Date: 2004-04-27
From: Wallace Gap, N.C.

To: Spur of the Moment
Miles today: 6.8

I slept well last night in The Haven Motel, possibly my best sleep yet. Then I walked 3/4 mile to a fast food joint for breakfast. On the way back, I noticed a FedX truck moving along the street.I waved the driver down and he pulled over. I asked him if he had a package addressed to me. He did, it was my replacement backpack.Ron, The manager of the motel and his wife gave me a lift to the post office, where I shipped the old pack back to the manufacturer. And then it was "All Systems Go" for a return to the trail.At no charge, Ron and his wife drove me to the trail crossing where I had last hiked, a place called Wallace Gap. There was another person in the van, a 31 year old thru hiker whose trail name is KTR (as in Kick the Rocks.) He is the hiker who has been recovering at the motel from a bout with tendonitis. Today, he is returning to the trail.Ron, the manager of The Haven Motel, is quite a character. While he was driving us around, he offered up a brief rant about the town."If the United States gets to needing an enema, they would bend Franklin, North Carolina over and insert it. Because Franklin, North Carolina is the tail end of everything."I was frustrated with having to spend an extra night in a motel. But I could not have chosen a nicer place due to the hospitality conveyed by Ron and his wife. This motel is truly a hiker friendly place.Today, after a late start, I hiked approximately seven miles with KTR. He seems like a nice guy. We discussed all kinds of subjects. He told me one of his favorite sayings: "We can't run away from who we are. Our destiny chooses us."I told him that I agreed with the first part of the quote, but not the second part. To back up my assertion, I shared with him another quote which I had read. It reads as follows: "Destiny is not a matter of choice."I usually don't talk much when I am hiking except during rest stops. Today's hike was an exception. KTR was a good conversationalist. And it was nice to acquaint myself with a new person after falling behind the group of people I am most familiar with.At a road crossing, I refilled my water bottle where water was flowing from a pipe. Two men in their sixties pulled over in a pickup truck, stepped out, and approached the pipe to wash their hands. KTR and I struck up a conversation with them. The men had apparently been returning from a visit to the woods where they had been digging up a wild onion called "ramp." They share some samples with us which tasted nice.KTR and I arrived during the late afternoon at the shelter at Siler Bald, where the elevation is 4,670 feet. Several hikers were relaxing at the shelter. Minutes later, more hikers drifted in. Most of them were in their twenties and knew each other.One of them, I ascertained, was apart from this association, if that's the correct word to use. He was a young man, twenty-three years old, who spent the evening by himself in the back corner of the shelter. He is attempting a thru hike to Maine. His clothing and equipment seem odd for such an undertaking. His aging backpack was bulging with excess stuff. For example, a fishing rod was sticking out of the pack. His cotton clothing is somewhat disheveled, unlike the synthetic garb worn by most other hikers. He does not have a sleeping bag. He is sleeping under a child's blanket. It's almost like he packed up and left for the Appalachian Trail on the spur of the moment, without giving much thought to planning and equipment.Which is exactly what he did. He told me that he was laid off from a poorly paying job in Key West, Florida. Two days later, he was thumbing rides to the Appalachian Trail. Apparently, he was unaware of the existence of AT until recently, when a friend told him about it. Since this person departed for the AT on the spur of the moment, I proposed to him and some of the other hikers that his trail name be "Spur." The name was deemed acceptable by all.When Spur's friend back home informed him about the Appalachian Trail, he left out one important fact. He neglected to inform Spur that the terminus of the trail was located in Georgia. Apparently, the last ride he got left him off at a trail crossing here in North Carolina, which is where he began hiking. When I told Spur that northbound thru hikers begin hiking on Georgia, he was surprised to hear this.During the evening, approximately one dozen people¢eleven men and one woman¢were hanging out at the shelter, mostly around the picnic table and the front and the shelter. Spur was alone in the back. I walked over and asked him if he was going to be warm enough tonight with just a blanket. I suggested to him that he wear some extra layers of clothing because the weather was going to be cold and windy at this altitude.He smiled and said, "Having sex is the best way to get warm, but the ratio of men and women is not good here."When he uttered the remark, the sole female at the shelter was sitting only a few feet away, but I don't think she heard him. Clearly, Spur is ill equipped. But there is something intriguing about him. Although he spent most of the evening alone in the back of the shelter, he was not idle. He filled in several pages of a large notebook, presumably his journal. There is more to this person than meets the eye. I wish him well on this journey. It is now 10:30 p.m. Cold gusts of wind are whipping through the trees at this high elevation. I am hunkered in my teepee tarp, down slope from the shelter. This might be the coldest night so far. Time to turn of my headlamp and hope for a decent sleep.