Date: 2015-05-10
From: stealth site by stream

To: damascus!
Miles today: 22.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Slept well again last night. I do wake up every time I turn, but I get a lot of sleep out here. Usually like 10 or 11 hours a night. I don't know how I will adjust to normal life again! I woke up today feeling great because it is Mothers Day. I have three wonderful kids and I thought about them and my Mom and my Mother in law, kind of whistling while I walked. Within a mile or two, the trail went through a gate into a privately owned pasture. It was so beautiful in the early morning, the sun just up. I passed several tents and then a hammock next to several coolers. A voice called out from the hammock- hey- want some food? At first I didn't know where the voice was coming from and I jumped. Then a guy gets out of the hammock and introduces himself as 2010 thru hiker Superman. He was the early arrival of a gang called the Riff Raff Club, and they were here to camp, 20 miles out of Damascus, in the week leading up to Trail Days. Trail Days is the big hiker event attended by thousands of hikers and Trail-ebrities. I am crowd avoidant so I won't be coming back for that, but almost everyone I have met is, and actually, it sounds like a lot of fun! Anyhoo- Superman offered up a variety of calorie dense goodies then asked if we want Bloody Mary's. Sure! It's 8am, perfect time for a Bloody Mary! He apologized because the guy with the celery had not arrived yet. He told us funny stories about his hike, like the night the whole crew decided to hike at night, each carrying a 12 pack, and nobody was allowed to use headlamps. They were allowed to flick the bick if they got into a moonlight hidden rhododendron tunnel. When the guy in front of the line finished his beer, he had to go to the back of the line- all night- until the 12 beers each were drunk. It was a hilarious night of unfortunate face plants and nearly cracked ribs. Testosterone is a wonderful thing. Soon his friend Deadhead woke up and joined in the conversation. We thanked our entertaining trail Angela then headed out. I had to walk through a field of what looked suspiciously like bulls- but maybe they were cows. I crossed a fence and hiked through beautiful woods and eventually came out at Low Gap. Set up at low Gap was Miss Jenny. She was doing a Mother's Day trail magic in memory of her mother, Miss Judy. She had hot dogs- chili, rice crispy treats, Gatorade and more. She had red hair, the picture of her Mom showed a lady with red hair, and her son and daughter with her had red hair. Having two red headed daughters myself- I love redheads! I asked about her Mom and she said she had been an avid outdoors woman. She was a flat water canoe racer. She wanted to honor her mom, but she wanted to do something other than going to the cemetery and dwelling on the loss. So she decided to do this trail magic and share the love in memory of her Mother. While we were sitting there munching away, a car pulls up and two guys with t-shirts that said Riff-Raff got out. They said they were heading up the road to do trail magic and asked who wanted a beer. I took one, D.No took one, and Miss Jenny's husband took one. We told them we had bloody Mary's with their friends earlier and he said he was bringing the celery for that. We all laughed and they drove away. I heard Miss Jenny's husband telling a hiker, in that mock exasperation tone unique to men married a long time to a woman they adore, "yeah-it's Mothers Day and this is what she wanted to do" I gave him my beer before I left, thinking he might need it more than I did and he was happy.We had gone 8.9 miles by this point and I made the decision to try to hike all the way to Damascus, another 13.2 miles. The big Mother of them all, Mother Nature, gave us a beautiful day and an easy trail. I stopped for a shoes off break at an old delapadated shelter at mile 457.4- then after that I didn't stop at all for the remaining 11.6 miles, except to have my picture taken at the Virginia Tennessee border sign. By the time I got to the lawn of the hostel- I could not take one more step. I sat on the lawn and Woodchuck came up and asked if he could help me. I told him I had a reservation. It was for the next night, but he had a bed for me. I dragged my sorry self in the house. Ordered chicken parm and a salad to be delivered, took a nice shower and hobbled back downstairs. My feet throbbed all night and I had two blisters. Was it worth it? I'll know in the morning. Congrats to my son, Gage, who got a promotion and an office at his job. Congrats to my daughter Mackenzie for finishing her first year at FSU. Congrats to my daughter Zoe on her daring new haircut and on Starting high school after the summer! Happy Mother's Day to my wonderful Mom and my wonderful MIL, Pat. I'm so lucky to have all of you!