Date: 2016-05-08
From: Vandeventer Shelter 

To: Double Springs Shelter
Miles today: 14.4
Weather: scattered clouds

Today, a very interesting thing happened to me... I was semi-kidnapped!. Every time the AT crosses a road, my hopes begin to rise, because roads are often the places where hikers encounter "trail magic", (food/drinks left by kind people known as "trail angels." So, I came to a road, and I saw a 1984 Volkswagen Vanagan, covered with the kinds of bumper stickers that you often see on trail angels cars. More promising still, there was a fellow exiting that vehicle wearing a t-shirt that said "Riff Raff" on it. Ah, even more promising, as Riff Raff is a club of trail angels. However, after I exchanged pleasantries with the Riff Raff owner of the Vanagan, he shouldered a backpack and began hiking along the AT. I incorrectly assumed he was doing a day hike. I continued along the AT and discovered that the AT can legitimately claim that part of it (the AT) is wheelchair accessible. Yep, it may be only half a mile, but I was walking along a half mile stretch of the AT that is wheelchair accessible. As I crested a hill, the roof of a party tent came into view, with lots of people seated in chairs, eating snacks and drinking beverages. It was some trail magic set up by Riff Raff for AT hikers. It turned out that this was both good news and bad news, all at the same time. As I approached their tent, a member of Riff Raff shouted out, "here comes an AT hiker. Let's make him feel welcome." One person helped me take off my backpack, and I was offered free beverages (both alcoholic, and nonalcoholic) and snacks, with a promise that free chili would soon be available. There was a HUGE group of AT hikers there. Some of them had been at the site for over 24 hours. They had arrived the night before, when Riff Raff first arrived at that place, gotten good and drunk, pitched their tents on the spot, spent the night, and were again very drunk the next day. I was given a string of green plastic beads to wear around my neck, and a rainbow colored plastic wristband that said Riff Raff on it. I was also handed a Bloody Mary, complete with a giant stalk of celery sticking out of it. The person who made my Bloody Mary also put in some horseradish...LOTS of horseradish. I have somewhat of a delicate stomach and I cannot tolerate spicy foods, so after just a few sips of my Bloody Mary, I had a violent hiccup attack, and had to set my drink aside. (If you find yourself in a crowd of serious drinkers, not finishing a drink is a SERIOUS offense.) On St. Patrick's Day, back in March, a few days after I first began my AT hike, I encountered some Trail Magic by a group of people who were camping out. These people were both hikers, and followers of a rock band called the Grateful Dead. At 10;30 AM, they were feeling no pain. Their slogan was "if your goal is to drink all day long, you need to get an early start." To their credit, they did not pressure us to stay longer than we wished to stay with them after we ate the free food they offered us. When trail angels set up trail magic, hikers sit around eating and chatting for no more than an hour at most, and then continue their hike. Riff Raff believes that the AT is a dual use hiking trail, with equal parts of both hiking and partying. They believe hikers should attend their trail magic events for a MINIMUM of 24 hours. We didn't know that when we accepted their hospitality. In the 1970's, a rock band called the Eagles put out a song called Hotel California. One of the lyrics to that song says "you can check out any time you want, but you can never leave." Every time a hiker attempted to resume their hike, everyone from Riff Raff would very loudly protest and put a very heavy guilt trip on the person trying to leave. If a hiker stays at a Riff Raff event for several days (this sometimes happens) it is not a problem. Riff Raff will then "yellow blaze" (transport them by car) to a spot on the AT where they can rejoin their friends I began to have very mixed feelings about Riff Raff. On one hand, they all pitch in large amounts of their own money to provide free food/beverages for hikers, and I am deeply grateful for that. However, I could have done without the guilt trip when I resumed my hike. I wish I had been the late poet laureate of the US, Robert Frost. I would have stood up, and in a scholarly voice proclaimed, "The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, but I have promises to keep. And miles to walk before I sleep." However, being a simple hiker, I, and three other people did the practical thing. We patiently waited for our opportunity, and when a large group of new victims (I mean hikers) arrived, and Riff Raff was busy welcoming them to their spider web, we jumped to our feet and snuck out of their camp.