464.7 miles in

After my last post in Erwin, I hopped the dinner shuttle into town and gorged at a Mexican restaurant called El Azteca.  I’ve been craving Taco Bell since about Hiawassee, but since the first Taco Bell on the AT is at 720 miles (seriously), I had to settle for this instead.  El Azteca had really good food.  After eating there, I ran down the street to Little Caesar’s and got a pepperoni pizza and crazy bread for later.  The crazy bread was a midnight snack, I ate half the pizza for breakfast, and packed the other half out of town and ate it for dinner at Cherry Gap Shelter.

The trek to Cherry Gap Shelter wasn’t bad, until I got to the climb up Unaka Mountain.  The entire day had been a climb and the temperature was creeping up to 80F.  I ran out of water at about 3700 feet, then climbed to 5200 feet in 4 miles.  The blackflies assisted me in this climb by flying directly into my ear canal, and promptly panicking upon realizing they had mysteriously become trapped in an ear canal.  I think I may have killed one while it was in my ear – it may still be there.  The pine forest was gorgeous – the ground was cushioned with pine needles, there was shade, I ate some pine needles (they’re high in water content and vitamin C), and it was completely silent.  Seriously, the only sounds were the ones I made, and the blackflies chewing on my eardrums.  I then went three more miles descending until I reached the shelter where I was finally able to rehydrate.  Upon reaching Cherry Gap Shelter I met a man named Yoga Boy.  He does yoga, and he claims it keeps him from getting sore muscles from hiking, but he had been laid up at that shelter for a couple days with shin splints.  Yoga Boy informed me that water was half a mile down a steep trail.  In truth, it was about 100 yards down a pretty easy trail.  That was my pleasant surprise of the day.  The not-so-pleasant surprise was a vicious thunderstorm that evening.  Before it started raining, the wind started blowing so hard that it resurrected our campfire, which had been burnt out for about 4 hours.  Legionnaire rolled in that afternoon as well – it was a long day for him, but without any water on the entire mountain, he was pretty much forced to push on to the shelter.  Also, we found a mousetrap in the shelter so we baited it and killed 4 mice in about an hour.

The next morning was relatively easy terrain to the first shelter (Clyde Smith), but the storm had blown an incredible number of very large, very obstacular trees onto the trail.  The moisture brought a few animals out of hiding though, and I saw a box turtle and a lot of very bright orange salamanders on the trail, about 1-2 inches head to tail.  They were so brightly coloured that I thought someone had dropped a plastic toy when I saw the first one, until it moved.  They completely lack any sense of self preservation, and being so visible they must be toxic as hell.  I didn’t touch them.  I had lunch at Clyde Smith Shelter then pressed on to Roan Mountain Shelter.  The journey took me on a short climb up Little Rock Knob, which had lots of great views.  I almost lost my hat over the edge of a cliff there.  After the short climb, there was a huge climb up Roan Mountain.  As the end of a 16-mile day, it was torturous.  The temperature was 80-something, the climb was 2200 feet total, the sun was out full-force, there was absolutely no breeze, the bugs were devouring me, and the trail was designed by a lunatic.  The entire climb was rock steps and log steps, and every step was huge.  Literally, I had to lift my leg 2-3 feet into the air to step up each time.  I misjudged the distance to the shelter though, and when I thought I was about 2/3 to the top, it turns out I was already done.  That was nice.  The top of Roan Mountain is the former location of the Cloudland Hotel – were it still in operation I certainly would have been a customer.  Instead, I slept in Roan Mountain Shelter, which used to be a log cabin belonging to the fire marshall, or something.  It had an upstairs and downstairs.  Legionnaire, Scribbles, Yoga Boy and myself slept downstairs.  G-Man and a fellow named Flyfeet slept upstairs.  Flyfeet is an interesting character.  When he awoke he made such a racket packing up that none of us could possibly sleep.  Legionnaire was sleeping under the ladder to the second floor, and started packing up himself since sleeping was a lost cause.  Shortly after Legionnaire got up, Flyfeet dropped his pack from the second floor right onto the spot where Legionnaire had been sleeping.  In this case two wrongs made a near-death experience.  Apparently Flyfeet had tied his fully-loaded pack to a rope hanging from the upstairs rafters, but since the rope was longer than the second floor is high, this made exactly zero difference.  Flyfeet almost killed Legionnaire.

During the night a cloud settled over us and made everything damp.  Scribbles was gone before I was conscious, and everyone else left while Yoga Boy and I were being lazy and sleeping late.  Once we got up and moving, the hike was super easy.  The cloud had taken the temperature down a notch, and the hike was largely downhill.  I flew down Roan Mountain to Carver Gap where I bid adieu to Yoga Boy & Flyfeet as they caught a ride to Trail Days in Damascus.  I continued on to Round Bald and Jane Bald, which were gorgeous, and the trail was expertly maintained as well.  Shortly afterwards I stopped at Overmountain Shelter for lunch and to dry out all my gear since the sun had come out.  Overmountain Shelter is an old barn that’s been converted into a shelter.  It sits on a mountainside at the end of a long valley, overlooking said valley.  It’s gorgeous, and I wish I had been sleeping there the night of the thunderstorms.  I pushed on after lunch to Little Hump Mountain and Hump Mountain, which were pretty decent climbs, but there was a breeze to keep things manageable, and the scenery was amazing so you could almost forget about the climb.  Continued a little further to US19E which is the road to Roan Mountain (the town), and stayed at a hostel close to the trail called Mountain Harbour.  This hostel is wonderful – the owners run a sort of ranch style B&B and have sectioned off part of their barn and decorated it to look like a quaint little cottage.  There’s a common area with sink, fridge/freezer, oven, stove, microwave, etc, couch, dining table and chairs, and a loft with 4 beds complete with linens and pillows, a bathroom attached directly to the common area (not a separate building 100 feet away), and a separate semi-private (curtained) room with a king-size bed.  They supply every amenity a hiker could need, except a computer with internet access.  Breakfast was amazing as well – the place is originally a B&B, remember?  Highly, highly recommended.

After my stay at Mountain Harbour I did a short day to Mountaineer Shelter.  I started doing single-digit days for a bit because I wanted to do a high-mileage day into Damascus since the terrain there is so comparatively easy, so I needed to go very slowly to avoid running into the Trail Days crowd.  On the way to Mountaineer Shelter I took a side trail to Jones Falls, which was cool.  At one point the AT started following a river, which was beautiful.  As soon as I got to the river I saw a deer on the opposite side, and there was a spot on the shore where lots of butterflies were hanging out.  It was magical.  Mountaineer Shelter is 3 levels – there’s the usual two floors, plus a kind of loft area – I claimed it and referred to it as the penthouse suite.  Legionnaire showed up briefly and moved on, and it started thundering shortly afterward.  I hope he didn’t get rained on too badly.  Scribbles, G-Man, Solar, and an elderly couple shared the shelter with me that night.

The next day I impressed myself with how quickly I was able to cover the 16 miles to Kincora hostel – I had been planning on staying at Laurel Falls Shelter, but made it to Kincora at 3:00pm which left plenty of time to clean up in time to catch the dinner shuttle into town.  As such, I stayed at Kincora.  At 4:30 Seiko drove me into town, and since no other hikers had arrived but I knew more were coming, I got 8 jr roast beef sandwiches with cheese-goo and curly fries for myself from Arby’s, and I picked up 2 cheese pizzas from Little Caesar’s for hikers who rolled in later that evening.  I ate the curly fries, 6 roast beef sandwiches, and 1 slice of cheese pizza for dinner that night, and put 2 sandwiches in the fridge for dinner the next night at a shelter. Scribbles and G-Man showed up late and were happy to have the pizza – G-Man even covered my $4 donation to show his appreciation, since I didn’t have any small bills.  Kincora’s a great place, and Seiko & Bob Peoples have my appreciation.  Laundry, shower, shuttle, and bunk were all free, and all the trimmings were provided (detergent, soap, shampoo, linens, pillows, etc).  Seiko offered me a work-for-stay if I’d make one of the beds for him.  I did the chore, but I donated too in a roundabout sort of way – G-Man contributed my donation in appreciation for the pizza.

I was only planning 10 miles the next day, so I skipped breakfast and took a detour about 2 miles down the trail.  I followed a 1-mile side trail into Hampton, TN where I hitched to the other side of town and had breakfast at a diner.  I ate 2 eggs, 3 strips of bacon, two slices of buttered & jammed toast, hashbrowns, milk, coffee, a cheeseburger, and a grilled cheese sandwich.  I also stopped at the dollar store for mousetraps and a book of crossword puzzles, then hitched back to the side trail and continued hiking.  The hike this day passed Laurel Falls, and then circled Watauga Lake for quite some time.  There was a family swimming at Watauga Lake when I got there.  I would have thought the water too cold for swimming, but apparently not.  Next time we get days in the 80’s or higher and I get a chance to swim, I’m taking it.  On the way up Pond Mountain I encountered the Hardcore volunteers working on re-routing the trail, so I helped them swing a sledgehammer at a rock about 50 times until my arms were wiped out and my hands blistered and bleeding, then I continued on my way.  They gave me oreos.  Spent the night at Watauga Lake Shelter with Bearbait and four southbound section hikers.  This is the first shelter that used a bear pole rather than bear cables (or nothing).  A bear pole is a tall pole with hooks at the top for hanging your bear bag, and there’s a long rod for lifting your bag up to the hooks.  It works fine, but the rod weighs about 25 pounds, which makes it pretty unweildy for lifting your bag.  It was fun watching people try to wrestle their bags up onto the pole.

The next day started with some excitement, then got pretty uneventful.  About a half mile after leaving the shelter, I was attacked by a grouse.  It scared the daylights out of me before I realized it was basically a loud chicken, then I tried to catch it on film with my camera.  I should have whalloped it with my trekking poles and cooked it for dinner.  I hiked on.  Plenty of great views of Watauga Lake, and I stopped at Vandeventer Shelter, 33.4 miles from Damascus.  There was a rock shelf behind the shelter with an amazing view, but I didn’t get to see much of it before the mist rolled in.  It got very cold very quickly, and the mist dampened everything.  The night was chilly.  I got two mice overnight.

I awoke at 6:00am, ate and packed quickly, and was on the trail before 7:00am.  It was 42F and raining, and everything was soaked.  Early on in my hike I saw a pretty amazing show of rhododendron and flaming azalea blossoms, but I didn’t take any pictures because the mist was messing up my camera lens and I had nothing dry with which to clean it, and because it was freezing.  Throughout the rest of my hike this day I saw more flaming azaleas than I’d seen in all the previous days combined.  It was pretty impressive.  I slogged through mud and wet grass for about 7 miles before I flew past the first shelter at about 9:00am.  I kept going and about 15 miles in I stopped for a snack at the next shelter around 11:30.  Steam poured off my pack as soon as I dropped it, and as soon as I stopped I started to feel the cold.  I ate fast and was walking again by 11:50 – it was far too cold to stay put for long.  I made it to the third shelter about 23 miles in at 2:15 and paused again to pack in some calories.  As I was sitting there feeling awesome for doing 23 miles before 3:00, two guys in spandex bicycle-type outfits came flying by.  They were on their way to Damascus, and remarked that I must have started early because when they passed Vandeventer they didn’t see me.  Note: They *passed* Vandeventer.  That means they came from further back than I did, and they caught up to me.  Pride certainly does come before fall.  Not to be discouraged (and most of all to avoid another cold & wet night in the mountains), I packed everything up at 2:30 and pressed on.  At about 28 miles I started to get pretty tired and sore.  At 30 miles I passed the TN/VA state line.  At 31 miles the chafing started, and at 33 miles I waltzed into Damascus with visions of a hot shower in my head.  I stopped at Mount Rogers Outfitters to ask for a $10 bunk + shower for the evening, and they informed me that they were full and The Place hostel was closed due to plumbing issues.  Crap.  Staving off a panic I went outside and sat down with my guidebook and proceeded to call every B&B in town and managed to find one with one room left.  I’m paying quite a bit more than $10/night, but it’s worth the price to not be out in this cold.

I’m staying two nights at the Montgomery Homestead Inn, meaning yes I’m taking a zero day in Damascus.  I need it after doing 33.4 miles in a day, and I’m certainly not too keen on going back out into this weather.  Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer and maybe a bit drier.  Today I’m eating well, updating my blog, and taking hot baths.  Back at it tomorrow.

I added pictures to the 339.3 post.  They’ll be added to this one as well as soon as I’m able.