Date: 2003-04-19
From: Kincora Hostel, Dennis Cove Road 

To: .5mi North of Vandeventer Shelter 
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: broken clouds

What a day! I don't know if it was my fault or not. I like to think it wasn't. I like to think Hotdog had some say in the matter too. Either way, somehow, some way, we blew our old daily mileage record out of the water today! We'd intended on 10 or so to the second shelter out, and maybe a few more if time and physical condition allowed. It was 1:30 when we got there, and we'd already had lunch, so we moved on. And on. And on. Why? I don't know, but I think a small part of it was the Great Water Search in the afternoon.The day started out well. I said goodbye to Fly, Smoothie, Sonic and Guana, who were 28 miles ahead of us and shooting for 22 into Damascus today. Their shuttle left at 7am. I hope to catch up to them, but time and distance might not be on my side since Sonic and Guana are leaving the trail on the 27th for several weeks. Since I was up so early, I started packing up, getting things ready to leave the hostel, and Hotdog did too. Both of us had decided to head north, and not do the 9-mile southbound. We were on the AT shortly after 8:30. It was beautiful, walking first within earshot of Laurel Fork, then within sight of it. We came to Laurel Falls and took some pictures. The falls were awesome! Had it been later in the day, I would've stayed for a longer break, but moved on instead. The trail follows the river, and part of the trail is a rock ledge with a rock wall on one side and the raging water on the other side. It was really cool.Next was the big climb of the day up to Pond Flats. This climb, at the top, is steeper going northbound than southbound, but neither Hotdog nor I felt it was too bad, and we were glad we hiked it northbound. I dislike steep descents more than steep ascents anyway, as the descents make my knees ache.After climbing and descending Pond Mountain, we had lunch on Watauga Lake. It was a nice sunny day, but not too hot. I took off my shoes and enjoyed the warm sunshine while eating lunch. We stopped in at the Watauga Dam Shelter, chatted with some section hikers, signed the register, and headed out, not knowing how far we'd go. We'd already done 11 miles and knew the next shelter was almost 7 more away. We figured we'd camp somewhere before then.The Watauga Dam was pretty cool, with great views, and once again, the cameras came out. After crossing the dam, and saying as many 'dam' things as we could get away with, we moved on. Shortly after, the decision to keep going, instead of set up camp around 3:30pm, started the snowball of miles and the Great Water Search. We knew the next water was 2.7 miles away. We also knew we'd done 12 or 13 miles already. We also knew there were a few short but steep climbs, followed by gradual climb to the shelter. We thought we'd hike to the spring, then set up camp soon after. Well, the climbs were tough, the sun was trying hard to overheat us, and our water was slowly disappearing. We did the only thing we could do. We kept going. It seemed to take forever before we reached the spring! Every sag or hollow we were coming to, I thought "Here. It has to be here." But I was wrong. Finally, up ahead, I saw packs and people, and knew we'd reached the water. To my surprise, ! it was Lite Shoe and two of her friends from home! They'd started 9 miles ahead of us, and we'd caught them! We found out one of her friends has a cold that's much worse than he thought and he wasn't feeling good at all. Hotdog and I sat down with them, cooked dinner, and purified some water. Then we all headed on, looking for camping or, in 1.7 miles, the shelter Hotdog and I didn't think we'd get to today.We got there. It wasn't quite full, but we wanted to tent, so we moved on, thinking we'd go a couple hundred yards set up camp. We ended up going about 0.5mi before we found something halfway decent. Maybe it's only a quarter decent, but I've slept on a slope before. Just not in a hole, like I am now. It's kinda cool here though, as we can see the edge of Watauga Lake, and part of the river. There are some town lights down there too.I feel fine after the long day, and actually, tomorrow's terrain, according to the elevation profile, looks easier than today's, with no major climbs and no steep ones either. A lot of people try to do the 32 miles from this shelter to Damascus, but I won't be doing that. If we made it in 2 more days, I'd be surprised, although Hotdog already mentioned that we could do "an easy 15 or so to the second shelter from here." Hmmm.... wonder where we'll end up tomorrow! Time, and miles, will tell!I saw something today on the trail that I didn't think I'd ever see--a hiking goat. Yes, goat. I was just starting one on of the steep climbs, and stopped to talk to a hiker going south. I heard panting behind him, and saw the hind end of what I thought was a dog. I looked around the tree to see the dog's face, and was quite surprised to see horns! I said "Wow! Your hiking partner?" "Yep. That's Buddy." So, I met Buddy, the hiking goat. I wonder if he can carry a pack, and how heavy of a pack. I might have to investigate this further... Hmmm...