Date: 2007-03-27
From: Kincora Hiking Hostel

To: Vandeventer Shelter
Miles today: 17.5
Weather: light rain

After an awesome breakfast made by Osprey (Baked Carmelized Apple Pancakes & mega bowls of frosted mini wheats & milk, OJ, coffee!!!) I hit the road by 0915 to get a good start on a 17.3 mi day.Deciced not to slack pack with the group since they were only doing ~9mi anyway. What's the point I thought. Gotta keep movin and might as well just suck it up with my full pack and keep goin. It's usuallly a climb out of hostel or town stops, so there's a lot of incentive to get dropped off ahead on the trail and slack pack back to the hostel with no pack, plus spend another nite there with food options and all. And it's not really a zero day since you did mileage but you get to kick back at nite. Bonus!Zero had convinced me to try to get to Vandeventer Shelter 17.5 mi or so because it could set me up for a 33mi one day huge trek all the way to Damascus!People refer to it as the Road to Damascus or the Highway to Damascus. Supposedly after a few climbs it's more like a roller coaster or ridge running for the last part. I decided to try it. Agressive day today followed by a huge day MUCH bigger than anything I've done. Making a 15 miler into a 20 is significant. Making a 20 miler into 25 is MUCH harder. It's like "just" adding 5 miles to the end of a marathon just before the runner crosses the finish line. But I said, hay, if Zero's goin for it so am I!Anyway I headed out as the heat cranked up. A few tough climbs, but the start was georgious along the river and falls (pics to follow I hope), many canyon rock walls made it quite picturesque. Had lunch at Watauga Lake and dipped my feet in the chilly but very refreshing wata! It's become a ritual mid day to take off shoes & socks to air out the little piggies. they really like it! And it seems to help with blister prevention and hot spots that might become blisters.Anyway water was pretty scarce probably all the hot weather didn't help. I was REALLY parched when I finally reached the Vandeventer Shelter.The view behind the shelter was awesome. It overlooked most of Lake Watauga and would make an beautiful sunrise. Too bad I won't be here. Planning to hit the road early to BEAT THE HEAT again PLUS it's my biggest mileage attempt EVA 33 miles! Gotta start early.The water source was notorious and infamous by guidebook and word of mouth. It proved worthy. A mega steep mega long 0.3 miles straight down and down and down but eventually I ran into a thru hiker who stopped at the source before going to the shelter, not Zero, as expected, but GUTHOOK! Apparently he did the 9 mile slack pack then jumped back on the trail and cranked up to Vandeventer, suffering the same sun baking parching peril as I. What a brutal torturous effort to get water at the end of a long day. We tried to follow Bob's good advice & get water at the spring before the Shelter but it too was dry.Anyway, after filling up I hiked back up the long steep climb to the shelter, took a long break, then setup for dinna and a nap.Later Zero rolled in as expected. Guthook said he'd head for Damascus in 2 days & roll in early on day 2, but Zero was gonna go for it in one day.The plan for me, head out ~3am to beat the heat and get a good start.Unfortunately the sun doesn't come up til about 7am, so it's all headlamp hiking.And my headlamp was already blinking the warning lite indicating that the BRAND NEW Titanium Alkaline batteries I bought in Hot Springs were dying already!!!I have no idea why!! But apparently the Titanium batteries don't work well for flashlights/headlamps.As a calculated risk I modified my plan to start at 4am, needing only 2 1/2 or 3 hours of headlamp in the morning. Take a chance! Go for it.More tomorrow.FedEx