Date: 2009-04-29
From: Lost Mtn. Shelter

To: Damascus (again)
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Last night I finally slept well. I woke up at 6am and put in my precious earplugs, then slept till 8am. When I woke up, a loud female from NY was complaining about Joe & Fran. She went to bed at 10pm; they were "in bed" at 7pm. I guess they must've woke her up early. Anyways, maybe its from three days of diarrhea, but I was able to button my shorts this morning. I also coughed up a bit of lung. ALL the flowers along the trail are coming into bloom: trillium, squawroot, mayflower, mayapple, columbine, bloodroot, so many more...The first two miles today were normal ups & downs. It was cloudy and humid. I didn't need the hat, but I was sweating like a faucet. The dreaded climb up to Whitetop didn't start till after the cow field. So it was really "only" three miles of harsh-up. I thought I was doing pretty well; my feet were ok and I even passed by some rocks and logs without stopping to sit on them. As soon as I reached the top, I heard thunder. Carap. It started to rain at 5400 feet. I stopped to put on the pack cover and raincoat. The coat was on less than five minutes when the rain stopped. My goal was just to make it the five miles up and I was doing well, so I figured I'd get to a lower altitude a.s.a.p. As I was going (mostly) down, I decided to try to make it to the road and get a ride back to Damascus or the nearest trail-town for several reasons. 1) I stunk after 4 days 2) I was damp everywhere 3) I wished for a flush toilet 4) I was hungry for pizza 5) I'm not 20 years old any more 6) spring water is too cold to wash your hair with. About one mile from the road, it started to pour. I debated whether quickly putting up the hammock or getting soaked and running for the road. I made a run for it. I needed a break between town stops. Joe & Fran were tented just before the road. There were about six guys sitting under the chickee waiting for the rain to stop. Of note, it was 12.2 miles from Lost Mtn. shelter to the next one (out of my league for now). I asked if anyone was going into town. They said no, but that guy just got into his car and pointed to a little white car with Tennessee plates. I went to the guy's fogged-up window - he motioned "one minute" because he was changing his pants. He was going right through Damascus! I gotta learn how to spell Halleluiah. I asked the guys if anyone wanted to go - nope. Now that I think about it, they were probably all there yesterday :0} I was whisked off to town in a nice warm car by a nice college kid from Knoxville. He had been taking pictures at Mt. Rogers. Thank You God! I checked into Dave's Place this time. He said they have mattresses on their bunks. They are the camping Therma-Rests, but I have two plus my own tonight, unless someone checks in late. I have to use a table to climb up onto the bed, it is so high. I met Crazy Horse at the outfitter - he had been at Cloud 9 in '07 when the Easter storm went through. He has some tales to tell! As a newbie I enjoyed listening to him tell of his - what - 10 thru-hikes. I'm not sure if he's hiking or just hanging around for Trail Days. Anyway, it was around 5pm when I got a shower. As I was putting my funky clothes into a laundry bag, I thought OMG, I put these on then went and sat next to people??? Maybe they smelled worse because they were wet? I got a footlong at Subway then rested on my three mattresses. My phone (T-Mobile) doesn't work in town. There is a guy up by the laundromat who lets hikers use his phone - I had to do Pocketmail there in '07. I'll do laundry and library tomorrow, stay another night and get a shuttle back to the trail Friday. The radio at Subway said more rain tomorrow and occassional showers Friday.Thankful for: wildflowers, warm cars and dry feet