Date: 2013-09-24
From: Double Springs Shelter

To: Hampton, TN
Miles today: 23.3

In addition to the mice in the shelter, I spent the night with a father and son who were hiking a section of the trail. I tried to make conversation when I arrived, but they didn't really seem interested in talking... at all! To me or each other! So we sat around in silence, ate dinner in silence, got ready for bed in silence. The noisy part came when the sun went down. They were both snorers, and snored in a syncopated fashion, so someone was always inhaling. I was more amused than annoyed. Between them, the noises the mice were making, and the foxes calling out, I didn't think I would be able to get to sleep, but I ended up dozing off quickly and was up this morning at 6:45, then on the trail by 7:30.The trail today was along a ridge, so it was fairly easy. I passed a number of section hikers, one of whom said he had seen me in Damascus the day before when he was parking his car. I stopped at Iron Mountain Shelter for a snack and Vandeventer Shelter to cook a pot of instant spuds for lunch, and laughed because both were graffitied with "Bob Peoples" jokes. Bob Peoples is a legend on the trail - he is a trail maintainer who does an incredible job, and he also has a hiker hostel just 0.3 miles of the trail. Examples of jokes written on the walls are:-"Bob Peoples was bit by a rattlesnake. After three days of illness, sweating and delusions, the snake died."-"Jesus confesses his sins to Bob Peoples."-"Every time Bob Peoples makes a switchback, an angel gets its wings."So those were fun to read. I had been hearing about this graffiti from the NOBOs for 100s of miles, so it was nice to finally see it for myself.The trail followed the ridge for a while longer above Watauga Lake, then descended for a few miles to cross the dam. I walked along the edge of the lake for another few miles, passing the Watauga Lake Shelter in favor of going to The Braemar Castle Hostel in Hampton, TN. As I neared the trailhead, I came across a very tall, very black, wolf-like dog. His owner was behind him and said he was friendly. He was playful, but seemed nervous when he walked behind me. His owner said, "He's not used to packs, he's a little weary of yours." I replied, "I've walked with this pack for nearly 1800 miles and I'M still wary of it, believe me, I understand!" I mentioned what a cool looking dog she had, and she told me he was a mutt.I headed out to the road to hitch and the first car that passed picked me up. The woman took me to Brown's Grocery and Hardware, where I checked in with Sutton, the owner of the shop as well as Braemar Castle. He took me across the street to the Castle, and when we got inside, he asked if I would like to meet his dog - when he let the dog out, I exclaimed, "I just met this dog 15 minutes ago on the trail!!" He quickly put the pieces together - "You must have met his brother!" So even more incredibly than meeting the same dog twice, I met sibling dogs that looked so similar I thought they were one, all within 20 minutes.After ditching my bag, the next stop was dinner. While at Brown's, I noticed a man had a McDonalds bag. I asked him how far to the McDonalds. "Oh, it's just up at the stoplight, not more than 1/4 mile." I set off up the road and immediately realized it was slightly further than he suggested. Walking what was surely well over a mile for dinner, after trekking over 23 for shelter, just makes dinner taste that much better!