Update for Thursday, April 29

My fingertips are still numb from the other day. As I was cutting back and forth down the hill into Damascus, in the dark, on Tuesday night, I was listening to a radio station that played, on a five-minute loop, an info segment boosting the town that began with "Welcome to Damascus, the friendliest town on the Appalachian Trail."

I zeroed here yesterday. In the evening I joined a group including Creepy, Tintin, Kashmir, an older guy named Hyway and a younger dude named Tornado in hitching to Abingdon, a slightly larger small town 12 miles west of Damascus, for the cinema. It took about 20 minutes before a kindly couple and their toddler pulled their VW van over. Here it is:

[Tintin and Creepy, Damascus, hitchin'!, April 28.]

We saw the movie "Kick Ass," a surprisingly good flick.

My plan now is to hike 24 miles by evening tomorrow and meet up with my parents, who will be visiting for three days. I'll be doing some hiking by day and staying in a hotel by night, which I'm looking forward to. And my parents will get a real live boots-on-the-ground look at the Appalachian Trail and the life that lives on it.

Salut!

[Me in front of the Abingdon Cinemall, Va. Wicked Yoda riding a goose.]

Long live the hike

Earned my dinner today.
Finally I broke the 30-mile barrier. I came very close - twice - last summer, but I put that challenge to bed today. The terrain was ideal. In fact there is already a standing challenge for thru hikers to do 40 miles in one day into Damascus. My feeling is that is ridiculous.
Hike start: 9:30 am, Vendenventer Shelter, Tennessee.
Breakfast: Pop Tarts, 20 oz. Dr. Pepper, multivitamin, gingko biloba capsule.
Snacks: Nutty Butty, Powerbar gels, energy shot.
Terrain: Rolling ridge walk with some up initially, levelling out after Iron Mountain Shelter [1/2 way point], trail weaving along hills but avoiding peaks. The trail itself was soft with some roots and stones. It was mostly wooded except for a meadow mile.
Weather: Shitty overall. Mild spells punctuated by cold wind and rain, sleet at one point. After 5 pm or so the rain stopped but the fog came and went.
Snack: Trail magic cache of oatmeal cream pies and a 12 oz. Dr. Pepper. Declined offer to warm up in truck at Tenn.  91, just before meadow; hands went numb crossing meadow.
Final food: Energy shot, Snickers, bread and cheese, peanuts at Abingdon Shelter, 6 pm.
Hike finish: 10 pm Damascus, Virginia.
Miles hiked: 33.
Now: Calzone and beer at Quincy's Pizza, tenting at The Place, a, church hostel.
Feet: Ache?

Days 145-147: Roan Mountain to Kincora

On April 19 I tented outside the highest shelter on the entire Appalachian Trail: The Roan High Knob Shelter, standing at 6,275 feet elevation [Mount Washington is 6,288 feet].

The climb up Roan Mountain was a steep and sweaty 2,000-feet that reminded me of Katahdin with its small boulders and cool spots under the evergreens. At the top, the chill in the air immediately struck me when I stopped moving.

At the shelter I saw a fresh sign, made from a notebook page, saying that the majority of the hikers who had planned to stay there had pushed on to Overmountain Shelter. But since it was 6:30 p.m. and I'd done 15 miles, and Overmountain was a further 6 miles, I set up my tent. The only two hikers there were Megladon, a 19-year-old from Pennsylvania, and Beans, a seasoned hiker from Oregon. I knew that a group just behind me, Chewy, Thin Mint, Double Dribble and Whistle [brothers], would stay there, too.

Inside the shelter, an old fire warden's cabin with two floors, I saw a sad scene: Trash in the corners and on the floors from day and weekend hikers coming in from a nearby road. Not that I could see very well. It was dark as hell in there.

The next morning I woke at 8 a.m. and was on the trail at 8:30. That's not a normal wake-to-hike time period for me, let me tell you. I completed my morning as I hiked further down the trail: Privy stop here, water there, coffee and breakfast at the Stan Murray Shelter five miles on. While at the shelter, I browsed through the register. To my surprise I found a shout-out :)

In the afternoon I hit the Roan Highlands after passing the Overmountain Shelter by. The highlands were a welcoming sight.

[Roan highlands, NC, April 20.]

It started sprinkling. I threw on my shell and pack cover and made my way down the mountain and to US 19. A sign directed me to Mountain Harbor B & B and Hostel, .3 to the west. There I got a spot on the couch for the night. I was keen to stay at the hostel because it was due to rain. Also, I'd seen it listed as a couple hikers' favorite hostel in the 2,000-miler awards in Maine.

That night the husband and co-owner shuttled us in his pickup truck to Roan Mountain, Tennessee to resupply and pick up pizzas and sixers. For some reason, MC [Major Chafage], a hiker in his twenties from Brooklyn, decided to go shirtless in the back of the truck on the way back:

[MC and P-Nut, and we're heading back to Mountain Harbor with our Dollar General resupply, April 20.]

That night we put in Top Gun and sat back and enjoyed the company and Maverick and Iceman and a few cold ones. Until Hightower, a 6'8" hiker, broke his chair.

"You're still dangerous. But you can be my wingman anytime."

The next day we had an amazing home-cooked breakfast of French Toast, hot links, fruit etc. I hiked out at 11 a.m. just after Jurassic Park II ended and I finished my day at the Moreland Gap Shelter, 18.4 miles later.  I would roll out of bed and mosey down to Kincora.

Update for Sunday, April 25

I'm in Johnson City, Tennessee, with my girlfriend, Ashley, for the weekend.We stayed in our room at Days Inn last night and fell asleep during SNL. Tonight we have plans to take in some folk music at The Acoustic Coffeehouse downtown. Purely by coincidence bluegrass and folk music has been a staple of our dating life since I took her out to Cafe Nola in Frederick in November. It just seems to find us wherever we go.

Ashley arrived late at night on Friday to meet me at Kincora. Kincora is a legend of a hostel situated in the hills of Tennessee at 412.8 miles from Springer Mountain, just .2 miles off the trail. The name comes from a mountain in Ireland [the owner, Bob Peoples, has a heavy Boston accent]. The hostel is a simple structure attached to a house. The second floor is a bunkhouse; the first floor is a kitchen and common room with an additional small bunkhouse and a private room. Everywhere on the downstairs ceiling there are pictures of hikers from 1996 to the present posing next to the Katahdin sign; the class of '09's shots were near the front door.

I had plans to slack-pack that morning with about a dozen other hikers. But when I woke up and looked outside, saw the rainy, gray sky, and then I remembered my last slack-packing experience, which was also rainy, I decided not to. Besides, I find that slack-packing breaks my northbound momentum. I'd prefer to walk the Appalachian Trail as it's meant to be walked: With a full pack in one direction.

So I zeroed. During the day I took the free shuttle into nearby Hampton, TN I think three times. The shuttle inched down the mountain on a twisting road without lane markers, and often without guard rails, and deposited its riders in a plaza anchored by IGA.

In the evening, there was a bounteous feast. Honestly it was a great experience. I don't remember there being an impromptu hiker feast like this on my northbound hike in the summer of '09. Thin Mint cooked chicken Parmesan with spaghetti, while a hiker named 3 Bears made salad and a cake.

[From front left to right front: 3 Bears, Greendog, Pixie, Rummy, Patch, me, Creepy, Chef, Thin Mint, Little John, Tintin and Kashmir. Kincora, April 23.]

[Cake marking our progress along the Appalachian Trail, Kincora, April 23.]

When Ashley got there I had to abandon a game of Risk, hours long, in which I was just starting to dominate after having held Europe for the whole of the game and newly conquered North America. We stayed in the "Executive Suite," a room with a door and a full-sized bed downstairs. The walls were simple boards. Through one crack you could see the kitchen. Anytime anyone in the crowded bunkhouse overhead stood on the rickety floorboards we could hear it clearly. Not that I minded not getting a sound sleep. I'm used to that, being a light sleeper anyway. It was a good chance for Ashley to experience a trail hostel. Anyway, we were off to a hotel in Johnson City.

Scenes from trail's past

My time is abbreviated here. I'm staying at a hostel in Erwin, TN, where the AT intersects the Nolichucky River. Since beginning the Smokies with Early Bear my miles have increased substantially: Last night I arrived here at 5 p.m. after an 18-mile hike, on top of a 21-mile hike the day before. I'm planning to head out today, which means chores, chores, chores and hike. To that end I'm going to flash through Standing Bear to Hot Springs in photos...

[Early Bear doing laundry at Standing Bear hostel. The washboard system really tied the place together. We arrived at the hostel late on a Friday night and did our chores in the morning. I cooked up the greasiest sausages and pancakes ever on an iron skillet and gas stove.]

[Sunrise at Max Patch, 392-acre grassy summit of a 4,629-ft mountain. EB and I hiked to the summit late at night and found the summit crowded with hikers cowboy camping, stargazing and waiting for sunrise.]

[People watching the sun come up at Max Patch.]

On our way down from Max Patch, Early Bear abruptly turned around and said why not go all the way to Hot Springs and end his section hike at the Rock Bottom bar and grill? It ended up being my first 20-mile day of this southern trek. We ate most of the appetizers on the menu. The next day Early Bear took me to resupply and then he returned to the real world. 

The week of hiking from Fontana to Hot Springs, 108 miles, was very enjoyable. It went fast. Now I'm working to keep that momentum going as I progress north. In fact, I've caught up with all of the people I left behind at Fontana when I went to Asheville.

Nature's gallery

In days most recent the trail immersed me in woods more interesting than I've seen on the trail since probably southern Pennsylvania last June. The shapes and textures of these recent trees beckoned me like pieces in an art museum, standing out twisted and moldy against a canvas of a green forest floor.

Between Spring Mountain Shelter, at 282.8 miles from Springer, and Flint Mountain Shelter, 304.1 miles from Springer, which I hiked Wednesday, and then again between Big Bald and Erwin [yesterday's hike] the trees beckoned me to stop and study them. It's been a transformative walk.

I thought I'd share what I saw. Cheers to these trees of the Tennessee/North Carolina border.

[The canvas.]

Good morning from Big Bald

Camping here last night, at 5,500 ft. with strong winds blowing my tent, meant a gorgeous sunset but not a whole lot of sleep. Big Bald has a treeless summit with panoramic views. The sun is already hot; another 80 degree day is expected.