Gnome was bothered by red lights and squirrels all night last night so he didn’t sleep well. He picked a bad day to go to bed sober. Apparently, other people in camp complained of deer wandering around through camp, but they didn’t mention anything about them having red lights. Maybe Gnome singlehandedly stopped an alien invasion. He also fell out of his hammock—seriously, he was sober. When we woke up at 7, all of the hammock campers were already gone, so they may have been the red lights he was seeing.
The PCT was designed for pack animals; the CDT was designed by cartographers; and the AT was designed by stoners. I imagine Otto the bus driver from the Simpsons as a trail builder talking to Mr Burns from the ATC…
Otto “Dude, wouldn’t it be cool if the trail ran over that peak on the next ridge?”
Mr Burns “Excellent. Make them climb down to the valley and back up.”
Otto “And then we could make them come back to this ridge to see the view 50’ from where they started.”
Mr Burns “We will call it a ‘pud’ “
Otto “Dude?”
Mr Burns “A pointless up and down”
Otto “Dooood! Gnarly”
Today was the first day of relatively easy walking in Virginia. The weather was perfect; low 70s with a steady breeze and a fairly level trail. We crossed the Blue Ridge Parkway after just a couple of miles of hiking. The AT will run in the neighborhood of the parkway for a little over 100 miles, but we will still diverge from it to climb a few additional mountains since the trail was designed by stoners.
Every time the AT crosses the Blue Ridge, there are two things that are possible: 1) a scenic overlook (100% guaranteed), and 2) a chance for trail magic. No angels were in the outfield today. We did hear of magic that will be around on Friday when Little Foot’s parents meet him near the James River. It will probably be out of our reach, though.
I have a secret about my time in the woods—I talk to trees. Don’t be too quick to lock me up. So far, they don’t answer me. I just think of them just like trail volunteers, or fire fighters, or trail angels…I thank them for being there and making my hike pleasant. I’m hoping I can make contact with Tree Bard and that he will put the word out to protect me. That’s why I felt comfortable staying at Pine Swamp Branch Shelter (the one closed because of dead trees), I know I’m being watched out by the living trees.
The trail greened up and budded out from the rain of yesterday. We got to see our first rhododendrons in full bloom. I’m looking forward to going through a rhododendron tunnel in a few days. The flowers are pretty, but not very fragrant. The fragrant flowers are the wild azaleas. There was also a fair amount of honeysuckle near the lower road crossings.
Here’s are a few examples of Gnome humor. He is very knowledgeable of wild plants and is trying to teach me about different edibles. He pointed out some wild violets and said “I oppose violets in any form.” He also told me about 3 moles digging a tunnel. The first one says “I smell sugar.” The second one says “I smell syrup.” The third one says “I smell mole asses.” And lastly, when asked about sex on the trail, he said it was “in tents.”
Patches did text us and tell us she wasn’t going to catch up for a while. We knew that when we left her yesterday, she would probably end up taking a Zero after all. She really wanted the banana pudding from 2 pigs barbecue. It used to be 3 pigs, but we did quite a number on the place with our two visits.
The shelter we decided to stay at today is dry. Not the same kind of dry that counties in Tennessee and Kentucky have. Here, we mean no water. Between the 3 of us, we carried an extra 9 liters of water to camp. If this shelter had a reliable water source, it would be a favorite. There have been plenty of wildlife coming through and it’s in a sheltered dip in the ridge. It even has a brand new privy that I would consider sleeping in because it only smells of fresh cut cedar. Since we were the first ones here, that won’t be necessary as we got the shelter. Only 2 more hikers came down to the shelter and they both camped.
EFG