The Unpolished Princess

Start: Cross Mountain/TN 91 (AT mi 449.2). Stop: Boots Off Hostel (AT mi 428.4). Today’s miles: 20.8 miles. Total AT mileage: 1764.7 miles.

I knew last night was going to suck, and boy did it. It was hot and eerily quiet except for other people breathing and occasionally snoring. I think I’m missing sleeping outside in my tent. Sadly, tonight I’m going to another hostel, and it’s been pouring rain all night again, so I have at least one more night in a bunk room.. then a couple nights with my mom (which I’m really looking forward to), and then maybe by Sunday night I can be in my tent.

Much like yesterday, everyone was up and at breakfast by 7:30. Lady Di outdid herself by making French toast casserole with baked apple slices, plus quiche, bacon, fresh orange juice and coffee. I had seconds on the French toast casserole. I don’t think I’ve ever had that before, and.. just.. wow. I’m in love! She also freshly baked from scratch the sourdough bread she put in it. I’m blown away by her culinary skills.

Sam picked us up this morning, instead of Lone Wolf, although I did get to see him, too! There were two other hikers getting shuttled elsewhere this morning, so both drivers came for us all about the same time. I liked Sam. He seems like a good natured country guy, living off the grid in a home he built. He rides his Harley and hangs out at his house when he’s not helping Lone Wolf shuttle around hikers and cyclists. His grandkids call him Papaw, and honestly, I just liked hearing him talk.

He dropped us off at the same spot we went to yesterday morning. The difference today, is that it was still dumping buckets this morning and it didn’t let up until after 11am. I started off in my rain jacket and with my umbrella hooked in on my chest strap. It was nice to have the water off my face, but that’s about all it kept semi dry. The trail immediately went into the woods and was a complete river from the downpours. At first I attempted to side step the deep water, then I realized it was pointless and just started sloshing through.

Finch and I leapfrogged a bit early in the day, and then Lizard and I caught each other around lunch time. We didn’t end up eating together though.I ate sitting on a rock because I couldn’t wait the extra mile to get to the shelter. When I got to the shelter she had just caught me, but hadn’t eaten yet. I considered stopping with her anyway, but my feet were so soaked and all I could think about was getting to the hostel and taking these wet socks off. My toes were feeling like prunes, and each step was starting to feel real tender.

I pushed on and had several minor ups and downs. I at some point took off my jacket and took down the umbrella, probably well before lunch, but I don’t remember exactly when. I had great views from the woods of Watauga Lake. This is the lake mom and I have a cabin on for the weekend! Since I’m getting to the hostel a day earlier than planned, I’m going to slack pack back to Boots Off tomorrow and get picked up from there when mom gets in town. I figured it would be silly to waste a day on her driving in since I wouldn’t get to spend any extra time with her.. and I don’t really need the double zero. I’m thrilled that this lake is so beautiful and that I happen to be at such a scenic spot when she could come to visit. It’s perfect!

I walked over the dam, which had amazing views, and then around the perimeter of the lake. Eventually it brought me to a road crossing and then up a driveway to Boots Off Hostel and Campground. It’s such a nice place! They have separate buildings for the bunkhouse, bathhouse, bathrooms, main hangout area with tables, chairs, picnic tables, a little store for drinks and light resupply..

I checked in, ate 2 donuts and drank a soda. I don’t know what came over me, but I was starved even though I ate a Subway sandwich AND chips for lunch! Ridiculous, really. The guy showed me around. Once I picked a bottom bunk, I unpacked and went to shower. It’s an outdoor shower with a bucket shower head that made a rainwater feel to it. It was pretty cool. I realized in the shower that my hips were rubbed raw from the rain today, and my goodness it burned like crazy in the water. I’m hoping it all clears up soon.. the slack pack tomorrow will help and the zero the following day will be even more beneficial.

I talked to mom a little today, since I finally had some decent service. I think I have her excited about the Karaoke place for tomorrow night.. I mentioned maybe being able to pick up a few friends, too, and she seems ok with that! It sounds like it would be so fun! Like a mini hiker reunion.

Anywho, Lizard arrived shortly after, and once she was settled in a bit, the guy from upfront drove us plus 2 other guys into town. I got another sub sandwich for lunch tomorrow, and then McDonald’s for dinner. Not my first choice, but I won’t lie-I enjoyed the hell out of that Big Mac meal.

When we arrived back at the hostel, Finch was there! He didn’t want us to get him anything from the stores we went to, so he did his own thing for dinner. He played a little guitar down at the main house, and he’s really good. I’m always fascinated by the musically inclined. I want to be able to play an instrument well, but I don’t have the patience to learn it. Im sure I could, but I think I prefer to stay fascinated by the others that play in front of me instead.

It’s almost 10pm and Im in my bunk, praying for better sleeping temperatures. It was perfect, until the other person (none of the 3 of us) came in and turned the heater on. Lord have mercy. I really need to quit staying in so many hostels. I enjoy them and I despise the shared sleeping space and lack of control. All in due time. I’m sure I’ll miss this someday.

Anyway, I think I’m off to sleep before I realize I’m hot! I get to slack pack 23 miles tomorrow and then SEE MY MAMA! I’m so excited 🙂 Goodnight yall!

Start: Cross Mountain/TN 91 (AT mi 449.2). Stop: Damascus, Virginia (AT mi 470.7). Today’s miles: 21.5 miles. Total AT mileage: 1743.9 miles. States Completed: Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, West Virginia, Virginia

I slept poorly, but I’m blaming it on room temperature more than anything. Everything else was comfortable, but man-I like to sleep with it cool. Oh well. It can’t always be perfect. In a month or so when this thing is finished, I can have my room temperature be what ever I so choose. Ha.

We all got up, got packed and downstairs for breakfast by 7:30. Lady Di made quiche, homemade blueberry scones, sausage patties, potatoes, and smoothies. It was really good and just what I needed to fuel me for the morning. By 8:15, Lone Wolf was there to pick us up and drive us to the road crossing we planned to hike back from. Once we all loaded up in his SUV, he took us 30 minutes south of Damascus.

We started our slack pack at 8:45, in Tennessee, and hiked northbound through cow pastures. The rain that had been dumping all night and most of the morning had ceased by the time we really got going. I think the fields are some of my favorite scenery, I don’t know if it’s because I know there will probably be animals or if it’s because it’s so open that I can see farther, but I really like it.

Once out of the pastures, it was back into uneventful woods. They were slick and wet, with multiple ups and downs, but the colors weren’t as vibrant as they had been in the Grayson Highlands. Instead of intense reds and bright yellows, the leaves were more muted browns and dull oranges. Still pretty, but not exciting to report on. Although, really, I feel like all of this sounds repetitive and mundane for you readers. I’m shocked y’all are still around!

I did get to pass quite a few recent friends.. Zebra, Smash, and MashedPotato were the first people I saw, a bit spaced out from each other. I was happy Lizard was hiking with me each time we passed one of them, because I got to introduce her to them. No one else probably cared, but I had talked to them about trying to catch her, and I’ve told her stories about them.. Zebra told me about their plan to be at a certain hostel/brewery on Friday and that they’re doing karaoke there. I let her know that I definitely wouldn’t be that far by Friday, but since my mom is coming to visit, maybe she’d want to go to karaoke, too, and therefore be able to drive there (and probably Lizard and Finch, too, if they want to go). This suddenly got me very excited!

Lizard and I ate lunch at a shelter with some day hikers. I recently started eating cheese and hard salami on a bagel with spicy mustard. So far, I’m not sick of that yet. I wonder how long it’ll last. We talked with them while eating and answered all the typical questions about thruhiking. This area we’re slack packing is also an “aggressive bear” area.. 3 shelters in this stretch are technically closed, as well as the campsites between the shelters, because of recent aggressive bears coming to steal food. This was the main reason for wanting to slack pack through here, to make sure we’re safely out of this area before needing to camp. It just made sense. And the fact that northbound is mostly downhill compared to the mostly uphill of southbound through this section only helped solidify the choice to not carry a full pack out of Damascus.

I got ahead of Lizard after lunch. I passed PinePole and then Bones, too. Sometime around 3, I crossed the state line for Virginia and Tennessee. Since I was hiking northbound, I couldn’t claim to be done with Virginia until I hit the downtown Dollar General I got my drinks at yesterday. I was happy as hell when I did about an hour after crossing paths with that sign! I even went inside and bought a Gatorade to drink during the short walk back to Lady Di’s place.

Immediately after walking in the door, I grabbed what I needed and hopped in the shower. I used the other shower in the house, continuing my tradition of trying each shower in a hostel if I stay more than one night. I liked this one better than the one yesterday, although it didn’t have a window so it got hot in there. When I was clean, dressed and organized, I walked outside to sit on the porch. Lizard was already there!

When she went inside to shower, she ended up finding a dress in the loaner clothes. I said I wanted to wear a dress too, so we got to searching for another one.. and actually found one! So we both wore dresses to dinner, which I wished we would have done yesterday, too! Lol it would have felt nice to look semi presentable (I still had crocks on and the dress was ill fitting, Lizard’s looked adorable on her). Oh well.

I ended up walking to subway while she showered and then met Lizard and Finch at the diner in town once I had my lunch for tomorrow secured in my little day pack. It was a busy little restaurant. We sat outside at the sidewalk table. I ended up ordering the bbq platter, and was sadly underwhelmed by it.. but I ate it all anyway. This hiker hunger is no joke! I managed to eat all of the pulled pork, collards, corn, and baked beans! It’s going to be difficult to not eat like that when this is over.

The three of us walked back to the B&B together. I sat on the porch a little while, waiting for an appropriate time to get in bed. I didn’t want to lay down too early and be too awake.. we got 2 more roommates in our room tonight, so all 5 beds are taken. The room was hot and stuffy and the fan was over the window of the guy in the middle bed, and he had turned it off and was already asleep when I got up here. Dear God. It’s going to be a long night. More than just the stuffiness, I hate the quiet of the room.. no air circulating means hearing every little noise anyone or I make. Ugh.

Let’s pray this night goes by fast! One can only hope. Sweet dreams, y’all.

Start: Lost Mountain Shelter (AT mi 486.7). Stop: Damascus, Virginia (AT mi 470.7). Today’s miles: 16 miles. Total AT mileage: 1722.4 miles.

It poured overnight, I was grateful for the shelter and the fact that I was completely dry.. and so were my belongings. Finch, Lizard, and I had the place to ourselves. When it came time to get up, I didn’t want to. I tossed and turned a lot of the night and I’m dealing with a stuffy nose.. which I’m blaming the frequent weather changes on.

I did, finally, get up and start packing. Once breakfast was eaten, packs were packed, and all three of us were ready, we headed out of camp close to 8:30. We ended up hiking together the whole day, something I haven’t done since-well-for a long time. I can’t exactly remember the last time I spent the whole day with other people and not just in passing!

We stopped at a cafe in the middle of nowhere on the Creeper Trail. The AT and the Creeper Trail cross paths and share a couple miles together in a few places.. it’s a bicycling trail along a beautiful creek. We all three made the choice to walk to Damascus on this trail instead of the AT, simply because of all the reviews saying this one was more scenic. It was definitely scenic AND had a cafe! It felt like a no brainer to me.

The cafe was technically closed, but the lady smoking the pork for the following day was there and she brewed us a pot of coffee, opened the bathrooms, and let us use the WiFi for a bit. It was then, sitting there sipping coffee, that Uncle Keith called to talk a bit. I talked until we were all ready to start hiking again, and then we said our goodbyes because I wouldn’t have service away from the WiFi.

We hiked along the smooth, flat Creeper Trail and played games after we ran out of things to talk about. Finch taught me a Lyrics game where one person sings the lyrics to a song, then picks a word from that song, then the other people have to come up with a song with that word in it and sing the lyrics to it.. and on and on.. it felt like we played for hours, but I doubt it. It did help the time pass though.. and it was so dang funny!

We made our way into Damascus, Virginia. The trail walks right through the middle of town. We stopped off into an open cafe the second we spotted it. I got a pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw on top-and it was by far the BEST sandwich I’ve had on trail! It put the others to shame. I literally don’t think I took a breath while eating it.

Once our bellies were full, we walked to Lady Di’s bed and breakfast. She had 3 twin beds for us and we graciously accepted. Once the tour was given we took showers, got laundry started, and unpacked. Then Lizard and I walked to the post office for her to get a package and then to the dollar general to grab snacks and stuff for a slack pack tomorrow. We also passed an outfitter.. they had a CNOC bag!! I definitely bought myself a new one, happy to throw the old holy one away!

We walked back to the B&B and crossed paths with Finch heading to the post office. We agreed to drop our stuff off and then return to the downtown area to eat dinner at the only restaurant open, The Old Mill. We made quick work of it all and were back downtown pretty fast. We sat on a patio overlooking the creek. It was gorgeous. There were twinkly lights and this looked like a great place for a date night or something. We were all in hiker loaner clothes, slightly out of place, but it wasn’t very busy so it’s not like anyone noticed-and we wouldn’t have cared if they did.

I had red wine with dinner, which was wild mushroom Bolognese. It wasn’t as good as I thought it would be, but it hit the spot all the same. I got chocolate cheesecake too.. and it made up for the lack of flavor with my entree. I shared it with Lizard, she seemed to enjoy it too. Her dinner was pecan crusted rainbow trout.. it was the whole fish. Head and all. Been there, done that with Andrea in Spain.. no thank you. She ate it like a champ. I was impressed, because I don’t think I could have eaten it.

Anyway, two other hikers ended up joining us at dinner. They showed up after we had already ordered.. RoundHouse and his friend who’s name I forget. I enjoyed the mixture of new friends with known friends. It really was a good time. Before we knew it, it was getting very close to hiker midnight and we all asked for our checks and got ready for the walk back.

And now here we are. Lights out in the bunkless bunk room.. typing the day up, getting ready to go to sleep. It’s a bit stuffy in here, even with the fan on. I have a feeling I won’t sleep well because of this, even though the mattress is nice and the linens are comfortable. I’ll be giving it my best shot either way. Goodnight y’all.