Date: 2016-06-14
From: Dennis Cove Road

To: Boots Off hostel / Shook Branch Road
Miles today: 8.5
Weather: few clouds

I am so delighted! A ton to say...so much to respond to. Sue the shuttle driver (trail name Doc, because she's a physician's assistant) picked me up at the hostel in West Asheville (sort of wish I'd had time to visit East Ashevillle purely because of David Wilcox's "East Asheville Hardware.") Sue was delightful and so helpful. I didn't realize how much talking to the shuttle driver en route to the trailhead is part of the experience. It was so wonderful to talk to someone who gets it...we laughed about the nights when you can't sleep because you smell so bad. She talked about thru-hiking back in the day before ultralight gear and cellphones. I told her about the flak I've been getting for the number of pairs of socks and undies I'm carrying. She had gone commando but agreed with me on the socks. "Your feet are the most important part out here," she said. To that end, I stopped every two hours today to take off my shoes and socks and air my feet. I also planned to keep my miles low until I'm back in the swing of things. I had no blisters last year...I plan to keep it that way.I passed a family of day hikers today on Pond Flats mountain, where a boy of about 13 or 14 was on the ground, howling and crying in pain, holding an ice pack to his foot. I had actually heard him from below, long before I could see them. He kept crying and rhythmically bellowing, " Ooow!" (side note: reminded me of Hodor, RIP).They asked me if I knew how to help him. I remembered the tennis balls they gave us for our feet at Dance Marathon and suggested he roll the arch of his foot over a rolled up mat. Last year, you may recall, I had to skip a 50 mile stretch of trail. This is me, picking up those 50 miles in North Carolina before I return to where I left off. It is really weird to have things both familiar and new. The *smell* of the trees when I first got out of the van! And oh my gosh, the green! The green-gold! That amazing glowing green that comes from the leaves backlit by the sunshine! Is there anything like it? I walked with my face turned up towards the canopy, in love with the light.Pieces of last year have been coming back...when talking to Mountain Goat here at the hostel, I noticed him constantly and automatically scratching his ankles. Man, I remember Top of Georgia, pouring bug bite stuff on my ankles and scratching them raw. Little trail pleasures that came back to me...stepping on twigs lying in the path and feeling that satisfying crunch as they break in half. Taking off your shirt and feeling the cool breeze on your flushed skin. And of course: showering. Something else Sue said: "You HAVE to have a journal when hiking." Coming from the woman who wouldn't even carry the weight of underwear, but makes room for a journal. YES. Priorities. Didn't know where I would stay tonight - Watauga Lake shelter is closed again due to bear activity and the campsite nearby was reporting bears too. Then I saw sign for a new hostel - this one (shout out to Boots Off!) Perfect. A bottle of water, a shower, a lawn with clover and flowers to pitch my tent, coffee in the morning: just $5.00.Oh and wifi! Best $5 I've spent in ages.And now I'm sitting by a fire pit and the lightning bugs are coming out. We don't have lightning bugs in California. They're so beautiful. Half a moon above, a single star, the owner's dog in my lap. Welcome to my first day back.