Date: 2013-06-18
From: Greasy Creek Friendly

To: Greasy Creek Friendly
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Today was spent back here at Greasy Creek, watching the local weather on tv, hoping for a break in the rain that never came. Fortunately it is very pleasant place to be, here at Connie's. There are other hikers here, an interesting group. There's Kiwi Don, a soft-spoken New Zealander who's a few years older than me. Then there is a young woman named Jane, hiking with her dog Lola, who is possibly The World's Best Dog. She is a school teacher from Louisiana, and very sweet. And there is a group of teachers from Ohio, with an interesting story. They are all women, roughly my age. Among them, Deb has been hiking the AT in short sections (a week or two at a time) for years. She realized that it will take her roughly forever to complete the trail at that rate, so this year she decided to stay out for six weeks and really knock some miles off. Her husband was ok with that, as long as she didn't hike alone, so she lined up a schedule of friends to come and stay for a week or two at a time, then to be replaced by the next "shift". She is here at the Friendly with three women whose shift is ending and they will be leaving from here to be replaced by the next hiker in the rotation. How fortunate she is to have enough friends willing to come out and hike with her, to make her dream come true! And they are all hammocking! Unfortunately Princess, one of the hikers, is quite sick, flushed with a fever and GI symptoms--the norovirus has claimed another victim. Kiwi Don actually left out early this morning, he was gone when I woke up. The rest of us stayed and watched the radar. Rain was forecast for all morning, with a break in the early afternoon. So we all planned on heading out this afternoon, and packed up our backpacks. Jane was going to be walking out and rejoining the trail from here, I would be getting a shuttle from Connie back to Hughes Gap, where I got off, and the Ohio teachers were expecting the new recruit (Lynn) to come today, and her husband would be taking the three of them back to Ohio with him, and Lynn would stay to hike with Deb. Got it? So, according to plan, early afternoon we all loaded up in the truck and went to Hughes Gap. The rain was still coming down. Quite hard and steady, actually, with no apparent break in sight, in spite of what the weatherman said. I was not keen on getting out in the rain and hiking, after all, I left from this same spot yesterday, for the same reason. I still did not feel like hiking up Roan Mountain in the rain.Deb and Lynn felt the same, so we all went on back to Connie's. See what I said about a magnet at Greasy Creek? I resigned to spending another night there. When we got back, Jane was still there, she decided to wait until tomorrow too. Connie had to go do errands, leaving the lunatics in charge of the asylum. Sure enough, two drowned rats, I mean hikers, showed up at the back door. Jane and I had been there long enough to know the routine, and we were able to help them get their wet stuff hanging up on the porch, and get all they needed so they could shower and put on some of the dry loaner clothes Connie keeps on hand. They felt much better after their showers, and they turned out to be two nurses from Michigan, also roughly my age. We realized we were all women in the hostel. Girl Power! Or, I should say, except for Jane, Middle Aged Women Power! I am pleased and proud of the large number of women in my age range who are out hiking the trail. So, another night at Greasy Creek, which is a great place to spend time. Connie is warm and gracious and welcoming, the hostel really is a Friendly. And the forecast is for clear skies tomorrow, with mild temps and low humidity!