Samwise Hikes the Appalachian Trail! - Trail Journal -
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May 10, Kincora Hiker Hostel - mile 404.5

This is the ultimate spot for relaxing on a day off the trail. Only .2 miles from the trail is this hostel, with it's simple wooden porch, comfy bunkhouse with a tiny kitchen and lots of soft chairs for lounging on, plus free showers and laundry rooms on the walkway between the hostel and the house. The walls are covered with photos of former thru-hikers atop Katahdin - they say they've had about 4500 come through here since 1997. Today in particular, the place looks a bit like a MASH unit. Only two people here are uninjured and feeling spiffy, while the rest of us hobble and limp and take turns with ice packs. I've already met four who have been here 1 or 2 weeks, recovering from knee, ankle, and Achilles tendon injuries. There's something about things here that make you feel right at home, no matter if you're here only a night or many nights. The owners, Bob and Pat, are the kindest, friendliest people. Bob took a truckload of us into town earlier for stops at the Post Office and grocery store, so that we are all re-supplied and have everything sent off that needs to be. I already picked up my mail drop here and got my food, but somehow I still spent $25 at the store - mostly on snacks and meals for today and tomorrow AM. I'm terribly excited to be having a salad and a deli sandwich for supper, plus I've got chips and yogurt to snack on, and a quart of chocolate milk. YUM!

It's nearly 11PM now and I'm getting ready for bed in a cozy side room that has only 4 bunks, plus the cubby off to the side where the telephone is. That spot has been exceptionally popular tonight. I'm hoping that the chances of snoring bunk mates will be low, since there are only 4 of us in here, as opposed to the upstairs room, which has 15 bunks.

Anyway, it's been an eventful evening. Just as I was diving into my supper around 6PM, Bob came rushing into the hostel to say there was a fire out of control across the road, and anyone interested in helping should grab some water and a rake and jump into the truck. Remember I said earlier we looked like a MASH unit? Well, now we looked like a bug-out. I've never seen hobbling hikers move so fast. Unfortunately, the same crew that started the fire had also knocked a tree onto the power lines and our power had gone out half an hour earlier. And the water pump was electric, so it didn't take more than a few minutes before we stopped filling water jugs. But we piled everything and every body into the truck and drove on down the road about 1/2 mile to the fire. When we got there, we couldn't do anything, though, since the hill side was too steep and the fire was moving up it too fast for non-professionals. Plus even the volunteer fire department was on stand-by, waiting for some one from the state to arrive, since it was state owned forest that was burning. During the half hour we stood and watched, the fire burned up most of the hillside and crossed over the top of the ridge and down the other side. And during the whole time, the crew building the resort (or whatever it was) kept right on working like nothing was happening. We're told they will have to pay the cost of putting the fire out, but it's still pretty aggravating. Eventually the Santa Fe Hotshots arrived and went to work on it and we hear that it's pretty well contained now. I don't know why the Hotshots are here all the way from New Mexico, but apparently they were also the ones we saw flying overhead last weekend to fight the fire near Erwin. Only one of their group was a woman - under other circumstances I would have loved to talk to her and hear about how she likes the work.

So that was our excitement for the evening. Since then, I've been learning to play rummy, compliments of another hiker here named Steve. He's been here almost 3 weeks with Achilles tendonitis, but he has a really calm attitude about the whole situation. If it were me, I would probably be pretty depressed and in a perpetual bad mood! But he went to the thrift store today on our town run and got a $4 pair of running shoes, and he's cut open the heels so that they won't rub against the Achilles and he's going to try hiking that way. It looks like it might work pretty well.

May 11 Watauga Lake Shelter mile 415.1

Had a pretty relaxed day today of hiking just under 11 miles. The first 2-3 miles of our hike went through Laurel Creek Gorge and took us right by the waterfall, which was absolutely beautiful. In fact, the hiking was so beautiful that I had to take back all the bad thins I said about Tennessee a couple of days ago! Hiking along the river was a nice change from those cow pastures.

Just before getting here to the shelter, I passed Watauga Lake and spent a while there hanging out and soaking my knees a little. I don't understand why, but when I got into the water, all the teenage girls in their bikinis got out. And none of the young studs driving the loop in their hot rods whistled at me, either. I don't understand ----what's wrong with the sweat stained khaki look?

Mr. Moo caught up with me at the lake and also hung out at the shelter for a while, exploring all the stuff that's been left. He picked up some really good watercolor paints and there's also at least 20 pounds of food, two books, a huge tarp, a gallon of gas and a book light. Somebody did some serious pack lightening here. Of course, I did a bit of lightening myself, when I gave Mr Moo a heavy chunk of gorp bar that I didn't eat today. It's like gorp, but melted down and cooked into bars. I like it a lot, but today I had enough treats from town, and I never got around to eating it. Lucky for me, I never have trouble disposing of food that I can't eat. I find it funny some times how no one even thinks twice about finishing off other peoples' dinners. Half eaten, you licked the spoon? No problem! Just last night my water bottle was on the table when some one wanted to take some pills. I didn't think twice about handing it over and letting him have a drink. I guess we're all developing good immune systems out here.