Date: 2004-03-24
From: little laurel mt. shelter

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

MAR. 24, 2004 WED. DAY 21 MILE 312                     hogback ridge shelter.left this morn. at 7:15 from little laurel mt. shelter. did 19 miles yesterday. pack feels heavy this morn. came across 3 gravestones on top of the mt. here. one says born 1855 died 1863. the story goes that two guys coming home from civil war were shot on the way home. their names were shelton and were brothers. n.c. infantry. met henry gavin age 61. has 28 acres down in the holler. wife is dead. he just took a walk up to this flint mt. shelter where i had stopped for lunch. he has emphysema. dr.s told him if he hiked once in a while it would strengthen his lungs so he hikes up the mt. here two or three times a week. henry told me a story about the shelton's. said the rebels came across the shelton's cabin. the youngest brother saw them coming and crowed like a rooster to warn the family in the cabin. but the rebs shot him and then went in and shot the rest of the family. he said this part of n.c. was union country. was surprised at that. also met pilgrim there. he is traveling with lulu. she is from rotterdam, holland i think. is a marathoner. has done over 36 marathons in 36 states here in the u.s. she will soon leave the trail to do a marathon in france. but she has developed vertigo just in the last few days. not good when you are climbing mts. out here. gave her some drugs. but makes her tired. pilgrim looks after her tho. she is fluent in five languages. french, dutch, italian,english, and german.   this was my longest day yet. feet and back hurting. did 21 miles today. got into shelter at 6:15 p.m.               MAR. 25 THURS. DAY 23 MILE 332         no business shelter. left hogback ridge shelter at 7:15 a.m. left ankle is sore today. hiking along with pilgrim and lulu. nice morn. sunny. stayed in shelter last nite with fireball,redbeard, haiku, and tell it like it is. she is from calgary. canada. just reached the summit of big bald and you can see for miles and miles in all directions. can see small villages, ski resorts from here. beautiful sight. came in to spivey creek gap. there is a forest serv person here. says i have to detour because they are burning on flattop mt. so am walking on black top right now. hope i am going the right direction. gave me a map but is hard to read. the lady said the detour adds about a mile to the trail but is easier walking. hope she is right cause i am ready for a rest. i did have a hard fall today. not an enjoyable day. hope to get into a hostel tomorrow.            MAR. 26. FRI. DAY 24 MILE 338.               miss janet's hostel. left no business shelter at 7:10 this morn. got into miss janets at 10 a.m. nice lady. she took me and sasquatch into johnson city to outfitter. bought a tarp and new gaiters. $170.oo seam sealed the tarp after we got back. tarp only weighs 14 oz. sent some stuff home tent, water bottle etc. had a burrito for super. when i fell yesterday i bent my trekking pole. arm got caught up and wrist is sore. old man falling apart. made 20 miles yesterday. one of the things that make it hazardous out here is the leaves are so thick you don't see the rocks on the trail. met crash test dummy named cause he is like i am falling all the time. he just fell up on the last mt. on a rock slide. scraped up a little. my tape recorder is not working very well. just coming into erwin, tn. need to do some laundry. and rest up. was walking up to cafe and of course every home here had porches. was two people on porch so stopped to visit. one of the old boys name was goldfish. he wanted to know my name so told him pa kettle. says oh yeah i know ma and pa kettle. they were drinking. they thought it was kind of strange that i would stop and visit and that i was friendly to them. they said you come back again some time. think they had a little different attitude about hikers now.            MAR. 27 SAT. MILE 355 DAY 25            left miss janets at 7 a.m goggles gave me a ride to the trail head. was going to stay for the big breakfast that miss janet cooks up for the hikers but was going to be 9 before it was ready and i was anxious to get going. were no showers last nite cause the faucets was broken. bummer!!   nice morn. as for miss janets she is a very nice lady and don't get me wrong the hostel is ok. but not really all that great. not what it was hyped up to be i guess. just another hostel. warm day today. up to 75 deg. you know so many things pop in my head while hiking. one of the things i am thinking about right now is motorcycles. if i could find a cycle dealer up the line i could buy one and ride it home from here. would like to own a harley before i die. and here i am 64 yrs. old. so could die any time. would be kind of neat . would like to buy a white ultra 2003 anniversary. strap this pack on the back and ride it back to iowa. lol. kind of crazy. but you only live once. i do have the money to do it but i am a tight old bastard. just met a couple with a dog out for the day. stopped for lunch on top of mt. place called judy's spot. elev 4800.               MAR. 28 SAT. DAY 26 MILE 355                     made 16 miles today staying at cherry gap shelter got in at 5 p.m. looks like rain. i set up my new shelter just to practice. pretty nice. use trekking poles for tent support. so all you have to carry is that little old tarp. hustler from co. made it in tonite. he does cross country ski marathons. told him about my doing ironman hawaii and now he is fired up and wants to train for that. stopped in clyde smith shelter for lunch. stopped in roan mt. shelter. looking for water. couldn't find so was going to leave. so was headed down blue blaze and found spring. so took pack off and got water. so went back go shelter to stay. not the best shelter but will stay any way. kind of cranky today. bad attitude. cold here tonite. getting burned out already. a a bunch of people just out for a week came in last nite and tromped all over the damn place stepping on my bag and other gear. no consideration. noisy and snoring. bad nite.               MAR. 29 MON. DAY 27 MILE 391            left at 7 a.m. 21 miles today. staying at a primitive campsite. nice site here just above a small river.two section hikers here, one without a tent and it is raining. set up my tarp. is windy but tarp is working ok. one of the campers is named don and is from clearwater fla. works for the salvation army. has two girls and a boy. his wife was with him for a few days. he will hike for another week. now about my day today. sun is shining today. up about 6000 ft. is ice on the trail. but is melting. fell a few times but nothing serious. wish i had crampons now.   rained all night and windy. was blowing the tarp around quite a bit so not much sleep. but did stay dry.            MAR. 30 TUES. DAY 28 MILE 408                     left camp about 6 a.m. had to pack up wet. no breakfast. put in a long day. got in to kincora hostel. took out tarp and hung it up on the porch to dry. lots of people in hostel. 12 of us. among the 12 are stiffie, haiku,walk on ,waterfall, heald and dog annie, hustler, gapper, defa vu,redbeard,pilgrim, and lulu. lulu still has vertigo. don came in later.bob peeples runs the place . only charges $5 for a stay. does it for a hobby. is a trail maintainer also. he took a bunch of us in to town for supplies and a meal. great guy.               MAR. 31 WED. DAY 29 MILE 426                     slack packed from lake wautaga back to kincora. easier that way. bob took us out. rained all last nite but dry now. there are six of us slack packing. hustler, deja vu, haiku, don, waterfall, and me. so we are back at hostel and visiting stiffie. have taken a liking to the kid. he is from west concord, mn. told his mom and dad about me and they think it is great that an older person is sort of looking after him i guess. says they always ask about me. says he is going to slow down a bit so maybe will see him again. well now bob is taking us back out to lake wautaga. is about noon. and we are back on the trail again. hope to get to vendeventer shelter tonite. is spitting rain and snow. just enough to make trail muddy. raining and snow mixed tonite and coming in the shelter. haiku and dave with me in shelter. we put up our tarps to try and keep out the snow. helped some but still got wet thru the night. put on all the clothes i had but i was still cold all nite. not good.               APR. 1, THURS. DAY 30 MILE 441                           packed up and got going early. bad day. worst of the whole hike. wet clear thru. rhododendron full of snow and when you walk thru it drops the snow down your neck. hate it.!! close to hypothermia.hitched a ride to damascus with big dave sluter and his buddy. they were drinking beer but made it in. they took me just outside damascus where the state line is. said he couldn't cross the line cause they have a warrant for his arrest there in damascus. pretty funny. had to walk a mile into town. went to mt. rogers outfitter and got mail drop. went to p.o. sent bounce box and sleeping bag to pearisburg. got a room at hikers inn. $20. nice place and nice to be able to dry off. also got a nice hot shower. it is a little cabin out in her back yard. went to the hostel at the church and saw some of my hiker friends. stiffie is there along with haiku.               APR. 2 FRI. DAY 31                  at hikers inn. suzanne took me out to trailhead and i slack packed back into damascus. was snowing up on the higher elev. after i got back she invited me and stiffie over to have dinner with her and a friend who also runs a hostel. she served indian cuisine. was different but good. stiffie really enjoyed it.         APR. 3, SAT. DAY 32 MILE 475                  left damascus at 8 a.m. stiffie and i had breakfast at country inn. not the best food. was an easy day. got to lost mt. shelter abut 3:15 is cold here. stiffie and shush in also. tape recorder not working damn it!!made 16 miles today.