It"s always been a dream of mine to float gently thru the fog between huckleberry hill and bear rocks while catching glimpes of ravens ridge to the south before the fog shuts me completely down.wandering with no place to go till i decide to find the trail.finally time to head back but wait! the trail is not where i thought it would be.It"s still beautiful but now I"m noticing it less.not frantically not noticing yet but starting to blame my silva for it"s itinerant ways.I try once,twice three times to locate the road to the south.it's no here.the only thing to do is strike out for bear rocks 2 miles away as the raven flies and hope I beat darkness and rain.It"s in the high 50"s now and already wet from fog.I start not noticing faster and more thorughly.I run across open grasslands with hidden rocks and stunted crabapple trees.then i stumble thru red spruce thickets hiding jagged conglomerate with 10 ft deep caves waiting to break my legs that are even more scared then my brain.I run across the boughs like a red squirrel on peyote. 1hour till dark and it's drizzling,the temp is dropping.I"m dressed in a cotton flannel,oh joy!head east to the front I say,keep moving are it'll be a cold miserbale night in wet virginia for me.My visibility is down to 20 ft,every boulder flys by at light speed.i enter a huckleberry thicket and start to see deer trails floored bu white pea gravel.their everywhere,faster,i almost fall off into nothing.is this the front?is that jordan down there?turn right,south toward bear rocks,run dummy run.the trails get bigger,i stick to the front like a flys ass to the windshield.i check the compass,Damn! I"m headin north,fron on my right,what the h...,compas i hate you but your all i have....eats..gooo,100 yards wham back on the front.i can see 10 ft.,hear nothing,like I"m in a sponge,I"m deaf.I yell,the fog says slap and smacks it to the ground.i head south again,run,5 minutes later i check compas,damn,north againeast,wham back at the front.right turn clyde go.5 minutes later north againthats it"I"ll head north.i watch and slow down,gradually the lip turns west then bears back around to the south.I"m on an aerial peninsula thats just big enough to throw me off in the fog.run...whats this another deer trail?no It"s too big,more trails enter it each bigger then the last.hey the rocks are getting bigger with chasms 30 ft deep in between,slows me down finding ways around these.they look somehow familiar.the trail is getting wide.whoa! nothing!I"m standing in the middle of a garvel area with nothing...tire tracks!I"m in the bear rocks parking area.it"s 30 ft wide and 100 ft long and I"m lost in it.i know I"m parked 200 yards south of the lot beside the road on the shoulder.i walk so slowly sout.sure enough 100 ft later the road forms out of the mist i walk a few more minutes ouch.I walk right into my truck,it's white and invisible till i walked into it.hurry drive four miles to the trail and hike ten minutes to the pine grove where my tent is.get to the tent and total darkness.climb in sop and wet and fall asleep.all night it pours and goes down to 40.glad i made it back.
that would be my dream trip if i ever get to dolly sodds.
manumuskin
