Date: 2003-05-08
From: Dennis Cove; Kincora Hostel

To: Watauga Lake Shelter
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: scattered clouds

We got up bright and early this morning. We meant business--no caving in today. We left at 8:30am, which felt like the crack of dawn for us.It was a beautiful hike this morning. We walked between many large stone cliffs. The trail was about 10 feet across the stone walls were about 35 feet tall. It was so cool--a perfect place for an ambush as Two Speeds pointed out. We saw the Laurel Fork Falls and walked along the river for about 3 miles. The wild flowers are starting to bloom--pink, orange, and purple. The hike felt like we were walking in a gorgeous rainforest.The first 9 miles went so fast and before we knew it we were reunited with Moo and 42. Me, Wrong Way Brown, Foxie, and Two Speeds were hiking together and then Chafe caught up with us a few hours later. Carnethy Bob and Verity (now Thistle because she is beautiful yet thorny) slackpacked the 9 miles yesterday, since they thought we were hiking. They were surprised to see us when they returned to the hostel. So they are probably 10 miles or so ahead of us. We will reunite in Damascus, if not sooner.The 7 of us get to the Watauga Lake swimming area and proceed to spend the next 5 hours there. We are joined by Cuz (trail angel with soda for us) who is meeting T-bird, Nemo, and Play (who we had met at kincora hostel last night). It was a sunny afternoon perfect for taking a swim and then laying out to dry out. The water was a bit cold, but 42 and I held hands and ran out as fast as we could into the water and fell in. It was so great. We arose from the fridged water with goosebumps and grins. As we spend the hours basking in the sun Moo says, "I have an idea." We all groan because we know it will be a good idea, but will probably involve a zero day. His idea is for someone to hitch 2.5 miles to McDonald's and bring back cheeseburgers and fries for everyone. We all agree it's a great idea, so Moo asks 2 different people that drive by and neither one can do it. But as they say, 3rd times a charm. So 20 minutes later Moo is back with double cheeseburgers, fries and soda for everyone. I know it had only been 12 hours since leaving the hostel, but man did it taste good! We couldn't have been happier eating McDonald's right by the lake with the sun's rays dancing on the water's surface. He also got an 18 pack of Bud-Light that Two Speeds strapped to his external frame. It had to have weighed 13 pounds! As we were about to leave to hike the 1.6 miles to the shelter, we see not one but two water moccasin's swimming right where we had been swimming--YIKES! Time to get the hell out of there.The word for today was delaminating. Foxie used it to describe how her boots are falling apart. We used that word about six times in one conversation. And then right after that conversation (which we had while taking a lunch break) we had a steep hill to climb and Foxie says to me all serious, "Are you delamming?" because I was struggling to get moving. It was so funny at the time I could hardly get the strength to walk. The word for the day yesterday is Swamp Ass. I learned it from Nemo. Swamp Ass is the term for chafing in your butt crack. This may be gross, but it is a fact of life that all hikers or potential hikers should know about. Excessive sweat from the back runs down into the butt crack. The salt from the sweat rubs together causing painful irritation and bleeding. To preven or heal us Desitine, Aloe Vera, or Nesporin, and then opray to God it never happens again (which is highly unlikely). This concludes today's lesson.