a motel tonight. It wasn't hard to convince me after as sticky as I slept last night. We got a room at a Super 8 and they had high speed internet, so I uploaded another 15 photos that I took in the last three days.