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Greeting to all friends, family, and “TrailDawg Enthusiasts”! I hope that all of you are having good times in the “real” world like I am on the trail. It has been a wonderful month and I don’t really know where to begin! I have so much I want to say, but very limited time to say it in. So here goes…
I know there have been some queries concerning my journal and why there are no current entries. All I have to say is that I am behind and I apologize to you for my slacking. It is my fault for not keeping up with my writing. However, in my defense, I must say that it has been difficult to maintain daily entries. Here’s why: hiking is much like a full-time job (except without the stress and the boss-man)—perhaps the one thing I didn’t anticipate before I came out here. I am up between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. (or later depending on the hiker). First thing, I typically eat breakfast (dry or wet, meaning cooked, depending on the miles I want to accomplish that day); then I pack up gear, lace up boots and off I go up (or down) the mountain trail. After a few miles of warm-up (about an hour), it’s time for a break—a snack, a stretch, a few minutes rest (about 15 minutes), whatever. Generally, depending on the terrain (rocks, roots, soft ground, etc.) and grade of climb, I may take three or four breaks per day. But these are not the type of breaks where you just sit and relax. No, no! Mostly, these time-outs are used to complete other manual tasks like filtering water, eating, tending to feet and blisters, washing or drying clothes (or myself), etc. I don’t even know if these “breaks” can really be called “breaks” anymore, more like just an excuse to take your pack off. But, it’s the nature of the trail and more miles lay ahead, so off I go.
Somewhere in the day is lunch-time. Typically, my lunches are about an hour long and like work, lunch hour is never quite long enough for some reason. At lunch, I, like most hikers, usually try to get the feet out of the boots to breathe and let the socks dry/air out. For lunch we eat dry or wet, it just depends. While I take lunch I like to read through the Shelter Register, which is notebook provided to hikers as a means of communication up and down the trail. We can write whatever we want—it can be an insightful comment, a funny trail story, a “lost item” message, a note to another hiker, and more. Each shelter contains a resident register and is almost addicting to read. It helps keep tabs on other hikers, too!
But, again, Katahdin requires more northward miles, so I push on until the next break, dinner-time, or until I arrive at the shelter. I normally eat dinner when I reach my destination (camp or shelter), but sometimes I eat just before. I do this when it is getting late in the evening (dark) and I have several more miles to complete before I get to the shelter. I’m not a great fan of eating and then going immediately to bed—the food just sits there all night, I don’t sleep well, and I have indigestion the next day (hiker trots *smile*). I’d say, though, daylight and mileage permitting, as a rule I do eat once I’m at the shelter and finished hiking for the day. By this time, after the entire hiker chores are completed so the next day we can hike again, it’s late—9 p.m. or 10 p.m.! And we hikers are ready to SLEEP, but it’s more like our bodies are ready CRASH and seize all functions!
Moreover, there are many other hikers around to talk to and socialize with. I don’t want to be this “unsociable” that just arrives to the shelter, cooks, eats, and then starts writing/reading until bedtime without even speaking to the other hikers (yes, there are some like this out here). Oh, and not to mention that I really hate writing! It is so cumbersome to me—no, not writing, but physically hand-writing with paper and pen. Really, it’s outdated these days. Ask any person born after 1970 if they would rather type or write and I would put money on the typing. In addition, schools hardly even accept hand-written papers anymore, so it’s like I’ve been conditioned away from writing by hand since middle school. In fact, it would have probably taken me an entire notebook to write what I have written thus far. Hehe…
So, why am I going through my daily routine? Well, because I wanted to relate to you. Remember I said hiking is much like a full-time job? Well, how many things do you wake up intending to do but never seem to accomplish because “other” things seem to get in the way—like being TIRED or WORN OUT? Many, I know. Much the same, I WANT to write everything—everything, but after a long, hard day, it’s tough to sit down and write. I’m outta steam and running on “E”! I’m trying to find a happy balance though. I guess I hadn’t realized that the readers/viewers at home really enjoyed reading the journals as much I had thought. TRAILDAWG.com is as much for you as it is for me, and I want to continue providing quality pictures (which I really like) as well as continuing to provide an insightful journal. Therefore, I am going to continue to write as best as I can and as of now, I am recommitting to writing SOMETHING everyday. Thanks for all your patience and be on the lookout for more from TRAILDAWG—your average A.T. superhero!
To update the journal, since it has been some time since my last entry, I’m going to hit the highlights according to the albums in the PICTURE section of TRAILDAWG.com. I’m going to begin by talking about TRAILDAYS 2004, then HARDCORE 2004, then the 40-MILE CHALLENGE, and then a general overview of the last couple of hundred miles. Here goes…
It was May 11th when I left Miss Janet’s Hostel in Erwin, TN. Departing with me was Buckwild and Rooster A’la Mode. We were dropped off at the trailhead and it was already 11 a.m., which is a late start, but nonetheless we hiked 16.2 miles over Unaka Mountain (5180’, 352.5 mi), the highlight of the day, to Cherry Gap Shelter (3900’, 355.2 mi). We arrived individually to the shelter and made dinner and camp immediately since it was late in the evening. We (us and other hikers at the shelter) thought it was going to rain, but thankfully it never came. The next morning (5/12/04) as I was eating breakfast, Buckwild and Rooster A’la Mode were sitting at the shelter’s picnic table doing the same. I wanted to take a few pictures of them and of the shelter, but when I went to snap the picture, the camera alerted “low battery.” Obviously, the battery’s charge had been depleted. “No problem!” I said, “I have another charged battery in my camera case.” I went to retrieve the spare battery and I returned to “take two.” But something was not right. After installing the second battery, the camera still did not have power. I was frustrated at this point and mildly upset. I knew I hadn’t used the battery; it should have been charged full. Thus far, it was the first time I’ve needed to use the spare. So, after talking about it some, we deduced that over the month that I’d been hiking the charge must have slowly leaked. What was I going to do without the camera? Part of the fun for me out here was taking pictures. I let it go for the meantime and continued to eat breakfast and pack camp (I tarped). I was the last to leave the shelter. As I began walking the day’s planned mileage, I just couldn’t get the dead camera out of my mind; it was really bumming me out and really affecting my hiking! What’s more, while I was at Miss Janet’s, several other hikers informed me that Roan Mountain and the next fifty miles leaving Erwin were INCREADIBLE—some of the best hiking with some of the A.T.’s best shelters, including Overmountain Shelter. “I couldn’t take any pictures for the next 50 miles”, I thought to myself. That’s when I came to Iron Mountain Gap, 2.7 miles north of the previous shelter. I sat at the road crossing sulking as I took candy bar and fed my face contemplating my plans. My original plan was to hike into Kincora Hostel in three days—the 12th, 13th and 14th—get a shuttle into Trail Days (14th-16th) from Bob Peoples, the hostel owner and A.T. enthusiast/volunteer, then do HARDCORE (16th-17th), the trail volunteer relocation, and then continue walking north from Kincora on the 18th. Brilliant! Moreover, forward thinking, I bounced the camera’s charger to Kincora. It was a great plan! But now I didn’t have a camera and that wasn’t in the plan. So that’s when I decided to leave the trail there in pursuit of my NEW plan: hitch to Kincora, get the battery charged, get the shuttle from Bob to Damascus for TRAIL DAYS, do HARDCORE, then get back on the trail at Iron Mountain Gap and continue north toward Kincora. So that’s what I did. It took me five different rides to make it to Kincora.
What a great event in Damascus, Virginia (459.8 mi) held for A.T. hikers and outdoor enthusiasts annually May 14th-16th. TRAIL DAYS is a large festival where outfitters (shops that sell all types of backpacking gear), gear manufacturers, and more have booths/tents set up displaying new gear and for shopping. Music is played, food is served, a parade is watched, a water fight ensued—people are everywhere—and it’s GREAT! Alumni thru-hikers and current thru-hikers (from both north and south) come to the event as well as others. Virtually the whole town of Damascus is overrun by hikers. It’s quite a sight! To accommodate these hikers, the town lets us hikers camp a few spots around town. The main camping area, dubbed TENT CITY, is a large grassy/dirt area located next to the river (not sure the name) running through Damascus and about half-mile from the center of town, where most of the festivities were being held. I stayed at in town at “The Place” Hostel; I camped on their lawn under a big tree next to a few trail-made friends. This seems to be the best option for someone who doesn’t want to be in the “mix” of Tent City the entire time and I’m totally glad that I opted to camp here. The noise from Tent City continued into the early morning making sleep very difficult even at the hostel; moreover, the rain turned Tent City into a big mud puddle and it couldn’t be avoided. Now add a couple of thousand hikers trampling through in sandals or flip-flops (not many people were in boots—wonder why?). But since I was at the hostel, I could go inside to seek protection from the rain, mud, noise or other hikers if I needed. It was quite a social event, too! Over the course of my hike I have met so many people, but due to schedules or hiking paces, we’ve gotten separated. But like I said, people come off the trail from both north and south, so there were many that I re-united with momentarily during TRAIL DAYS. It is always fun to see familiar faces. On Saturday, the hiker parade and water fight took place. The hiker parade and water fight are arguably the most anticipated event by the hikers attending Trail Days. When it comes down to it, it’s just a reason to soak anyone and everyone with water balloons, cannons, guns, hoses, buckets, etc.—if you name it and it can hold water, then I guarantee that it was used as a weapon to drench somebody! It was a blast! So, in a nutshell that is/was TRAIL DAYS 2004! If you have any questions, place attend TRAIL DAYS 2005 and it can answer any questions you may have. Thanks for playing…
Ah, yes, HARDCORE! HARCORE is a trail maintenance event that is held every year that coincides with TRAIL DAYS. It is a sign-up, volunteer based program sponsored by the ATC where hikers and anyone willing can “give back” to the trail. This year there were two projects that needed nearly 150 volunteers to complete. The first was dismantling an old shelter in Virginia, and the second was ¾-mile trail relocation in Tennessee. I volunteered for the latter. We were instructed upon signing up that we were to meet at the post office parking lot in Damascus at 8 a.m. From there, we would be shuttled to the trailhead, hike in 1.5 miles with a tool and begin cutting the new trail. Sounds simple, right? Well, it is simple—cutting the trail, that is. Bob Peoples of Kincora Hostel and Project Leader informed me that to actually cut the trail is the easy part. Bob continued by informing us that it can take up to three years to relocate a section of the trail. The reason given was that there were six different “agencies” that had to O.K. the relocation first before any digging can begin. First, the proposed relocation must be walked and marked with flags; in this case, Bob walked and marked the re-lo. Now, I’m not sure the exact hierarchy here but the second through sixth steps include having the ATC (Appalachian Trail Conference) approve the re-lo as well as the U.S. Forest Service, an archeologist, and more (See? I should have written this info down). I was in awe that it took so much work and time for something as seemingly simple as relocating ¾-mile of trail. It didn’t take too long for the vans to fill up and leave towards the trailhead. I noticed most of us fell asleep on the ride, too. Once we were there, it didn’t take long for us to select our tool of trail-relocating destruction and head off one-by-one, single file down the trail. We continued down the A.T. to the proposed re-lo section’s beginning, and then we spread out about ten feet apart all the way to the re-lo’s end where it would rejoin the A.T. The work began and soon the trail was looking like a hiker’s trail. First, we had to remove the “duff”. The duff is the top layer of forest which consists of the rotting leaves and sticks; the duff was nearly two feet thick in certain areas. The duff must be removed and mineral soil must be exposed or the trail will erode quickly and make for poor trail walking. Once the duff is cleared, any rocks or roots small enough to be removed must be cleared. Moreover, we were instructed to cant the trail to a 15-degree angle so that water could easily drain and not create puddles or depressed areas for water to stagnate. After five hours of work, it was quitting time and dinner-time, so we left out the tools near the trail where we were working and back to the vans we sluggishly walked. As part of the deal, all volunteers were going to be fed dinner both nights after service. We headed for Wataga Lake where some nice ladies had a meal prepared buffet-style. Unfortunately, minutes after we arrived and it began to rain; those of us that where in the front of the line stayed relatively dry, but those folks at the end of the line who really wanted to eat got wet! We ate our dinners in the vans while the storm passed. Afterward, we (75 volunteers) were driven back to Kincora Hostel. It was tricky sleeping 75 at a hostel designed for about 20 but we managed. The following day, Monday, was an early start. Back on the trail to put the finishing touches on the new trail. And, of course, paint the BLAZES!!! It rained, too, but not for that long and it wasn’t a fierce rain—more like a gentle and cooling rain. I enjoyed working in it, but some didn’t. Anyway, once the trail was completed—blazed and all—I walked it up and down. It was good, solid trail and I was proud of it. All of the volunteers did a great job! The tools were carried back out to the vans and we loaded up. It was spaghetti dinner night with salad and we all were looking forward to showers and full bellies. It was hard work. Though I took these two “zero” days, when it was all said and done, I didn’t feel so HARDCORE. Tuesday I got a ride back to Iron Mountain with Mountain Dew who was heading back to Miss Janet’s for the night. I was happy to be back on the trail after TRAIL DAYS and HARDCORE—I needed a zero from my zeros! I walked up the first shelter six miles away. There I met Lil’ Munchkin and her dog Kaya; we all slept for thirteen hours and didn’t hit the trail the next day until after 1 p.m. But, remember why I got off the trail? Well, while I was at Kincora I recharged both batteries and picked up additional compact flash cards (camera digital memory), so I was rested and happy to be back on the trail…and a little sad too. Most of my peeps were 3-5 days ahead of me now and I knew I would miss their company.
The 40-MILE CHALLENGE was not my idea and I certainly had no intentions of hiking 40 miles in one day…or so I thought! I was hiking with mostly all new faces after TRAIL DAYS and HARDCORE. It was a good group of people and among them a girl named Nitro and her hiking partner Wipeout wanted to attempt the 40-MILE CHALLENGE. I had heard rumors of this challenge, but had never met or knew anyone one that had completed it or that wanted to attempt it. But Nitro had been asking the other guys and me about it. “Are you going to do the 40-miles to Damascus?” she would ask everyday. She wanted a fight, I think. At any rate, we (Nitro, Wipeout, Nathan, Tarzan, and I) left Kincora headed for the Wataga Lake shelter (419.8 mi) and from there it was 40 miles even to Damascus. Now, even up to this point I hadn’t my mind made up whether I was going to make an effort to complete the challenge. But Nitro sorta talked me into it last minute (about 10 at night). Roughly, the plan was to get up early and keep walking until we either collapsed or made it to Damascus, which ever came first; I figured I could handle that. If I didn’t make it, oh well, right? No harm in trying. So at 4 a.m., Nitro, Wipeout, Nathan and I were on the trail; Tarzan slept until 6 a.m. and then left the shelter Damascus-bound, too. We met Heinz, Nitro’s father, at the first shelter we came to, Vadeventer Shelter (426.7 mi). He was attempting a 33-mile day into Damascus. As soon as we all arrived and Heinz was ready, we keep pushing on to the next shelter which was Iron Mountain Shelter (433.5 mi). I was the first to arrive and then Nathan. We had just made it to the shelter before a light rain came. We waited there for it to pass and after an hour and some food we were on the trail once again. The next shelter was Double Springs (441.5 mi). I took a long lunch here and cooked a meal before pushing the final 18 miles into Damascus. While eating, Tarzan came into the shelter. What? He was the last person I expected to see since he left so much later, but he was feeling good and covering ground fast. Me? I was feeling good and by this point I was determined “Damascus or Bust!” so I kept on truckin’. At Abingdon Gap shelter (449.8 mi) I took a small break and of the six, I was lead dawg! The miles were hard and my feet were very numb when I walked off the trail into Damascus, but my spirits were high and I was ecstatic over my accomplishment. It took me 18 hours, 5 of which were breaks, and I ended up at “The Place” hostel near 10:15 p.m. Nathan was the second to arrive around 10:45 p.m., next to Tarzan at 1 a.m. We all tried to wait up for Nitro, Wipeout and Heinz, but at 2:30 a.m. or so, we gave up and went to bed—too fatigued to do anything! In the morning, they were there! They had walked in at 3:30 a.m.—just enough time to make the 40 miles within the 24-hour deadline. We were all winners—sore, stiff, weak, beat-up, but winners nonetheless. It was a great day! As a result of the victoriously strenuous day, I took 5 zeros in Damascus. And my left foot hurt, so I thought it safe to let it rest and heal.
Currently, I am at Four Pines Hostel in Catawba, Virginia—694.3 miles from Springer Mountain. I walked in yesterday (6/14/04) after a mildly easy ten miles. I am fairing o.k. My feet are perma-pruned and may revolt against me at any minute due to hiking in the rain for the last four days with wet socks and boots, which, I might add, take forever to dry out (at least two days *frown*). I’m taking the day off and plan on walking 20+ miles to Troutville, VA (715.4) for my re-supply tomorrow, then on another 65.2 miles to Glasgow, VA. I need to make it to Harpers Ferry (1009.2 mi) by July 4th—the date and location hikers say you need to be at in order to make it to Maine by October. So, to bed I go…
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