Whose radio is going off as an alarm? That was the thought going through my head. Then the music got louder and louder and didn't turn off. I was so confused at what was going on. Then out of the corner of my eye I see some shadowy figures crossing the trail in front of the shelter. I realized it was DS, DM, SW, TW, and SB doing their 40 mile hike into Damascus. SB had hooked up his ipod to some speakers and had it playing for everyone as they hiked. They began their hike around 3 in the morning and made it to my shelter by 5:25. I got out of my sleeping bag and told DS and SW I would catch up with them later. They walked on, and I feel back asleep.
I woke up around 6:30 and started to get ready. That is when Akido Joe said Roughin It was not there. Without anyone hearing it, Roughin It had got up around 3 to hike 33 miles into Damascus. I had thought about that too, but felt I would probably only hike 23 to the last shelter before the town. I was the next to last to leave the shelter. For some reason, I take some time packing up.
It wasn't too long before I was passing the others from the shelter. I was setting a pretty good pace. The last one to pass was Scruggs. He was sitting on the side of the trail resting and eating lunch. It wasn't 500 yards pass him that something magical happened. I see a sign on a tree and a huge metal orange box...TRAIL MAGIC! It was from the kids at Nelson Chapel Baptist Church. Inside the box was soft drinks and oatmeal cream pies. I grabbed an RC Cola and two pies.
I soon crossed a road and the trail opened up. For the next mile or so the trail crossed through an open field. The old buildings and green green grass was perfect. I took some pics and moved on.
I made it to Double Springs Shelter around 2 and had lunch. I had 7 or so miles to go to the last shelter. I told myself that I was going to hike on to the city if the shelter was full. If not I would make a decision to hike on by 5 pm. I got to the shelter. The only person in the shelter was Missionary and soon after Boston showed up. I spoke with Missionary for about 30 minutes. He is a born again christian. It was cool to hear his story. He now is trying to get the word out about teenage pregnancy and fatherhood.
At 5:00, I decided I had the energy to make the last 10 miles into Damascus. I think at some points I was running down the trail. With four miles to go, I crossed into Virginia. That makes 3 states down and 11 to go. I made it into town right after 8. As I started to walk down the first road a lady came out of her house and asked if I saw a bear. I told her I had not. She responded with telling me the guy 4 minutes before me did. The guy in front of me was Scruggs. I spoke with the lady a little more. Her and her husband hiked the trail a few years back.
Not knowing where the rest of the crew was, I decided I would hike to the center of town and call someone. I saw Cowgirl's dog, Kelly, laying outside of a restaurant so I figured hikers would be there. I walked up to the window and in the first booth was everyone. I was glad to see them. Since all of us were in town, I hiked 33 in a day and the others hiked 40. We celebrated, but were also exhausted. We finished dinner and then went to a hostel ran by one of the local churches.
Not ready for bed, DM, SB, and I went to a bar and played darts.
The next day was a zero for all of us. In the morning I went and got coffee and had a huge breakfast. I also went to an outfitter to get my pack fixed and also my air mattress fixed. A buckle on my pack had broken a few days back. My mattress got a hole in it two days ago. The outfitter fixed both for free. The rest of the day was spent at the library uploading pictures and relaxing. All of us plus Roughin It and less SB went back to Quincy's again for dinner. I ate way to much. Skywalker also got hustled by a 10 year old at pool. The 10 year old was pretty funny and definitely talked the trash.
I got a chance to speak with my Young Life kids. As part of the skit, Dalton called me on a speaker phone. They would ask me questions. It was fun to hear from all of them.
Showing posts with label TN. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TN. Show all posts
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
April 18 and 19 - 15.6 / 412.8 and 17.8 / 430.6
April 18 -
Sorry, I have been a little slacker on my posts. Yesterday was a pretty lax day. I got going and again made good time off the bat. I leaped frogged Ranger Rick and Nut Ring (not their real trail names but names they have been given by other hikers), another thru hiker whose name I don't know, and Dragonfly. Dragonfly is an older lady who has section hiked about 600 miles already. She wants to finish the rest of the trail this year. She mentioned she has a hiking buddy, but he wasn't hiking with her yesterday due to resting an injury.
I also crossed another hundred miler mark. Yesterday was 400 miles. Just 0.5 of a mile later there was wooden bench on the trail looking out over a clearing. It was a pretty cool sight. Dark Star and Scruggs were both sitting there enjoying the view. I went on. However, it wasn't a short time later that they were already caught up. DS has one speed...fast. There are days I try to keep up with him. He is walking, and I am running.
We passed two guys out for the weekend and they told DS that the water source at the next shelter was not too good. Therefore, the three of us stopped at a creek crossing for lunch. Shortly after, Gilly and Speed Stick joined us. Scruggs was the first to head on, then DS, then myself followed by the other two.
It wasn't 30 minutes later that I heard a lot of leaves and branches make some noise. It was coming from higher up on the mountain from where I just came from. I knew it had to be a good size animal. I could there hear Gilly and SS, but I could not understand what they were saying so I moved on. At almost 410 miles, I could see a clearing and a field. In the field was Scruggs and DS. Scruggs was playing his banjo. It was a pretty cool pic through the trees. I joined them and then SS and Gilly showed up. We all noticed Gilly was in some pain and had some good abrasions on her leg. I instantly knew the noise I had heard earlier was not an animal. It was from Gilly tripping on the trail and falling into some brush. She recounted her story to us. DS said she should be called Tumble, and I shouted Tumble Weed. So Gilly now has the trail name of Tumble Weed. We laughed, sat for awhile and then headed on to Kincora, the hostel owned by Bob Peoples.
An old barn provided for picture time right before the road to the hostel. We got to the road and walked the 0.2 miles to the hostel. It was pretty packed. There used to be another one the other direction, but it closed this year. At 6, we all piled into Bob's truck for a shuttle into two. It think there were 16 of us. I mainly went for dinner whiched ended up being Little Ceaser's Hot n Ready. One large pep pizza, bread sticks, and a 2 litter Dr. Pepper. I split the drink and sticks with TW. I also ran in to the IGA grocery and bought chocolate milk, two apples, some drink mixes, and cotton candy. Then back to the hostel we went.
DM, SB, and SW were walking up as we pulled in the drive way. All of us stayed at the hostel in addition to Beef Stick, Donner, Akido Joe, Frankie the Sleeper, Roughin It, and Scruggs.
April 19 -
This morning I woke up to Walking Man (there are two of them) and Frankie the Sleeper. Supposedly, FS was making too much noise for WM. Whatever happened got blown out of proportion. Out of the 7 of us, I was the first to leave. The first three miles were amazing. The trail followed a gorge. I definitely plan on coming back here some time to camp. After the gorge was a climb over a mountain and then down to Watuga Lake. Donner was ahead of me and Scruggs and Roughin It were shortly behind. I had a snack and pushed on.
The next few miles were just up and downs, but by the time I got to the shelter 17 in, my feet were killing me. I stopped to refill my water. The water source was terrible. It was a walk way down into a ravine. I got back to the shelter and started to contemplate the next 7 miles. I wanted to do 25ish today and 25ish tomorrow. That would get me into Damascus by the evening. Now I might we looking at a 33 or stopping 11 miles short and rolling in the next day.
DS, DM, SB, SW, and TW all stopped at the lake. They are going to get up in the early morning hours to try and do 40 into Damascus. I just have no desire to do that. I don't like being separated, but I have to remember to hike my own hike. If it comes down to it, I'll just have to catch them in a few days. I might also hike with Roughin It, Frankie, Akido Joe, and Donner (those at the shelter tonight) for a few days just to get to know them better. SS is meeting his parents on Friday so he too is in no rush to get into town. I'll keep yall posted on if they make the 40 miles. It would be quite an accomplishment.
Until then, have a good evening!
Sorry, I have been a little slacker on my posts. Yesterday was a pretty lax day. I got going and again made good time off the bat. I leaped frogged Ranger Rick and Nut Ring (not their real trail names but names they have been given by other hikers), another thru hiker whose name I don't know, and Dragonfly. Dragonfly is an older lady who has section hiked about 600 miles already. She wants to finish the rest of the trail this year. She mentioned she has a hiking buddy, but he wasn't hiking with her yesterday due to resting an injury.
I also crossed another hundred miler mark. Yesterday was 400 miles. Just 0.5 of a mile later there was wooden bench on the trail looking out over a clearing. It was a pretty cool sight. Dark Star and Scruggs were both sitting there enjoying the view. I went on. However, it wasn't a short time later that they were already caught up. DS has one speed...fast. There are days I try to keep up with him. He is walking, and I am running.
We passed two guys out for the weekend and they told DS that the water source at the next shelter was not too good. Therefore, the three of us stopped at a creek crossing for lunch. Shortly after, Gilly and Speed Stick joined us. Scruggs was the first to head on, then DS, then myself followed by the other two.
It wasn't 30 minutes later that I heard a lot of leaves and branches make some noise. It was coming from higher up on the mountain from where I just came from. I knew it had to be a good size animal. I could there hear Gilly and SS, but I could not understand what they were saying so I moved on. At almost 410 miles, I could see a clearing and a field. In the field was Scruggs and DS. Scruggs was playing his banjo. It was a pretty cool pic through the trees. I joined them and then SS and Gilly showed up. We all noticed Gilly was in some pain and had some good abrasions on her leg. I instantly knew the noise I had heard earlier was not an animal. It was from Gilly tripping on the trail and falling into some brush. She recounted her story to us. DS said she should be called Tumble, and I shouted Tumble Weed. So Gilly now has the trail name of Tumble Weed. We laughed, sat for awhile and then headed on to Kincora, the hostel owned by Bob Peoples.
An old barn provided for picture time right before the road to the hostel. We got to the road and walked the 0.2 miles to the hostel. It was pretty packed. There used to be another one the other direction, but it closed this year. At 6, we all piled into Bob's truck for a shuttle into two. It think there were 16 of us. I mainly went for dinner whiched ended up being Little Ceaser's Hot n Ready. One large pep pizza, bread sticks, and a 2 litter Dr. Pepper. I split the drink and sticks with TW. I also ran in to the IGA grocery and bought chocolate milk, two apples, some drink mixes, and cotton candy. Then back to the hostel we went.
DM, SB, and SW were walking up as we pulled in the drive way. All of us stayed at the hostel in addition to Beef Stick, Donner, Akido Joe, Frankie the Sleeper, Roughin It, and Scruggs.
April 19 -
This morning I woke up to Walking Man (there are two of them) and Frankie the Sleeper. Supposedly, FS was making too much noise for WM. Whatever happened got blown out of proportion. Out of the 7 of us, I was the first to leave. The first three miles were amazing. The trail followed a gorge. I definitely plan on coming back here some time to camp. After the gorge was a climb over a mountain and then down to Watuga Lake. Donner was ahead of me and Scruggs and Roughin It were shortly behind. I had a snack and pushed on.
The next few miles were just up and downs, but by the time I got to the shelter 17 in, my feet were killing me. I stopped to refill my water. The water source was terrible. It was a walk way down into a ravine. I got back to the shelter and started to contemplate the next 7 miles. I wanted to do 25ish today and 25ish tomorrow. That would get me into Damascus by the evening. Now I might we looking at a 33 or stopping 11 miles short and rolling in the next day.
DS, DM, SB, SW, and TW all stopped at the lake. They are going to get up in the early morning hours to try and do 40 into Damascus. I just have no desire to do that. I don't like being separated, but I have to remember to hike my own hike. If it comes down to it, I'll just have to catch them in a few days. I might also hike with Roughin It, Frankie, Akido Joe, and Donner (those at the shelter tonight) for a few days just to get to know them better. SS is meeting his parents on Friday so he too is in no rush to get into town. I'll keep yall posted on if they make the 40 miles. It would be quite an accomplishment.
Until then, have a good evening!
Sunday, April 18, 2010
April 17 - 18 / 397.2 miles
"Rain rain on my face"...That is what I woke up to yesterday. We were sleeping upstairs in the shelter when it started raining some time in the early morning hours. I didn't know what it was at first cause it was more of a mist being blown in by the wind. Once the rain got heavier, I had to move locations to keep from getting too wet. A down sleeping bag isn't the best thing. By the time we got up and moving, the heavier rain quit and turned into a cold haze.
The morning started off with a climb over Little Hump and Hump Mtns. I felt like I was in Scotland with the wind and haze, and I have never even been there. The wind got so strong at some points that I thought I was going to get blown over. I wish the weather would have been clear so we could have seen good views from the Humps.
Even with the weather being bad, we hiked the first 9 miles in 3 hours to US 19E to Roan Mountain, TN. At the road crossing we met Cedar Tree who supposedly created the Packa. It is a rain jacket that goes over the hiker and your pack. I also got some trail magic which consisted of a Sprite. It was actually from a friend of Door Mouse and Dirt Stew.
As Gilly and I waited for a hitch, a car drove by honking. That is when we noticed Dark Star and Skywalker were in the back. What the heck? Why didn't the stop? We ended up getting a hitch from a 2004 thru hiker who now works at App. State. He was in the area for a work picnic. He took us to a convenient store to resupply. DS and Sky were already there. The store was terrible and had a very limited selection.
After the resupply, the four of us went and got lunch. For me, it was a fried bologna sandwich and fries covered in cheese and bbq. It was pretty good. We headed back, via a hitch from John and Nelda Valentine, to the trail and found Speed Stick (formally Super Mike) at the trail head. He joined up with us, and we hiked on. We had great views of a valley and took some pics of a from on a blade of grass.
Later in the day we arrived at Jones Falls. DS and Skywalker decided to climb to the top. Speed Stick and I had hiked on so I didn't get to see it. I was able to have a great conversation with SS. The two of us met Rick, Renee, and Bev. They were just out for the weekend. Rick gave us an orange which the two of us split at dinner and some peanuts. He was a pretty funny guy, and he kept calling me Bowtox and telling me the trail keeps me young.
For the night we stopped at Mountaineer Shelter. The shelter was a fairly new shelter which was built by Bob Peoples and the Hardcore volunteers. Every year there is trail days in Demascus. It is a gather of hikers with talent shows, stuff to buy from companies, a parade, etc. Bob takes a group of 100 volunteers for the two days following to perform trail maintenance. They are able to build shelters or reroute the trail in a matter of hours. Bob is a great guy and all about the trail. The shelter was really cool and actually three stories. Word has it that the third story started out and the leftover wood in the rafters. As people started sleeping on the wood, Bob went back and nailed down the wood to make it permanent. All of us, less DM and SB, camped in out tents. The other two camped a little south on the trail. They ended up catching up to us tonight.
The morning started off with a climb over Little Hump and Hump Mtns. I felt like I was in Scotland with the wind and haze, and I have never even been there. The wind got so strong at some points that I thought I was going to get blown over. I wish the weather would have been clear so we could have seen good views from the Humps.
Even with the weather being bad, we hiked the first 9 miles in 3 hours to US 19E to Roan Mountain, TN. At the road crossing we met Cedar Tree who supposedly created the Packa. It is a rain jacket that goes over the hiker and your pack. I also got some trail magic which consisted of a Sprite. It was actually from a friend of Door Mouse and Dirt Stew.
As Gilly and I waited for a hitch, a car drove by honking. That is when we noticed Dark Star and Skywalker were in the back. What the heck? Why didn't the stop? We ended up getting a hitch from a 2004 thru hiker who now works at App. State. He was in the area for a work picnic. He took us to a convenient store to resupply. DS and Sky were already there. The store was terrible and had a very limited selection.
After the resupply, the four of us went and got lunch. For me, it was a fried bologna sandwich and fries covered in cheese and bbq. It was pretty good. We headed back, via a hitch from John and Nelda Valentine, to the trail and found Speed Stick (formally Super Mike) at the trail head. He joined up with us, and we hiked on. We had great views of a valley and took some pics of a from on a blade of grass.
Later in the day we arrived at Jones Falls. DS and Skywalker decided to climb to the top. Speed Stick and I had hiked on so I didn't get to see it. I was able to have a great conversation with SS. The two of us met Rick, Renee, and Bev. They were just out for the weekend. Rick gave us an orange which the two of us split at dinner and some peanuts. He was a pretty funny guy, and he kept calling me Bowtox and telling me the trail keeps me young.
For the night we stopped at Mountaineer Shelter. The shelter was a fairly new shelter which was built by Bob Peoples and the Hardcore volunteers. Every year there is trail days in Demascus. It is a gather of hikers with talent shows, stuff to buy from companies, a parade, etc. Bob takes a group of 100 volunteers for the two days following to perform trail maintenance. They are able to build shelters or reroute the trail in a matter of hours. Bob is a great guy and all about the trail. The shelter was really cool and actually three stories. Word has it that the third story started out and the leftover wood in the rafters. As people started sleeping on the wood, Bob went back and nailed down the wood to make it permanent. All of us, less DM and SB, camped in out tents. The other two camped a little south on the trail. They ended up catching up to us tonight.
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