Day 41 - 4/11

Daily mileage: 15.0
Total trail mileage: 484.1
Starting location: Feathercamp Branch Trail
Ending location: Buzzard Rock
Weather: 33 degrees last night, clear and sunny all day, 55-70 degrees
during the day

I am at
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=36.634870,+-81.617165

Today was another lazy day. I didn't get going until 10, and then I
just meandered along. I ran into Black-an-Tan and Blue Steel around
noon. Apparently they, along with Mouse, Moonpie, and Doozy managed
to get just out of town last night late. Camp Chair is also ahead of
me now.

I continued on until I came to a pond. I stopped there and read my
book while eating for about an hour and a half. Black-an-tan and Blue
Steel did the same. We then continued on for a bit until we hit the
Virginia Creeper trail (rails to trails bike trail that goes into
Damascus) and stopped there for a while. At that point Mouse caught up.

Everyone else decided to stop at the shelter a few miles prior. I
wanted to continue on though to get to the top of White Top or Buzzard
Rock (just prior to White Top). The view is again amazing; it is
another grassy bald. I don't have a 360 degree view though from where
I am as White Top is blocking part of it, but I do have a solid 270
degree view. I am cowboy camping on the grass since the weather is
supposed to be nice (I hope).

The sunset was fantastic and the stars are nice and bright. I think
bats are occassionally flying overhead. I am being stalked by a deer
though. It keeps walking around me and temporarily running off a bit
if I clap or stand up.

Tomorrow I enter the Grayson Highlands, supposedly one of the
prettiest sections of the trail.