Date: 2012-04-21
From: Watauga Lake Shelter - Tented

To: Double Springs Shelter
Miles today: 21.6
Weather: light rain

Day 27 - Saturday, April 21stHiking Days 21 / Nero Days 5 /  Zero Days 1Start Location: Watauga Lake ShelterMile Marker: 426.8Ending Location: Double Springs ShelterMile Marker: 448.4Time: 9h 50min plus trail magicMiles: 21.6Weather: started out mild.  Left in just my hiking shirt.  Rain expected at 1:00.  Mostly sunny all afternoon.  Clouds came in at 1:30.  Thunder.  Temps dropped at least 20 degrees to around 50.  Stormy skies but nothing more then a few drops.  Actually warmed up again before the normal night coolness set in. Woke up at 6:15.  The night actually wasn't so bad.  The warmest night in awhile.  Packed up and now I had the task of getting my food bag down from the bear pole.  The Germans had placed their bag over mine.  It easily weighs over 15 pounds.  They say it is just enough to get them to Damascus.  Really.  Seriously. Say it ain't so Joe.  I lifted it up with the pole and immediately started to sway with the weight.  They say that she gets very cranky when hungry do I guess they bring enough to avoid that situation.  That food would last me two hard weeks. Not two easy days. First one out of the shelter.  Catfish was not far behind.  I stopped ti check the weather one more time to see if thete were any updates regarding the rain as long as i had signal available.  Catfish passed me  After crossing the earthen dam which held back the lake for the recreational area I noticed Catfish slowing down.  I quickly realized why.  If you stayed on the road you can miss a 1.5 mile section with a nice road walk.  I stopped a bit to see if he took the trail and to no surprise I could not hear him coming.  What is the point of hiking the AT if you use every chance to skip it. Well, I web walked for the first 5 miles.  Small spiders all over me which meant I was the first on this section of trail.  Ran into a group on top of the climb up to the ridge but they were weekenders just camping.  A bit further up I ran into Old Hiker, a 6th grade school teacher.  He said he was 55 years old.  At 55 I question the old part.  I asked him how he was doing and he said ok but he thinks he is carrying his fear of being hungry.  I could swear he said he has been carrying 7 extra mountain house meals since springer.  I'm sure I heard him wrong.  Actually I know I heard him correctly but I must have miss understood him.  Actually I understood him and truly wanted to slap him silly.  Really.  Some of these food stories are so ridiculous they have to be true.  I consider a mountain house meal a luxury item.  It would be gone the first night ... End of story.  He said he was 15 journal postings  behind and his class was wondering how he was doing.  Eat the dam food and you will hike further and have more time to catch up.  Also try starting to hike before 10:00 in the morning.  Damascus is a day away and many, many hikers are still are slow to learn. Hit the first shelter.  Ate, of course, a Ramen.  So of the slacker group was just leaving as I got there.  I missed the last spring somehow so I was going to get water there.  I started down the blue blaze and realized this wad going to be one of those shit-ass water runs.  I looked at my guide and sure enough it said a very steep 0.3 miles down.  Screw that so I skipped it.  I ended up about two more miles at a spring.  It was a good source but the three hikers there were complaining about it.  They mucked up the small pool so I had to wait until they were done to get under to the source.  Hit the trail and stopped at the next shelter since the thunder was beginning and I wanted to make sure my pack was prepared.  The group was Heading out again.  One of the were talking about getting picked up at TN 91 by the guy I passed the other day with the hip replacements hiking with his little dog.  He said that others would be welcome to join.  I wasn't so interest inthe slacking with Damascus just 23 mikes away but a road with a number means the possibility of some trail magic.  I could use a couple if sodas and a snack.  Positive thoughts. The thunder drew closer and a bit of rain started.  I had a chance to get a glimpse of the weather radar a I thought it would just miss us even though the forecast still said an 80% change if thunder storms.  Put on my rain gear when the rain started.  I don't normally do this since there is usually a fake start at least once or twice.  But with the way the sky looked to the west it was coming fast and hard.  As it turned out the radar was correct.  After the couple of rain drops it stopped.  I knew better and still fell for it.  Took everything off.  On the way two of the hikers pushed past me like they were on a mission.  In about two more miles I realized what that mission was.  At exactly 2:55, and yes it was EXACTLY 2:55, I came across a small plate that read " ... Trail magic ahead 1/2 mile until 3:00.  Cheeseburgers, beer, other food and snacks ... ".  Oh crap.  I'd I didn't lose that time with my rain gear I would be there.  But not to worry.  It was still going onWhen I got there L and J.P. had a big tarp ushering hikers under it.  There was a big cooler right on the trail so you could not miss it.  L was a pretty and energetic young women wishing everyone a happy earth day as they entered.  J.P was busy at the grille pushing out hobo burgers which are a cheese burger with a fried egg on top.  He could only do a few at a time and was working hard keeping up with the hiker appetites.  I was in line for the next batch.  When he served it he indicated the only requirement was that you had to eat another one.  Oh darn.  I don't want to be rude so of course I had to eat another one.  L was busy making sure everyone had a drink on their hands wether it was a beer or a soda.  They were both having fun and the 10 or so hikers here were literally eating it up.  Even after the second burger, I was still hungry but not for another burger.  I eyed the eggs and got up the nerve (very quickly) to ask for a fried egg with cheese on it.  J.P. was kind enough to accept and it came right up.  After four beers two hobo cheese burgers and an egg with cheese I thought it was time to go.  It was now nearly six.  I got sucked into the trail magic black hole.  It was well worth it.  Great food, good company and watching L and JP have so much fun serving hungry hikers was cute.  They are a wonderful, lively couple.  It was only three miles to the next shelter and with the rain brewing again I took off.  All the other hikers remained.  In about 1/2 mile I came to TN 91 and another trail magic box.  I remembered this one from both 2006 and 2010.  It is a gang box with crosses torched out of it.  It was sponsored by the Nelson Baptist Church.  The trail magic a few days ago at the nice house were the Nelson's.  I wonder I'd it was related.  I will find out when I get back home and have time to research it.  Of course I took a soda and a snack.  On the other side of TN 91 (no not more trail magic) is a section of AT that is actually handicapped accessible.  There is a sign posting the degrees of slant, the elevation gains, trail width, etc., and indicating that it meets all handicapped accessible requirements.  Pretty cool.  This was not here in 2006 but was in 2010.  On the way to the shelter I ran into two more hunters in full camouflage attire and guns.  Although hunters ate not supposed to be on the trail I really don't have an issue with it.  This is a public trail and hunting is a way of life for the locals.  They too should be able to enjoy the benefits of what is in their home area as well.  If there was less regulations restricting hunters I think dome of the strained relationships of the hiking community versus the locals would be eased a bit. Got to the shelter and there were two section hikers there.  One of them had actually zeroed here since he thought it was going to rain.  He was tenting down the hill and had time all day to make an awesome fire.  Again, the rain threatened but it never really rained all day.  He missed what turned out to be a relatively nice hiking day.  The other hiker was south bounding to springer from Damascus so he was only on day two.  With the shelter relatively open I took a spot way over from the other guy.  He has all the makings of a snorer.  Eventually the German couple made it in.  There were no flat spots around for tenting so they took a spot in the shelter as-well.  Calves also made it in for the night.  He did a 32 mile day from Kincora to get here.  Enjoyed the fire.  At about 8 the clouds came down, a light rain started and I headed off to my bag.  Calves wad busy cooking.  I fell asleep quickly with visions of Damascus dancing in my head.  As it turned out, the section hiker was a big snore king and I think the Germans were really bothered by it.  Snorers can be extremely annoying when you need a good nights rest.  Funny thing is, they are the only ones that seem to get it when they are around.  Oh well.  Not too bad for wet day