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I Drove up to Damascus, Virginia on Friday, May 16th for ‘Trail Days’, the festival for Appalachian Trail Thru-hikers. I camped out at ‘Hoppy and Birdie’s’ place, behind their barn. I saw a lot of old friends that I haven’t seen for a while, which was real nice.

The first night, I decided to go into town and listen to the ‘Jones Boys’ jam at the gazebo. Rat was sitting in with the band, and they sounded really good. It was a bit chilly, but there was a pretty fair crowd anyway, considering, and everyone had a good time. Later on, I did a little bit of jamming around the campfire at Hoppy’s, but my fingers were too cold, despite all the anti-freeze I had consumed.

I stayed up long enough to watch the moon set behind the ridgeline. The temperature inside my tent went from darn near freezing to oven-like before I even realized it. I woke up smoldering hot. Somehow, I got a bit sunburned.

In the afternoon, instead of going to town and watching the parade, I decided to take a nap, watch the hawks fly overhead, and prepare for the evening’s festivities. I jammed on my guitar for a few folks around Rat’s camp, and Rat even sat in on a couple of songs. There were a few requests that are Trail Day’s traditionals, that had to be played, and I have written a few new songs since my last trip to Trail Day’s ( a few years ago) that I felt like playing, too.

I climbed into my tent at a somewhat reasonable hour, and woke up Sunday morning feeling rather refreshed. Birdie had cooked a huge plate full of Pillsbury rolls that were quite tasty. I said goodbye to several people, and went back to Johnson city, happy to have had the chance to see many of my trail friends, and even get a sip of ‘Paw-Paw’s’ ‘breakfast’.
There will be pictures of the event here on the site soon.

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I made time to hike to High Rocks from Spivey Gap yesterday. The weather was beautiful. Actually, I got a little bit sunburned while standing out on the rock, getting a view of the mountains, and talking to a couple of southbound section hikers from the Winston-Salem area. I started to ask if they were brothers, but the question was indeed pointless, as they were almost mirror images of one another. “Frog’ and his brother (sorry, I am bad with names) took some photos from the overlook with their digital cameras, and may be sending some photos in to the website later on, I hope. Anyway, the fresh air and exercise was just what I needed.

Also, this week, there was a forest fire on the mountain near Johnson City, where I live. The entire valley was thick with smoke as Buffalo Mountain, and the ‘Dry Creek’ area burned. According to the newspaper, the Forest Service thought that the fire had been extinquished and sent everyone home, only to see the flames re-ignite and burn several more acres overnight. Apparently, the fire was started intentionally by someone on the trail that connects into the Buffalo Mountain Park trail system. Rat toured the area and took some photos. They can be seen here: http://www.guitar-antics.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=27

On May 4th, (2008) I went to take photographs of the ‘listening rock’ on Unaka Mountain.  On the far south-western end of Unaka Mountain, approaching the Nolichucky River, is a large hollow known as ‘Jones Branch’, named after the creek that runs down from the mountain, through the valley, and to the river.  High atop the knob in the middle of the hollow, not far from ‘Curly Maple Gap’ is a large rock cliff face that extends upward from the rocky, pine covered central-toe of the knob.  From this jump-off is an excellent view of the Jones Branch Valley and the mountains that lie beyond the Nolichucky Gorge (Temple Hill, No Business Knob, Flat Top Mountain, Cliff Ridge).  It is, however, not easy to get to or from this hidden overlook.  I found it by accident a few years ago.

Surrounded by pines, there is only a couple of places along the trail where you can actually see the rock cliff on the knob.  Not only is the view quite stunning, but the music of the waterfalls and creeks echoing up from the valley is a soothing sound, and it seems as if you can hear everything in the valley (when the wind isn’t blowing) from this rock face.  I could actually hear the hikers’ boots on the Appalachian Trail stomping along up unnamed ridge into Curly Maple Gap from hundreds of feet away.  The sun was beating down from a clear blue sky, and the wind would breeze through occationally to cool the pines.  It is a beautiful time of season to be there, while all the trees and flowers are bursting back to life, and the air smells sweet, scented with Mother Nature’s perfume of flowers and pine needles.

I hope that the photographs turn out alright, but won’t be sure until I get them developed (it is a 35 mm camera).  We will post them here and in the photo gallery if and when they become available.

——–Boulderman

It has been awhile since I have written anything for the ‘trail blog’, so I thought I would get things up to date, somewhat. In case you were wondering, I have been out for a few short hikes around the Nolichucky River, and Spivey Gap areas.. I also took a couple of memorable hikes in the Sampson Mountain Wilderness Area to view and take pictures of waterfalls. The photos didn’t turn out too well, however, since I took them with a disposable camera, knowing I would most likely break a ‘good’ one climbing those falls. The trip up to ‘Devil’s Fork’ Falls was quite awesome, and I hung out there by the middle set of falls for some time, just enjoying nature–fresh air, sunshine, and of course, the water.

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