Date: 2004-04-05
From: Damascus - The Place

To: Damascus - The Place
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

How could I resist a zero in Damascus? I don¢t know of anyone who didn¢t take a 0-day in Damascus, so how could I be the first? Today was filled with little luxuries: cooking oatmeal out of the hiker box in the microwave, an orange, internet at the library, reading a magazine, hovering around while everyone was opening their food drops waiting for a homemade cookie, a trip to the Dollar Store and now an afternoon nap. Luxury! I hope I'll be able to leave tomorrow. I just checked the Internet and found out my orientation for school is on September 7th, so I have even more time now! This could be dangerous.Before my hike started, all the former thru-hikers told me that the hike would start out as mostly a physical challenge and would become a lot more of a mental challenge as time went on. I can definitely understand now what they meant. Physically, I could have gotten up early this morning and hiked 15-20 miles without much effort. Mentally it would have been tough. I often wonder why I'm subjecting myself to this. I play the game every morning of wanting to stay in my warm sleeping bag and only hike 8 or 10 miles instead of the 14-16 I had planned. I think I may go crazy before the 2100+ miles are done. Crazy from the unrelentless walking, crazy from the people I try to avoid but can't, crazy from my body hurting everyday, crazy from the trail food... etc, etc. But the thought of quitting has only fleetingly entered my mind. Hopefully it will never really grasp hold. Just keep walking I tell myself a million and one times a day. Tomorrow I will walk and will almost undoubtedably enjoy it. How could someone not?There's a guy who has been here a few days waiting out the bad weather, who plans to hike from Damascus to Katahdin, then back to Springer Mt in Georgia. He just got a trail name: Death by Cotton!! He had a monster pack with all this crap hanging on the outside of it. He was planning on hiking in Army boots, blue jeans, and a cotton sweatshirt! Anyway, he obviously didn't know how to pack his pack, so I insisted that he let me help him before he left. So, we emptied everything out on the table and got rid of about 10 pounds of junk. I could have done a lot more for him but he was pretty stubborn. He is one of those Old School 1980's backpackers. Even after getting rid of the extra stuff his pack weighed over 50 pounds. The odd thing was he didn't have a sleeping pad. He didn't think he needed it! Then he said he didn't have enough money to buy one or to buy any non-cotton clothes, or enough money to send some of his 15 days worth of food to the next town. Who the heck would think that carrying 15 days of food when you can resupply every 3-4 days is a good idea? Luckily enough there was a spare pad lying around that I scared him into taking... I think the words death and hypothermia probably got to him. How long will he last?? I give it a week at most. However, some people beat the odds so you never know I guess. The funny thing is he said he did some research on www.whiteblaze.net. I'm reluctant to say he learned anything. People like that scare me a bit on the trail because when it rains and then gets cold and all they have is wet cotton crap and no sleeping pad their hypothermia will become MY problem, because I know I wouldn't just walk away. It would be tempting though.Quick update on Death by Cotton. He made it 5 miles and then came back. The soles on his boots were falling off. He had a pair of runners but didn't want to use them. He doesn't have enough money to buy a pair of new shoes or boots. Looks like his hike is over before it even started. I'm not sure if he is secretly relieved or not. At last report, he is still hanging out in Damascus, working at the cafe.JB - "Tell It Like It Is"...