Erwin, TN – mile 342 – 15.7% of the trail complete

May 8th – The gap before Bluff Mtn. to Hot Springs
Total miles on AT – 11.0-ish
Elevation gain – 625ft
Elevation loss – 3751ft
Weather: sunny and mild

I did not get the early start I had planned but I made it into Hot Springs by 2pm and after mulling about through town, I retraced my steps and found a nice spot on the grass for my tent outside of the hostel on the south side of town. I had a shower and a good meal out and returned with a six pack to the hostel where I had a lengthy conversation with “Breakneck.”

Breakneck is a 27 year-old ultra marathon runner from Peabody, MA. Most people think that Breakneck got his nickname from the mileage he does and I suppose that’s partly true, but he got the name because he fell on the trail at one point and a local woman nearby asked him in a thick Southern accent, “Did you break your neck?”

Breakneck has been stuck in Hot Springs for days because he got arrested for having an open container of alcohol in public. They took him to jail where he spent the night in prison wearing a jump suit in a cell with a murderer and hardcore druggie. When he was released, he walked the 15 miles back to the hostel at night. He’s out on the trail against the wishes of his family and his girlfriend. He goes in tomorrow to see if he can resolve this thing and not have to come back for a June 3rd court date.

As we chatted, we were joined by “Schnitzel” a German army vet who had both of us in stiches telling stories of his flatulence problems while in the German army. Normally I don’t go for that kind of humor, but when he told us how in this manner he was able to scare away an overbearing drill sergeant, both Breakneck and I could not contain ourselves.

May 9th – Hot Springs to Spring Mtn. Shelter
Total miles on AT – 11.0
Elevation gain – 3110ft
Elevation loss – 564ft
Weather: turning overcast and warm

Things did not go well for Breakneck. He showed up to his hearing in shorts and they would not at first let him enter. He was able to meet with someone who said that he could not get out of his court date on June 3rd. His thru-hike is over. I would have worn long pants and shaved if I were him.

I resupplied, and hit the hot springs for an hour soak hoping it would help my knees. The trail out of town followed the river and then climbed to Lovers Leap before climbing some more. A few weeks ago forest fires ravaged the area and the trail was closed for days and days. The earth was charred around the trail all the way past Hurricane Gap – a good ten miles!

I met a couple named Thor and Athena coming back from mile 420 to do this section because they had to skip it during the fires. They said that Trail Days in Damascus might be full and that there is no more tent space.

I set up camp as it started to get dark but my tent pegs were missing! I must have left them on the lawn in front of the hostel. I checked around before I left but they were in a green bag and I must have missed them in the grass. Great idea! – a green tent peg bag – green! I found some sticks in the woods that sufficed.

A brave or blind (or both) mouse snuck up out of his hole about five feet from where I was sitting outside my tent and charged me. I jumped and he changed directions on a dime within inches of me and darted back into his hole. Good thing a bear hasn’t done that to me yet.

May 10th – Spring Mtn. Shelter to Jones Meadow
Total miles on AT – 10.7
Elevation gain – 2527ft
Elevation loss – 1615ft
Weather: mostly cloudy, mild but humid, evening thunderstorms

Thought for the day: Difficulty staying in the moment for all ages:

Young people – so much future ahead to think about, not mature enough to not dwell on the past. But things are still novel and therefore it can be much easier to stay in the moment

Old people – Easy to reminisce about the past because there is so much of it, but not much future left, therefore no choice but to keep head out of the past and live in the moment.

People my age – Lots of past, and lots of future ahead, a double-headed challenge. Stay in the moment!

I ran into a bunch more thru-hikers coming back from Damascus to do the section they missed because of the fire. Some of them were running trail magic and gave me a banana. They also left a cooler at the next road crossing with flavored ice sticks!

I took an antihistamine that helped me sleep last night but I was sluggish the first half of the day. The movie Good Will Hunting has been on my brain on and off for weeks!

I stopped pretty early and made a fire. Two young sisters Margarita and Claire showed up and they were able to enjoy the fire too, although it was a bit smoky from wet wood. A thunderstorm rolled in in the evening and the rain would continue all night.

May 11th – Jones Meadow to Rector Laurel Road
Total miles on AT – 14.0
Elevation gain – 1076ft
Elevation loss – 2478ft
Weather: showers and thunderstorms, clearing in the afternoon

The rain stopped in the morning, but it started again as I packed up and everything got absolutely soaked! It rained on and off throughout the morning, sometimes heavily and I had to keep moving to stay warm.

The rain had stopped and there was no thunder when I got to the junction where I could take a bad weather alternate route instead of climbing over an exposed ridge. But I’m what they call a “purist,” which means I am out to do the whole trail, no blue blazed alternative routes for me, so long as no danger is involved. But the rain and thunder returned and I found myself speeding over the ridge as fast as I could, despite the rugged trail that reminded me a lot of the trail in Western Maine. I took each step carefully with famed coach John Wooden’s adage in mind – “Be quick, but don’t hurry.”

I stopped for lunch at the next shelter and it was cold getting going again, but the rain had stopped and the sun would come out by the end of the day.

I leap-frogged Margarita and Claire all day and walked in with them to the Hiker Paradise Hostel – a half mile off the trail down a country road.

May 12th – Warm, sunny turning cloudy with overnight showers

It rained and lightninged early in the morning and my tent leaked for a second night in a row. Everything is still pretty wet from yesterday. My left knee was pretty sore through the night.

Guess who came into the hostel last night at midnight – Breakneck! He was able to get a lawyer who helped him settle everything in Hot Springs so that he would not have to return there for a court date. So he’s back on the trail. He did 39 miles yesterday along with another fellow who is on his 12th day! 309 miles in 12 days!

The owner of the hostel, Jerry, gave four of us a ride to Erwin, TN where we got a shuttle to Damascus, VA for the biggest festival along the trail – Trail Days! Damascus is known as Trail Town, USA! There are six trails that pass through or near including the AT that goes down Main Street, and the Virginia Creeper Trail, a really fun 34-mile bike path that crosses countless wooden bridges over picturesque streams and rivers.

I took three antihistamine to deal with the anxiety in the car. I still had anxiety, but was able to fend off any panic attacks.

I looked for my earphones today and they went missing; where did they go? Were they taken at the last hostel while I was charging my iPad? Ugh! Losing stuff is the bane of my existence out here! Awareness – be angry and then let it go.

The Damascus Fire House put on dinner. They must have served a 1000 or so people. The spaghetti dinner tasted great but I was still hungry afterwards.

I attended a talk on Route 58, which runs the southern length of Virginia from Virginia Beach to the Cumberland Gap, by author Joe Tennis at the library in the evening. He was a good story teller.

May 13th – partly sunny and warm

There is certainly a good amount going on in Damascus today to keep me busy.

I went to One Way Ministries for a free haircut and a doctor consultation. Unfortunately neither of the two doctors could make it and a nurse apologized and nodded her head as I told her my plan for dealing with a self-diagnosed case of tendinitis.

I attended a really cool talk on the American Chestnut tree and a project designed to reintroduce them to America by cross breeding them with the Chinese chestnut. The Chinese chestnut is immune to the blight that wiped out the American tree in the first half of the 20th century.

Later in the day I heard 89 year-old Gene Espy talk. In 1951, he was the second person to thru hike the Appalachian Trail. I was touched by his surrounding family in attendance, particularly by his daughter Jean who, as she started to cry, said her father had such an inspiring effect on all their lives because he was able to “just keep going.”

I had a beer at the Mill’s Inn where Kristen and I visited four years ago when we hiked Grayson Highlands and biked the Creeper Trail.

In the evening I attended a cool (and funny) documentary on Iceland by Scott “Squatch” Herriot and then attended a music and slide show by the infamous Warren Doyle who has hike the trail more that anyone else – a jaw-dropping 17 times. He first hiked it in 1973 when he set a record by completing it in 66 days. He became a professor at the University of Connecticut and two years later in 1975 brought 19 students out to the trail. They only had 109 days to finish. All 19 did so. Since then Warren has lead countless groups on thru-hikes. The success rate of his contingents is astounding. I enjoyed hearing his music selections from the 70s and 80s and seeing the slides of his disciples hiking the trail. The stories he had to tell were quite powerful and the tears of joy of the finishers on top of Katahdin were inspiring.

“The joy they experience on Katahdin in that moment is equal to the amount of hardship they had to go through to get there… those who don’t make it will tell you it doesn’t matter that they didn’t finish, that it is about the journey, not the result. Nonsense! You can have both!… Hiking the trail is not socially irresponsible. It may be socially unacceptable, but it’s not socially irresponsible. I think that for young people there is much growth to be found in hiking the trail. Much more than one can gain than by learning to “contain the enemy.”‘ I’d rather see more thru-hikers than more people with MBAs. – Warren Doyle

I could have listened to him for hours and hours.

But I had to return to my tent where hundreds upon hundreds of tents were set up around me and where the partying went on till the wee hours of the morning. A distant drum circle pounded away around a bonfire. I had found a pretty quiet corner of the forest relatively speaking away from large gatherings, but sleep didn’t come easily as the “couple” in the tent next door were hooking up and then that noise gave way to a horrible snorer.

May 14th – sunny turning cloudy and cold

I awoke late after spending much of the middle of the night awake. I caught s little of Michele Montgomery Marshall’s talk. She is a woman in her 50s who found hiking and has completed the AT, the Colorado Trail, and the Camino del Santiago. She stressed the freedom that comes with living simply.

I listened to Warren Doyle talk again as he discussed how the trail has changed over the past 40 years. Fascinating stuff. The biggest change has been the increase in numbers and a party culture that has developed. I can’t tell you how many drugs I heard about and saw this weekend, and by fellow thru hikers. It seems to me that all the young folk are partaking. It makes me sad. Has the use of hardcore drugs amongst youth really gone up in the last twenty years? Or has it just gone up amongst thru-hikers? When I came out here 19 years ago I saw marijuana once. But at this festival – marijuana, acid, cocaine, and of course lots of drinking… I attended a documentary in the late afternoon made by a young man who south-bounded a few years ago and I swear the two major themes were drinking and the F word. There was very little focus on the actual trail itself. Am I being a crabby old man, or are the youth of today a bit different? Warren Doyle said the conversations on the trail have changed. “They used to be about what mountain you were going to climb, or what lake you where going to swim in, or where you were going to sleep under the stars. Now people talk about things like what equipment they have, or what hostel they liked the best, or what festival they are going to.”

I enjoyed being a part of the parade where past and present thru-hikers walked down Main St. while kids with super soaker water guns drilled us from the sidewalks.

May 15th – Rector Laurel Road to a meadow
Total miles on AT – 10.0
Elevation gain – 2967ft
Elevation loss – 1486ft
Weather: clear and chilly

It was a cold night and morning. I felt sick throughout the night (not from drinking) and was not feeling particularly motivated in the morning, perhaps dehydrated. Drinking liquid will help.

I arose at eight, got ready, and woke “2.0” up at 9:00. A buddy of his had another buddy who gave us a ride to Erwin. Then I shuttled back to Rector Laurel Road where I left off.

I took two and half antihistamines for the rides. (Three last time had hurt my side and I had trouble breathing because of it.) I had anxiety but was able to manage it. It didn’t help however that the driver’s brakes needed to be replaced and often grinded as we came to a stop. And his dog was afraid of me.

I felt sluggish when I first got back on the trail at 2:15 and the temperature dropped, but at least it was sunny. My right knee started to flare up, then the left felt pretty bad at end of the day and in camp. Maybe I should have gone to Walmart in Erwin before coming back. I can’t wait to get those supporters, I am really hopeful that they will help.

May 16th – A meadow to Spivey Gap
Total miles on AT – 11.6
Elevation gain – 1932ft
Elevation loss – 3159ft
Weather: mostly sunny and cool in the morning, cloudy and mild in the afternoon

Thought for the day: Don’t work for money, work to be happy

Song stuck in my head: The John Denver song and another upbeat 70s song from Warren Doyle’s slide show (I still carry the image of him bopping along to the music.)

It was cold last night, one of the coldest so far on the trail. Climbing over Big Bald this morning was beautiful.

I met a couple on the way down. He was from New Hampshire and had a Sox hat on. She was from Mansfield, Connecticut. They had just moved down to Lynchburg, VA.

More pains in my left knee, the worst shooting pain yet.

I am camped near US highway 19. I don’t like camping near a road, but a car only goes by every 20-30 minutes or so; I can’t believe it; it’s a US highway for goodness sake.

But wait…It’s after 10 and I just heard a car door and a dog bark. Don’t like that at all. Why are you stopping here after 10pm?

Top three fears on the trail in this exact order:

1. Being attacked by a dog
2. Being attacked by a person
3. Being attacked by a bear
4. Being attacked by another mouse

May 17th – Spivey Gap to Erwin
Total miles on AT – 11.1
Elevation gain – 793ft
Elevation loss – 2320ft
Weather: rainy and mild

A quick cruise into Erwin. Knees felt good today. Except when I stopped. I mean literally I would stop for five seconds and my left knee would start to hurt. Into town to get those supporters. I walked briefly with a 26 year-old guy from Brooklyn. He’s a former heroine addict but has been clean for 2 years. He did do acid at Trail Days though. Even the young guys out here who seem clean-cut are carrying marijuana. Feel bad for the young folks. If you are 18 and have never done drugs before and come out to do the trail, I gotta imagine you are going to start doing drugs.

Week 4 Totals
Miles: 79.6 (avg. – 11.4)
Elevation gain: 13,030ft (1861)
Elevation loss: 13,365ft (1909)
Hiker points: 90.4 (12.9)
Avg start time: 11:01am
Avg finish time: 4:39pm
Total time hiking: 30:35 (4:22)
Mph: 2.60