Date: 2020-06-28
From: Dennis Cove Rd (Kincora)

To: Vandeventer Shelter
Miles today: 17.7
Weather: overcast clouds

I had more time this morning to get to know the trail-famous Bob Peoples, owner of Kincora hostel and one of the most influential trail builders since Myron Avery built the original trail in the 1930s.At 77 he's still an active hiker, having recently hiked along the upper Nile in Egypt (mostly desert), the ancient road from Istanbul to Troy (now desert as well), the Jesus Trail in Israel, and the original route from Marathon to Athens (historically disappointing). If the year had gone as planned he'd be hiking in Scotland right now.Bob is known for mobilizing recruits for trail projects. He goes into local colleges that require community service to get maintainers involved. He also runs the Hard Core crew that mobilizes 100 hikers from Trail Days every May to build trail, shelters, and bridges.Special AT license plate donations secure funding for trail clubs in Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia. But the ATC controls it. The clubs must apply for grants from their dedicated funds. And the ATC is a rather profligate spender. They recently gave the forest service $35,000 to build a bridge over a creek. Bob's Tennessee club did it for $6,000. It's a similar cost to build a shelter. Because all the labor is volunteer. Trail maintenance is a learning process. The forest service, for instance, built shelters in the 1960s facing the water source, which was typically downhill. That was also where the wind usually swept in from, often dumping snow on the sleeping platform. Now the standard is to face east, out of prevailing winds and into the morning sun. In fact the trail clubs don't share best practices and new ideas very well, something Bob's trying to improve and which is one of the ATC's core responsibilities it has long neglected in favor of political priorities. Simple ideas like applying anti-graphitti varnish to shelters, or wire to strengthen bridge spans, are used by one club but unknown to others. The Tennessee trail club, a private outfit associated with Eastman Chemical, is blessed with many retired PhDs to improve their structural designs. But due to environmental and other impact studies it takes 3 years just to replace a shelter, even in the exact same footprint. Some shelters remain where they are only because they would never get approval to relocate or improve them, particularly in Wilderness areas. This gives me a new appreciation for the occasional odd placement of shelters.Most of the Tennessee trail club section was roadwalks when Earl Schaffer completed the first thruhike in 1948. From six miles off-road it's grown to 150 thanks to land acquisitions and trail building. Early acquisitions in Tennessee were by eminent domain which infuriated the local farmers and created a tradition of hostility to the trail in some quarters. More recently they've been purchased with leasebacks so families can keep using the land outside the trail corridor.Bob grew up in a poor Boston neighborhood, of Scottish background. He didn't see an animal "bigger than a wharf rat" until a school program introduced him to forest ecology like beaver dams. He'd like the ATC to concentrate on school programs to educate and involve the next generation, rather than fanciful marketing campaigns like the Wild East created by someone who's never hiked the trail.He was in the military working on aircraft engines and began hiking to have time to himself. In Vermont he joined the Green Mountain Club. When his kids graduated he and his wife drove down every back road crossing the trail in the south looking for a property to build a hostel. That hostel, Kincora, named for the castle of Brian Boru who tried to unite the Scottish and Irish people, is full of thousands of photos on the walls and ceilings from hikers for every year since 1997.For his trail building efforts Bob was inducted into the AT hall of fame in 2018. Bob Peoples is so famous for his prodigious efforts he's the Chuck Norris of the AT. Legends abound. Bob Peoples doesn't get blisters, he gives his boots blisters! Bob Peoples doesn't get his permits checked, he checks the rangers' permits! Bob Peoples doesn't hang his food bag, the bears hang it for him!If all the bureaucrats, lobbyists, and grant writers at the ATC were more like Bob Peoples and just got stuff done instead of trying to make themselves look good, the AT would be far better off. We got a late start after resupplying at Dollar General with Bob's help, and hiked to Laurel Falls. After weeks of rain it was brown with runoff and flowing high. The trail afterwards snaked around a sheer rock wall on a narrow ledge next to some rapids before climbing over Pond Mountain.I ran into Sunkist again on the way up. Her husband fishes while she hikes, and meets her at road crossings. Good way to reconcile divergent interests.It was a wet day. It rained heavily early in the morning, then showered on us as we climbed. Mist, and the wind whipping drops off trees, kept us from drying out. It's supposed to be like this for several more days.Lunch was at a small beach on Watauga Lake. I took a dip, the sun came out, and I started to dry my socks and poncho. Families were picnicking and kids swimming. Then came some thunder in the distance. Within minutes a stiff wind blew through, and a light rain quickly became a massive downpour. We hurriedly packed up, threw on raingear and marched out. Those dry-ish socks lasted about 3 seconds in the river that was now the trail around Watauga Lake. The shower lasted maybe twenty minutes but it was enough. Drips, mist, and wet vegetation ensured there'd be no drying out. At Watauga Dam the rain started up again and subsided. Then at Wilson Gap I expected to start an easy six mile ridge walk to the shelter. But I glanced at the map and found a 1200 foot climb instead. Not two minutes later a rising white noise started. Was it just wind, coming to knock more drops on my head? Or a rising clatter of rain? Or, hopefully, a nearing waterfall? Well, the last was pure wishful thinking. I stopped under a rhododendron to assess how strong the rain would be and whether it was a passing shower. The answers: strong and getting stronger, and no! So back on with the poncho for the fifth time today and off I trod into a furious shower. It was more like someone pouring pail after pail of water on me than a shower, really. Enough to soak me even with the poncho.The trail continued upward and it seemed never to end, even when I'd supposedly reached the ridge. A group of dayhikers passed going south, looking rather unhappy. When I finally reached the shelter Sunshine told me they'd started from the picnic area and accidentally followed the AT up onto the ridge instead of a trail around the lake. They had nine miles to backtrack and were clearly not prepared for thundershowers.Everything feels damp, even my nominally dry sleeping bag and clothes. The NOAA weather forecast was laughable. It called for 60% chance of showers and up to a quarter inch of rain, despite a massive front hanging over us. With the strong winds that blew multiple storm clouds through so quickly it must be a thousand miles wide! Hard to miss on a weather map. If meteorologists had been around in Biblical times they would have told Noah "cloudy with a chance of showers" right before the 40 days' flood. More of the same tomorrow, if the forecast is to be believed. Should be in Damascus the day after. I would really like some dry clothes.