Date: Sunday, May 31, 2015
Current Location: Damascus, VA (my fourth state!)
Trip/Journal Details: Hot Springs, NC to Erwin, TN, to Damascus, VA
Miles to Date: 469

Long time, no blog.  I know.  I’m still hitting the Trail though.  Still walking and plodding along.  Still camping.  Still eating, sleeping and sitting in the dirt, under the sun and in the rain, sweating my butt off but enjoying some of the best that nature has to offer.  I’m such a lucky lady that not only did I get to see my man in Hot Springs, NC, he surprise visited me in Erwin, TN this past Memorial Day weekend as well.  Hence, no time for the blog.  We were much too busy exploring and relaxing along the Nolichucky River.

When I last left off with you, I was in Hot Springs, NC waiting on my ride to Trail Days.  Trail Days, if you remember, is a weekend-long festival for hikers with vendors, live music, food, free showers and laundry, a parade and lectures.  There was even a hiker talent show and a hiker prom (complete with dudes in thrift store dresses and beards).  Plus, arts and crafts and tons of gear giveaways.  It’s the Bonnaroo-Lollapalooza-Woodstock of the hiker world, finished off with a massive bonfire each night.

To kick it off, myself and 11 other hikers rented a 14-passenger van.  We were in Hot Springs, NC and Trail Days was up a ways in Damascus, VA (where I am now).  That van was packed to the MAX with us and our 12 stinky backpacks.  When we got there, we decided to set up camp in what they call Tent City.  Tent City is exactly what it sounds like – a giant field full of tents.  Hundreds of tents.  For a mere $5 you could pitch your tent all weekend and have access to potties and trailers with free showers and laundry operations.  Many of the vendors were giving away free food as well.  It was a pretty sweet deal. I was very impressed with all the volunteers and the law enforcement that was present during the event.

After setting up shop in Tent City, our first order of business was to replenish calories.  We walked into town and went to Bobo McFarland’s – an Irish-inspired restaurant – where I had the best pot roast and bangers and mash I’ve ever had in my life.  We were fairly zonked after the drive and eating all that food, so we made our way back to camp for a nightcap.  Somewhere in the midst of our nightcapping, we heard the sound of beating drums and Indians coming from the woods behind Tent City.  So there we went a wandering into the woods to find many, many more tents set up and a HUGE bonfire with hundreds of hikers circling around, chanting and dancing to the beat of a drum circle.  It was quite an entertaining sight.  We hung out and watched folks dance around in free abandon for a while – amused by the antics.  And on and on into the night, this drum circle/bonfire combo continued until the last crate burned at who knows what time in the morning (I was trying to sleep in my tent by then – old lady that I am).  The bonfire ritual happened every night of Trail Days.  It really was pretty cool, but I did turn a bit grumpy on the second night when I was robbed yet again of prized sleep by some chatty people early in the morning.  You kind of expect it going into Tent City so I’m not complaining, but I did turn into a psycho, sleep-deprived, raging Sunshine supernova at 3:30 in the A.M. and said a few choice words to a group of ladies (who were so very polite and respectful of my not-so-nicely-put request to be quiet).  I apologized in the morning, I felt so bad for my spew of turrets.  I spent my last night at Trail Days on the lawn of the Lazy Fox Inn across town, on the peaceful bank of the Laurel River.  The inns keeper is a sweet 90-year-old lady named Ginny.  I knew Ginny from a previous stay and knew she would let me camp there for free.  It was the right choice.

The rest of my Trail Days was spent listening to live music in the town square and visiting vendors.  My favorite purchase was a pair of flowy purple dance pants and an AT t-shirt that I wore all weekend long.  It was nice to feel like a real human girl again, with clean hair and fancy pants (we won’t mention the Crocs).  I went to a few lectures, including one from Earl Schaeffer – the second person to ever thru hike the AT.  I also participated in the hiker parade – a parade through town of all the past and current thru hikers, organized by class. Tradition has it that the townspeople squirt us with waterguns as we walk by, so I got a little wet.  They also threw candy and Honeybuns at us – that I didn’t mind!  Also cool – I won a free Osprey backpack from Backpacker, full of all sorts of awesome goodies.  AND, I met a rad guy named Mason – a solo bicyclist traveling along the Appalachian Mountain range from Florida to Maine, documenting his travels with video and interviews.  You can catch him on Facebook at MasonRoundtheWorld.  Overall, I was glad I stopped hiking for a while to go to Trail Days.

Back to Hot Springs, we all piled into the van again.  Getting back on the Trail after a week off was hard.  The climb out was excrutiating and tiresome.  My body wasn’t very happy with me.  My knees hated me, my feet were mad, and my back was like, “forget YOU, Man!”  I planned to put in a 16-mile day and only did 8 or something.  And it was raining.  And then we camped next to a sporadic, bi-polar-like guy who cussed and was easily frustrated by simple things like boiling water (that we can now, thankfully, joke about).  Neal hooked me up with some good, fatty nutrients though, so that was nice.  Of my favorite are powdered goat’s milk and coconut oil.  I add them to practically everything – coffee, oatmeal, hot chocolate, pasta…  He left me with a good supply of homemade duck jerky too.  The bomb!  My weight has leveled off over the last couple weeks at a solid 138 – ten pounds less than what I was before I left on the trip, but healthier than my first few emaciated weeks.

As I am yet again in a pinch for time to resupply and more importantly, to relax, here’s the lowdown on the last couple weeks since I last blogged.  A lot has happened!

– I’ll start with dead people.  There are an alarming number of dead people on these mountains.  Just about every other day, I run across a random gravesite or cemetery.  Some very old, some new.  One of the ones that really stuck with me though was Shelton’s Gravesite.  Shelton’s Gravesite is the site of a Civil War brawl – one that ended very badly for a band of Union supporters from North Carolina.  A massacre, if you will.  It was so eerie to sit at that spot, all alone.  You could almost feel the souls.  To think that these peaceful, serene mountains, as they are today, have seen such blood and cries of agony is bone chilling.  I spent the rest of my day hiking, thinking of those long-ago soldiers creeping up the hills.  My imagination is pretty wild.  It was spookstown.

– Cantarroso Farms.  Mid-way through the week, after I left Hot Springs, Neal calls to say he has a four-day weekend coming up and can see me in Erwin, TN.  SCORE!  It worked out perfectly with my schedule.  We booked a cabin at Cantarroso Farms – a gorgeous piece of property along the Nolichucky River, owned by a sweet couple.  The husband picked me up from the Trail – with a beer and a brownie in hand.  My favorite kind of greeting.  Neal wouldn’t be there until later, so the couple kindly invited me to dinner with them at Primo’s – an Italian joint – and to see a band play in Johnson City, TN.  The band, coincidentally, was also staying at their place.  It was so crazy to be hiking one minute, then clean, full and enjoying a live show at a quaint venue, waiting for my man to join us.  It was the best.  I’ve said it before, but I’ve been so very impressed with the generosity of the people along the Trail.  They also had chicken coops next to our cabin.  I liked the chickens.  And we nobly saved a poor couple that got stranded on the river after their kayaks overturned and they lost their paddles.  Poor little things came wobbling up to our cabin, water logged and pitiful.  Apparently, it happens fairly often.  The Nolichucky River don’t play.

– Back on the Trail, I was treated to some awesome waterfall shows.  At one of them, I completely lost the Trail though.  As in, I couldn’t figure out which way it went.  I spent a good half hour walking around in utter confusion, ending with a near meltdown of tears and frustration before I met a young couple who pointed me in the right direction.  I wasn’t the only one though.  At the next shelter, just about every hiker was like, “DUDE!  Did you lose the Trail at that waterfall??!  What the heck?!”  At that point, it was just funny.  I felt better that I wasn’t the only nincompoop.

– The spiders are in full force.  Every day, I clear about 27 billion spider webs off the Trail ….with my FACE.  There are so many drifting tendrils, I wait until I can barely stand it any more before I swipe them off.  Otherwise, I’d be swiping my face every 10 seconds, and that’s distracting.  The absolute worst is when they string across your upper lip.  GAH – that drives me nuts.

– Yesterday, I saw my very first bear!  One mile from the shelter where I planned to stop for the night, too.  We scared each other and he ran off into the woods.  I yelled at him, sang songs and did a little beat-boxing the rest of the way to the shelter so as not to startle any other bears that may cross my path (nevermind the hikers).  I was happy to see a group of three ladies at the shelter.  I was worried I’d be alone with a bear!  Instead, I spent the night with these lovely women – the “Sisterhood of the Fair Ladies” – as they call themselves.  That was the first time there was not one single man at the shelter – just us four women.  It was so much more civilized without the testosterone.  We were all so pleasant, clean, courteous and quiet.

– The Trail is probably the only place in the world where I would accept candy from a stranger.  As I was walking the other day, I ran across an old man in a red bandana and his wife.  The old man asked if I’d like some Skittles.  …Uh, Yeah!  HELLO!  I’ll take some Skittles, I said.  As if that was even a question.  The very next day, I ran across that exact same couple.  Like Pavlov’s Dog, I had been trained.  I saw the old man with the red bandana and immediately associated him with Skittles.  After the pleasantries, I was happy when he, yet again, asked if I’d like some more Skittles.

– Skittles included, over the last couple weeks, I was treated to several incidents of Trail Magic by some very special people.  The best was on the long ascent to Big Bald Mountain.  Huffing and puffing up the Trail, about to die, I suddenly spotted a bright blue cooler and several other hikers sitting on a log next to it.  I swear my eyes about bulged out of my head.  TRAIL MAGIC!!!!  Inside the cooler was cold soda, chocolate chip cookies, oranges, boiled eggs and milk.  Again – no where else in the world would I open up a mystery cooler, see a package of boiled eggs and eat one.

– This past week, I hiked every day, but punked out several nights and stayed at a couple hostels along the way.  When they’re right off the Trail, why not?  I stayed at the bunk house at the Black Bear Resort.  The accommodations were perfect, but I vow not to share a room like that again if I can help it.  It’s hardly better than a shelter with all the snoring and shuffling about of other people.  I had high hopes for a glorious night’s sleep, but got only a few fuzzy winks and left perturbed (you can ask Neal about it – he knows, poor guy).  I’m envious of the people that can sleep through all that.  The next night I stayed at Braemar Castle.  Braemar is a huge stone building that used to be a post office.  It was converted to a hostel over thirty years ago.  Got my own room and slept beautifully.  I also helped myself to their extensive VHS collection and cheesed out with “Romancing the Stone” while I pampered my feet.  The next morning I took advantage of their oven and baked Pillsbury cinnamon rolls.  Nothing like Pillsbury power!  I was totally set to hike the mountains around Watauga Lake that day.

– Many miles later, here I am, back in Damascus and about to get back on the Trail.  I took off one full day here to chill, and stayed with the sweet Miss Ginny at the Lazy Fox Inn – this time, in the house.  I visited Bobo McFarland’s restaurant again.  (Side story: Does anyone remember that silly internet game, “What’s your porn star name?”  If not, the game goes like this – you take the name of your first pet, and the name of the first street you ever lived on, and that’s your porn star name.  Well…that’s how the owner came up with Bobo McFarlands as the name of the restaurant!  She said she couldn’t think of anything creative and liked the sound of that.  HA!).  Anyway – good food and really good company there.  I ended up with a few locals over at the Damascus Brewery down the street that evening.  We played a right fun game of cornhole.  Damascus certaily earned it’s title of “the friendliest town on the Trail.”

– Weather.  The weather lately has been a lot like that of the Florida coast.  Hot and muggy during the day, a shower late afternoon, and thunderstorms at night and into the early morning.  Although there was one exception where it dropped to 30 degrees one night.  THAT was a cold, cold night.  Talk about not wanting to get out of your sleeping bag.  I sat there, all bundled up like a worm, gathering the courage to unzip the thing and use the privy.  My hands were so cold, I had to stop hiking for ten minutes to play patty cake to warm them up. As of now, it is pouring rain and I am not looking forward to the walk back to Miss Ginny’s (where I stupidly left my rain gear).

Wrapping up, I often find it difficult to write about my experiences out here.  There is really so much.  If you ever have any burning questions for me, hit me up.  If there’s something you want me to blog about more – my hiking habits, gear, the emotional side of it, what I see, the people, etc. – don’t be a stranger.

Until I chat again, I’ll leave with you a message my mom so lovingly sent me last last week that helped to get me through:

“Tough times don’t last.  Tough people do.”

Take care!