Date: 2009-05-09
From: Doll Flats

To: Damascus
Miles today: 3.0
Weather: light rain

In reply to a guestbook entry, yes yesterday was tough. Tougher than nails. Tougher than the first day of boot camp. Tougher than Duffy and Billy the Kid? I think not!Buy the way, we were still finding Snickers wrappers. Fewer now, but fresh, no mud on them. And we kept seeing long SKIDdding tracks in the mud. I mean really long, like 18" or 2 feet long. I kept expecting to see a big butt print in the mud, but no, just skid marks. Weird. Figured the dude must have wore all the tread off his shoes.Anyway, woke up at Doll Flats eventually, and coaxed our sore bodies into the cold, wet hiking clothes. Hadn't rained all night, but was a cloudy, windy morning. About 1/2 mile down the trail, we stopped and made coffee. I noticed my shoes, which had been steadily falling apart, were just about shot. The left one had blown completely out, and would soon need duct tape to hold it on my foot. Only 80 miles to Damascus, could I do it barefoot?We strode down the gentle coves and came into lower altitudes and higher temps. The leaves were out down this low, and reminded me of the Georgia section I hiked in '07. I could almost see my old partners, Needles and Pitstop trucking down the trail in front of me. Shed a tear for old times. Came out at Apple House Shelter, near Hwy19E, where an old man in denims was messing with a radio trying to get the weather forecast. He never got it, and we left with another hiker, Lucky, who was heading our way. In talking with him we learned he was an avid skier, and decided just to ski down the muddy mountain in his hiking boots rather than just walk down. Hence the long skid marks!! Duh!! We came out at the road, and another hiker had met his parents the day before and set out trail magic, a cooler full of sodas and ziplock bags of candy. Whoohoo! Nice start to our break from the trail. After the sugar extravaganza, we walked .3 down the highway to Mountain Harbour B&B/Hostel. Mountain Harbour is a beautiful house with a wide veranda sitting on a ridge. Down below is a barn with horses and goats, and above the barn is really classy wood paneled apartment with a loft that sleeps 4, a bedroom, kitchen, shower, dining/living area, and a way cool washtub stand. And a deck overlooking a mountain stream and horse pasture. Does it get any better? Actually yes. Hostess Mary told us there are white baskets for laundry, plenty of hot water, frozen pizza's for sale, free popcorn and 50 cent sodas. And rides to town or the local Steak House whenever you want. Nirvana! Hikers Goose and Chewy were just leaving, and Lula, a local Harley girl was cleaning up. Two rather disreputable looking hikers had food spread all over the floor and were taking their time sorting through it. I asked about the shower and one of the hikers, Sodfather, snapped "It's already been cleaned". LuLa shot him a dirty look and told me where the towels and shampoo and soap and razors and deoderant etc. was. Said she'd clean it as many times as necessary. She proceeded to sit and stare at the hikers on the floor, obviously willing them to leave. About this time Billy yelled, "The motherlode!!!" from the dining room table - he had found a stack of about 30 Snickers bars. "Those are OURS" snapped Sodfather, and him and his buddy Ninja scooped them up quickly. Another mystery solved. I was grumbling about my shoes falling apart and Lula said she had a pair of Nikes in the back someone had left. What are the odds they would fit? Like they were made for me! I still can't believe it. The best trail magic ever. Even Sodbuster was impressed, and gave me a little bottle of goldbond powder to put in them.   Later, we rode into town and ate hugely at Bob's Dairyland Restaurant, then went across the street to resupply. Billy yogi'd us a ride back to the hostel from a sweet old couple that were grocery shopping. When we got back, Bronco was there, and later his buddy Whynot came in. Then later an older guy, Terry, came in, and he proceeded to talk for the next 18 hours or so. Some younger hikers set up camp in the yard, got high, and used Terry for live entertainment. I thought he was annoying. Bear and Budz came in, Budz slinging down a huge military issue pack that must have weighed 15 lbs by itself. He is a strapping young lad, though, and didn't seem to mind. Later me and Billy bought a frozen pizza each and had it for supper.