Date: 2003-05-15
From: Overmountain Shelter

To: U.S. 19E
Miles today: 8.7

I woke up late this morning...had some trouble sleeping last night. I woke up at around 4:30 a.m. and listened to the radio for an hour...some classical music to try and lull me back to sleep. When I woke up again, it was after 8. There would be no way that I could put in a 20-miler...I was tired and not feeling great...low energy. Q had offered to give me a ride to Damascus with her parents, who were picking up her and Jonachi at 19E, just 8.7 miles from the shelter. I decided to take her up on the offer. It would mean that I'd be in town for five days, which, of course, is a dangerous thing...towns being the vortex that they are. I thought it would be good to give my body a little rest, though...my knees have been giving me some problems over the past few days. We started out at 11, and started climbing...we had a couple of good sized ups before we hit 5 miles of down. We continue to cross balds, today's being Little Hump Mountain and Hump Mountain. When you are cl!imbing a bald, you can see the ascent you still have ahead of you, whereas, when you are hiking a wooded mountain, the end of your ascent is not always clear. I haven't decided yet if one is better than the other...knowing what's left or not being able to ascertain that. I'll let you know...The views from the top of both mountains were amazing...more mountains in every direction. I just can't describe to you the feeling of being surrounded by all these mountains...sometimes breathtaking (literally), sometimes bringing me to tears with their beauty and majesty. I wish everyone reading could experience just one of these ascents to what feels like the top of the world. We stopped for a lunch break on the top of Hump Mountain, then continued on our way. We haven't encountered any other thru-hikers for two days...everyone is rushing to get to Damascus. We passed several section hikers going in the other direction, though, and have been meeting up with a group who are doing a short section north. The descent to the road was uneventful, and we sat for awhile till Q's parents arrived. Her Mom had food for us...apples, bananas, huge grapes and poptarts...Yum!! We left some of the fruit at the trailhead for a bit of magic. Then they took us to dinner at Pizza Hu!t...salad bar and pizza...more good stuff. We actually didn't finish it all, as we had ordered small pizzas, and they made us medium ones instead...said they didn't have any small pans. It felt strange to not clean up every bit of food! We continued on the road to Damascus. When we got into town, we saw Tapeworm and 4x4, a guy from MA and his dog, who's hiking with him. We gave him some of the pizza...he'd just hiked into town, and was very grateful for some food. We were told about a hostel called The Place, run by the Methodist church...Pops told me it only cost $4 to stay there, so I thought I'd check it out. Q and Jonachi and her parents were staying at a campground outside the town, and there was a camping area almost a mile out of town, "Tent City", where many people were staying. I prefer to stay closer to town, though, and I knew that Tent City would be fun, but crowded and noisy. I really wanted to get some rest. The Place seemed ideal. I grabbed a bunk !and settled in. Didn't really feel like doing much, so I took a shower and hit the hay. There would be time to see people tomorrow...