From: "David Addleton" <dfaddleton@mindspring.com>
To: <at-l@backcountry.net>, "W F Thorneloe, MD" <thornel@attglobal.net>
Subject: [at-l] Report No. 000.01; with ThruHiker & ATLer sightings ...
Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2000 14:38:57 -0500

I drove with Orange Bug from Atlanta, leaving around 3 pm, and arriving at The Grande Gourmet B&D Restaurant, haunt of Avery Parapackers, Impurists, and other assorted hiker trash, in Franklin after dark (we ran some errands for the good Dr. before getting there). OB mentioned two or three times he hoped to meet Sly & Cheryl, whom he expected in Franklin that week-end.  We
ran into thruhikers Derek and Ted chowing down at the B&D. Wearing sox with sandles and convertible pants, their haute coture did not blend well into the local background, and betrayed their intentions and identities, although hey protested, claiming to have known Rainbow Springs from childhood.

Driving back to Rock Gap, we wanted to camp near the famed Poplar Tree, but ailed to find it in the dark, so we returned to a very queit Rock Gap Shelter to sleep for Friday night.  While falling asleep I notice three hikers, whose names I did not know, leaving, heads down, with headlamps lighting their foot steps. I have no idea why they chose to leave around 9:30 pm, though, perhaps, the next morning could provide a clue.

OB rose early Saturday morning, for a quick, before breakfast, walk to Glassmine Gap and back. During this time I watched as the hikers, week-enders, sectioners, and thruhikers woke up.  A mom and daughter team, Mountain Laurel and Red Rover, rose first, pretty much at the same time OB woke up. He gave Red Rover advice and medication for chaffing, which she thought just had to be poison ivy from using the woods for a toilet.  Meanwhile I noticed this hiker packing and lighting his corn cobb pipe, while still lying in the shelter in his sleeping bag. After OB left, Sly appeared around the bend and stopped in for a chat. He wanted to make Rainbow Springs that Saturday, awoke at 3:00am and couldn't get back to sleep, so he left his hiking mate, Cheryl, behind for an early morning
stroll into Rock Gap Shelter.  Cheryl experiences leg pains which slow her down considerably and Sly couldn't help but pass on some mahvelous quotes from her of the complaint variety, which included choice words for her congressmen about the archetecture and engineering of the famous foot path she trod.

By this time, the corncobbpipe was up, letting everyone know it was he who had shouted down the noise the night before around 7:30 pm. A section hiker group together with some others, perhaps the three I saw leaving the night before, had a conversation going, irritating corncobbpipe as he tried to fall asleep. The section hiker group later apologized to corncobbpipe for the viagra conversation the night before.  At least I now knew why the place was so quiet when we arrived. Corncobbpipe was kind enough to let OB and I
know that we had not disturbed his rest with our late arrival. I also noticed Zullu, Rochelle, Shaggy, Sunflower & Cheif rising for breakfast and leaving, tho' I did not learn their names until later, at Rainbow Springs.

Sly and I chatted for an hour. Seems Sly had (along with Turkey, Greece, and Europe) tooled around  Afganistan, Pakistan, and Iran in the early 70s, the years I lived in the area, so we swapped stories about Afgan hospitality, Baluchi head massages, and the incredible mountain scenery in the Suleiman, Karakorum, and Hindu Kush.  Of the language, Sly could remarkably recall only the word "charas." He could remember some stories to tell, tho', and I thouroughly enjoyed meeting him.

Zullu was last to leave, asking directions to Rainbow Springs. Both Sly and I explained he needed to pass the parking lot and get to Wallace Gap before turning left. With Shaggy gone, it was just me and Sly. We continued swapping stories. Eventually, Sly tired of waiting for OB, and left me alone to guard the shelter and OB's pack until his return from Glassmine. He returned just minutes after Sly left. They'd passed each other without introducing themselves, OB asking the distance to Glassmine, and Sly giving the 30 minute measure.  We put OB's pack back in the car and I saw him off from Rock Gap (where I begin my HATT hike later this year!) to slack pack to Wayah Gap where I'd arranged to meet him again at 3 pm.

Before OB left, however, we observed Zullu in the back of a Ford pick-up truck. The truck of locals out ramp hunting, stopped, and Zullu, with corn cobb pipe,  jumped out, explaining he'd turned left too soon, realizing his error at Standing Indian Campground.  OB and I saw Zullu off to Wallace Gap (he was going to Rainbow Springs), and later I waived good bye to OB and drove off. On the way down to Rainbow Springs, I picked up Zullu and gave him a ride to Rainbow Springs where I met Andy, Joey, and Burger or Smokie (he has two trail names it seems).  Burger gets his name, he said, from his feet; Shaggy's feet didn't look much different to me. Zullu got his name
from a chance meeting with a skunk somewhere in Georgia. Sly had already arrived so I offered him the chance to meet OB by driving back to Wallace and he accepted. We caught OB turning the bend above Wallace Gap, and chatted a while.

I hung out with Joey, entering law school this fall, and talking about what he could expect in that sorry excuse for ego crushing they call the "socratic method."  I gave Joey, Andy and Shaggy a lift back to Wallace Gap.  Returning, I picked up Lindie and Tim for the ride to Rainbow. I asked if anyone needed a ride to Frankly and Zullu, Sunflower, and her nine year old boy, Chief, wanted a ride to town for Pizza and shopping. I took some pics and obliged the three with a trip to Pizza Hut, Ingles, and Ace Hardware.  Sunflower and Cheif are a mother and son team, who originally started out with Sunflower's mother. Their mother broke an ankle at Gooch Gap, and after
a short hospital stay returned to New Hampshire, leaving Sunflower and Chief to finish the trip broken ankle had planned.  After returning the three to Rainbow, and checking if anyone needed a oneway trip to Franklin, I drove to Wayah Gap.

At Wayah Gap I watched and waited of OB to appear out of the woods. Wahoo and Salamander appeared first and hurried on up Wayah Bald. Skip & Dar came through next. I offered all four to top off their water supplies, but they each declined.  While my back was turned at the car, retreiving my camera and notebook, I noticed a north bounder disappearing into the woods, whom I later learned was probably Keil. Alone again, I sat back to enjoy the woodland sounds and scents, when I notice a new odor.  I looked up and this red coloured aparition appeared, follwed shortly thereafter by a large, black haired Chow:  the SouthBounder known as Panama
Red, from the colour of his curly locks and beard, no doubt, and his far-away demeanor, possibly. I gave him the rest of my Pepsi which he gladly guzzled before climbing the steps onto Siler Bald's shoulder, his dog following him. I told him if he met a balding gentleman who answered to the name Orange Bug to tell him his friend was waiting in Wayah Gap.

Fifteen minutes later Papa Bob appeared, willing to take my offer of water and to rest a bit before the next climb. Next came Little Bear, also willing to accept water and a rest. Then Rochelle, who looked quite unhappy and sick, explaining she'd eaten too much for lunch at Siler Bald.  While topping off their water bottles, OB came out of the woods, glad to have reached his goal, and ready to exceed it. After getting pics of them all, they left for the arduous climb up to Wayah. I left for the spring, their next rest stop after a two mile climb, and immediately started pumping water for everyone.

They arrived in the same order, tho' I must have just missed Salamander and Wahoo and Keil, whom I never saw again. I filled up all the water bottles as they passed by. Rochelle became the Dr's next patient, briefly. OB gave her Pepto Bismol and she arrived last, looking astonishingly better and stronger for the climb and the medication. OB said he'd hit his wall with the climb to the spring, but the others cheered him on to Wayah Bald, another two miles or so. He changed into his hiking boots and pressed forward.

I filled up the water containers again, and headed for the top. They appeared again, one at a time, in the same order. This time I offered each a lamb curry for supper if I could convince them to stay and camp on Wayah Bald, south and away from the observation deck. I offered to drive back to the spring for water. They each declined prefering to press on to catch Salamander, Wahoo, and Keil, if they could.

I had no trouble convincing OB to stop. We set up camp behind the bald. We enjoyed lamb curry and couscous, washed down with Night Thunder before retiring for some well earned rest. OB had exceeded his goal and his expectations, walking some 25 miles that day, a quarter of his planned hike to New Found Gap in the Smokies, and confident he could finish there next Sunday, when I return to pick him up.

We watched the Sunday morning sun rise with hot cocoa and tea and I saw OB off on his hike, this time with his pack, around 8 am, in time, perhaps, to catch the crew that we'd met the day before. I did not see another hiker Sunday when I returned to Atlanta.

David