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Sunday, August 1, 2004 - Blackrock Hut to Calf Mountain Hut
I left shelter at around 6 a.m. The shelter was full and a thru-hiker was a little irritating, so I had coffee and a quick
bite to eat and off I went. Freddy Bear was hot on my heels and we hiked most of the day together and made it to
the last shelter in the park. We are at Calf Mt. Hut. I am glad to be out of the park for it is too restrictive. The whole
day was beautiful until the last hour. A thunderstorm came up and we hiked in a hard rain for the final two miles. At
least I got real clean. I found some shelf mushrooms called chicken of the woods today and they are excellent
eating. I had met two through hikers at Rock Spring Cabin a few days ago and they are easy to identify. I ate a few
and had no ill effect so I ate the rest for dinner and they are a real treat to have something fresh. Freddy Bear
wanted no part of the mushrooms this time, but if I live he will try some at a later date. I will go into Waynesboro
tomorrow. I will do all the things one does in town. I will do laundry and get a Thermorest. This flat pad is killing my
back. I am diabetic and I check my blood sugar every now and then. It has been normal with my exercise so far, so I
will send the machine home tomorrow. I have two pots for cooking too and will send one of them back to save a little
more weight. I am not using the newly found water filter either and have not found an owner so it will go back too. At
the shelter tonight there is Snoring Bear, Freddy Bear, twin girls, who are former thru-hikers named the Cubs, a
Goat and Mustang Sally, and last but not least, Big Pan, who carries a real big pot!
Monday, August 2, 2004 - Calf Mountain Hut to Waynesboro Y.M.C.A.
Fred and I left Calf Mountain Shelter at 6:00 a.m. We hiked to 250 west and got a ride in about 10 minutes into
Waynesboro. We ate at Hardy’s for a second breakfast and went to the Laundromat. I called Virginia and walked to
the Y.M.C.A. and registered for a free campsite. This is a nice little area down by the river. It has a big spring nearby
but it is too muddy to get to the water. We can get water up at recreation center. We took a shower and walked to a
nearby Chinese Buffet and ate a very good meal. I bought enough food for seven days for $27.00 and went back to
the campsite to repack the food. I will stop at an outfitter on the way out of town tomorrow. It is way out by the trail. I
made a denatured alcohol stove out of a pop can here and will play with it for a while. The stove works well and took
10 minutes to make. Fuel can be hard to find and more pricy than Coleman fuel but the weight factor it a real plus. I
hope it doesn’t rain tonight. I bought a cheap peace of plastic to sleep under tonight. My tent was sent home way
back to save weight. Freddy Bear is talking to his wife and I am at the campsite on a picnic table writing this. My food
bag is going to be way too heavy. We will be leaving early tomorrow and will eat breakfast before going out to trail.
The next shelter is only 5 miles so it will be a short day. 8:03 p.m. It is a pretty night. I met Rusty from the Hard Time
Hollow and we may stay there in two nights if it works out. I met Rusty at the Kroger’s. He seems to be real nice.
Late in the night a small skunk came through my plastic and stiffed me and off he went. He was really cute and very
clean.
Tuesday, August 3, 2004 - Waynesboro Y.M.C.A. to Paul Wolfe Shelter
I woke up at 5:30 a.m. after not sleeping too well because of lights and factory noise. It was a real fine place to
camp. It did not rain like I thought it would but it thundered and lightning a lot before midnight. Fred and I had a nice
breakfast at Weasies. 2 eggs, pork tenderloins, toast, homefries, 2 pancakes, coffee. We got a quick ride toward the
trail and I had to get off early to stop at an outfitters and Fred went on. I am waiting until 10:00a.m. When the
outfitters open and I have a full hour to wait. I wrote Jay, Judy, Frank Mc Clanahan, and Richa a letter. It will be
good to get back on the trail. I left my old mat at the hiker box at the camp sight. After getting what I needed at the
outfitter I got a ride from a man from Georgia back to the trail and headed toward Paul Wolfe Shelter at Mill Creek
after a 5 mile hike. It was an interesting hike up to the shelter and it wasn’t too tough of a hike either. I saw an old
cemetery and a cool chimney and foundation while in farm country. Freddy Bear and I are here alone so far at 5:17
p.m. There is a nice stream in front of a super nice shelter.
Wednesday, August 4, 2004 - Paul Wolfe Shelter to Maupin Field Shelter
We left Wolfe Shelter at Mill creek at 6:30 a.m. I reset my clock alarm to a little later in the morning because it has
been too dark to function. I got the best sleep of the entire trip after sleeping on the new Thermerest. It was 70
dollars, but well worth it. It weighs about 15 ounces, which is one half of the old ones. We went 16 miles to Maupin
Field shelter. We were tired but there were no other shelters any closer and with no tent I am limited to where I can
stay for now. We were going to Rusty’s hostel but there was no traffic on road 664 to speak of so we hiked on.
Tomorrow will be a short day, about 7 miles. The Priest Mountain will come after that. It is a big mountain with a 4-5
mile accent. It is a lot easier if the miles are shorter. We went over beautiful terrain today but very rocky and steep at
times. At Dripping Rocks scenic overlook on A.T. Freddy Bear told me “there’s your rattle snake!” We have been
looking for one for a while . I had chicken of the forest mushrooms and ramin noodles for dinner. It tasted like
chicken alright. Tomorrow Freddy Bear and I are going to take a blue blaze down to waterfalls and several good
swimming areas ahead. We will backtrack one mile to next shelter.
Thursday, August 5, 2004 - Maupin Field Shelter to Harper’s Creek Shelter
I left shelter early and hiked a blue blaze down into the gorge and waterfall loop back to A.T. We backtracked one
mile back to an A.T. shelter and we got to Harper’s Creek Shelter at 11:30 a.m. We had a very hard hike in gorge
but beautiful 40 foot waterfall and lots of big pools. We walked in a light rain for an hour to get to shelter. It is 12:45
p.m. and is raining pretty hard at the present time. This is a nice pretty shelter with a creek running in front of it,
picnic table and a fire ring. It is a wood shelter with cedar shake roof. I used my alcohol stove to heat up ramin
noodles and hollandaise sauce. It was good. I had a coffee single tea bag with some hot tea too. I will look at the
map now to check out the big 3000 foot Priest climb for tomorrow.