May 15th: Passing the 300 mile mark!

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Out of town again. Try as we might, our packs get heavy every time we come to
town and they always put the town at the bottom of a mountain. Hit the trail at
8:30AM. Waiting to cross US220 cars streamed by as their occupants headed to
work. Some looked at us in wonder and I looked back feeling sorry for them. I
tried to imagine what the were thinking. I mean it isn't like during the
Depression where you would see Hobos, Tramps and Bums traveling to and fro. We
didn't have out a sign saying we were homeless and needed help. Just to older
folks with big packs on our backs walking some where.
The trail is now west of I-81 and not paralleling the Blue Ridge Parkawy.
Tinker Mountain raises up to above 2,100' but we had to go up to 1,900'. There
is a ridgeline that runs northwest to Scorched Earth Gap then the ridge turns
south and then west. Carvin Cove Reservoir is in a backwards "C" at the bottom
of the ridge. Once we atained the ridge, walking was not too bad. There were some
PUDS. We had very long views from the ridge and have some great pictures. There
were a number of sopts where the sandstone broke through the soil and towered
over the trail in great slabs. Other places we had to pick our way between
boulders and weather twisted and stunted trees. Most of the rocks had at least a
partial cover of copper colored lichen all dried up waiting on the next rain. As
we climbed, the sounds and smells of civilization dirfted into the background.
Then it was like watching a TV without volume or maybe an ant farm. You could
look down and see the action, but only the wind moving through the leaves, birds singing or squirles barking.
Trail traffic was very light. Little Cubit, Chico, Loner Bohner, Hoosier and
Nads. All headed north for town. Hoosier and Loner are spending the night here
at the shelter with us. We got into the Lamberts Meadow Shelter about 3PM. It
sits at 2,080'.
Tomorrow we will do Tinker Cliffs and McAfee Knob. Today and tomorow are both
9.4 mile days. The temp got into the low 80s today with a breeze off and on.
They are calling for thunder storms tomorrow and Friday. CC hit the silk early
tonight as she was very tired out from the heat. Her new boots gave her some
small problems and we are working on them. She likes her new hair style in the
heat. I need to finish up tomorrow's plan now. Today we went over the 300 mile
mark, 304.9 miles done 1,869.1 miles left to go.

Patrick, Deborah Mooney aka OD & CC
All Who Wander Are Not Lost

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Comments

[Bethany]

WOW!! I can't believe you cut your hair off Debbie!! I can't wait to see the pics!! We're soo proud of you guys!! Hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day!Hang in there in the heat!! Love yas, Bethany :o)