In my last report I said that Hot Springs, NC, was the next trail town after Damascus. That wasn’t exactly true. I had not planned on stopping at or resupplying in Erwin, TN, because the actual town is several miles from the trail. But there is a hostel where I decided to stay last night, Uncle Johnny’s Nolichucky Hostel, located right on the trail which does several free shuttles into town every day. It’s the third hostel I’ve stayed at since Damascus, and all of them have been very good experiences.
My second day out of Damascus (the last day of my fifth week!) was a pleasant 22-mile walk (Tennessee has had some of the most well-maintained trail so far). I went a few miles past a shelter and found a nice campsite in a little clearing near Watauga Lake. The skies were clear, but it had rained a little earlier in the day, so I decided to set up my tarp. I was awakened around 2am to a loud cracking sound, then another, like someone was walking around noisily on the other side of the clearing. Bear? I thought. But then I noted the sound was coming from somewhere above me. I shifted so I could look out from my tarp. As I looked up the cracking noise turned into more of a rapid-fire crackling, and a flickering light was coming from the direction of the noise. All my sleepy mind could think was, fireworks? before I realized I was watching a huge oak branch fall 30 or 40 feet to the ground, about 20 feet from my own feet, with a thud I felt through my sleeping pad. The light was the almost-full moon which had been blocked by the branch but now shone brightly on my camp.
There were no large branches directly over me, but for the rest of that night I was awakened by every acorn that fell, expecting imminent arboreal death from above. So now I’ve learned two lessons I already knew but was never exactly conscious of: when sitting on random timber near the trail, check for rattle snakes; and when setting up camp, always check for widowmakers.
From the lake I did a short 10-mile day to the legendary Kincora hostel where I met Bob Peoples and a few of the feral cats he feeds (but none of the six raccoons he also feeds and let’s in his house like pets). Before reaching Kincora I took a 1-mile side trail to a town called Hampton, TN, where I ate at Whataburger and got a bit of food from the dollar store. At Kincora I got a shower and use of a washer and dryer; there were spare clothes in the hiker box, so I was able to wash ALL of my clothes for the first time.
The Crocs I am hiking in are the same Crocs I walked down Mt. Katahdin in Last year… but I have apparently used them around town in Colorado more than I remembered because they are already wearing very thin in a few places. The heel on the left Croc actually wore all the way through as I hiked out of damascus (see photo above). There is still plenty of material around the hole, so my heel only contacts the external world very rarely. I put some duct tape over it to protect my sock, and it has seemed to work well for the past 75 miles.
Out of Kincora I arrived at a large shelter just before a thunderstorm. I had the shelter to myself that night, and in the morning I saw blue sky so I thought I had outsmarted the rain. But I hadn’t hiked an hour before it started raining again, heavily and continuously. After 10 miles of my 18-mile day, and one unsuccessful attempt at getting a snack out of my pack without getting everything wet, I got to a road crossing where I knew I could walk .3 miles to my right and reach the Mountain Harbour B&B and Hostel. I decided 10 miles was good enough for that day and bought a bunk for the night.
The hostel is located just north of a popular section of the trail which goes over a series of balds in the Roan Highlands, and the hostel provides a shuttling service so people can park in the parking lot and get shuttled to a gap south to spend a couple of days hiking back. The parking lot was full when I arrived, but all day hikers arrived, many having decided to hitch down early to get out of the rain, and drove away. A total of six section hikers arrived to share the bunk room with me. We hung up some lines and spread our gear out all over the place to dry it off (it worked!)
Late in the afternoon (still raining) two thru hikers showed up: Huck with his dog Finn, who I had met at the Wood’s Hole Hostel in Pearisburg, and a hiker I’d not yet met named Butter Bar. There were no beds left, but they were able to sleep on the floor at a discounted rate. In the morning Butter Bar and I opted for the $9 breakfast — all we could eat of omelet, hashbrowns, pancakes with a honey/maple syrup/walnut topping, sasuage, apple pie, pineapple upside down cake, orange juice, and coffee. When we went to pay the lady who runs the place not only wouldn’t charge us for breakfast, but gave us paper plates so we could take some more with us!
I left late that morning, happy to be setting out clean and with dry gear, and not only was the sun out but even the grass on the balds was dry so it didn’t re-soak my socks which usually happens the morning after a rain. I got a clear view from all of the balds and noticed how many of the trees are now orange and yellow (and sometimes some bright red Maples) instead of green — that happened fast! I’m glad I decided to stay at the hostel and wait until morning to hike that section.
That night I ended up with Huck and Butter Bar, as well as three other thru hikers I had met in Damascus (Peg Leg, Rocket Man, and Lorax), at Roan High Knob Shelter, the highest shelter on the trail (~6,200 ft). Unlike most shelters it is a fully enclosed cabin with a door; it clouded up and rained again that night, but with six of us in the shelter it stayed warm.
I camped the next night with Huck and Butter Bar. We decided to go past a shelter so we would have a shorter walk to the hostel near Erwin in the morning, but that meant setting up my tarp in the wind and rain for the first time. It was windy and rainy all night. And then in the morning I packed up in the wind and rain. I managed to keep myself dry and had a comfortable night — but just about every piece of gear I have got wet. Huck, Butter Bar, and I split a private cabin (as opposed to the bunk room — with three of us it was about the same price) at Uncle Johnny’s and the sun came out in the afternoon so we were once again able to spread all our stuff out and get it dry. I’ve not had to stay wet for more than one day so far!
Now I’m resupplied and ready to walk to Hot Springs (where I plan to arrive on Saturday). I have a little over three weeks of hiking left, and it is conveniently broken up into two 10-day segments: from here to Clingman’s Dome where I’ll meet my dad and a friend to hike with for a few days to Fontana Dam; then 10 more days from Fontana Dam to just north of Springer Moutain, where I’ll hopefully meet my dad again for one last day of hiking!
Diode