Date: 2004-06-01
From: Damascus,Va. - Dave's Place Hostel

To: 2 miles south of Buzzard Rock
Miles today: 19.2

19.2 miles today2 miles south of Buzzard RockStealth tenting in a pine grove5:45am I'm waiting on Cowboys to open so I can eat breakfast. I've already had my last shower for a few days and am packed and anxious to get back on the trail.Three days in town is way too long. The po opens at 8:30am and as soon as I mailmy box and Liteshoe's trail days hard core patch, I'm out of here. There was more rain last night, but it didn't last very long and today is supposed to be mostly sunny. 7:20am I'm all done with breakfast and had my coffee. I sat there at Cowboys and listened to 4 old timers solving all the worlds problems...I even made a suggestion or two and they graciously gave me their newspaper when they left. I was reading it when Smokestack and Mother Nature came in for breakfast. Mother Nature hikes alot with Brawny and was saying something about that when I told her that I had hiked around Brawny in '02....small world. When I went to pay, Gypsy was behind the counter and I had hiked around her her LoneWolf in Pa. a couple of years ago.Only one more hour and the po will be open and I can start walking again. 2pm I'm sitting here at Saunders Shelter eating my second sausage and egg biscuit.I just passed Messy Garage who I'd met just before NOC. He said he's lost 20 pounds since the last time I've seen him.On the way out of town, I stopped by Cowboys and got 3 sausage and egg biscuits to go. I also packed out a coke. I headed on out to the trail and got side tracked at the In The Country Restaurant. I just went in to have a look and I spotted a blueberry scone. I ordered that and by the time they brought it out to me, they had doctored it up with a bunch of blueberries and some whipped cream.I left town at 10:20am and it really felt good to get back in the woods. I was walking along and I heard someone call my name. It was Freebird who was just taking his tent down. We talked for a while and I hiked on. I walked for about three hours within hearing distance of a roaring river. We had alot of rain lately and the rivers are really showing it. Today has been absolutely beautiful. A really nice breeze and mostly sunny and probably in the middle 70s. Climbing up this last mountain to an elevation of 3500' had probably 10 switchbacks cut into it. I left that shelterand continued hiking. There are alot more Mountain Laurel blooming and a few scattered Flame Azaleas. Todays hike really seemed extra easy. I hiked down to the Virginia Creeper Trail and followed that over an old railroad bridge and then cut back into the woods. I got to Lost Mountain Shelter a little after5pm and ate my dinner there.D was there for the night and we talked while I ate. By 6pm, I couldn't eat any more so I hiked on. It was actually getting a little cool sitting there.A cold front has passed through, so I didn't want to go up on the top of White Top Mountain tonight. It's about a mile high and more open than where I'm at here. I'll make that climb first thing in the morning to warm up.There was a dead pine tree right next to where I wanted to set up my tent and I didn't want to take a chance of it falling on me in the middle of the night, so I pushed it over. I couldn't believe how easy it fell. My dad is probably thinking;"yep, that's my fine baby boy!!! He was the smart one out of the bunch."I spooked a large doe just before i got here. She ran up the hill and then stopped and watched me watching her. I won the staring contest because she left first.Another great day on the A.T.