Date: 2010-04-30
From: Hampton 321

To: Iron Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: clear sky

Slept so well last night! Very comfortable on the old spring mattress cot. Actually slept well enough to dream a little. Woke up before anyone else as usual. Think I woke Bob Peoples up. He let his giant bloodhound out to pee. He sounded like a freight train derailing. Packed up my bag and ate granola, drank hazelnut coffee, the real thing, not the instant crap. Thanks Nemo! Ate Skippy peanut butter and oatmeal with syrup. Day Tripper bought an entire cheese pizza just for breakfast yesterday! Ice was sharing his boiled eggs with everyone. Jinky and Captain Radish are carrying cigarettes to barter for food on the trail. Now that we're so far on the trail, very few people who smoke are left. Well, there's not that many people left who smoke. Radish has a cigarette dispenser in the form of a donkey! The donkey's pack holds the cigarettes and when you press on the donkey's ear...a cigarette comes out of his butt. Kind of fitting, huh? Nemo is such a nice guy. He gave away most of his coffee this morning. He also made a huge Italian meal for everyone last night. Everyone's stomachs are full and happy!I said goodbye to everyone at Kincora and left a note for Fun Dip at the trail head. Backwards is going to leave it for him to find. He's not going to make Damascus. Because I didn't find out he was quitting at 321 I'm ahead of him and won't see him again, at least out here.Rode with Cieco to Watauga lake. I made the following entry into the register at Watauga Lake Shelter..."Back in August of 2009 I hiked this section from Iron Mtn. Gap. It was hot. Rained every day. My pack was intentionally heavy. The thorns were ten feet high. The yellow jackets stung me 3 times. I remember sitting here thinking of every reason why I couldn't do this. Every reason to doubt. Now, I'm committed. Sold! Now these obstacles don't seem so terrifying. The Boogieman, not so frightening! I'm so thankful that I believed in myself because now I wouldn't trade this experience for any comfortable 2nd hand life full of excuses!"I made a call home to Lish to get a backup contact sent to Troutdale. I hope that's far enough ahead. Might take a day off in Damascus. Cool seeing our last campsite from me and Lish's trip in August. The lake slowly fell behind me as I hiked up the nice, smooth ridge line. Tired a little. A little plantar fasciitis going on. Wish I could have swam longer in the lake. It's just not warm enough yet. Would of been fun to swing off the Dam and into the lake. No water at Vanderventer shelter! So I took a long nap and waited for the sun to get lower and cooler. Hiked out slowly to the campsite 4 miles away and chugged water. 2 1/2 liters at once! Good source here. Ate dinner and hiked to Iron Mtn. shelter. Sparky and Stitch here. Stretcher and Yahtzee are night hiking in the full moon. A spotted deer was here, completely unafraid of humans. Well, almost.Felt slow and lethargic today. Felt good after getting water though. Maybe psychologically feeling down because of the water situation today? Maybe it's because I didn't stop to say goodbye to Fun Dip. I'm kicking myself for that. I think I'll regret not telling him goodbye and wishing him the best of luck. He's a great friend. It's been wonderful hiking with him. Such a great hiking partner!I was laughing a lot today thinking of Bosses description of how thru-hikers are protective of their shelter space. They rush to get there. Then they're nasty sometimes, especially in terrible weather, over their right to sleep in it. He described it like a dog growling at another dog over eating its own vomit. The shelters are pretty ragged, but it's better than getting soaked in a rainstorm!