Category: 2018 Appalachian Trail

We let Odie have the loft to himself last night. We also stored all of our food up there, hanging from the rafters, since there weren’t any good bear hangs available. Red Bird had also stored his food up there for the same reason, while he camped. Bunny and I strategically took the far end of the lower level (away from the ladder) to allow Stickers to become the first line of bear defense at the bottom of the ladder with Odie at the top. We felt our food was pretty safe.

I woke up to the sound of hiking poles clambering outside the shelter. I thought it was Red Bird coming to get his food, but the sound never stopped. Bunny nudged me to look out and see what was going on. I put on my glasses and peered out to see a pony chewing on some hiking poles and tossing them around. I yelled at it to drop them which woke up Stickers. The pony didn’t listen and Stickers jumped up realizing it was chewing on their poles (ours were inside). He ran out yelling (angry voice) “Get my F$%^ing poles out of your mouth” (loving voice) “you cute little bitch.”

Four other ponies joined the other outside of the shelter. They seemed very used to being around people. We all got up, even Odie, and got selfies with the ponies. They let us pet them, feed them, and even hug them. We spent at least a half hour playing with them until they got to be just a little annoying. Red Bird came up and tried to cook his breakfast on the picnic table and was forced inside to not have everything knocked over. Even then, they kept sticking their heads inside the shelter.

They followed us everywhere we went when we were outside the shelter and licked us (craving salt, we had been told). I even went to the privy and one followed me. I thought I might be able to save a wipe, but he/she wouldn’t follow me up the ramp.

With all the ponies hanging around, we were in no hurry to leave; this was what we had wanted to experience today. When we did get going, we met a couple walking their dogs who had seen 54 ponies already, today. One of their dogs looked like my old neighbor’s dog, River. When I say “old neighbor,” I mean my Grandma Sarah. (She’s actually younger than my parents, so how she became my grandmother is a completely unrelated story to this blog that involves time travel, a broken condom, and three missing sheep—maybe some day I’ll have time to relate the incident). As soon as I saw their dog, I started craving a glass of wine and a carrot—an old Friday night drinking ritual.

The walk today gave us a “top of world” view, but with a Western feel to the terrain. It reminded me of a New Mexico high plain and it was right here in the Eastern US. I am completely blown away by the variety and expansiveness of the Appalachian Mountains—and we’re not even 500 miles into this trail yet! That is, until we reach Fatman’s Squeeze where we see a “500 mile” sign in the trail.

We saw another group of ponies, including a couple of babies (pony ponies?) coming down Wilburn Ridge. They were more stand-offish that the herd we had at the shelter earlier. As we entered the actual Grayson Highlands State Park, we met a man, Moonlight, and his unloyal dog companion, Caesar. Moonlight is a minister/counselor and thinks that most of his couples would benefit from spending time hiking—how can anyone be angry or upset with all this beauty? He claimed Caesar loved whoever held his leash and didn’t care as long as he got to walk. We talked for a while about what we were doing and how far we had come. He asked if we had seen any ponies (a soon to be recurring theme). We told him about the shelter and left him contemplating about walking the 3 miles to get to it.

Lady Bug and Stickers were going to take a detour to Massie Gap for showers, lunch, and a mail pickup. We considered going as well, but we didn’t have any cell service so we decided it wasn’t worth the risk of randomly catching a shuttle. We pushed on another two miles to have lunch at Wise Shelter. Lil Ray got there just after us, followed by Spice, and Little Blue. We hadn’t seen Little Blue since he got back on the trail after Damascus so we were happy to see him. He told us that Geo, Summit, and Bear Foot were just ahead of him. He expected to see them here at the shelter, but they must have seen us and decided to push on (they love me).

Little Blue said his goodbyes saying he agreed with them and wanted to catch back up with them. Spice spent less than 5 minutes total at the shelter eating her snack of Cheerios. We hadn’t met her before and probably never will again—she’s putting in long hours every day hiking from sun up to sun down. She told us she doesn’t have a schedule, she just has to keep moving.

After we finished eating and airing out our feet at the shelter, we started moving again; we still had 11 miles to go today. We caught up with Geo, Summit, Bear Foot, and Little Blue putting on their packs by a stream—they had no choice but walk with us for a while. We walked together for the next 6 miles. It was good for Bunny to prove that she can walk at a slightly faster pace and keep up. She also talks when she’s hiking in a group where she often gives me the silent treatment because of some alleged “smart ass” comment.

It may be “one way,” but I really like this group of kids (sorry, anyone under 40 is a kid—I had to up it to include Little Blue who is 38; normally, I’d say 30 but I’m feeling sympathetic since his mother likes Vagabond Jack better than him). They hike 12-16 miles a day and don’t have a real time frame to finish. It’s probably dictated more by budget, but they are going to enjoy the trail as much as they can. They still haven’t had a pony encounter, so I relate to them our fantastic experience and show them our pictures.

Little Blue led the way. He was pushing hard; we all thought too hard since he was just returning from an ankle injury. We couldn’t keep up. He was so far ahead, he didn’t see the pony that spotted us and started heading towards us. It was on a direct intercept course so we thought they might get a good pony picture after all. We were mistaken. We got the royal snub at the last minute.

As we approached a coral, we saw Little Blue and a pony walking from each other. Geo was convinced he had gotten a great photo and was going to brag, but I could see the sun reflecting off of his tears. This was definitely an OMD (Orchestral Movements in the Dark—80s band) moment “if you leave, don’t look back, I’ll be running the other way.” This was clearly a missed opportunity at love. When we caught up to him, he confirmed that he was unable to get a good photo. I consoled him and showed him the great photos we had gotten earlier to give him comfort. Not all of us are losers at “pony love.”

After the third round of pony photos, Summit, Geo, and Little Blue turned on the gas a bit (perhaps they didn’t like being known as “pony love losers?”) and left Bear Foot back with us. Bear Foot seems to always be happy on the trail, even if he does fall a lot, hence, the name. This was the first time we had really gotten to talk to him in depth. We spent the next couple miles just sharing our experiences. He was an Eagle Scout like me but had limited backpacking experience before starting the AT. He quit his job to get the opportunity to hike the trail and is thinking he really likes the lifestyle—perhaps another Tripple Crowner is with us.

The rest waited for us at Old Orchard Shelter to “take a break” but as soon as Bunny and I sat down, they ditched us. Bunny needed a break so we longingly watched as they ran down the trail. They only have another 2 miles to go to make their goal of 16 for the day while we still had 5 to go to make it to Hurricane Shelter. We did pass them by a river where they sat up camp. I saw Summit duck into the rhododendrons when she saw us approaching.

I’ve watched Stickers work crowds of people when he walks up to them and I am impressed by how casually he holds up his fist to bump knuckles and says “Hi, I’m Stickers. What’s your name?” When we got to the shelter, there were only two people there, one of which was in a tent. The other guy was set up in the shelter by himself having already built a campfire. He was untangling his bear rope getting ready to hang his food. I walked up and tried the “Stickers’” approach.

“Hi, I’m easily Forgotten.” He didn’t make a sound. He started rolling his rope up, went to the shelter, rolled up his bag and deflated his sleeping pad. He packed up and decided to hike on. It was almost 7. Clearly, my reputation has preceded me. I had a record day for me, 5 alienated thru-hikers in one day. At least I now know how to secure a private shelter for us in the future.

EFG

We got an earlier start today than yesterday, but not by much; 9:45. The section hikers were camped behind the shelter and had gotten up early, built a fire, and were all packed up before any of the thru-hikers were up—the sheer enthusiasm of short time hikers! Ridge, Quatro, and Shark Bait are younger guys (20s maybe as old as 30, but pups) so they feel a need to be plugged in all the time. This generation must be afraid of hearing their inner voices. They opted this morning to play their music out loud for all to hear. Normally this would bother me, but at least they had some musical taste and listened to some “Old Time Music” or as Bunny and I might call it, “The music we grew up with”—Bad Company, Supertramp, The Band. They might be young, but they at least have good taste.

Because of our late start, we were too late for magic at the first road crossing. Someone had left a 12 pack of soda and some chips on the shoulder. We got there to find only empty cans and bags. We only knew of 8 people ahead of us, so we will give them the benefit of the doubt that this was leftover magic from yesterday and that no one in front of us was a glutton. Play by Play had told us Grumpy and Gucci Girl were coming down to give him some trail magic, so we were keeping an eye out for them.

White Top was looming over us as we walked. Normally, we don’t get intimidated by mountains we have to climb because there are plenty of trees on the trail that block how high we have to climb; not today. We had about a mile of meadow walking toward the base of the mountain so Bunny had plenty of time to psyche herself out for the climb.

Even getting near the top, we had great views. We noticed what appeared to be a forest fire in the distance along the section we had passed yesterday. We hoped it was a controlled burn and not the start of another dry season—with all the rain we’ve had so far, it has to be planned. We talked with the other hikers who were camping at our shelter last night. They were two guys that were section hiking the AT and three other people they had met over the last few years who asked to join them. The two main guys were from Indianapolis, but they DID NOT know Steve Johnson.

We kept going to get out of wind and have lunch on the other side of the mountain. One of the older guys in the group had dropped his tent (presumably on accident and not just a stupid attempt to lighten his load). We picked it up and carried it up to him. He was in his 70’s and this was only their second day out so he was struggling a little (not bad). I still think it’s harder to section hike the AT because every time you come out, you have to get your body used to the rigors of hiking all over again. It doesn’t really become fun until after the 5th day (which might be why so many people quit at Neel Gap in Georgia).

Coming down the back side of White Top, we saw a sign saying “Trail magic with Grumpy and Gucci Girl ahead.” Play by Play was telling the truth. We got there to find a set up almost as big as the Leap Frog Cafe. Grumpy had hurt himself (tendon tears in his ankle) back in Georgia just before the Top of Georgia Hostel and had to get off. He had given his pack and quilt to Arnie 1 Mile whom we met in Franklin, NC. We knew all about him, but hadn’t met him. Gucci Girl had originally planned to do trail magic in this location at this time when Grumpy started the trail, so they were just keeping to the plan and were not doing this for Play by Play. Bottom line, 2 cheeseburgers, a hot dog, 2 bananas, a bag of chips, a Snickers Bar, a cup of hot chocolate, and Coke later, Stickers and Lady Bug caught up with us.

We stayed and talked to everyone for a couple of hours. We were not feeling that great about the 17 mile day we had planned for since it was already after 4 when we wedged ourselves away from the free food. We agreed to hike another 4 miles to Thomas Knob Shelter and spend the night with Lady Bug and Stickers. That way, we’d be fresh when we entered the Grayson Highlands and get to spend time with the wild ponies.

We were dragging today. Bunny thinks it’s because she has new trail runners and has to learn to walk in a completely different manner (her shoes are “zero rise” instead of the usual 5mm she’s used to). She claims this is putting additional strain on her calves. It seems plausible and I’m tired myself so we are both very happy when we get to the shelter. Odie, the creator of the AT Hiker Yearbook, is waiting at the clean shelter with a fire going. He was planning on hiking further on, but he told us the shelter was so dirty that he had spent the afternoon cleaning it up. He had about a 30# bag of garbage as proof. His good deed had cost him a chance at some great trail magic ahead of him (behind us, he’s sobo) because the forest service has told Grumpy and Gucci Girl to move on. Feeling bad for him, we described, in detail, all the food that he had missed.

EFG

We got up around 7 for a change of pace. It’s a little easier to do when you are sleeping in a place that is above freezing. We hurriedly packed up and headed out. Maybe Bunny doesn’t remember that I paid for our room last night and she thinks we are actually making a quick getaway to save money. That line of reasoning takes a nosedive when she won’t let me get a free cup of coffee at the hostel and makes me buy a $3 cup at Mojos instead.

Breakfast was great, as always, at Mojos. I even got a cinnamon roll for myself since Bunny opted for the blueberry pancakes for herself. Once she tasted them, she noted that she made a big mistake when she let me have them the other day. We got caught up on our blog and email since this seems to be the only working internet in town. As we were finishing up, other people started moseying in.

Packers got in town last night and is taking a day off today. She is still thinking about switching over to section hiking but is going to continue on to the Grayson Highlands to see the ponies first. Stickers came in to get a chi tea and told us they did great on their slack pack yesterday and will be heading out in a bit. He also told us that Hawk from Standing Bear Hostel got busted by the FBI. We don’t know exactly what happened, but we thought he might be running a bit too open of a “trail provider” operation. Also Curb and Mrs Curb showed up. He told us Vagabond Jack was just behind him. We decided we had better get moving or we might end up with another zero.

We walked out of town on the Virginia Creeper Trail which is an old railroad bed that has been converted to a bike trail. Damascus is trying to change itself from a hiker town to a bike riding destination and who can blame them? Hikers are cheap, wanting low cost hostels and cheap beer; while bikers want bed and breakfasts, fine dining, wineries, etc. That crowd has money while us hikers are broke.

Bunny was extra slow going uphill today. At one point, I looked back and she was doing her “stretching” just like she did before Joyce and Pam hiked with us—completely ineffective by pointing her toes down to get blood flow to her calves rather than stretching her calves like Joyce showed her. When I innocently pointed out that normal movement is not stretching, it led to a big fight so I headed up ahead a bit to let the mood cool down.

All the bridges look new and VA has well maintained trail in this section. There are plentiful water sources, campsites, and hills. So much for Virginia being flat for easy 20 mile days.

I’m reminded of a talk I had with Scars back at Doe River Hostel about what is a “proper” thru-hike. He had been having some arguments with a few of his followers and people have actually quit following his U-Tube channel because of it. Sleeves was there and weighed in—Sleeves and I actually have a much stricter definition than Scars does. We believe a proper through hike is 100% white blaze south to north (or vice versa) but one direction only. If we leave the trail to a shelter, we return to the trail on the exact path even if another exists. We also don’t think there should be any slack packing (unless it is on Katahdin which doesn’t allow backpacks to go up the final 5 miles). Scars is ok with slack packing, skipping a small bit (just a couple hundred feet) around shelters, and going either direction along sections of trail as long as every foot of trail is covered in your journey. He even thinks it’s ok to skip a section and come back to it later.

So why did he lose followers? Because he is adamant that if you vary from his definition, you are not thru-hiking (technically, I agree with him). However, the number 1 rule of AT hiking is “hike your own hike.” I don’t give a rat’s ass how someone else interprets or does their thru-hike. My rules and definition only apply to me (and possibly Bunny if I guilt her enough). If someone else cheats according to my definition, that’s fine. I won’t say a word. I will just silently judge and belittle them—I am a true Southern Gentleman.

While we were at Boots Off Hostel, a thru-hiker from last year recommended we just stay on the Virginia Creeper Trail when we leave Damascus and skip the first 2 big climbs since the AT just returns to the bike trail. He said that’s what he did last year when he “thru-hiked,” to save time and energy. I quietly said we might and left knowing in my heart that a) he didn’t thru-hike last year, b) I would ignore his suggestion, and c) I must not let Bunny hear him speak or I would have to turn up the guilt routine on her. We left the hostel ASAP. I quietly judged him in my mind while keeping my mouth shut—I am a gentleman.

We got to Lost Mountain Shelter and knew only Ridge and Atlas. There were 5 section hikers and 2 other thru-hikers we hadn’t met (Quatro and Shark Bait). Almost everyone had set up tents so there was plenty of room in the shelter for us. We tried to get all of our chores done while there was still light. We cooked at the picnic table while everyone else was hanging around a campfire. Atlas told us he had hiked with Patches on the way into Damascus. We didn’t see her yesterday and asked him if he knew where she was. Atlas shrugged.

EFG

Some may ask “Why are seniors so much more successful in finishing the AT than any other age group?” That can only be answered if you also consider the two most common phrases you hear on the AT: 1) “Hike your own hike,” and 2) “Never quit on a bad day.”

Hike your own hike. Old people do whatever they damn well please, and that includes taking their time and enjoying the trail. Young people get obsessed with getting in big miles and going faster than everyone else. Old people realize it can take well over 6 weeks and 600 miles of hiking for your body to adjust to the hiking lifestyle. They don’t necessarily have a tight schedule that they have to adhere to other than “Baxter closes October 15” while younger people have school start dates looming. We can take the time for our bodies to adjust and are not (too terribly) embarrassed that we are only doing 8 miles/day while everybody else is passing us (and, eventually, injuring themselves).

Never quit on a bad day. This is the real advantage seniors have. They’ve seen a lot more shit in their lives. Young whipper snappers today think a bad day is when their parents threaten to take their phones away. I’ve seen my 81 year old grandmother cry “What will I do without Mama?” when her 100 year old mother died. I’ve seen all four of my grandparents die. I’ve had my best friend die from Lou Gehrig’s disease. I’ve had lousy bosses that can’t manage their way out of a paper box (not you, Brad or Steve). I’ve had three friends commit suicide. I’ve had my sister die from cancer when she was only 38. I’ve spent the night in a double sleeping bag when it’s so cold that you can’t stick your head out and my wife has had bad stomach problems…I KNOW bad days!

We’ve made it to the trail town of Damascus and now we know disappointment. The people here are friendly enough, it’s just that there is nothing here. There’s only two open restaurants and three Outfitters in town. I don’t see how this place can possibly handle trail days in just 5 weeks and I’m seriously considering skipping it.

We’ve done the usual zero day activities: shower, laundry, resupply, eat, and partake of drink. We’ve caught up with people we thought we wouldn’t see again (Mizman, Geo, Summit, Bear Foot) and had people catch up with us who had fallen behind (Patches, Dirty R, Grape Stomper). We saw another person have to leave the trail (Snow Cone).

Part of the reason we took a double zero is to get some mail. It was like Christmas for us here. We received 5 packages at the Post Office here including some new gear we had ordered from Amazon and some resupply we had arranged for ourselves before we started—compared to our trail angel, Alice, we really suck at resupply shipments.

Donut, Pit Boss, and Play by Play all took off today. We hope to catch up with them in a few days. Stickers and Lady Bug slack packed back into Damascus the portion they missed last Friday and are supposed to head out tomorrow, but we haven’t heard from them to find out how Lady Bug’s shin feels. There’s a possibility they may have to take some days off. Patches got into town last night while we were visiting Wood Chuck Hostel and she should be heading out tomorrow with us, Mizman, and Hawk.

I feel looming change coming and I’m afraid there are going to be changes with whom we are hiking with. On the GR10 last year, we had trail family realignments every couple of weeks and I’m afraid it’s going to happen to us again on the AT. One thing I really enjoyed about the Camino de Santiago was that we kept the same family for most of the trail (but it was just a little over 500 miles). I know we will lose Mizman again because his girlfriend is coming down next week. He’ll get off for a week and then make up the Smokies. I’ll miss his always happy and positive outlook.

We will see what happens tomorrow when we are having breakfast at Mojo’s. Even though there’s only two restaurants in town, we like them both. Maybe I’m just getting restless feet from being in town for two days, or maybe I’m wondering when the cold weather will stop, or maybe I’m just tired and my wife’s snoring seems to be getting louder the longer we are on the trail. I wonder why I’m the only non-annoying person still awake.

EFG

I tried to make it all night without getting up to pee. I really tried, but it’s just not possible. The rain never let up and I finally gave up hope of falling back asleep until the bladder got emptied. I unzipped the sleeping bag and started moving. Usually, this is when Bunny gives me a disgusted sigh, but she didn’t object. When I got back, she was waiting to borrow my crocs so she could go. Just as we got settled back in the bag, the mysterious stranger in the tent’s alarm started going off—it was 6 am.

I fell back asleep and didn’t hear anything else. We had intended to get up by 7 but it was freezing and pouring still so we slept. I got no objections from Bunny about staying in bed (not that she ever objects to sleeping longer). I woke back up just before 8 and the tent was gone. We will never know who we were sleeping beside.

I extracted enough water from my bladder (the drinking one and not the contaminated warm water one) to make coffee. I got the bear bag down and we ate cold breakfast while packing up. We were on the trail by 9.

Bunny immediately started complaining about this being the worst day of hiking on the trip. I will agree that we were dealing with non ideal conditions (freezing rain and foggy), but how quickly they forget. The Smokies were crap almost daily. This was slightly uncomfortable.

We made it to Abingdon Gap Shelter at 1. Play by Play and Pit Boss were already gone; sometimes they can procrastinate about getting up, but we must be too close to town to dawdle. We had a quick bite and checked the log book. (Imagine Pit Boss as Andy DuFrane, me as Red, and Damascus as Cewateneu per the Shawshank Redemption) “Easily Forgotten, you’ve made it this far. I’m going to ask you to take one more journey. Do you remember the name of the town we used to talk about? (Damascus). Come join me there. I am waiting in the sun to see my friend once again.” Only he forgot to leave me $10,000 to get there like Tim Robbins did for Morgan Freeman—cheap bastard.

Only 3 nobos and 1 sobo passed us all day. No one with any sense was out in this weather. Once we hit the TN/VA state line, we had an immediate weather change—the rain added some hail and then quickly turned to snow. I called Wood Chuck and confirmed our reservation for a room; we wanted to make sure we had someplace to get out of this crap.

As soon as I turned the phone off of airplane mode, Stickers sent me an update on how far they made it yesterday. They pulled the plug at Low Gap about 15 miles short of Damascus because Lady Bug started having pain in her leg. Urgent Care decided today that she was getting shin splints and that they had gotten off of the trail before things got bad. She’d be good to go in a couple of days. We agreed to meet at the Damascus Brewery later for Stickers birthday.

The minute we got to town, the phone died leaving us without a map or directions to the hostel. It was raining and cold and no one was out. We walked down the Main Street but no businesses were open. We ended up walking all the way through town without seeing a single person or seeing any place open that we could ask directions. I thought this was supposed to be “the Best Trail Town in the world” but instead, we were in a ghost town.

We finally saw a guy (Franco)outside of Broken Fiddle Hostel. We asked where Wood Chuck Hostel was. He said come inside out of the freezing rain and he’d explain. We had passed the hostel almost a half mile back. I was so cold, I couldn’t even consider going back. We asked who was staying here and if they had any room left. He told us Donut and Mizman were here. Hallelujah, we’ve finally caught up with Mizman after more than 5 weeks of chasing him. We immediately said we’d stay if they had room for us. We got a private room for $10 less than we had agreed to at the other place. The only condition I had was that Bunny call Wood Chuck and tell him—I never had wanted to make a reservation in the first place.

Wood Chuck was upset as expected. We later heard that he is probably going to change his reservation policy and require a deposit because of us. We also learned that he has ordered a sign to put out on the trail because we are not the first ones that couldn’t find his place. In reality, it was just a little inconvenient for him because his hostel was otherwise full and has been all week; the room he had for us was in an outside, unheated building. We made the right call to stay at Broken Fiddle.

We had to wait to do laundry and shower until later. Switch is the temporary house manager doing work for stay because of a stress injury (we met him just before Nature’s Inn). We had time to drink a couple cups of coffee before our ride to the brewery showed up. Once again, food and drink overrride hygiene. We were brewery bound.

Not Today, Zz’s, and Sour Kraut were inside and waved to us as soon as we walked in. We got a dog update (Zz’s mom had told us Not Today had rescued a dog on the trail). I turned around to see Geo (that’s the guy who stole my hair), Summit, and Bear Foot ordering beers to go. I talked to them a bit and then we ordered some pork sandwiches. After the sandwiches, I ordered a flight of beer and called in an order for two pizzas for delivery. Now that business was settled, we could relax.

Stickers and Lady Bug showed up and joined Mizman, Hawk, and us at our table. There was a bluegrass band playing and Lady Bug got them to play “Happy Birthday” for Stickers. And yes, Bunny gave Stickers a kiss on the cheek from Stickers’ mom, Miranda. I assume fun was had by all, but my memory is a little foggy from that point on.

EFG

For some mysterious reason, I was up just a tad bit after 4a peering (maybe you can leave the “r” out) around the outside corner of our cabin. I noticed a flashlight moving frantically inside of Donut’s tent. Actually, I never looked at the clock but I knew their plan was to get up at 4 and hit the trail by 5. More power to them. Our plan is to sleep until 6:45, turn on the coffee pot, nap until 7ish, drink a cup of coffee, finish packing, eat breakfast, and be on the trail as near to 8 as is Bunnily possible.

As we were getting ready, we kept trying to predict their position of where they need to be to complete the “dash” before midnight. By the time we were ready to leave, they should have been near Vandeventer Shelter (where we had planned to be last night). They were confident they could maintain 3mph for 14-15 hours and get in around 8p. We were a little questioning of the speed assumption, but were confident they would complete the challenge. We were less confident in our own ability to complete the 23+ miles we had planned.

Miracle of miracles, we were on the trail just a couple minutes after 8 and we were feeling good. I’ve found that as long as I let Bunny walk in front of me, she hits it hard. We’ve been on the trail long enough that Bunny’s leg muscles have developed so when she gets going, I can’t keep up. Today, the Bunny had a fully stoked fire in her. We made it the five miles to the dam in less than 2 hours—much better than I ever thought possible for us. If we were doing this good, our hopes for the four dashers were improving.

The only people we met along the trail were a couple of sobo section hikers, Iron Eyes and Booking It. They were trying to make time down to Hampton to camp tonight and meet their wives early tomorrow to get them to a TV for the remainder of the weekend to watch the final two rounds of the Masters. They have been hiking together for about 4 years.

We made it to Vandeventer Shelter by 12:30 to have some lunch maintaining a slightly better than 2mph rate the entire way. We had great views of valley and lake below us. It was a little windy in the shelter which motivated us to eat quickly—only 30 minutes.

The walk really wasn’t bad at all. Just small climbs of less than 300’ at a time. When we stopped for water, we finally saw our first deer of the trip. We continued to maintain our 2mph rate all the way to 4:30 when we decided to stop at Iron Mountain Shelter to cook some supper before pushing on some more.

Supper took us until 5:30 to finish up and repack. The minute we were loaded up and stepped out of the shelter, the rain started up. We only had 7 miles to go to make the next shelter. Wise planning and foresight had made us wear our rain coats and headlamps; it was going to be a late night (and miserable now).

When I was little, my grandparents had a place in Florida and we would go down to visit them every winter. At the time, there were Greyhound dog racing tracks in Tampa. My parents would go down to watch the dog parade area before each race. If a dog took a dump, my parents would place $20 on it to win—they did very well on their betting returns. If they had been watching us after supper, they would have placed $40 on Bunny to make it to the shelter—she was in the brush a surprisingly long time. When she got her pack back on, she really lived up to her name of Bunny Tracks.

The light held out until just after 8. We checked Guthook when we had to turn our headlamps and we only had 0.7 miles to go. The rain had been steady since we left Iron Mountain but the fog had also come in. When we turned on our headlamps, the light reflected off of the water particles in the air and back into our faces. We had zero visibility. I could only look down at the trail and sweep my head from side to side to see if I could see any side trails. This was the longest walk of the trail so far.

At last, the shelter magically appeared in front of us with tent inside. We stepped under the overhang and the rain immediately intensified. We tried to quietly set up the bed and get everything stowed away. I had to hang the bear bag in the pouring rain. I was a little apprehensive after the fiasco at Laurel Falls Shelter but I hit my target with one throw (and the rope was still attached to the rock). It poured all night long without any let up.

We have successfully completed our first “official” 20+ mile day. I hope the four dashers made it off the ridge before the rain and fog got really bad. This is not a night to be out.

EFG

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

We slept pretty well last night even with the running stream two feet from the tent—only two trips out to make sure all was well in the night. Bunny was a bit slow moving (after all, it was morning) but she was alert and inquisitive today. She put on her inspector hat and determined where Scars had slept last night while we were walking. She found a dry spot with flattened leaves near Laurel Fork Creek just a mile past where we camped. All those hours of watching forensic shows is finally paying off in a big way!

It’s great being on the trail between bubbles (or maybe the reality is we are just far enough along the trail that there aren’t going to be any more crowds). We only saw one person all morning and it was a sobo girl just 406 miles from finishing. She had on a Wisconsin hat and was from Madison. I asked her why she was so late finishing and she told us that she had been forced off of the trail for three months because of a stress fracture and had just gotten going again in March. (Fracture is a very scary word to thru-hikers!)

We made the eight miles to Moreland Gap Shelter and were going to have some lunch. It was windy and cold. Since I was a bit ahead of Bunny, I decided to show her what a sweet, wonderful, and thoughtful husband she has by making her some hot tea for lunch to take the edge off. The sign in the shelter said water was only 50 yards down a side trail. 50 yards my ass! By the time I got back with water, the shelter had filled up.

Stickers was the first to show up followed by Lady Bug. We moved the picnic table behind the shelter to get it out of the wind. Donut and Zee German arrived just as we got the table situated. Curb arrived just as we were finishing lunch. We had thought that he and Vagabond Jack were going to stay at this shelter but the wind was straight into the shelter. Curb said that the plan had changed and they were going on another couple of miles to a protected campsite.

It was cold walking in the wind, but when we managed to get on the leeward side of the mountain it became rather nice. Bunny and I were making pretty decent time and were a bit ahead of Lady Bug and Stickers. We thought Donut was way out front, but rounded a curve and found her frozen in place on the trail. We thought it was too cold for snakes—it was. It was something even more alluring—she had found good phone signal and stopped to surf and text. She was a living statue with mobile fingers.

We got down to the road at Dennis Cove and I was spent. There was a hostel, Kincora, just 0.2 miles down the road and I would have been willing to stop a couple miles shy of our goal for the day. This hostel is run by Bob People’s, a legend in the AT community and is one of only 3 living members of the AT Hall of Fame. It was Lady Bug who said we should stick with the plan and move on to Laurel Fork Shelter, and boy, did she make the right call!

Laurel Falls invigorated us. It started out as an easy walk along the Elk River that quickly turned into a rocky walk with lots of steep climbs and declines over boulder fields and rock walls. We crossed the river a few times and came up to a rock wall in front of us. Stickers looked under the bridge and saw some trash that someone was too lazy to carry out, so he jumped town to pick it up, only, it wasn’t trash at all. It was Hoho’s, POP-tarts, and sodas—trail magic! It was the sugar revitalization we needed to keep moving.

As we climbed the stone steps down to Laurel Fork Falls, we ran into a couple and their two dogs climbing up. This was the couple that left the food under the bridge and left even more down below at the falls. They are from Oklahoma and were returning from a trip to Washington DC. They had their two dogs with them so they couldn’t continue down the river valley where they told us there were some tight squeezes next to the river. They also shared that their St Bernard shat in front of the White House (but they cleaned it up). Even dogs are getting political these days.

Trouble started for me almost as soon as we got to the shelter. It was cold and windy so I got started boiling water for tea right away. I spilled my tea—major catastrophe (at least it is when I had to walk 1/4 mile for water, I’m tired, it’s cold, and my wife is in the shelter out of the wind—yes, it was her fault).  I recovered and kept going on with cooking supper for my bride while she was warm and out of the wind. By the time I finished dinner (from scratch—I started with empty water bags and finished with mashed potatoes with bacon bits) it was dark.

I was shaking from fatigue, yet I let my wife get ready for bed while I hung the bear bags in the dark. I calmly filled the rock bag and shakily attached it to the bear rope carabiner to throw over a limb. I wound up and made a perfect toss right where I wanted on the first try, only the rock bag wasn’t attached to the carabiner. I successfully threw my bag down into a rock filled valley in the dark. There may have been cursing—long drawn out cursing that surely scared any bears within 5 miles well away from the shelter. Stickers ran over and showed me that I hadn’t lost my rope since it was still on the ground beside me.

I eventually found another spot and got the bear bags hung, but I was more than tired and ready for bed. The shelter was amazingly quiet when I finally got into bed. I guess my stress level was calming on everyone else (or they were all laying wide awake with eyes wide open and afraid to move). Whatever the case was, it was quiet and I quickly fell asleep since the shelter was oriented in the correct direction to keep all the wind out. If a bear does get my food, I hope he chokes o it after all the trouble I went through tonight.

David started shuttling hikers to the bakery as soon as it opened at 8. First wave was Sleeves, Curb, and Vagabond Jack. Bunny Tracks, Scars, and I were wave 2. Third wave was Dirty R, Grape Stomper, Stickers, and Lady Bug. We were all talking gear and shoes at breakfast. Only Bunny, Lady Bug, and I are wearing boots while everyone else is wearing trail runners. All of our feet seem to be getting bigger from hiking (flattening out from the extra weight of the packs on our backs).

The first wave hit the trail followed by Bunny and me. Scars and wave 3 returned to the hostel to await deliveries or get ready to head out. Stickers and Lady Bug are supposed to be following us out in a bit because we have already made reservations for a place to stay in Damascus on Saturday night. Bunny told me that Lady Bug wanted to zero today, so we don’t know what they will actually do. If they zero, they are going to have to put in some big mile days to make Damascus for Stickers birthday. We will celebrate with or without him.

Today was a perfect hiking day. I hope we have finally turned the corner into spring. Last night, I got a call from Dan and Sue Settle who are supposed to meet us in Damascus. It turns out that they are fair weather friends and are backing out because of predicted rain and snow there this weekend.

I met Dan while consulting at Continental Tire in Mt Vernon, IL. I had an office down the hall from him and heard him get upset one day. I hadn’t met him up until then, but he was ranting about something (as Dan does) and said “I’m not going to do that. It’s stupid. I’ll just quit and go hike the Appalachian Trail.” I introduced myself and said I’d go with him. 17 years later, I’m on the trail and Dan is afraid of melting in the rain.

Dan and Sue have been great friends to me over the years and were very instrumental in my being here today. Without their help, I would not have been able to sell my farm, so I can cut them some slack on the bad weather. They are older than me and I know how obsessed old people can get with the weather. I’m sure they keep the weather channel on most days.

The trail was not heavily traveled today. We caught up with Vagabond Jack at Jones Waterfall (did I mention I agree with Little Blue’s mom?). These are a great set of falls well over 100’ in height. We were not expecting them to be so amazing. We sat and had a snack watching them for a while.

We didn’t catch up with Jack until we were almost to the next set of falls almost 3 miles further on. What started out to be a ho-hum walk today has presented us with two magnificent water falls with a beautiful meandering river between them. There was a great little valley with the Elk River running through it. It made me want to go tubing on the Current River back in Missouri.

Bunny and I stopped in at Mountaineer Falls Shelter to chat with Curb and Vagabond Jack while we had another snack. We contemplated staying there because it is one of the nicest shelters we have come to on the trail; it even had a bear totem to protect it (presumably that means you don’t have to hang bear bags—it might be worth the test to smear honey all over someone and tie them out to see if it works). In the end, we chose to go on to get a few miles closer to Damascus.

After about 3 more miles, Bunny gave out. Surprisingly, I was still feeling pretty good. She usually gives out just a little before me so I don’t have to say “uncle.” We set up our tent right beside a nice stream at the early hour of 5:30. We were done with all of our chores (including supper) by 7. We were just getting in the tent when Scars showed up. After 4 days of waiting, his new shoes finally arrived today. He didn’t get on the trail until 2 and has already gone 12 miles in 5 hours. We talked a bit before he pushed on. He sets daily goals and today’s goal was 13 miles, not 12.

No word on Lady Bug or Stickers. We still have 63 miles to cover in the next 4 days—a doable amount for us these days.

EFG

Stickers set an early alarm so we would be awake in time for the sun to come up. We were expecting to be “wowed” since this location is known for magnificent sunrises, but not so much today. The sun did come up (which is a precursor for a good day), but is was more of an “oh” than a “Wow.” We hit the snooze and hoped for a little more heat to soon follow.

Nick from Iowa packed up and gone before the first snooze even went off. He is intent on getting his daily mile average up over 20. We will be patting ourselves heartily on the back when we reach 10. Nick is a red shirt. We will probably never see him again.

Bunny and I were next to leave the barn, but only after all the other red shirted fast bubble hikers had already packed up their tents and vamoosed. This is one of the many reasons we like hiking with Stickers and Lady Bug—they are so laid back and unrushed that we seem like “go getters.” I always hate to be last out of camp. I know it’s not a competition, but I hate to come in last anyway.

We climbed the hill beside the barn and were able to look back and see them still in the shelter. We could spot Lady Bugs coat from over a half mile away. We knew we had to get about a mile ahead of them so we would all arrive at Roan Mountain, TN at the same time.

We were climbing Little Hump Mountain. Lady Bug had told us that we would come upon several “false summits” on the way up. We really lost count of the number of times we thought we were at the top but then only realized the trail turned and there was still more climbing. When we finally made the real summit after climbing 800’ we were struck with a few things: the beauty of another Bald, a strong wind blowing in rain clouds from the southwest, and the realization that we had an even bigger mountain to climb next that was over 300’ taller than this one. No summit is reached without a massive decline following.

We proceeded down, down, down to Bradley Gap (I used to work with Jeff and Dixie Bradley and wonder if this is somehow related—after all, we are in the south, and Dixie!). By the time we were about half way up Hump Mountain, we were in gale force winds. The hood on my rain coat was pummeling my head (no sense was knocked in). With the cold air temps and strong winds, Bunny demanded her gloves back from me (she had rolled my liners up in the sleeping bag this morning so she lent me hers when I got cold—no hair=being colder).

A light mist started on us once we made the top but it didn’t matter because Bunny lived up to her name and started making tracks downhill. It definitely looked like a storm was rolling in and everyone knows how Bunny acts in thunderstorms. I was worried about Stickers and Lady Bug getting caught in a storm on a Bald and Bunny was worried about Bunny getting struck by lightening which has happened so many times in her life.

We made it to the safety of the trees before the rain started. It was a cold rain, but light. No storms actually came in. The rain was sporadic at best. The trail was a bit rocky but not bad. We checked her phone to determine our location and discovered a quirk with Guthook—when picking points along the trail, the app will give you actual trail miles to the destination; but if you pick a point off of the trail, it gives you “as the crow flies” miles. We mistakenly thought we only had less than 3 miles to go.

An hour later, we thought we had only a mile to go when some sobo hikers passed us. We asked how far to the road and they told us 4 miles. “Inconceivable!” “I don’t think that means what you think it means.” How could we have walked 2 miles and be a mile further away? Guthook bug!

We quickly crossed out of NC and dropped the 3,000’ down to the road over the next 4 miles. Even though it was all downhill, it took its toll on us. The trail crossed several boulder fields and had lots of tall steps to go down. So much for an easy 9 mile day.

Waiting at the road was a man in a pickup who offered me a coke right when I walked up. David was doing more than trail magic, he was offering information about the area and a free shuttle anywhere we wanted to go. I had my coke finished by the time Bunny made it to the road. She got a Mountain Dew and we were ready to go wherever David would take us. We had already decided we wanted to stay at his hostel tonight.

Sleeves was next up to the road. He was trying for a 25 mile day, but was really craving some “town food.” We quickly talked him into settling for a 17 mile day and a burger at Bob’s Dairy Land in town. We were feeling confident that we could change Stickers’ and Lady Bug’s minds about where to stay, especially once we mentioned free beer.

In the end, we all went to Bob’s to eat. While there, David brought in Dirty R and Grape Stomper. Next up was back to David’s house for showers and laundry. True to his word, he (or his wife) drove us wherever we wanted to go including the pub in NC (since Roan Mountain, TN is a dry city—what year is this?) and to the grocery store to resupply.

Back at the hostel, we got to catch up with some people we hadn’t heard of for a while. Scars was there who we hadn’t seen since Nature’s Inn. He’s waiting for a new pair of shoes and is going stir crazy. We also got to meet Vagabond Jack (Little Blue’s mother has been following his vlog). We have to agree with Blue’s mother—like her, we prefer Vagabond Jack to Little Blue.

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