Date: 2023-03-09
From: Hampton, Tennessee

To: Damascus
Miles today: 42.2

¢Sunshine On My Shoulder¢ [makes me happy] - John Denver - 1971On Monday, March 6, I headed out of Boots Off Hostel after having a nice continental breakfast there. As I was preparing to leave that morning, I noticed they had two growlers from the Lazy Hiker Brewery in Franklin, NC. I had nice weather that day and the hike around the north side of the lake was very pretty. I never realized how big that lake was. But for probably the first 10 miles of that hike, I could look to my right and see the lake, even if it was off out in the distance. I think I only saw one hiker all that day. His name was Kenny and he claimed to be a through hiker. He had a 2023 hangtag and showed me that it was number one. I won¢t deny I was a bit skeptical, because he did not look like a usual through hiker. First of all, when I first encountered him, he was eating pork and beans out of a full sized can. He did not wear the typical clothes of a through hiker and his pack did not look large enough for a through hiker. Also, he was not using trekking poles.I stopped for lunch that day at Vandeventer Shelter. I was ahead of Kenny at this point. I went down a very long side trail to get some water. When I got back up to the shelter, Kenny had arrived, and we visited some more.There was quite a bit of elevation gain that day and I ended up hiking 16.5 miles to Iron Mountain shelter. I had the shelter all to myself that night.The next day was a nice weather for hiking as well. I hiked just under 8 miles to Double Spring Gap Shelter, where I stopped for lunch. When I first arrived at that shelter, there was a man with his approximately 20 year old daughter there. They were section Hiking from Watauga Lake to Damascus. I spoke briefly with them, and then they headed out. I had some lunch and was in the process of filtering some water when five ladies from Morristown, TN who were out day hiking, came along. They were very nice, and I enjoyed a nice conversation with them. When they found out I was through hiking, they asked me several questions. As we prepare to go our separate ways, they very generously gave me some of their snacks. This came in handy later in the day. It always brightens my day to meet up with nice people like that.I arrived at Abington Gap Shelter around 4 PM. I needed to go for water, and it was a long way down a side trail to a spring. After having hiked 16 miles, I wasn¢t thrilled at having to do that; but it was necessary. The same father and daughter pair were at the shelter also. They did not sleep in the shelter that night, rather, they hammocked in adjacent trees. They had Verizon cell service and had no signal at all compared to my AT&T service in which I had two bars. Usually, I have found it to be the other way around. I let the father use my phone to call his wife. That night, the forecast was for it to get down to 27°. And I do believe it got down to that. So the next morning, which was March 8, it was quite cold, getting up and going. In fact, I didn¢t bother eating anything other than a breakfast cereal bar before heading out. Later that morning after it warmed up some, I stopped and took a break and ate some more high calorie food. I was able to make it into Damascus just before noon. My first stop was at the Appalachian Trail Conservancy office where I was able to obtain a hang tag for my backpack since I did not get on the trail at Amicalola State Park.I ran into Prepper in Damascus, and I also met another through hiker, whom I had not met yet by the name of Lonewolf. Both of these hikers were familiar with Kenny and assured me that he was legitimately attempting a through hike.