2023 May/June Section Hike - Day 5 - NOBO FS293 to Dennis Cove Rd

 Miles Hiked 11.1

Day of Hike 6-2-23

Shuttle from Boots Off to FS293 and then hiked NOBO to Dennis Cove Rd where my car was waiting

Right at drop off we ran into two hikers. One had the trail name "Bling" and gave us each a metal AT medallion. Really cool, added it to my keychain. Thanks Bling.  

Hardcore Cascades, named after the Hardcore Trail Crew led by Bob Peoples who runs the Kincora Hiking Hostel. He's a trail legend, and I hear a very nice guy too.  You can see my AT Bling hanging below my water bottle. 

Sherpa was not interested in repeating yesterday's water shortage, so he popped down the blue blaze trail and filled our bottles even though I thought we might have enough to finish the day. 

We made great time, various ups and downs, but we flew down the trail. Near the end of our day we came upon this old cabin. 

There's the road...my car is parked on that road. We've made it! 

62 Miles Hiked, our hike is done. Sherpa was a great hiking companion. I think he might be hooked. This was not a particularly exciting portion of trail, but the weather was decent, and it was just great to be out in the woods. I was also relieved that my knees survived the trip. A bit sore, but I don't think I did any damage. This was my first hike in a long time, good to be back on the trail. 

I had not added up my total mileage recently, so as of the end of this trip. I have 1362 miles complete, which leaves a bit more than 800 miles left to go.  

  Still Left to complete: 

        FS293 to Erwin is about 63 miles, that will make a great section hike for a future trip

I still need to do Partnership Shelter to around Daleville, VA, and 

Bennington, VT to Katahdin. (Greens, Whites and Maine).  

Sherpa and I drove down the road to a campground, bought cold drinks and soaked our feet until they were numb in this freezing cold stream. After that, the long drive home.  Good trip, thanks for joining me Sherpa, we'll have to do it again some time. 

2023 May/June Section Hike - Day 4 - NOBO Dennis Cove Rd to Boots Off Hostel

Miles Hiked: 8.4 (Hostel staff said it was more like 10. Felt like 12 to me) 

Day of Hike: 6-1-23

Started hiking about 11:45am after getting the car repositioned

So for only $15 a night you get a campsite, access to a nice bathroom, a wonderful shower and breakfast with coffee. Not a bad deal at all. Sherpa also treated me to a sandwich from the freezer, so I had a very nice breakfast indeed. 

Catching a shuttle back to our car. The plan is to get the car, return to the hostel, drop off everything we need for the night, drive up to our starting point and "slackpack" back to the hostel. So today's hike will be Northbound back to the hostel. We parked the car on Dennis Cove Rd, where we'll leave it for the night. 

Pond Mountain is our only climb for the day. but it's over 2k feet, so we'll get some exercise. 

Only 8.4 miles...bring it on. I'm ready to get back to Boots Off. Also splurged on a tent with a real bed...looking forward to being clean and comfortable. 

Nice flat trail for the first few miles, with some really interesting sections cut through the rocks. 

Stream is beautiful...we're following it to the waterfall. 

It's a simple thing, but I love it when trail maintainers make these kind of stone staircases. 

Just an easy, pretty stretch of trail. If you're ever in the Hampton, TN area, I recommend a day hike on the AT down to Laurel Falls. 

We made it....Pretty awesome waterfall. 

Time for a Pepperoni, Salami and Cheese wrap.

And a Pecan Pie

As we enjoyed the spot, Sherpa was suddenly attacked. Bear? no. Snake? no.  A Crawdad. Snuck out from under the rock and grabbed his foot. I think the plan was to grab him, drag him under the rock and eat him. You gotta give it to the little guy, he has ambition. Sherpa survived the attack uninjured. Look at his heel / the base of the rock if you want to see the attack in progress. 

Still able to walk after the crawdad attack, Sherpa shot down the trail and we started our climb. We decided not to pause for water before the climb. This was a mistake.  The day was starting to heat up and we quickly went through our water. According to my trail app, there was a water source further up the mountain, so all we could do was keep hiking. 

Can you see the stream of water shooting off the leaf? Thankfully, it's been rainly lately, so most of the way up the climb we came to an unreliable water source that had water.  We drank a bunch and filled our bottles. 

On the way down the other side of the mountain. We saw a large black snake. A bit later, we saw a garter snake (didn't get a picture). I joked "What's next...a Timber Rattler?" And then...less than a mile later....

The woods lit up with the sound of rattling on the hillside next to me...about 12 ft away. Huge Timber Rattler sunning himself on the hill. It's an unmistakable sound...I've heard it a few times. At the sudden loud sound of rattling directly to my right.....I rather eloquently exclaimed  "waaahaaawooooyaaaa!" and jumped. I have a way with words in moments like this. 

Sherpa moved in for pictures as I explained that the technical term for this critter is "Danger Noodle" and that sounds means "don't move in for a picture."  Pictures taken..we kept hiking and made it back to the hostel.  Time to dump our gear, shower, and make some dinner. 

While I showered and then made a pizza, Sherpa walked down to the lake and went for a long swim. I liked the idea of a swim, but not the idea of walking down to the lake, so I was happy to stay back at the hostel. 

Sherpa returned and we enjoyed an amazing frozen pizza. Simple foods taste so good when you've been hiking all day. 

Clean, well fed and ready to get a good night sleep, I headed down to the tent. One more day of hiking and then we get to go home. I always have mixed feelings toward the end of a  hike. On the one hand, I miss the comfort of home. On the other hand....humm....not coming up with the other hand. Yeah, always good to head home, I like indoor plumbing, air conditioning and comfort. Section hiking is quite different than a thru hike, Even on our longest section hikes (23 and 30 days)...we knew we'd be home fairly soon.  I'd definitely take some zeros if I were thru hiking, rest is a good thing. 

2023 May/June Section Hike - Day 3 - Iron Mountain Shelter to Boots Off Hostel

May 31 - Day 3

Miles Hiked: 16

         We went to sleep last night paranoid about bears. This shelter has also had a lot of bear activity. Every little bump in the night prompted flashlights shined toward the bear canisters. Food intact, Sherpa and I packed up and headed down the trail. 

We did the same strategy as yesterday, hiked a bit and at our breakfast a few miles down the trail. 

No Lunch picture because I decided we should skip lunch to save time and just press on for the hostel. We were low on food and the one item I had left would take a bit longer to cook.  The Hostel has a shuttle into town at 6pm, and has lots of cold drinks and snacks.  This all made sense at the time, but with us out of snacks, and then skipping lunch...I was really dragging by the time we arrived. 

Along the way we saw a huge adult bear. It crashed through the brush running away from us. Biggest Bear I've seen on the trail though, definitely an adult. This section of trail south of Damascus really has a lot of bears. 

Lake Watauga. Beautiful. Sherpa apparently took his family Kayaking here a year ago, so it's a familar place for him. 

Long day, it was warming up since we were at a lower elevation and it was later in the day. Sherpa asked if he could hike ahead and go for a swim. Sounded like a great idea to me, so he took off. 

I plodded along, saw a deer just off the trail...and eventually caught up to him. He had time for a nice swim and was drying off when I hiked up. 

The hostel had an amazing shower....hot...and a nice wide pattern from their unique shower head. 

We went into town, filled up the food bag at the grocery, hit subway, and went back to the hostel. Fed, cold drink in my system, and I should have been feeling great. I wasn't. I was still super tired, could barely get my hammock set up. Definitely hit my limits today. 

I checked my "step count" at the end of the day. 50k Steps. Lol...long day.  Climbed into my hammock and listened to a musician near the fire who was quite talented.  Good to be clean, good to be fed, and good to be hanging in a comfy hammock. 

 

2023 May/June Section Hike - Day 2 - Abington Gap Shelter to Iron Mountain Shelter

 May 30th

Miles Hiked: 16

       I woke up expecting to either see my bear canister chewed up, or simply gone. It was sitting on the ground, where I left it, completely unmolested. After ensuring the food was safe,  I remembered to check on Sherpa.  The tarp worked, it rained last night, he was dry. He also had not been eaten by a bear, so we started packing up. 

We broke camp early as we have a 16 mile day planned. My knees seem fine, Sherpa is also doing fine. We'll have some downhills today, that will be the real test of our knees. 

And we're off. First ones out of the campsite I think. 

Came upon McQueens Knob, a shelter built in 1934 and is no longer maintained. Very small. 

Nice cool breeze, the trail is smooth, we're banging out the miles. Sherpa is much faster than me, but varies between either walking slower so we can chat, or hikes ahead and then waits on me. 

To get in today's miles, I had us break camp without coffee or breakfast. The idea is to start hiking immediately, and use breakfast as a break. That way, we'll have a few miles in before we even have our morning coffee. We made good time, and ended up knocking out 4.8 miles prior to a stop at Low Gap/US 421 where there was a picnic table and a piped spring. Sadly, there was not a pit toilet, I had my hopes up there might be.  I introduced Sherpa to my one pot Oatmeal Coffee. The idea is simple...make your oatmeal in Coffee. Drink the Coffee off the top, scoop the oatmeal out of the bottom. Why? So you only have to carry one pot. Sherpa used my 1.9oz Ti cup, and I used the large 850ml Ti cup to heat the water, poured into his, and then made mine in the cook pot. 

For lunch I introduced Sherpa to my favorite trail meal. Summer sausage boiled in water, once it gets to a boil, mix in mashed potatoes. Add parmesan and red pepper flakes to taste. Yum. 

First good view of the trip..wide open field of wildflowers surrounded by mountains. 

Panoramic View

More climbing. But at least the temperature is in the 60s. Conditions are ideal. 

This is the burial place of Nick Grindstaff, right off the trail, where his hermit cabin was located. If you'd like to learn more about Nick, his dog Panter and the cow he used as a pack animal, you can read more here: 

http://appalachiantreks.blogspot.com/2012/07/uncle-nick-grindstaff.html

Not far after Nick Grindstaff's cabin, we made it into Iron Mountain Shelter. At the shelter, we met "Mighty Q" and "Rookie", who spent the night.  I was really tired, so I climbed in my hammock early while the other 3 chatted around the fire. 

2023 May/June Section Hike - Day 1 - SOBO Damascus, VA to Abington Gap Shelter

Mon May 29th 2023

Start Time:  2:30pm (6+ hour drive from home) 

Miles Hiked: 9.9

   Finally getting back on the trail for another section hike. I injured my knees last year, and I've been letting them heal. I did a 6 mile day hike on a trail near my home as a test, they felt fine the next day, so I'm hoping they're up to a real section hike. We'll see.

Stopped for a last Cheeseburger before walking off into the cheeseburgerless desolation of the AT between town stops. 

Started in Damascus, VA.  Unfortunately Avocado had school, so I brought along a friend from church/ a Battalion Dad. It's his first section hike (unless you count our scouting trips in MD on the AT), but he's also run Triathlons and is on the opposite end of the fitness spectrum from me. So I'm not worried about his ability to keep up...more worried about his patience waiting on me...lol. Prior to the hike he commented in a text that he is "happy to carry the bulk of the burden", so I threatened to give him the trail name "Sherpa."  He replied "The mighty Sherpas. The unsung heros of Mt. Everest feats. I'd wear that name with pride."  Sure thing Sherpa...you can carry the bear canister with all the food then. 

You will get bears on this ride.  Especially if all the food is in your pack. 

Nice gentle..but long, grade out of Damascus. We get to start our adventure with a long climb. 

The woods is very green from the recent rains. It rained most of our drive down, and then stopped an hour or two before we arrived. So everything is wet. 

Even I'm wet, but that's sweat, not rain. But at least the temperatures aren't that hot, so it's not too bad. 

Ferns!

We made pretty good time to the campsite, Sherpa did a great job setting up the hammock and tarp I loaned him. It's a dyneema asym tarp...under 4 oz in weight, and it's so small...um...lets just hope it doesn't rain too much. It technically covers everything, but I've never tested it in the rain. There is a non-zero chance that Sherpa will be soaked in rain prior to a bear eating him tonight. Did I mention this shelter has had a lot of bear activity?  Multiple reports of bears dropping in at night looking for food. This is my first trip ever using a bear canister, we'll see if the bears enjoy playing with it.