Date: 2004-04-10
From: Trail to Hurricane Campground (Tenting)

To: Massie Gap (Dave and Karin's Place)
Miles today: 16.2

Dave and Karin11PM - Dave and Karin'sI had over 16 mi to go today to meet my friend Dave by 4:30, so I got an early start. I was particularly concerned about being able to make it in time since I had to climb over 2000' to reach the first 5000' elevation of my hike. I would also be entering Grayson Highlands, famous for its wild ponies, but more recently for stranding thru-hikers in a snowstorm.In a few minutes (used ironically in a thru-hiker sense since it was an hour and 15 min) I met my first thru-hikers of the day, Hoss and Rocky, hurrying to reach town for a mail drop by 11. A third member of their group, Fozzy, would be along shortly, they said.Two hrs later as I was enjoying Trail Magic left by Wildcat (Thanks, Wildcat!), Fozzy walked out of the woods. It seems that he was so far behind not only because he didn't have a mail drop, but because he was concerned about a young lady they had been travelling with but hadn't seen for a couple of days, so he had waited a bit to see if she would catch up. He asked me to keep an eye out for her.So, for most of the day I wandered along, concerned about meeting my friend on time, about my 2000' climb, and about Dragon Slayer. I needn't have been.The 2000' climb was spread over many miles, so no part was any harder than the UPs and DOWNs I have been encountering at lower levels. So I reached the top of Pine Mtn pretty much on schedule, and no more tired than I would have been at that time of day anyway.The next mountain, Stone Mtn, is a bald that affords some spectacular views of the areas I will be walking in a week or so: Roan Mtn and the Humps, also balds. Unfortunately, the air was a bit hazy, so I could only see them as impressive grey lines on the horizon.Going down the other side of Stone Mtn another concern disappeared. There was a group of thru-hikers: Wicked Lobsta (with dog Buddy), Jangles, Adio, Hobo, and Dragon Slayer. It seems that she had tarried long at some place that appealed to her, and that by the time she got started again the mileage was too great to catch up. She even had plans to meet up with them, since they were all going to be off the Trail for the evening with access to cars. I was impressed, and walked on feeling good that that concern had been resolved so well.For the next couple of hours I hurried a little, since I had fallen behind my schedule to meet my friend (I had built an hour of slack time into that schedule, but interaction with hikers today was particularly heavy, since it is a weekend, and the Grayson Highlands area seems very popular with local hikers).9:30PM, 4/12 - DamascusI got to my meeting place only 10 minutes past the time we had set, and my friend was there waiting. I thought that that was pretty good for a time set up 3 days and 43 miles earlier. (Of course, this exquisite sense of time may have cut into some of my interaction with hikers because I felt a need to move on, or may have cost me a gorgeous view or spectacular photo because I didn't take the time to climb over a boulder or take a side trail.)My friend's name is Dave. He and I played lacrosse together for four years at Swarthmore College in the late 50s. We had not seen each other since then except for one incidental meeting a few years later. I of course remembered him as he was in his athletic college days.As he came across the field to meet me, I was wondering who this old gentleman was (It was only during my pondering the next day that I realized he was probably wondering the same thing. That's what expectations can do to one.). But as soon as we started talking it was less than a minute before I was talking to the Dave of old - his face and body may have changed, but his personality and way of talking were the same as they were decades ago. I have had this same experience with essentially all old friends I have met after a long interval. And with that transformation of perception (or expectation) conversation proceeds as if it were the continuation of a conversation that had been interrupted only 5 minutes ago. In five minutes we were in the car heading back to his summer place just across the border in NC. The conversation naturally turned to our classmates. S'more in the late 50s had fewer than 1000 students, and our class started with near its share of 250. It was almost totally a residential student body, with all residents eating in the same dining room, where people were seated in the order they came through the door. As a consequence everyone knew everyone else to some degree, especially in the same class, since they had probably sat at the same table with them at least a dozen times during their colege career.So, we had a full conversation on the way back to his place, with one person remembering a classmate, and the other adding something to that recollection, maybe along with some further information about what happened to that person after S'more.After a meandering trip through a hilly region of VA and NC, we reached Dave's summer home. We were met by Dave's wife, Karin, who is from Bavaria and has been a hiker all her life. We had much to share about the area I had just walked or was about to walk through.The house is at the top of a field on a farm high up on one of the 4000' 'hills' in the NW corner of NC. It is built in a very open style, particularly the living room which is glassed on the north, east and south sides. The view from that room is breathtaking (surpassing anything I have seen on the Trail except the view from Chestnut Knob) with high peaks visible in all three directions. Surrounded by such beauty, we ate and drank (I am proud to have successfully resisted the third beer this time) and talked well into the night, as you can tell by the timestamp at the beginning of this entry. The conversation continued to revolve around our classmates (more about that in tomorrow's entry), but also hit on hiking and the terrible events taking place in Iraq (kept to a minimum to keep the spirit of the talk positive).I have now stretched the reporting of this day over four days, so it is time to put it to bed.Milestone: Today I finished the fifth week of my hike. This is the last time I expect to report a milestone in this category.See you on down the Trail