Damascus, VA. State #4

We are in Damascus, VA...again. We left the trail Friday before last at hwy 19E and hitched north to Damascus to attend Trail Days, the biggest hiker festival of the summer. The AT runs right through Damascus, a very small town. It is one of only a handful of towns that the trail runs directly through. It is very "hiker friendly", and Trail Days is their big event. There are vendors, music, industry reps, affiliated organizations and loads of hikers. They have a parade where the entire town arms themselves to the teeth with squirt guns and water balloons and lets loose on the marchers. "Miss Trail Days" was a young girl in a nice dress, riding on the back of a brand new covertible down Main St. She was trying to wave, but was busy ducking balloons and dodging streams of water, her makeup running down her face. The picture I posted of the beginning of the parade shows nothing of the chaos that ensued. And speaking of chaos, "Tent City" after dark is a party in the woods (just out of town behind the baseball fields) like I've not seen. People come from up and down the east coast. Some are people who have thru-hiked in the past, others are section hikers who enjoy getting out, some come for the party and talk about hiking, and then there is the minority "us", the people spending this whole season walking together on this path. Needless to say, we had a blast! We found a ride back to where we left the trail, and after a night in a lovely hostel with the most amazing breakfast ever, we got back on. It has been a lovely section of trail, with not as much steep up and down. The forecast is for more ridge-top cruising! It feels like summer now, the bugs are out and biting. We saw a bear last night just before dark and two (well, I saw two) the day before! They all ran. We like that. We came past a shelter the other day where the ground was littered with flakes of flint, not like the other rock around; evidence of stone tool making. On the path down to a spring from the shelter I found an arrowhead in the middle of the trail! No doubt this particular level spot along a ridge, with water nearby, has made an excellent campsite for eons. It was the heart of the Cherokee nation not long ago. We have been meeting lots of cool folks too! We stayed a night at Kincora, a hostel run for 16 years by a guy named Bob Peoples. He charges a suggested donation of $5 per person. He reluctantly upped it to that this year from $4, due to rising gas prices. Bob is a "trail angel" and his reputation precedes him. He organizes volunteers and oversees the largest trail building projects on the AT. Word is that he and Chuck Norris are friends, but Chuck doesn't like to spar with him. In March he hosted the 19,000th hiker to stay at his place. We will walk today, some more. Don't know just where we will be or what we will see. That is what it's all about!

Wildlife!

Hey ya'll! It has officially been a month on the trail.  We are starting to feel like woodland creatures.  We smell like them, we drink from the same water sources and we all poop in the woods. On several occasions when we have stopped in towns, we have filled our water bottles with what tasted like good water from a municipal source.  Pack that water about a mile up the trail and it tastes more like a municipal swimming pool.  It is promptly replaced with filtered spring water!
It is the simple things that we appreciate out here; a hot meal, the next shelter with a privy, junk food.  Included in a recent maildrop from Butch's folks were some Dum-dums lollipops her Dad thought we would enjoy. Sometimes when we are pounding out some miles, it is the thought that soon we can have another Dum-dum...and what if it's Mystery Flavor!!  ...that keeps us going. The idea of Mexican food fueled our foot steps to Erwin, TN.   ...that and the fact that we had walked 16.5 miles in the rain to earn it.  I feel insatiable. We cannot eat too much. When in town, we try.  As we are blogging here in the lobby of the Super8, the talk amongst our fellow "storm-dodgers" is of all-you-can-eat pizza buffets and which one is closer walking distance.  Thank goodness that folks down south truly appreciate a good AYCE restaurant!
We haven't seen a bear yet, though they are around.  The ass-end of a wild hog disappeared into the brush before the camera came out.  Here are some photos of the other creatures we have run into (without stepping on) on the trail.

Small world, long trail!

We rolled into the town of Hot Springs, NC, intent on soaking our bones in some hot water. We headed straight to the springs. It wasn't what we expected. Turns out you rent a hot tub at an hourly rate. Prices vary according to how many people per tub. When we asked about showering we were told that there are no showers. The thought of getting into a tub of mineral water without rinsing off a weeks worth of wandering in the woods simply wasn't appealing. We went and got a coffee and picked up a couple packages that Butch's Mom had sent to the local outfitter to hold for us. One package was full of food, some stuff we had pre-packaged, and lots of other stuff her Mom figured we would like such as Snicker's, chocolate-fudge things and Oatmeal Cream Pies! The other package contained some new Vibram Five-fingers shoes for Butch! She has been toughening up her feet, strengthening her ankles, hiking practically barefoot! Her feet have swelled and grown and the old pair needed to be cut open to let the toes out. The new ones are a size bigger! We were debating whether or not to stay in town for the night when we got a phone call from Butch's good friend Misty Dawn, who happened to be visiting her hometown in Tennessee. She had driven about 4 hours to come hang out with us, and was ten minutes away! That settled it, we were staying. Another trail friend of ours named "2/3" was up for sharing a room so the four of us rented out a nice place above the Spring Creek Tavern. Misty took us for a drive, because cruising in a car is a luxury we no longer take for granted. We drove way up in the hills and walked up to Max Patch, which is probably the coolest place the Appalachian Trail has taken us thus far. It is a stunning 'bald', meaning no trees to block the view. Historically these balds had been favorite spots of the Native Americans, and later those with grazing animals. We had enjoyed lunch up there the day before, lounging on the green grass, and now we were soaking up a surreal sunset with 360 degree views of hills, with hills in the back, and the hills behind those. We made it back to town, but too late to purchase dinner, anywhere nearby. The bartender downstairs persuaded us to have some beers or she was going to close down for the night. She offered us some guacamole and chips and salsa which we promptly demolished. The bartender was really friendly and talkative and I got the feeling I had met her before. Butch and I had been in Asheville, NC (32 miles away) about a year and a half ago, for one night. We had gone into a bar downtown for one beer. It was crowded and we were seated on the corner of the bar in the back of the place. Butch struck up a conversation with an older couple next to her, and I got to talking with this local girl who had just gotten off work and came in for a beer. She told me about how her family had been here for many generations, even her last name was that of a nearby town. She was really friendly and talkative and when Butch and I left we bid farewell to her and the older couple, glad we had all met. I thought that our bartender now was this girl and I told Butch and Misty. They thought I was nuts. So casually I asked the bartender if she was from around here, and if her family was from here. Indeed she said she was 8th generation. I then told her the story of having talked to a girl at a bar in Asheville with the last name of a nearby town...  It was her! Tiny, tiny, totally small world, and the more places you go, the smaller it gets. Gives me the feeling we're in the right spot!

Lil' Smokies

We made it over Clingman's Dome yesterday, in the heart of Great Smoky Mountains Nat'l Park.  It is the highest point on the Appalachian Trail, just a little taller than Mt. Washington up in New Hampshire. I guess that means it's all downhill from here!  The view from the top of the spiral, concrete viewing platform was impressive.  We were able to see peaks in the distance that we had traversed a week ago!  The forest changed as we climbed from fully leafed out deciduous forest of tall trees to a more stunted growth, just budding out, to a totally coniferous forest, lush with moss.  We made it to Newfound Gap, where the only road cuts through the smokies, and were almost immediately offered a ride down to Gatlinburg.  We needed to come into town to resupply our food and we wanted to experience the true American feel of this good ole southern tourist trap. We took advantage of the free samples at the Ole Smoky Moonshine Distillery.  We tried every flavor and can highly recommend the blackberry and apple pie!  We hadn't eaten much on the trail yesterday in anticipation of a big meal in town.  The moonshine on an empty stomach really hit the spot, but thankfully was followed up with a big Mexican meal and then ice cream.  We have both lost weight. I feel like I could just eat without stopping, but carrying lots of food isn't fun, so we take advantage of the gluttonous possibilities in town.  As I write this I am staring at an empty plate where previously stood a triple stack of pancakes, a clean skillet that had held a real pile, and Butch is putting the finishing moves on a side order of grits.

We are going to take the trolley down the road and check out the ceramics facilities at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, buy some trail food at the Whole Earth Grocery, and head back to the woods.  Next stop is Hot Springs, NC, where we will be looking to soak!

The rest of this post was written a couple days ago up in the hills, but the battery on the phone died before it got published...

We had long day of hiking to get deep into Great Smoky Nat'l Park, but are ahead of the crowd and sprawled out nicely with the top bunk area of a solid stone shelter all to ourselves!  We left this morning from Fontana Dam, the tallest slab of concrete this side of the Rockies designed to retain that most precious resource - fresh water.  It felt darn good on the old feet when we got down to Fontana Reservoir.  Butch and I both had sore feet coming down to it and decided to take our time and go barefoot the last two miles down to the water.  There happened to be a marina right there and we each got a can of Dr. Pepper and sat on the dock, soaking our feet in the amazingly clear, cold water.

We stayed at the "Fontana Hilton" last night! That is the name given to the shelter near the dam as it has bathrooms with running water and even free showers!!  Pretty nice digs as far as trail standards go. Though shelters can be nice to stay in when they aren't too crowded, and you have to stay at the shelters in the Nat'l Park, I more prefer sleeping in a setting like we had the night before last.  Just down a side trail to water from Cody Gap was the perfect little tent spot, a level pad of pine needles positioned inside a ring of pine trees in an otherwise mostly deciduous forest.  Two small streams trickled by not fifteen feet from each side of the tent before meeting up just below.  The sky was clear, rainfly off, a waxing moon shining brightly through the mesh ceiling of the tent.  The stillness of the night gave a feeling of depth as we lay 80 feet below the canopy, submerged in the forest.