Date: 2017-05-31
From: US 58, Feathercamp Branch

To: Damascus, VA; US 58
Miles today: 5.6
Weather: few clouds

We were all looking forward to our short hike this morning - 5.6 miles, then breakfast in town.  Arlene wasn't hiking because she's already hiked this section, but the rest of us were.  Warren dropped us at the trail north of Damascus, and we started hiking south at 6:40 AM.  Rennie suggested we all hike together since it was a short hike, and we all started out together.  Lizzie soon got antsy though and took off ahead.  I was ahead of Rennie and Bill.  When I stopped to take off my fleece the two of them went ahead.  I hiked till I got to a T-intersection at the top of a hill. A sign there said Damascus 4 miles to the left and Iron Mountain Trail to the right. There was no reference to the Appalachian Trail, and I didn't see white blazes in either direction.  I hesitated but finally decided to turn left in the direction of Damascus.When I got higher on the hill my phone dinged for a text message.  It was Lizzie, wondering if she was on the wrong trail because she didn't see any of us behind her.  I told her where I had turned and had her describe the route she had taken. She had turned left at the very beginning of the hike at a place where a metal AT marker indicated Damascus south.  I realized I'd missed this crucial turn.  I called her and told her I was turning around and heading back to find the turn that I'd missed.  I headed downhill and arrived at the turn a few minutes before 8 o'clock.  It was exactly one-tenth of a mile into the day's hike -- meaning I'd just spent an hour and twenty minutes off the trail.  I headed up the hill on the turn.  This was yet another instance of missing  a double blaze indicating a turn.  It was a 90-degree turn, so it was easy to head straight forward onto Feathercamp Trail.  Lesson: always be looking for blazes instead of just following the trail.  I'm not sure how many times I'll have to learn and relearn this.  About 20 minutes after I headed up the hill I met Rennie coming downhill.  He and Bill had gone all the way to where Feathercamp Trail intersected with the Appalachian Trail and only then realized that they'd gone astray.  Bill followed shortly thereafter.  Altogether my failure to note the double blaze cost us an hour and a half in extra hiking.  I finally got to town at 10 o'clock and went into Mojo's Trailside Caf© for breakfast.  Rennie and Bill arrrived not long after.  I ordered a bagel with lox and cream cheese, a big glass of milk, and coffee.  This was major food that made me very happy.  I didn't get hungry till five hours later.  In the afternoon we scattered to do our various errands.  I spent several hours at the Johnson County Public Library printing out the release form I need for the NACQJ publication, finding directions for my friends Kathy and Frank to pick me up next Tuesday, and updating my phone software.  Bill went to Walmart to get hiking shoes.  Lizzie took her car to Johnson City to meet her brother for lunch and shop for a smaller backpack.  Rennie stayed at the Folk School.We cooked dinner together at the Folk School: pasta with marinara sauce and mushrooms, meat to add in for the non-vegetarians, garlic bread, and ice cream and strawberries for dessert.  Afterward we watched "Circle of Dreams", a documentary film about Warren's 1990 AT Expedition.  This was a "circle" expedition in which the participants pledged to each other that all would finish the trail.  It was interesting to see what these hikers said about their reasons for hiking the trail and what they got from doing it.  The filmmakers interviewed them at Springer Mountain, in Virginia about 650 miles in, and the day before they finished at Katahdin.   One man said the trail had given him the most clarity of mind he'd ever had.  One said it taught him to slow down, live in the moment, and enjoy what's happening.  Another said he'd learned that you have to give love unselfishly in order to receive love.  The ages of the participants ranged from 22 to 68.  Very interesting.  I am hoping to be able to have a quiet mind and to relax and enjoy some of the wonderful places we see.  But somehow I'm still rushing.  Sometimes I have an earworm, music playing in my head in the background, and thoughts on top of that. I definitely don't have the quiet mind I aspire to.  In fact, my mind was quieter at the beginning of the hike -- maybe because it took all my effort just to accomplish the physical work of completing the miles.  When I start in the morning, especially on a sunny day, I feel so fortunate and grateful that I have this opportunity to be in the woods each morning and spend my day walking through beauty.  Bill says he's never felt so free in his life.  Tomorrow we hike 18.4 miles over a beautiful bald called Whitetop Mountain.  It will be only Rennie, LIzzie, and me.  It should be interesting.