Date: 2004-04-01
From: Erwin, TN

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 120.9
Weather: light rain

3/26/04 - FridayA short, fruitful day. The shelter last night was only seven miles from Erwin, TN, so I hiked into town in the morning. First on the agenda was the grocery store, partly so I could resupply for the next few days, but mostly so I could eat a pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Then I went out for lunch, and had a huge burrito. Yes, my "hiker hunger" has struck. I knew it a few nights ago, when I was cooking dinner, and snacking on everything in sight while it cooked. For those who know how much I eat normally, just imagine what I'm like now!I'm not staying in town, but the hostel here is touted by all - Miss Janet's House. Everyone I told I wasn't staying there reacted with horror, but after staying at Standing Bear Farms, then in Hot Springs for two nights two days later, I just couldn't justify staying in town again after three and a half days. I did stop in at Miss Janet's - actually she ran into me at the supermarket and gave me a ride back - and used her house as a base to leave my pack so I could go to the library and check email, and out to lunch. She then gave me a ride back to the Trail, three miles away. What a nice person - if you have a chance, should you ever hike the Trail, stay here. If I'd known this was so close I wouldn't have stopped at Standing Bear Farm (though the live bluegrass was pretty good, I'll admit).The hike out of town was perfect - the Trail followed a raging creek for three miles, and because it was a humid 78 degrees out I took the chance for a quick dip. I'm the only one at the shelter tonight, since everyone else stopped in town, but since I'm only planning on a short day tomorrow, they may catch up with me. This will be my first night alone - proof that I'm hiking too quickly! I lit a small fire to keep the bugs away - today is the first time they've been annoying (biting). Spring is here in the South. I hope everyone up north is staying warm. Is there still snow there? Maybe there'll be another stream to swim in tomorrow, to beat the day's heat....3/27/04 - SaturdayThe shelter last night was full of mice! All night, I could hear them scurrying everywhere - over the rafters, across the floor, in the walls, across my head. I've heard one or two mice before, but this is the worst yet. We'll see when the next time I stay in a shelter is.Today I walked a nice twelve miles to the next shelter. Nice except I stubbed my toe again. Ouch. Tomorrow I have a long day planned, so I may hike on a few more miles this evening and camp, so I have less to hike tomorrow. For now I'm just hangoug out at the shelter in the come-and-go sun. Part of the time it's nice and sunny, then a chill breeze blows the clouds in and it feels like rain is imminent.The Southern Mountains(a distraction by Haiku - a sonnet)In southern mountain forests hikers roamAmongst the rhodedendron tunnel ways.For months we choose to make our tents our homes,And often go without a bath for days.The call from Springer sounds each year in spring,It brings us forth in droves upon the hills.We walk alone, or to each other clingWhen temperatures swing down to give us chills.Why do we make this trek into the north?Why pound our heels into a bloody mess?We see the land bloom forth for all it's worth,And turn from brown to green, in lusciousness.Why to the Trail do we our backpacks bring?To walk the southern mountains in the spring....I ended up hiking another four miles, starting at 5:30 and ending at 7:00. The walk was great - no hot sun at twilight, and the Trail seems more mellow. Of course, I was hoping I got to my chosen campsite before dark, and I made it, with enough time to set up my tarp in case it rains. It's a beautiful old orchard meadow, with gnarled trees scattered about the grass. This will make my walk easier tomorrow, and it still gave me a good rest today at the shelter, several hours to nap and eat. All in all a most pleasant day.3/28/04 - SundayA glorious day! Spring is quickly coming to the mountains. I woke this morning to songbirds, the woodpeckers are out en force (which means the bugs are active, which I can attest to), the trees are beginning to bud, and I saw my first wildflower in the mountains (the valleys have been flowering for weeks).Todays hike brought me over Roan Mountain, a big climb, and I was sweating in the heat. There used to be a huge luxury hotel at the top of the mountain. Since the hotel straddled the state line, there was a white line painted down the centre of the dining room, since drinking was legal in Tennessee, but not in North Carolina. Apparently a North Carolina sheriff waited in the dining room in case anyone carried their drink across the line! The hotel is gone now, for 100 years, and nothing is left but a few spare foundation stones.Roan High Knob Shelter is where I ate lunch. It's the highest shelter on the Trail, at 6,285', and is an enclosed log cabin with two stories. It was orginally built by the CCC as a residence for the fire warden who manned the firetower before it was taken down in 1940.On the way down the north face of Roan I passed...snow! After sweating up the south face it seemed ironic to find snow and ice here. The Trail followed an old forest road, so it was an easy down, and then it passed over a series of balds that reminded me of English moors - large open expanses of brown grass and bushes.I met up with Waterfall and Walk On, who have been ahead of me for weeks (I met them both on the first day of my hike, but they've been a day or two in front of me ever since). We hiked together to Overmountain Shelter, an old barn with a tremendous view. You can sleep in the loft of the barn, but half the downstairs wall has been removed, to provide sleeping with a view over the valleys and mountains in the distance. I took a lot of pictures of this shelter, so look forward to seeing a big red barn. Ah, the pleasures of a thru-hiker are so simple.3/29/04 - MondayThe morning began cold and foggy, the great view from the shelter gone in a blank wall of white. I hiked today with Walk On and Waterfall, and after climbing a steep bald right away from the shelter, we emerged above the fog and were treated to sunshine and views of the mountaintops poking through the clouds. The fog was on the east side of the mountains and clear on the west, and we could see banks of fog leaking through the valleys toward the west.The next three miles are my favourite of the Trail so far - the Roan Highlands. A gradual downhill led us over three miles of consecutive balds, all above the fog and all open expanses of brown grass and red bushes.We finally descended to the west - away from the fog - and left the Highlands. We crossed the notorious Route 19E, where locals have dumped their garbage all over the Trail in retaliation for the government taking away their land for the Trail's use. Other than the trash we didn't have any problems, but there have been malicious acts done there in the past.Between 19E and the next shelter are 18 miles of gentle trail. We stopped for lunch at a beautiful waterfall, a perfect lunch spot, with the sun glistening on the upper falls while the lower falls - and us - stayed in the shade.We finally got to the shelter after a twenty-six mile day, tired but in great spirits. We're all alone here tonight - well, alone except for one suicidal mouse who keeps charging my feet. Should make for an exciting evening.3/30/04 - TuesdayWe slept in this morning! Sleeping in meant until 7:30, and we didn't hit the Trail until 8. It was a quick six-mile hike in misting rain to Kincora Hostel, a wonderful log cabin with bunks, a living room, a kitchen, laundry, and shower - everything and more that a hiker could want.We hung out for a few hours, and Gapper, Heald, Deja Vu, Flashback, Hustler, Stiffarm, and Pa Kettle joined us, and we went out to town for Chinese buffet and groceries.Normally at Kincora Hostel you can volunteer for a day of trail work with Bob Peoples, the owner and a trail maintainer. Since the forecast for tomorrow is for rain, he didn't have any work planned. Oh well. He always has big projects planned for after Trail Days*, when he can get more than fifty people working, so maybe I'll try to come back for that, to give something back to the Trail.3/31/04 - WednesdayIt rained hard in the night, but we were all snug in our beds in the log cabin hostel. We woke early so Bob could give us a ride to Watauga Lake, nine miles north on the Trail. We then hiked south back to the hostel, where we had lunch, and met up with Redbeard, Tell It Like It Is, Pilgrim, and Lulu, who had arrived in the morning.After lunch, Pa Kettle and I (the only ones going on for now, as Stiffarm, Heald, Walk On, and Waterfall had hiked north earlier in the day) got a ride back to Watauga Lake and hiked north from where we'd hiked south this morning, so we didn't skip any Trail, just got a nice break in between. It began to rain, and then, as we gained elevation, it began to snow. The wind was blowing the snow steadily from one direction, so the left half of my beard was plastered white.The shelter which was our destination was facing into the wind, and the front half of the sleeping platform was white with snow. We rigged up our tarps over the front of the shelter, and settled down to cooking and staying warm, laying our sleeping bags sideways in the back of the shelter to stay out from where the snow had blown in. After half an hour Dave the section hiker arrived, so we shuffled our things around to give him room. Ahh, a cozy little shelter. At least now I can feel my fingers enough to write.All in all we've had good weather so far on the Trail (and by writing this now I'm jinxing it for sure) - only a few days of rain, and two "dangerous weather" days, one in the Smokies and one today. The weather report is for three to five inches of snow tonight, so we'll have to decide what to do in the morning. It's 33 miles to Damascus. I have 23 miles planned for tomorrow, but if it's miserable out I may try to hike all the way in, and dry/warm off in town. Of course, that will put me yet another day in front of people I know (I heard today that Wildcat, Captain Hook, and Dharma are two days behind). We'll see, we'll see. Decisions tomorrow.4/1/04 - ThursdayWow, what a day. I awoke to about four inches of snow, with more falling. By more I mean tiny ice particles, and by falling I mean blowing horizontally from the left constantly, so my beard developed ice encrustions, but only on one side. My initial plan was to go from shelter to shelter as I felt safe, so I headed out at 7:00.The first shelter was seven miles away. It was far dryer than where I'd stayed last night - it was facing away from the wind - and I felt good to go, though the snow had gotten as deep as seven inches along the way. I kept going another eight miles to the next shelter, still in deep snow, and got there around noon. Somehow I was walking three miles an hour through the deep snow! I ate most of my food, saving enough for a hot supper, and left after an hour and a hot meal and hot drink.Eventually the elevation got lower, and as it did the snow got shallower - though it was still snowing hard enough I couldn't take any pictures of the scenery. You could tell which way the wind was blowing because branches would have up to two inches of snow and ice caked onto them, but only on one thin edge, making entire bushes look out of focus because of the way they "shifted" to the left. The rhodedendron tunnels, so nice to walk through in good weather, because almost impassible as snow and ice bowed down the branches to block the Trail. I had to keep stopping and whacking them with my hiking poles to get enough snow off them so I could crawl underneath.I got to the third shelter after another eight miles at 3:45, and left there at 4:00, leaving me about three hours to walk ten miles into Damascus before dark. Dark being relative in this case, since the heavy fog and rain/snow/sleet made it like twilight all day. I decided to push on. Even though I was tired from twenty-three miles already, I got into town at 6:45, where it was merely raining, no snow in sight.The first thing I did was to claim a bunk at The Place, a hiker hostel in town, and then went to eat. Heald, Walk On, Waterfall, and Pa Kettle were here, having hitched in from a road crossing instead of walking in the snow, as well as Brer Rabbit and Shush, two hikers ahead of me, and Stiffarm, who got in this morning. After dinner (a big salad, a large pizza, a brownie sundae, and a cookie) we all watched a video, and then went back to The Place for bed. Which is where I'm going right now.*Trail Days, 14-16 May, is a huge hiker celebration held in Damascus, VA, with live music, food, gear vendors, a hiker parade, and talent show. Hikers come from wherever they are on the Trail to go to Trail Days.