Hi Friends,

This is Virginia Section 2 on October 5, 2007. We hiked from Keys Gap to a little beyond Buzzard Rocks. We hiked about 8 miles. We hiked 4 miles and turned around and hiked 4 miles back.

Right at the start of our hike we found this neat fungus growing on a dead tree. Fungus can not make its own food because it does not have any green color of its own. It has to steal food from some other plant. My mommy calls it a Robber Plant.

A little while later we found this wild flower growing right in the center of the trail. I can not believe that it is able to live here without a hiker stepping on it. That would be sad. It is a pretty flower.

Since my legs are so short I get tired after hiking a while. Here I found a nice log where I could sit and rest my tiny toes.

Here is a picture of my friend Larry. Larry is a member of the Sierra Club and a volunteer for the Appalacian Trail Conservancy. He not only was hiking on the trail but he was measuring the trail. Do you see the wheel on a stick that he is holding? He pushes the wheel on the ground while he walks. The wheel measures how many miles it is. Kind of like the mileage recorder in a car. The miles that Larry records will be used to update the trail guide book. Most hikers rely on these books to keep track of where they are on the trail.

I have told you before about the shelters volunteers build for the hikers. My family likes to visit these shelters. We like to see what they are like. This shelter is called the David Lesser Shelter. See the great porch swing they put here? It is a great way for hikers to relax after hiking all day.

When we take our day hikes we always pack a lunch. It is fun to find a nice spot along the trail to stop and eat lunch. Today we stopped at a place called Buzzard Rocks. Mommy and Daddy let me climb a tree and look out over the valley from Buzzard Rocks. I asked what a Buzzard is. Mommy told me that it is a big bird that eats little animals. She said that there were no buzzards around. It was just a name somebody picked for the place a long time ago.

Here is another picture of me looking in a different direction from Buzzard Rocks. The views along the Appalachian Trail are just great. Looking down into a valley from the top of a mountain makes hiking even more fun.

That's it for this trip. 

I'm still looking for you on the AT. Don't forget to send me your AT picture. My email address is stanley @ rohland.org. I just need to know your first name and where you hiked. I will put it on the Kids on the Appalachian Trail page.

I would like to hear about your AT adventures too. Send your story and picture to me and I will put them on my website. Don't forget to take me with you. You can get a picture of me to take along. Just go to http://www.flatstanley.com/template.htm.