Date: 2014-03-03
To: Brew ThruÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs First Day
Miles today: 0.0

Brew Thru¢s First DayPart one on the memories that stick-Forward: I fully intended to write about my entire adventure in 2012. But what happened was a surprise and a bit of a shock to me. Some of the events were too personal and unbelievable to relate to anyone. I tried to write a fictional story, telling the truth thru fiction, about a character hiking the Appalachian Trail but that did not work either. I froze. Maybe I will have a blander hike this year and be finally able to write it down. I hope not...and I doubt it. But there are a few stories from 2012 that I can tell-It was a warm spring day on the early morning on April 28, 2012 as I wound my way out of Damascus, VA. I was in snow a week before and the warmth now felt like a permanent welcome thing. But I still did not trust it and carried all my winter gear just in case.This true hiker town had been good to me. My bucket was full and heavy. As I followed the white blazes down the sidewalk my eyes said goodbye to each building I passed. There is always a reluctance to leave comfort into the unknown but the pull of that AT adventure is stronger. One more bend of civilization and I can see that I will travel next to a road out of town.In the parking lot of an outfitter/bike shop I see a man pull a large backpack out of the trunk of a car. As I slowly passed he gave his wife a hug and kiss¢¦then awkwardly shrugged into the backpack, stumbling a bit. I was past him now and couldn¢t see him as I made the left turn out of town.I can¢t say for sure if I was just curious, using my own power, or there was a outside tug towards this stranger. The plan is to play the observer and see what happens. But part of me already knew there is something interesting going on. About a quarter of a mile later the AT crossed the road and began to climb and the man finally caught up to me.¢This is harder than I thought it would be¢ he panted. He was already winded from the first short climb and so we sat and rested a bit. He is younger then I and comes from a background I can¢t imagine. He smelled of soap and shampoo. But there was energy inside him that his eyes reflect. We introduced ourselves. He called himself Brew Thru and he was planning a long section hike. His work was something having to do with beer. I could see this was his first day on the AT, ever. But besides his greenness there was the enthusiasm I remembered on my first day. I remembered how green I was too.He wanted to get to the first shelter north today. It sounded like a reasonable distance for me and I suggested we hike it together. I was in no hurry with the amount of weight I was carrying. He agreed and began to lead the way upward. (Always have the slower hiker lead if you want to hike together.)Out of every town and gap there is a long climb up and Damascus is no exception. The AT goes up a Mountain about 1000 feet. Brew Thru was struggling up that mountain. He kept apologizing for taking breaks but I didn¢t mind at all. His struggle was the same shock most new hikers experience on their first trail day. It was as if I was watching myself on my first day.It was a beautiful thing to watch and remember. Mixed in with the struggle was the excitement and the newness that I was seeing again thru his eyes. My first day up the falls on the approach trail seem a very long time ago to me. We came to an opening in the trees and we looked over the green canopy at the mountains around us.¢Wow¢ he said.As he took pictures I ate a snack and thought ¢wow indeed¢. These views have become common for me but as I looked now and watched the rolling waves of wind bend the tops of trees I was thinking there is something here I¢m not seeing. Something to large to see when you focus at a single spot.There are three things I can stare at and never get board. One is the waves rolling in at the beach, two is the dancing flames of fire, and strongest of all three is the high mountain views. Something inside of me connects with these things.I look over at Brew Thru and see he has the same stare¢¦eyes locked over the distance until the view becomes lost in a haze. There is a look on his face that I can identify because I feel it to. I¢ve looked from the tops of hundreds of buildings but it is not the same¢¦not even close. This makes the climb worth it.After a while we push on.We made better progress going down¢¦then slowly we began to climb again. Below us to the right we got glimpses of the Creeper Trail and the occasional bike zoomed by. The AT actually joins the Creeper in some places but not here.It was here that I ran into Longskirts for the first time as she was slacking southbound. She would become a good friend of mine in 2012 and we would hike together many times in the coming months. She recognized me from stories and I had to explain to Brew Thru about the notoriety from carrying the bucket.We continued upward. It is a fact that each hiking day the last mile is many times harder then you¢re first. Sometimes that last mile can feel like five. On the first day everything is multiple times harder.Brew Thru started to really struggle about two miles from the shelter. He was low on energy and enthusiasm. We took longer breaks more often. I tried to give encouragement and distract him with my rambling. For the most part this worked and we made slow progress. But his eyes became unfocussed while he struggled inwardly.He called his wife on one of our breaks and I heard him tell her it was the hardest thing he has ever done before I walked away to give him some privacy. We had just started the switchbacks on the final climb, maybe a little over a mile to go. I checked the guide and there is a campsite that we just passed.After his phone call we disused his options and he wanted to go on. The next hour was painful and slow going and then he quit. Brew sat on a log and said he could go no further. He just didn¢t have any energy left and we still had a climb ahead. I asked him what he wanted to do. We sat and talked for a while before I asked for his water bottle. I mixed a protein shake with a carnation instant breakfast for him and five minutes later Brew Thru was up and hiking again. We made it to the shelter twenty minutes later. I left him in the shelter to rest and went to fill our water bottles. I found Secrets and Shenanigans, two hikes I¢ve been leapfrogging with, filling their bottles at the spring. They decided to stay at the shelter with us.Brew Thru recovered and joined us at the campfire to eat and tell stories. Secrets shared a bottle with me that loosened my tongue. I told the story of the Swiss Machine¢¦a hiker who averaged more than thirty miles a day and probably broke many records without knowing it.I met the Swiss Machine while taking a lunch break, on trail, with Sipsey in Georgia. He came over a rise and floated down to us in long jumping strides like a gazelle. He spoke English with an accent similar to Arnold Schwarzenegger that I tried to imitate with lines like-¢I haz all the new hiker fashions.¢ ¢and-¢Thez are not mountains¢¦they haz trees on them.¢ Then I danced around the fire imitating the Machine¢s giant jumping stride and almost tripped over a log. This brought much laughter and a declaration by Secrets that I was cut off. We were joined by a Ridge Runner and another hiker, it became dark, and soon the party broke up. I asked Brew if he thought about continuing on. He was going to sleep on it. I told him he would be on his own. He nodded and thanked me for hiking with him saying he would have never made it without me. He gave me a small gift that I accepted and still have.In the morning as I passed by the shelter Brew Thru was still asleep. I think about that day and wonder what happened next for Brew Thru. I hope somewhere deep inside he found the strength to continue. When you take another step when you don¢t think you can it makes all the difference.