It was a cold morning but pretty. The sun was shining and all the bear bags were still hanging. Zee German was first up and gone with hardly a noise getting out. The rest of us sat up in our bags dazed trying to convince ourselves that we were ready to get up. It had been a colder night than we had expected and it was barely 30 now. We were on the west side of the mountain so we couldn’t expect any help from the sun warming things up any time soon.
Lady Bug and Stickers were the last to leave but passed us up while I was talking to Big Agnes complaining about how cold the sleeping pads have been for us. (I was tired of waking up with a cold ass, so I called as soon as I found a spot on the trail with a phone signal). They agreed to give us a partial refund and ship us new pads when they were available later this month. I’ve learned my lesson on major gear purchases—only buy from REI or Amazon because they are very responsive and have better guarantees than the manufacturers. Don’t waste time on crappy outfitters like Three Eagles in Franklin, TN that didn’t give us shirts and wont respond to emails or answer their phone.
The climb over Pond Mountain was not bad like predicted, but it was still slow going. Everyone had been telling us how terrible and rocky it was going to be. Bunny was all psyched out so she would not go fast. I kept telling her she had been told about the section by people that hadn’t hiked it so take it with a grain of salt. Unfortunately, she chose a 40# grain and anything over 30 slows her down terribly.
Once we made the nearly 7 mile traverse, she agreed it wasn’t nearly as bad as people had said it would be. We ate lunch beside on Watauga Lake. While we were getting the food out, a woman came down and told us she had trail magic on the road. Bunny went up to get us a soda, donut, and chips. The woman turned out to be Zz’s mom. She told us they were slack packing 22 miles today and she was here giving away food while she waited for them to show up. She also offered to take any trash that we had to help lighten our loads.
While we were eating, we got a text from Lady Bug that they were at Boots Off Hostel and were going to spend the night there because they were going to hike the 42 miles to Damascus tomorrow. I nearly choked. I thought she was kidding, drunk, high, or joking. I think I hurt her feelings when I typed her that. They were dead serious. I knew this was well beyond Bunny’s and my capability. If we tried to do that, we would surely end up injured or dead.
We backtracked to Boots Off Hostel to find out what was really going on. Lady Bug and Donut met us on the deck and assured us that they were telling the truth about slack packing the 42 miles to Damascus—it’s called the “Damascus Dash”. I call it crazy. If we attempted it, it would be known as “the long hike that killed the two old people from MO on the way to Damascus.”
We decided that we’d stay the night at the hostel because it was very nice and new. We rented a cabin and thought that this was probably the last time we would see Lady Bug, Stickers, and Donut. We knew there would come a time that we would have to become trail empty-nesters again. We had let Hot Legs and Madlib fly the coop way back on Siler’s Bald. This is the danger of hiking with younger people, their legs eventually can’t maintain the geriatric pace and they fly forward.
I headed up to the bunkhouse to see who else was here. Curb and Vagabond Jack had arrived just after we rented the cabin (once again kicking Vagabond Jack out of the bed he wanted for the night). Rocket Man was in the bunkhouse and he offered me a beer when I walked in—it would be very impolite to turn down and I AM a gentleman. He told me he was getting off of the trail tomorrow. He had come to hike a. section with Swagman, but he had gotten off after Uncle Johnny’s. Swagman had gotten pneumonia and been forced off the trail for 10 days only to return too soon and have a relapse. It was doubtful if his kids would allow him to come back again since he is scheduled to have heart surgery atrial fibrillation later this summer.
Packers was also there. We haven’t seen her since Top of Georgia Hostel. She is considering stopping and going home to Germany (I think she is homesick for her 8 year old daughter). Her family is trying to convince her to keep going but she thinks she might just switch over to some section hiking once she makes Damascus.
When I got back down to the common area, Stickers, Lady Bug, and Donut had found a fourth to do the Damascus Dash with them—Dimples. She had already hiked 4 miles towards Damascus today but wasn’t feeling it so she turned around and hiked back to here. When she starts out tomorrow, she will be hiking the same section for a third time—she must really like the walk along Watauga Lake. Eventually, Scars and RTK decide to slack pack to Damascus as well, but only 21.5 miles.
There is a shuttle to town around 6 which takes people to their choice of fine dining establishments—McDonalds, Subway, or Dunkin Donuts along with an optional resupply stop at the Dollar General (it takes specialized fuel to propel a thru-hike). All food is to go to eat back at the hostel. Donut skipped Dunkin Donuts (apparently it wasn’t worth the trip, after all) but got meals at both Subway and MaDonalds.
Back at the hostel, we ate around the campfire before I headed into the shower. I hope no one was standing outside my stall because the water was incredibly hot and the water was all mine—I was emitting suspicious noise which might lead the casual observer to think I might not have been alone.
EFG