Sunday, July 2: Appalachian Trail from U.S. 501 to Fuller's Rock and
back; 7.8 miles. When your starting point is the James River and
you're on the AT, there's no way to go but up, and the climb as we
headed northward was one that hit The Greatest Day Hiker Of Them All
as hard as any we've ever taken. Yes, she had charged up this climb
before, and up The Priest, and up Three Ridges and other 2,000-foot
climbs; but on this day, for a reason she didn't know--well, it was
hot--Gail had had enough switchbacks after 15 or so, and kept trying
to talk us into lunch-before-the-peak. Lunch, at the peak, was of
course worth the climb, with that good view down over the climb to the
flow of the James as the Day Hiker overcame her one-climb slump and
returned to form for the way back down (and for the rest of the
month's hikes as well, it turned out).

Tuesday, July 4: Appalachian Trail from Va. 311 to McAfee Knob and
back; 7.2 miles. This Independence Day hike provided a little glimpse
of one difference between day-hikers and thru-hikers: Gail and I were
pleased that we would celebrate the day with dinner from one of the
best viewpoints in Virginia--looking out onto the Catawba Valley as
the day drained away; the thru-hikers we met on this day were all
pumped about reaching some outcropping or viewpoint to try to see
fireworks from Roanoke. We, the urban dwellers, sought escape from
things of the city. The people who had been in the woods for 60 or 75
days naturally sought a little taste of something citified like
fireworks. We did share the rocks--perhaps two hours before
fireworks--with a trio of young thru-hikers; and we did, in deference
to the holiday, carry along an even more sumptuous repast than we
usually do . . . good bread, thinly sliced roast beef and, best of
all, Cheetos! Well, cold Foster's too, which goes oh-so-well with
Cheetos.

Saturday, July 8: Wiley Drive, Reserve Avenue and up Mill Mountain in
Roanoke; about 6 miles. This was a bit of a red-letter day in our town
of Roanoke. Mill Mountain Zoo personnel had been searching for several
days for the escaped monkey Oops (so-named for her surprise birth
rather than her escape); and it was the day that citizens could take
home a souvenir set of bricks from the ruins of the recently
knocked-down Victory Stadium. The Day Hiker had been talking for all
the days that Oops had been gone about looking for the monkey, and so
we took this day to go search. Our first stop was at the brick pickup
station, where we were summarily turned away because . . . well,
because we were not in a car, and could not display the required city
decal. The walk up and around our municipal mountain was full of
discovery; we've walked scores and scores of stretches of trail around
Roanoke, but had walked only one of the series of climbing and
crisscrossing trails on Mill Mountain. No, we didn't find Oops (she
was found the next day), but it was not for any lack of trying on the
part of The Day Hiker, who reacted with excitement to faux sightings
involving birds, squirrels, groundhogs and bunnies. No bricks, no
Oops, but a great walk and a pleasant lunch atop the mountain.

Saturday, July 15: The Flat Top Trail from near Milepost 84 on the
Blue Ridge Parkway; 5.2 miles. It's not a long hike, and the climb is
not too demanding, but the 4,000-foot summit--reported to be thought
by Thomas Jefferson to be the highest peak in the East (yes, it is a
foot or so higher than Sharp Top)--is a most rewarding one. The haze
on this day was thick enough that not only could we not see the
Virginia Beach boardwalk, as we always pretend we will, but not even
Bedford--not far to the east as the land flattens out. Old-dog Gunnar
showed her old-dogness at lunch, having trouble getting up onto the
big outcropping, and then not much wanting to stay there, owing to the
sun in her eyes and the precipitous drop never far from you on the
rocks.

Saturday, July 22: The AT from the town of Damascus to the Tennessee
line and back; 7 miles. With the chance to spend Saturday evening with
a friend in Bristol to watch "Mountain Stage" (with Darrell Scott,
Olabelle, Ramblin' Jack Elliot and other musical treasures), we
decided to build a pair of weekend hikes to get in the southern end of
Virginia's AT miles behind us (and thus reduced the needed miles
between Roanoke and that Tennessee line to about 70). This first day's
walk, after the drive south, was easy and fun, beginning with a walk
through a town that has transformed itself over the recent years.
Damascus--Trail Town--boasts not only the white blazes of the AT right
down main street, but also the passing though of the Virginia Creeper
Trail. The town has grown up around these wonders, with all manner of
outdoor shops and outfitters, shuttle vans and ice cream shops. This
day's walk was easy and fun--a walk through a yard to leave town and
then a good climb through the forest to the ridgeline leading to the
state border. We ate lunch on that state line and then returned to
town to get the car and drive to Bristol for the first visit of Larry
Groce and Co. to the birthplace of country music.

Sunday, July 23: The AT from Bear Tree Gap to Damascus; 12 miles. Part
of the strong trail identity of Damascus is that you can report to an
outfitter for a 9 a.m shuttle, and be on a connector trail to the AT,
from along U.S. 58, before 9:30, and ready to begin a good day's
walk--and mostly downhill--back to Damascus. This was an earlier start
than we usually make, and The Day Hiker and I were both pleased with
the misty, dewy, bird-songy start to this pleasant and green stretch
of the trail. But the true highlight of the day for Gail was her
discovery of a huge abundance of mushrooms; apparently the timing of
earlier-in-the-week rains had created the perfect conditions for new
ones, old ones, white ones, violet ones. She IDed the few in the only
guidebook we had along, and took photos of many more for subsequent
identification. You see a woman lying down on the forest floor with
leaves sticking to her hair while she aims a camera at some fungus . .
. well, you see that and you can't help but, well, admire it. Lunch
was good too, but the true highlight of this walk for me was coming
into town and, with white blazes in sight, stepping into the Off The
Beaten Path ice cream shop and stepping back out to carry your own
two-scoop cone as you hike the AT! Beat the heck out of the 'shrooms.

Sunday, July 30: The AT from Va. 311 to the edge of Beckner Gap and
back; 6.5 miles. After an initial climb, this stretch of the AT is
very much a ridge walk, with views both to the east (of Fort Lewis
Mountain) and to the west (of North Mountain). It's a section of trail
that we seem to neglect, given that it's a bit far to walk to Dragon's
Tooth and back in one day, and the fact that in the opposite
direction, McAfee Knob is a perfect day-hike distance. The Day Hiker
was still on her mushroom search this day, though the offerings were
not as bounteous as the week before; it was hot, and dogs, humans and
fungi all seemed to pine for more water more often. And the walk seems
to have changed since the last time we made it; that busy Roanoke
Appalachian Trail Club, which has done nice re-routings on the McAfee
side in recent years, has also chopped some of teeth off of this walk
of Sawtooth Ridge, with re-routings that now skirt several of the
knobs that give the ridgeline its name.

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