Date: 2019-05-09
From: Overmountain Shelter

To: Station at 19e Hostel
Miles today: 9.2

Wind!! I got out super late today again. I missed Prometheus and was feeling sad. 25-Mile said another prayer with me and that was very sweet, but again I was struggling to shake what had happened. I let her head on and took my time. There were men there working on the barn and fixing some of the boards. They were very friendly and took pictures for us in front of the barn. Today had a few ups, but again had two balds, and those were beautiful. I met up with 25-Mile before the big climb. It was quite windy on both balds and I knew the big bald would be hard. 25-Mile went ahead of me and I had a snack. I powered up the mountain, but it was quite hard with the wind knocking me over as I was climbing. The views while climbing were so amazing though, it didn¢t even matter. I was in love with this part of the trail. It really was stunning. It was hard to stand still at the top, so I didn¢t stay long. 25-Mile had stopped for a snack, but I kept going. I finally got down below the windy bald and it was a nice downhill the rest of the way into town. I went quickly and was looking forward to town. 25-Mile caught up and we hiked together down to the road. I had planned on staying at the Doe River Hiker Rest, which was owned by the same people as the Station at 19e, another hostel, but Doe River was closed. I had my box sent there, but the owners brought all the mail drops over from one hostel to the other, so it was there. I guess the Station was doing well this year, so they didn¢t need to keep both hostels open. It was about a half mile down the road, but they said they¢d shuttle us, so we called them. We didn¢t get an answer for 15 minutes of calling, so we just walked. They called us on the way and came and got us, but we were already halfway to the hostel by that point. We walked into the bunkhouse and I saw Prometheus! I was so happy, but also anxious because we needed to talk. The guy showed us to our bunks and we put our stuff down, and I headed down to see Prometheus. Unfortunately, people were in and out of the kitchen so we couldn¢t really talk very much, but we talked a bit and were enough on the same page that I felt good. He came up to my bunk with me and chatted for a bit. It was so nice to be okay with him again. I really missed my buddy. I took a shower and did laundry and had a hot dog and a cider and mozzarella sticks down at the bar below the bunkhouse. Prometheus and I split a pint of Ben and Jerry¢s. We had a nice time and Rocky and Mama Squirrel showed up, as well as Unicorn and NAB! Hot Sauce is sick with Bronchitis. Prometheus is convinced it¢s because she pushed herself too hard, so they both said they were going to take it easy and slowly get to Damascus, VA. I had talked with 25-Mile about slackpacking, but now I was torn because I wanted to hike with Prometheus. I didn¢t have a decision made yet, but I was happy to be with my crew. Prometheus was frustrated with the hostel for running like a business, and he¢s made that point a few times. It¢s definitely true though, the hostels here are not always catering to the hikers. It¢s a base price, plus this, plus that. Rocky had wanted a bottle of wine and asked where the nearest liquor store was, and the hostel owners told her it was 34 miles away. Well that¢s bullshit because Prometheus went to Ingles and it was 6 miles away, and there was plenty of wine there. So the hostel purposely lied to get Rocky¢s business. That¢s not catering to hikers. They had a little resupply, but had jacked up the prices of everything there, so when they could shuttle us to Ingles, 6 miles away, where we could buy affordable hiker food and alcohol, they said there was nothing nearby and we¢d have to shop in their store and basically pay double. I didn¢t need to resupply, but it still felt ridiculous to me. I know hostels have to make money too, but all these add-ons and lies are annoying. We hung out for a while and finally went to bed. Everyone was thinking of a low mileage day tomorrow to the first shelter, 8 miles or so away. Since I wasn¢t taking a zero, that sounded good to me! I was so happy to be with Prometheus again and see Mama Squirrel and Rocky too. Today was a good day. Little Debbie