Date: 2012-04-23
From: Hwy 19W to Erwin TN

To: Indian Grave Gap
Miles today: 20.5
Weather: light rain

23 April.  To Indian Grave Gap. 20.5 miles.   "Today it snowed. It lasted 3 hours. But it was not wet snow it was dry. So it did not soak through our warm layers. We stayed nice and dry. It was weird because I was always told we will never see snow on the AT. So I think that it is a high snow year(or dad and I are loved by snow). After about 6 miles we ran into Passion Flower. So we talked for 5 miles. Then she stopped at a hostel.  And we went 8 more miles. We camped at a camp site at Indian Grave Gap."    ¢Sunshine:-)Ok, I have held my tongue long enough.  I can't do it anymore.  Some of my more astute readers knew I was holding back and have been sending me private emails begging me for more bluntness about the people out here.  Well, it's your lucky day!  I know many who read this are from around here or have a deep love and commitment to this trail.  If that is you, obviously you are not one of the people or types of people I'm about to blast.  You have respect for the trail and those who travel it.  I thank all the kind and giving trail angels who help us along the way.  We have been blessed by so many. We have met some great, wonderful, and friendly hikers as well.  Not all hikers here are like the ones I'm about to describe, but far too many are.  We have however, been meeting more and more quality thru-hikers the further north we travel.   I thank all the ATC members and volunteers who keep this trail, the shelters and privies top notch!  I commend and respect you and don't wish to offend any of you.  With-out your money, time, labor, and other sacrifices, this trail would be destroyed in a few short years by all these unbelievably selfish, immature, thieving, lying, vandalizing, click forming, non-courteous pieces of garbage that we see all too often.  Seriously, who steals gloves from an 11 year old girl during a snow storm?  That is deplorable!  Shame on them!  We are tired of walking by 6 to 8 steaming piles of human waste each day just 2 feet off the trail with used toilet paper strewn about.  Really?? They walk by 2 to 3 privies each day.  There is no excuse!  At least bury it.  Often we see this near a privy!  The awesome volunteer ridge runners have to carry little shovels to clean up after these disgusting animals or the trail would be an open sewer.   You can barley see the wood of the shelter walls because they are so heavily vandalized by people writing intelligent thoughts such as "SoBo's suck #%+" or "NoBo's are gay" or "don't forget to flush the privy".  What is wrong with them. Who packs their backpack for a 6 month hike and says "oh crap, I almost forgot the sharpie"!!  Even the Boy Scouts (every shelter) scrawl their troop #'s all over the walls proclaiming theirs to be the best.  What happened to "a scout is courteous, kind, clean and reverent"?    The shelters are filled up with discarded gear, clothing, empty fuel canisters, trash, bibles and religious books that some trail angels hand out.  They don't have the courage to say "no thank you, I don't wish to carry a 2 pound book that I'm not interested in reading" so they accept them on false pretense and scatter them all over for others to haul out.   I saw a hiker in the store in Hot Springs wearing all her rain gear.  It had rained a few hours earlier, but was now sunny.  I cheerfully say "must be laundry day"?  She glares at me and snidely blurts out "NO"!  I say, "Oh sorry, I thought you were a hiker".  She growls "I AM a hiker"!  Back peddling I apologetically say, "usually hikers wear their rain gear while doing laundry since everything else is dirty".  She then informs me, "they ALSO wear it on rainy days"!  After our conversation, I walked by the laundromat where I cheerfully greeted a dozen hikers dressed in only their rain gear.   This is not an isolated indecent we are met with this type of animosity daily when trying to be friendly.  They just don't want to talk to you if your not in their click or age group.  Out of PCT habit, I'll just smile or wave when I recognize someone as a hiker while entering a restaurant or store.  Often this good will gesture is met with glares or mumbling under the breath. Many raise ruckus late at night among their clicks keeping everyone else awake in camp sites, shelters, and hostels.    BTW, I'm specifically referring to the so called "AT thru-hikers" in this rant.  There are many great thru-hikers here too that are serious about the trail and we have enjoyed their company.  Unfortunately, at our pace, we don't see them for more than a day or two. The day hikers and section hikers have been first class and very kind and friendly.  I have enjoyed meeting each one of them.  It is a much needed reprieve from the "every hiker for him/herself"  mentality we are subjected to daily.