Date: 2017-04-15
From: stealth site 

To: Boots Off Hostel
Miles today: 16.6
Weather: broken clouds

My most pressing objective is to reach Damascus by Monday, where I hope to meet Diane. She'll be driving from Hamilton, NJ that day and should enter town by late Monday evening. Trouble is Damascus is about 60 miles from my campsite. Also, I don't have enough food to make it there, so I will need to resupply today. It's going to be a busy day.I reach the Black Bear Resort by 11:30 a.m., a hostel about 0.4 miles off the AT. It has a store where I buy enough supplies for two more days. On the porch outside of the store, I take off my pack, lay done my poles, take off my boots, and sink my teeth into a microwaved cheeseburger. Yum yum. I polish of a Klondike bar. I chitchat with a few hikers entering and leaving the store. After resting for 30 minutes, I prepare to return to the trail. It's then I notice my poles are gone. Full panic ensues. There's no chance of hiking without them. On countless occasions they have restored my balance. I ask everyone in the vicinity if they noticed anyone taking my poles. No witnesses. I become resigned to the situation. I will need to buy a new pair at the nearest outfitters. Just as I arrive at this conclusion, a shuttle van pulls up in front of the store, and Ho Chi Minh jumps out holding my poles. (He got this trail name because of the hat he wears, a cymbal shaped cap famously worn by Vietmanese villagers.) At sight of the poles, my heart leaped for joy - my lost poles had been found.Restocked with goods and with poles restored, I return to the trail. The trail takes me through a deep chasm leading downwards to Laurel Falls. It is beautiful to see, and dozens of hikers have stopped to enjoy the view and feel its cool mist. A fast moving and deep stream flows from its base. I remove my boots and socks and soak my steaming feet in the cold waters. My feet are pleased and thank me profusely. I thank them for having gotten me this far and gently inform them they must still carry me over Pond Mountain. Pond Mountain: the person or people who decided the AT should go over this mountain are sadists. It's a 2.6 mile vertical wall, or so it seems. It takes me 2 hours to reach the summit. As soon as it reaches the top, the trail goes back down to the same elevation I started from. What is the point of this? To convince thru-hikers to go home.I go to the Boots Off hostel, rent an upper bunk, and take an outdoor shower. Water is piped into a tin wash basin with a dozen holes in it. I stand under the basin, and the water pours through the holes onto my head. It works like a charm.That night the Boots Off hostel surprises everyone with an Easter dinner of ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, salad, pecan pie, chips, and pizza. Over 15 of us eat from their buffet. I go back for seconds. I love this hostel and give them two thumbs up.The hostel also is a site of many reunions. I see Pogo again. And Hopalong, who I have not seen since Georgia. And LowTech, who I've not seen since Standing Bear Farm. I also meet Double Barrel, so named because he carries two massive bear canisters loaded with food. And there's Mama Bear who is thru-hiking with her 5 year old son Ezekiel.