The Land of the Lotus Eaters

Catnip enjoying a Keystone light amoungst the Riff Raff Crew

View from within the Riff Raff tent city

The last few weeks have been a blur of activity. After Hampton, we packed out a couple of Subway sandwiches and hiked up to Vandeventer Shelter for the night. We had unusually strong cell service on top of the mountain so we ended up streaming an episode of the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon while falling asleep in our tent. It was kind of spectacular. The next day we planned to hike 18 miles to put us just a day outside of Damascus. We wanted to get into town before Trail Days began, which we heard gets pretty rowdy, and we hoped that this would put us ahead of the bubble. When we reached mile 11, we stumbled upon an eclectic group of former hikers/hippies called "Riff Raff" that had been set up just next to TN 91. You're not allowed to tent within Damascus city limits until Thursday before Trail Days so these "tent cities" pop up in the surrounding areas. A couple of guys shouted, "Hiker Alert!" and came running over with beers and burgers in hand. "Let's get that backpack off of you, do you want some food? How about a beer? Take a rest, set up your tent -- we're all heading into Damascus on Thursday, party with us until then!" Wheels and I were flabbergasted. We ate burgers and hot dogs and threw back a few beers and prepared to head back on the trail. When I had my backpack on, the group spotted us and pleaded that we stay. We weren't going to be convinced -- it was fun, but we were focused on our goal. "You can't go until you try the cheddar brats," one of the group's founding members, G-Hippie, exclaimed, as he came over with two beers in his hand. Wheels and I sighed, exchanged glances and set up our tent. We were stuck in the Land of the Lotus Eaters
, with no chance of escape.

The next morning we got up at 5:45am, took down our tent and headed out for the 21 mile hike into Damascus -- we were determined to stay on schedule. Aside from being a little dehydrated, we ended up hiking into town by mid-afternoon--the terrain was very forgiving. The trail passes directly through town so we hiked straight to our hostel for a quick shower before heading over to Dot's Diner for some grub. We stayed at Woodchuck's Hostel, a quieter alternative to the official "Tent City" that Damascus sets up for the thousands of hikers that come into town over the weekend. Trail Days is a major deal for the town -- the population grows from a couple thousand to around ten thousand over the weekend. There is a hiker parade, talent show, concerts, free haircuts, and of course, the 24 party that goes on at Tent City.

Wheels and I hung around through Saturday afternoon to get a taste of the shenanigans without getting lost in it. We ran into a bunch of hikers that we'd befriended at the beginning of our hike -- several of them had earned trail names since then and it was funny to hear their stories. A large group of hikers that we'd camped with before Blood Mountain told us they'd been following our shelter logs and keeping an eye on our progress. We promised to write them little notes in the log going forward. It really did feel like a reunion -- which is weird since we had only met these folks for a few days a few weeks ago. 

By Saturday afternoon we were itching to hike again so we hitched a ride out of town and headed on our way. While we were in town, we'd bought summer sleeping bags and sent home our winter gear. Unfortunately, there was an unseasonably cold streak that caused it to snow and sleet on Mt Rogers, where we planned to camp that night. We bought a cotton sheet for $1 at the Thrift shop in Damascus and managed to make it past through the cold.  

One of the highlights of the trail is the Grayson Highlands, which you hit just past Damascus. The fields are home to wild ponies that graze and run near the trail. We witnessed a herd of wild ponies run just 40 yards in front of us along the trail. It was absolutely amazing -- definitely one of the coolest things we've seen so far. 

We've been told that the trail starts to get quiet when you reach Virginia -- that people start dropping off the trail like flies. Virginia is described as the "Green Tunnel"; it makes up 1/3 of the Appalachian Trail and while you still have major climbs there are no views. A lot of people come down with the "Virginia Blues" because of the lack of major milestones through the big state.We are feeling positive -- we took a day off in Atkins to rest so that we can hopefully knock out some bigger mileage days. 

That pretty much sums it up for now. I'll leave you with this:

Over the last month and a half, I've become fully engrossed in "AT Lingo". I thought it would be helpful to share some of the trail terminology with you all. Enjoy!

AT Hiker Dictionary:

Hiker Trash: someone who crossed over the thin line between hiker and homeless that mooches off of others' generosity. Can often be found living in a tent under a bridge or eating your food.

Mayor McCheese: A hiker or former thru-hiker that believes they have a superior breadth of knowledge about the trail and continuously shares that wisdom with others.

Blue Blazing: Taking side trails instead of purely hiking the official white blazed AT.

Yellow Blazing: Hitching north and skipping sections of the trail.

Slackpacking: Carrying a daypack instead of your entire backpack for a section of the trail.

PUDs: Pointless Ups and Downs

Delicious: Pretty much anything edible.

Tired: A sleepy feeling, often a result of broken rest due to snoring hikers in a hostel or shelter or wildlife entering camp at night.

Exhausted: Don't want to move.

Worn Out: The feeling you get during your last hour of hiking, regardless of mileage.

Sore: A continuous sensation of stiffness and discomfort that is heightened after laying stagnant in a tent each night.

Sleep: "What was that? Did you hear that sound? Oh my gosh was that a bear? Oh phew, just a deer...Zzzzzzzzzz...."

Clean: {does not compute - definition unknown}

New Posts Coming Soon!

Hi All!

My apologies for the lag in new posts this week - spotty internet connection in Virginia. I have tons of stories to share about Damascus, Trail Days, the Grayson Highlands, and much, much more. So hang tight and check back soon for updates!!

-Catnip

Beam Me Up, Scottie!

So we've officially hiked 405 miles of the AT! After my last post, Wheels and I took a double zero in Erwin, TN. It kind of happened on a whim -- we were walking back to the trailhead, looking for an ice cream shop on the way and a stranger in a red pick up truck stopped us and asked if we needed a ride. After talking for a few minutes, he told us he owns a new hostel called Cantarosso Farms that caters to AT hikers. He and his wife are beekeepers and trail enthusiasts that wanted to offer a quiet alternative to the typical hiker hostel. We were planning to leave town but he piqued our curiosity, so after grabbing a couple of Oreo milkshakes, he drove us to the farm.

Best. Decision. Ever.

Cantarosso Farms is a beautiful 90 acre property with a half dozen painted honeybee boxes lining the long driveway up to the house. It sits right on the Nollichucky River so we fell asleep to the roar of rapids passing by our tent site. After spending some time with the owners, Peggy and Mike (and their 3 hilarious dogs), we were quickly convinced that we should stay yet another night and take advantage of their "slackpacking" option. Slackpacking is when you leave your full pack at a hostel or hotel, hike a section with a day pack and then get a ride back to your hostel/hotel at the end of the day. We'd seen others do it but it was our first time. What a treat! We felt like we were weightless; we flew down the trail and knocked out over 20 miles in a day, allowing us to make up for the double zero we'd had in Erwin.

After our 2 nights with Mike and Peggy we headed out for another 3 day stretch without town stops. The trail has such a personality -- it fluctuates from a tropical, humid rainforest to a barren parched field all within the same day. We hiked a series of balds this week -- the kind of mountain tops that make you want to start singing "The Sound of Music" whilst running open armed in the wind. We camped by the highest shelter on the AT at Roan Mountain, and visited one of the largest natural rhododendron patches in the US -- however, the flowers don't bloom until June so we didn't see them in their full glory.

Our second day out after Erwin, we hiked past large patches of a local edible plant called "ramps". They are basically a wild cross of garlic and onion, which we'd been told are super delicious and bountiful along the trail. We hadn't seen a ton of them before, but they were everywhere, so we stopped for about 30 minutes to pick some for dinner. When we got to camp, I cleaned and chopped the bulbs and we ate the greens raw -- which kind of tasted like arugula. As soon as the water was boiled, we ate like kings -- we had a feast of dehydrated potatoes seasoned with Cabot's Seriously Sharp Cheddar Cheese and hand-picked ramps. It was pretty spectacular.

We pushed another 16 miles the next day to make it to a hostel just shy of Hampton, TN. We'd seen in our guide book that the fellow that run the place, "Scottie", was a big Star Trek fan, engineer and 3x AT thru-hiker, so we knew we had to check it out. After getting a little lost and going over a mile too far on the trail, we backtracked and rolled into the hostel in a terrible mood. I knocked on the front porch door and was greeted by a gentleman in his 60s wearing an ATC t-shirt, holding a small thermos filled with Mellow Yellow and Wild Turkey bourbon. His trailname was "Storm-bringer", he smiled, lit a cigarette and handed us each a Budweiser while we waited on the porch for Scottie to return. It turned out that Storm-bringer and his buddy, Wizard, come to Scottie's once a year to serve beer and cook hamburgers for hikers. It also turned out that Wheels and I were the only hikers at the hostel that night. We ended up each eating 2 hamburgers, a ton of chips, and a half dozen beers a piece. Then they whipped out the tequila...We stayed up way past our normal hiker bedtime, listening to their stories and sharing trail woes. Just before calling it a night, Wheels and I found an old VHS tape of Animal House, which we watched in our private cabin while eating Ben & Jerry's S'mores ice cream with sporks until passing out.

Today we woke up a little later than usual, still reeling from the night before. We had a fairly easy 12 mile day ahead of us so we started off slow and steady. By noon, the week-long dry spell broke and we spent the afternoon hiking in the rain. We're staying at a hostel in Hampton tonight to keep our tent dry and resupply for the last 3 day stretch until Damascus. When we hit Damascus we'll have finished a quarter of the trail -- crazy!

Wheels just got back from a town run to pick us up some Subway sandwiches and McNuggets so I am going to go eat those things. Until next time!

Catnip

Things I've Learned After One Month Hiking the AT

It has been just over a month since we started the AT in Amicalola Falls. We've hiked over 350 miles, eaten a lot of food, lost weight, acquired ridiculous tan lines, and learned a lot about ourselves along the way. I thought it would be nice to reflect on some of the life lessons we've accumulated over the miles.

Catnip's AT Life Lessons

Big Bald Mountain after a 21.3 mile and a 19 mile day...

1. All you need are the bare necessities.We started the trail with every kind of widget and doohickey that we could think of -- since then, we've sent about half of it home. All you really need is food, water, socks, something to keep you dry and something to keep you warm.

2. Stopping in town is great. We make most of our town-stops to resupply or avoid major storms, but it has been such a pleasure to spend time in these towns that were never on our radar.

3. Poptarts and coffee make a surprisingly well balanced and energy-sustaining breakfast. After trying a plethora of different breakfast combinations, Poptarts and Folger's individual coffee bags have become my tried and true morning starters. I've been able to hike longer with more energy on those artificial rectangular "pastries" than on nuts, oatmeal, granola, or even a candy bar. Say what you will about those sugary toaster squares, but they've become the best part of my day.

Packing up our gear after a very rainy night just outside of Hot Springs, NC

4. Hiking in the rain isn't that bad. While we try to avoid the rain as much as we can, we've been caught in several downpours. It is way better to get wet hiking with your gear covered and dry than to already be at camp, totally dry and have your tent get soaked.

5. Take more pictures of people and less pictures of mountains. One of the most amazing and valuable things about the AT is the community around it. The hikers and hiking-enthusiasts create a warmth around the trail that makes you want to keep going. There are plenty of mountains and beautiful views, but those won't change -- the people are what make the trail what it is and it's important to remember those faces and moments.

6. Enjoy food in town, but don't hurt yourself. I've been so hungry. When my hunger set in, I came into my first town and hurt myself -- my body wanted more food than my stomach could take. Enjoy the appetite but don't eat to the point where you can't move...

Stopping for lunch with fellow hikers. YUM.

7. The forest smells amazing. Seriously.

8. "Slackpacking" is fantastic. I recently did my first 11 mile section without my full pack on and it was spectacular. The cascading streams were more beautiful, the pines smelled pinier, I felt like I was flying weightless down the trail. It was awesome. If you can swing it, it's worth hiking a few days without your pack to renew your love of the woods.

9. Hitchhiking isn't that scary. Well, at least near the trail -- most of the people who will stop for you are hikers or former hikers themselves, otherwise it'll just be an adorable old couple with a dog named Fred.

10. Mountain spring water is frickin delicious. We recently switched from chlorine tablets and iodine treatment for our water to using a Steripen and were immediately blown away by the delicious flavor of untainted mountain water. It is cold, delicious and refreshing.

11. Don't be so hard on yourself. Some days you'll just feel "off" -- don't get down on yourself for it. When we were at Top of Georgia hostel, Sir Packs-A-Lot said to imagine your 10-year-old self hiking next to you and what you would say to 10-year-old you if your leg hurt or you felt worn out. Would you yell at yourself to keep going or would you gently encourage yourself to take a break. You are your own worst critic, so take it easy on yourself and enjoy your hike.

So there you have it! Only 340 miles into this 2,176 journey and I'm already a wiser woman!

Waiting for a shuttle into Gatlinburg at Clingman's Dome.