Date: 2014-04-16
From: Damascus!!!

To: Lost Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

DamascusOy! That last entry had some pretty entertaining typos, eh? I was just retreading it and laughed myself silly with embarrassment at the one that was supposed to read "shut eye," in particular. Oh well. Too late to change it now. My time in Damascus was terrific. The town is small, quaint and hiker-friendly. It's about 3 streets wide and everything needed is within walking distance. Perfect. When I walked in off the mountain I was exhausted and still covered in snow. As I trudged the last 100 yards to the local outfitter I was suddenly surrounded by a group of friends who had gotten to town ahead of me (I walk slow). The first thing Seminole did was to reach up and brush clumps of snow off the top of my pack, my hat and the front of my rain jacket. Then I got "welcome home" hugs all around. Nobody's hike in to town had been much of a picnic because of the weather and nobody was trying to press on out of town that night. The only problem with that was that almost all the housing was full up. I tried three places and was turned away before finding a spot at The Place, hosted by the local United Methodist Church. I love Methodists. I walked in and was greeted with the 10 commandments. Not the ones you might be familiar with. These read a little differently: "thou shall not smoke or consume alcohol upon the property." The proprietor was a good fellow, but talky. It took him a long time to give me the rundown and all I wanted to do was sit, take my boots off and eat. As soon as he left me alone I dumped my stuff on a bunk and was just about to go on a search for food when Sky and Late Start walked in to the bunk room. We headed out together to the Blue Blaze Cafe and spent a cheery evening eating our hearts out. The following day was full of food, laundry and sitting. Lots of sitting. The sun was finally showing its face to us again and a group of us meandered about town finding new perches on which to prop ourselves. I spent most of my time talking to Reset (he's on trail journals, too, btw and a fun read), Zacksquatch (also a trail journal contributor), Geared Up and O Canada. Very laid back guys. Reset is in his 60's and has traveled a lot in the course of work. I really enjoyed listening to him tell travel tales. When it was time to leave the next morning I was both rested and... Unmotivated. I got up at 6:30, but couldn't will myself to get out of dodge. I lazed over a huge breakfast at Dairy King, went to Mojoe's Coffee for Internet access, went to the outfitters to weight my pack (28 lbs with a liter of h2o and 6 days worth of food!). Anything to keep from having to pack out. Finally there was no more delaying. Noon had come and gone and I headed towards the trail. I opted to take the Creeper Trail rather than the AT for about 10 miles because the terrain is completely flat and follows the course of the river. Kind of a cheat, but I had a blast. I gave high fives to all the passing bikers and I dangled my feet in the water for a bit. At the AT/ Creeper junction I found Reset contemplating the map. He lamented having taken the AT route with its gain and loss of several thousand feet... for no apparent reason other than to just be difficult. We walked as a pair the remaining 5ish miles to the next shelter. It was a small group to gather at the shelter for the night, but right before dark a wiry, young guy walked in with a pack that looked twice as large as he was. He dropped the thing and announced his name and admitted that this was his first night on the trail. He had decided to start from Damascus and he was pumped for the hike. He started unloading his pack and it was like Mary-freaking-Poppins pulling stuff out of her carpet bag. The boy had everything! He pulled out 4 beers in glass bottles first, which he cordially shared about, a 4 lb, 3 man tent, 2 water bladders, books... You name it he had it. No one said too much until he very seriously took out a ziplock bag filled with sticks and finally Senator spoke up and asked what they were for. The boy very seriously replied, "fire starters."And once one person laughed no one could hold it in any longer. "Son," piped in Reset, "you're in the damned woods. If you can't find twigs here you need some help." The rest of the night was thoroughly enjoyable. The kid got his trail name, 69, because that's how much his pack weighed, and the rest of us got beer. No complaints to be had.