Date: 2005-04-01
From: Kincora Hostel

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 50.2
Weather: overcast clouds

After our 3 day stay at Kincora it was time to press on.   Bob had given us a ride back to Hot Springs for Stumpknocker's truck.   Stumpknocker and I continue to slack our way to Damascus.   I like this section of trail through northern Tennessee. It is a lot less ups and downs compared to the rest of the trail in the south. I guess this is where things get a little easier.   At least for me they do.On my way to drive to the start of my slack pack I passed by a farm on either US 421 or Tenn 91.   In the field was a horse who had just given birth. I got to see the baby trying to stand for the very first time as I drove by. That was really neat.   It was a wonderful spring morning to be traveling.   I love days like this. My slack the rest of the day was nice. I made the mistake of going down to the water supply at Vandeventer Shelter. That sucked 1/2 mile maybe more down a steep hill.   I didn't bring a bottle or anything so I had to drink right from the stream coming from the spring.   That proved to be difficult. The water was lower then the rest of my body. So I had to lean way over to get a mouth full then I had to lean back to swallow it.   With the ice cold water it made for a major brain freeze! Yes it hurt! I also got side tracked when I ran into Kado and ooh I can't remember his name but these 2 were like pees and carrots. They just fit each other!   Their cool kids. I sat down to hang out for a bit with them. This might have been why I was so late finshing my day. Stumpknocker began to worry when I was over an hour late getting to the road crossing he was meeting me at. That night we camped out in the back of the truck along the trail crossing on US 421.   Someone came by during the night that knew I was in there. Must have been either Bailey, Allen and Rooster or The B's.   They were doing the 50 miles into Damascus that night. I was too busy sleeping to get up to see who it was and to say hello so they kept going.   I slept until morning.The next day I said my goodbye's to Stumpknocker.   He took off early and left me in Damascus.   I walked around town looking for a place to have breakfast.   It took me until 10:30 when I checked into "Dave's Place", the outfitters hostel here in town, to figure out that I had left my entire clothes bag in the back of Stumpknocker's truck.   He was well on his way to PA to help Goosebump and Rainbow Slick move to Virginia.   I was very scared at this point. All I had on me was my skirt, fleece and t-shirt. I knew I couldn't head out into the mountains without my clothes bag. There was a storm about to hit that area too. I ran to the library and starting email Stumpknocker, hoping he would check his pocket mail before getting to far north.   The rest of the afternoon I wondered around town stressing about my clothes.   My friend the Yuppie Chic was a big help. She kept writting to me telling me not to worry just hike naked! Thanks Maryann!   Finally sometime late in the afternoon someone told me stumpknocker was just looking for me. I went running through town to find him. Finally we hooked up and I got my clothes back. That took a load off my mind.   It would not have been fun if I had to sit around and wait for my clothes to be mailed to me.   I was happy he didn't get far when he got my message. Thanks Stumpknocker!   We said our goodbye's again and headed our seperate ways.   I kind of knew at this point this would be the last we ran into each other for a long time. I stayed that night in the hostel with Tumbleweed and PineTree. They were interesting men.   Always interesting when you start your morning with beer for breakfast.   But I'm no better I jumped right in with them! I knew this day wasn't going to be that difficult. I was only planning on catching a ride back down to Kincora for a couple days with Bob for trail work.   I just waitted around until the outfitter opened and started looking for a ride. The outfitter had someone from the church bring in a ton of trail magic for hikers.   They had asked me to bring a box of stuff with me for Kincora. I was happy to help!   I hung out most of the morning at the outfitter discussing gear with the owner's son.   I'm such a gearhead. I also promoted the hell out of ULA Packs.   I love my pack- has over 2000 miles on it and it still hasn't lost one stitch! That's a great pack and it's under 2 lbs for $155.00! Nothing beats that! Nothing! I Arrived later at Kincora. There were a number of hikers there. I managed to get a couple of hikers to want to stick around tomorrow for some trail work. The more help the better. Although it looks like some nasty weather tomorrow that should make things interesting. But for now I'm enjoying the wood burning stove indoors.