Hiking with Kevin

Another wonderful backpacking trip with Kevin during the weekend of August 10 - 12. It meant a pick up of some hiking food (fruit cocktail - no vienna sausage) during my lunch hour, a rushed trip home after work, and then late evening drive to Damascus, VA, where we finally found some locals who could tell us where the Appalachian Trail ran through town.

This was not a good beginning. You would have thought that the town which hosts "Trail Days" would have some idea of where the trail was. You would have thought that two experienced backpackers would have some idea where the trail was.

By the time we got started it was 9:15 or so. The "or so" means that it was so dark that we did fine walking down the streets of Damascus and walking around the convenience store parking lot. However, when we got on the Appalachian Trail, which we finally found, there was no light other than one star shining through the forest cover. So we switched on the headlamps. Kevin forgot to tell me to shine the light at my feet - which I could not see - instead of the trees ahead which I could see okay.

Well, I did not hit any trees but I did hit a rock, fell in several directions at one time, cut my chin (which Kevin neglected to tell me), bruised my hand, but started walking again after a short rest. Kevin was concerned. He said "are you okay?" He said "point the headlamp down at your feet." This was a new experience for me - backpacking in total darkness except for a small headlamp of light. After walking for 1.5 hours, we finally realized that we were not going to find our tent site for the night, found an equally good area right next to the trail, pitched the tent while swatting at the bugs, got into the tent in probably 90+ degree weather, and fell asleep.

I could hardly wait for the next morning to get started again. The next morning and day we walked, walked, walked, walked, and even re-walked some of the trail. I brought a freeze-dried soup for lunch, and tried a new recipe with regular water. I do not suggest that it be tried again - tasted like pieces of frozen soup in water. We could have easily made it back to Damascus that evening, gotten in the car and driven back to Winston-Salem, but I convinced myself that we were going to spend two nights in the two-man tent that I purchased two years ago for spending at least two nights in a tent. We camped the second night fairly close to US58 at a camp site that Kevin kept saying was "only a few more yards", but I am convinced it was a least another half-mile of walking on my thoroughly blistered feet.

On Sunday morning we got up early eventhough we said the night before that we would not, forced Kevin to stop to take a photo (I needed to rest) for my blog which I told him I would start right after the hike, and then walked the remaining 5 or so miles into Damascus to the convenience store. We both rushed to get something to drink. We had plenty of water on the trail and Kevin had taken his purification pills, but there was no beating that big orange juice at the end.

We went from the convenience store through the town trying to use a little time since we had called Julie about lunch in Boone and knew that we would get there long before she would. Wasting time in Damascus is not easy. We went to a biking/camping outlet, decided there was nothing new that we needed since we had just finished 20+ miles without needing anything new. Then the trip to Boone started with a short stop for breakfast and of course ice cream in Mountain City, TN. A visit to the local Wal-Mart in Boone provided all the waste time that we needed before we met Julie, Davis and friends at the double decker Wendy's for lunch. Keith Huffstetler would have been pleased at this end to a wonderful hiking weekend.

Lessons learned: 1) Take a big head lamp and point it down at your feet, 2) take moleskin for your feet even if you know that you will not get blisters, 3) break in the new shoes before you break in your feet, 4) either bring soup that can be mixed with cold water, bring hot water, or take time to heat the water, 5) do not go hiking in 90+ degree weather without checking the bug report, 6) do not even think about wasting time in Damascus, VA (it is geat town but on the smallish side especially on a Sunday morning), 7) and remember that all backpacking trips lead through the double decker Wendys in Boone.