Date: 2008-09-09
From: Paul C. Wolfe Shelter

To: Rustys Hard Time Hollow
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: heavy intensity rain

It is 1:00am. I was going to hold off and write this entry tomorrow but could not resist documenting this day while it is fresh in my mind. Right now I am in a tiny bunk house (aprox 8'x7') with Spoon and Cubby. Mango and Grettle chose to sleep outside under the stars. We are all at Rusty's Hard Time Hollow off of the Blue Ridge Parkway in central Virginia. Let me start from the beginning. We hiked 17 miles to get here from Paul C. Wolfe shelter. We walked down a private dirt road about 600 yards to Rusty's house. All along the way down the road / driveway there were signs on most of the trees (up to 50 signs). They said things like "Don't ask me where I had these signs made" and "I'm not your mother, clean up after yourself". As we got closer to the house we walked over 100's of aluminum cans that were crushed in to the drive way, they were just piled up and run over like they were dumped there. The main cabin itself is a structure that was built before the Civil War. There is a confederate flag flying from the right and the stars and stripes flying on the left. There are also a bunch of small barns and other old structures on the property. When we got close Rusty came out to greet us. Rusty is an older gentleman with a long white beard, circular glasses and a beaten yellow baseball cap that is covered in fishing hooks. He has a strong southern accent and was super friendly from the start. Rusty took us for a tour and welcomed us to anything and anywhere on the property. First he showed us the refrigerator... this was a small hut with a door of old hanging barn boards on a roller. Inside the hut there is a piped spring. The water is naturally flowing in to a 4'x4' square pit that is dug out. In the little pool of accumulated water is soda and beer floating. The spring water is naturally cold and keeps the canned drinks just the same. I grabbed a Keystone beer to enjoy on the rest of the tour. The next hut was a natural rain basin shower... literally, water is accumulated from the rain and there is simply a lever that allows it to flow from above in a controlled stream. The shower is behind a pile of barn board an! d fire wood and a sign that says "Naked People Zone" and "No Firearms Beyond This Point". There were several more huts that I will cover but we did not tour them until later. Rusty brought us to the screened in porch out front of the main cabin to relax and talk.Rusty has been taking in hikers for 26 years. He has only recently gotten limited electricity and has one old school telephone that he leaves off of the hook most of the time because he doesn't like the ring to bother him. His porch is full of hiker foods hanging in baskets from the ceiling and in baskets on the dirt floor and on the tables and chairs, the whole place is dedicated to thru hikers. Rusty considers himself to be as "back woods" as they come and enjoys the company of hikers because we live in similar conditions. The walls and ceilings of the entire cabin are covered 100% with photos of thru hikers dating all of the way back to the early 80's. I had my picture taken, signed it "Santana" and he stapled it to the 2008 section.We all got to talking about where we are from and where we are going etc. Somewhere along the line moonshine came up. I admitted that I was not familiar with moonshine as far as the laws against it or the appeal about it or anything really. Rusty asked us not to spread on the trail that he was sharing his moonshine with hikers but brought out a bottle that was brought to him from the back woods of Maine as well as a bottle from Tennessee. I was honored that he allowed me to sip on each of them. The bottle from Tennessee was something he was saving for a special day. It had not been opened since it was bottled (in a clear glass jar). He opened it for us and Spoon and I took the first sips. It actually wasn't that bad at all. I expected it to taste like fuel but it had a good flavor to it... in a really strong alcohol type of way. After the beer that I had been milking and a couple of sips of shine I was buzzed. We continued to talk about hiking and hikers and the trail and Appalachia, it was a great time.We asked about the cans out front and Rusty explained that was where he wanted them. He throws all of his cans out front and just drives over them and crushes them and allows them to become part of the scenery. Also there was an old fence post right in front of the screened porch. About 30 yds. out was a rock painted orange. Rusty explained that there is a challenge to hit an empty aluminum can off of the post and beyond the rock with a wiffle ball bat and he would give you a free pint of Ben & Jerry's if you could do so. We all tried for over 1 hr to hit cans with the bat beyond the rock. We collected every can from every barrel and hit each one several times trying to get them past that rock. No one succeeded. Rusty explained that there was a sweet spot to hit and it happened very rarely (only 3-4 times per year). Once all of the cans were mutilated we gave up. I took many swings myself but had more fun playing the exaggerated commentator for the rest of the crew.We went from moonshine and cans to... guns. Once again I mentioned that I had not been around to many guns in Massachusetts and sure enough moments later I was shooting clay pigeons with a shot gun. Rusty didn't have many shells left so we all got to take 5 shots each. This was the second time in my life shooting a gun. I hit 2 out of 5 pigeons, it was awesome! Then came the treat... Rusty allowed me to shoot his 357 Magnum revolver! I shot off a full 5 rounds. I was aiming at a water jug about 30 ft. away. I hit it once in the lower left side, water splashed out and the cap blew off of the jug. The Magnum was super powerful and my ears are literally still ringing from it at this moment. Shooting the guns was one of my favorite experiences ever! I saved one of my 357 shells for a future key chain or necklace.The fun did not stop there. I also played (and beat) Mango and Cubby in several games of ping pong. The table was in the main bunk house. Generally hikers stay in that bunk but currently there is a leak in the aluminum, roof.The final hut on the property is a small one far away from the rest. Rusty said it was his movie theater and welcomed us to a film. Evidently a previous hiker donated everything in the hut. There were two 21" tv's stacked on top of eachother and about 100 movies and dvd's to choose from. All of us including Rusty watched The Bank Job, I Am Legend and Kick The Bucket. Rusty has a contagious, hilarious laugh and we all had a blast.   ~Santana~ "by myself but not alone"