Date: 2006-05-23
From: Damascus, VA

To: Lost Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 8.0
Weather: clear sky

The outfitters here (Mt. Rogers Outfitters) shuttled me to Elk Garden this morning. The man driving the shuttle was the original owner of the store, retired now (his son is running the store), and he had all sorts of interesting stories and anecdotes to tell about hiking the trail. He did a thru-hike a number of years ago, and lived to tell about it!It was a fun and interesting hike today. I lost count of the number of people who told me I was going the wrong direction! Most of them were folks that I had met at Trail Days or before, and were hiking north. I certainly chose the easy way to do this section; Elk Garden is at an altitude of 4435 feet and Damascus is at an altitude of 1928 feet, so I have a big net altitude loss over the three days it will take me to hike this section, and those hiking it north have that much of a gain.That is not to say that my day was all going downhill! Starting out, I climbed Whitetop Mountain, at 5400 feet. I expected a rocky summit that would be light colored rock, but it was topped with a grassy bald, very nice. There were a lot of white flowers blooming, so in places the ground was almost white; maybe that is where the name originated.Then on to Buzzard Rock, with fabulous 360 degree views. The weather was perfect, and quite a few hikers were just hanging out there in a grassy area, catching some rays and resting. I sat there with my pack off and ate lunch and chatted with some of them. It was a mixture of thru-hikers and hikers just out for a few days.Then it was hiking on, through woods and grassy areas. It looks a lot different here than further south where I came off the trail at Fontana. The woods are a lot more open. Lots of flowers blooming, and I saw columbine in bloom for the first time on this journey.Ran into Stumpknocker and his friend Shortcut in a field where the trail went through a stile to keep the cows in. We stopped and chatted for a few minutes. Stumpknocker usually hikes big mileage days -- 25-30 miles -- but because Shortcut is hiking with him for a few days, they are going at her pace, which is more like the 8-10 miles I do! They told me that just over the hill, if I looked to my left, I would see cows. So that is another animal to add to the list of wildlife seen, though they looked pretty tame to me...Got here to the Lost Mountain Shelter. Lots of people here tonight; there is a college class of 17 plus their instructor. These kids are getting college credit for hiking! (Actually, they have to write a paper of some sort when they get back). They are out for a couple of weeks, talking to thru hikers. It is some sort of religion class on pilgrimages, etc. A lot of hikers out here are doing this as a sort of pilgrimage, especially some of the younger hikers, to sort out what they want to do with their lives.The weather is gorgeous, so there are only three of us staying in the shelter tonight; everyone else is tenting. There is a wonderful campfire going and people are talking and reading aloud some of the funnier entries in the shelter register. And the privy has Dr. Seuss' "The Lorax" written on the walls. Usually I don't approve of graffiti, but this is pretty cool. Someone took a long time to do that!See you on the Trail!granny franny