Erwin to Damascus

3/24

Decided to get more food in me since I’d been losing weight so fast.  I took the breakfast shuttle to Huddle House (part of a gas station… so glamorous) and chatted with “Big-O.”  He’s a kid right out of Americorps and about to start Outward Bound.  As soon as I got back to the hostel, I hauled everything outside and packed to go.  I was on the trail at 10:30 and hiked about 12 miles out of the Nolichucky River Valley.

It was a gentle climb, though long.  Lots of water for the first few miles, but alarm bells started to go off when I found the first shelter dry.  When I did find a stream a bit later, I over-filled a bit.

I found some Trail Magic at the highway crossing at Indian Grave Gap:  Brother Tom giving out brownies and lemonaide and fresh fruit to through-hikers.  Was a welcome pause.  An older woman hiker was there, waiting to be picked up by the folks from the hostel.  Apparently, she had set out on a three-hour loop hike from the hostel and somehow ended up on the AT.  She was none the worse for wear and was carrying everything she needed to overnight.  Uncle Johnny showed up and whisked her away back to civilization.

It was extremely windy in the afternoon at altitude, so I camped just short of Mt. Unaka on the leeward side of a ridge near a water source.  There were two possible places to pitch:  in a quiet location down the back side of the hill or at the top of the hill.  Forecast was for heavy rain, so I decided to play it safe and stay on the windy high ground.  I pitched my tarp in a wedge against he wind and went to sleep.  The rain started about 2:00, and with it the wind changed 180 degrees and began blowing directly into my wedge, turning the tarp into a huge balloon.  I moved back to the back of the tarp, but by  morning, everything (including me) was soaked.  It was cold and foggy and I was a bit miserable.  I stayed in the protection of my sleep system until the rain began to let up around 8:00, and since my food was hung away from camp, I was quite hungry.  Finally I got up to pack.

It was the first time I wondered about making it to Maine… that kind of experience just saps drive so fast.  I realized that I need to re-think my wind/rain protection.

3/25

I didn’t get hiking until 9:45, so I only made 17 miles.  Movement is good… it warms and dries.

I started to get used to using the trekking poles, finding the right length adjustment, zeroing in the tension on the telescoping fittings to accommodate my weight.  Also, how to use them to move well.  Not only to they help propel uphill, but they cushion the descents.  That makes my knees very happy.  They really do work, and will be helpful in getting me north.

I found a nice glade just shy of Hughes Gap and set up camp while I still had some daylight left.  Clear weather, but I hung the tarp to dry it out, and lay out all my other equipment for the same reason.  I camped “cowboy” and recovered much of the sleep I lost the night before.  Beautiful night, and I was up early to attack Roan Mountain.

I’m thinking about restaurant food a lot.

3/26

With everything dried out, my pack is much lighter.  On the trail at 7:10 with my first job getting over Roan Mountain.  It was a solid climb, hard in places, but a steady slope in others.  At the top was a dense old-growth pine forrest that would be lovely to stealth camp in.

Trail Magic offered at Carver’s Gap, but it was too early for hot dogs.

The series of balds just past Carver’s offered spectacular views.  And wind.  Lots of wind.  I had to lash my hat to my head and almost crab walk with the pack forming a huge sail.  After the crest, the wind was slightly behind, which was better than trudging directly into it.  There were several false crests, and I found myself just putting my head down and grinding forward.  Eventually I descended into the forrest on the other side and made my way through that and a series of boulder and rocky areas.

I had lunch at Overmountain Shelter, an old red barn and the coolest shelter I’d seen.  And I just HAD to use the privy.  It was built on a stand facing the valley with only three feet of corrugated metal on three sides.  I felt like a king on a throne sitting there looking over the beautiful valley, breeze blowing by.  Quiet the experience.

There was some trail magic:  a red cooler next to the stream with sodas and moon pies.  Delicious.

I felt weather rolling in and decided to make tracks to Mountain Harbor, a hostel / B&B just off the trail ahead.  I called and reserved a spot, then got to work covering the ten miles to get there.

As I got close, I came across a group sitting next to the trail.  They let up a cheer when they saw me, and I realized it was Bumblebee and Spirit of ’76.  They were talking with a group of hikers who had through-hiked a couple of years earlier and were now giving out Trail Magic:  pizza, beer, sodas, Snickers.  We asked questions, told stories, and rested a bit.  The pizza was gone when I arrived, but the soda was delicious.  Burnside was the guy who orchestrated all of it, and he seemed like an amazing guy, chok full of information about how to make a through hike experience better.

Eventually we all headed for Mountain Harbor and were there in 20 minutes.

I found Stripe and Pidgeontoe already bunked in the hostel and took an empty bed.  The hostel was in the upper floor of an old barn, and it had a common area with stove and sink and plenty of chairs.  I heated a frozen pizza from the little store and was very happy to have a warm dinner.  Bumblebee and ’76 decided to camp, but joined us in the common area for several hours of conversation and stories.

3/27

Oh.  My.  God.

The breakfast at Mountain Harbor was reported to be good, but none of us was prepared for what we got.  Eggs with mushrooms, hash browns with cheese, pancakes with fruit inside, biscuits with sausage gravy, strawberry danish, bacon, tomatoes, tea, orange juice, and a huge second plate of everything.  I hurt walking out of there.  It took hours to get a handle on digestion, 2:30 and still wasn’t hungry.

Good thing I took a zero to rest, do laundry, and make phone calls.  Stripe, Bumblebee, and Spirit of ’76 headed for the first shelter, a short day instead of my zero.

Mostly, I’m waiting for the worst of the weather to pass over.  I just don’t feel confident charging out into stormy conditions anymore.  Getting wet is worse than inconvenient and unpleasant… it can be dangerous as hypothermia can be a real problem, even at relatively warm temperatures.  Besides, the psychological toll of not being able to stay dry is high.

I am staring to feel like a “real hiker,” though, with the miles behind me hat I have so far managed.

And then there was dinner.  The same cook who did the amazing breakfast invited the few guests to complementary Easter Dinner.  Ham, scalloped potatoes, green beans with fried onions, baked carrots, and chocolate cake. Again, two plates… normal for through hikers, I understand.

Sherlock arrived late, and went to bed immediately after dinner.  I was getting my pack together before bed, but trying to do so quietly and mostly in the dark.

3/28

Up at 5:20 and on the trail at 6:00.  The last of the storm’s rain fell on me between 6:15 and 9:00.  Once out of the howling wind, the poncho did a fine job.

The terrain was the easiest to date, more rolling hills with infrequent climbs than solid peaks and valleys.  I decided to press for Laurel Shelter to see if Stripe and the others were there.  It was all fun and games until the last mile and a half.  As I approached Laurel Falls, the terrain turned to stone, and the trail was all about scrambling and climbing up and down stone staircases.  It was spectacularly beautiful, though, and well worth the effort.

Finally, I climbed up to the shelter and found everyone there, with a bonus of Wonka and later Lucky Duck and Babbitt.  Lucky Duck hauled two cases of beer up the steep staircase to the shelter because he wanted to celebrate his birthday.  So we all drank beer and relaxed.  When it got dark, the under-30 crowd built a fire and kept partying, while the rest of us went to bed.  I could smell the fire and other kinds of smoke as the night wore on.

I bivy camped 50 yards away near a ledge with the river below.  It was beautiful, though the group joked about having to fish me out in the morning.

It was another marathon day, more than 26 miles.  Tired.

3/29

Stripe and I got up early and hiked into Hampton.  We found a little gas-station-turned-diner, and I ordered two complete breakfasts for myself: egg platter and pancake platter.  Cleaned both plates.

We stopped at the grocery to resupply, then hiked back to the trail, a total of four extra miles.

There were several big climbs through the day, leading us to Wautuga Dam and to a beach on Lake Wautuga.  We lunched at a picnic table on the lake, then started the climb to the shelter.  Te last four miles were tough, but we made it to Vandeventer Shelter before dark.  It was beautiful, but chilly, and we all went to bed early.  Bumblebee, Sherlock, and I were in the shelter, and Stripe and ’76 tented behind.  Babbitt arrived late and set up in the shelter as quietly as he could.

3/30

Up very early and dragged my stuff out of the shelter to pack a discrete distance from the sleeping hikers.  Ate a Power Bar breakfast on the move, and ran into Pidgeontoe.  He espoused the joy of Mozart piano while hiking.  While he was talking about that, ’76 arrived.  ’76 and I hiked together the rest of the day.  It was nice to have the company, and we tended to keep a similar pace.

Bumblebee caught up with us just before lunch, and we struggled to keep up with her to the next shelter where we ate.  Crap is she fast!  Stripe (also speedy) arrived while we were eating.  After lunch, we all made for Abington Gap Shelter.

Again, we ate.  There were two section hikers there who marveled at how through-hikers eat.  We all just kept pulling food out of our bags and devouring it, sometimes trading amongst ourselves, but mostly eating, diving back into the food bag to emerge with some new morsel to munch in seconds.  Once it was pointed out to us, we all laughed and reveled at the spectacle of culinary savagery we were creating.

Re-packed, Bumblebee, ’76, and I moved on, trying to get closer to Damascus.  With luck and some hard hiking, we could get breakfast in town the next morning.  We hiked until just befor needing flashlights, finding a good stealth camping area on the leeward side of the ridge.  The wind was howling, so we set up with that in mind.

3/31

’76 was up at 5:30 packing to get into town.  We were all on the trail by 6:40 and made great time on the down-hill slope into Damascus.  It took a while to find a place that was serving breakfast, but we found a café.  Each of us ordered two full breakfasts and various forms of caffeine.  Nothing remained after we tore into that pile of food.

Then we were off to check into the hostel and get cleaned up, write blogs, etc.