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[at-l] Trail Days from Waterboy's Point of View
Well, I've been back at work for 3 days, so I guess it's time that posted
how my hike into Trail Days went. orrrrr didn't go as the case may
be... I get a little wordy and drawn out, so skip over this if you
want. On the other hand, if you want a detailed description of my
gargantuan blisters...
I left Hell, I mean the DC area, Friday at about 2:30 and drove to Roanoke
to take my mom to an early Mother's Day dinner. Spent Fri night at my
sister's house in Salem and headed to big D early sat morning. I had
originally planned on started at the Mt Rogers HQ, but when I arrived
there about 10:00, the gates were closed. They're not open on the weekend
yet. Since I hadn't arranged a shuttle from Damascus, I didn't want to
drive all the way there. So I pulled out the map and noticed a small
parking lot by 670, only 5 miles into the hike. No problem.
So I wander around and finally find the parking lot. As I'm pulling up,
there's a pickup truck that looks vaguely familiar to me and there's an
old guy (;-) wandering around behind the truck. I recognized him as
Hammer, one of the guys I "served" with on Konnarock 2 years ago. He
recoginized me and we got to talking. He was set up to hand out hot soup
and rolls to any hikers that passed along. Since the weather was less
than spectacular (low 40's and misty) he was greatly appreciated by the
hikers that did come by.
While talking I mentioned my (new) plan to leave my car there, hike to
Damascus and somehow find a ride back. He suggested that I leave my
car at the Konnarock base camp and he could give me a ride to the trailhead
at about 1:00. Since I don't have the time to volunteer this year, I felt
a little funny, but decided to ask Janet (camp coordinator) if she'd mind.
Janet was on the same crew with Hammer and I 2 years ago, and was camp
coordinator again last year, so she remembered me and had no problem
whatsoever with me leaving the TCP-IP mobile there. We talked and I talked
with Cynthia (a crew leader) for a while to catch up on each other.
(Trail Crew is a lot like Thru-Hiking, you make lots of friends, then lose
touch over the year, then click back into place when you do see them.
Definiately something to look into...)
So Hammer gets back about 12:30 and we head off and he drops me off right
where we met on 670. Nive easy stroll uphill to Trimpi Shelter. Then on
to Raccoon Branch Shelter where Curt (president of the Blue Mountain
Eagle Climing Club in Penn) is there. I'd met Curt back when Hammer
was dishing out soup. We talked while I unloaded my gear after my
5 something mile hike in. After a few minutes a thru hiker, Kenwood,
pops in. He's from Penn too, so he and Curt are talking up a storm when
we hear someone imitating dog howls coming down the hill to the shelter.
It's No-Trail-Name. So there's just the 4 of us in the shelter that night.
Just after dark, we're laying in bed and hear a HUGE noise that sounds like
someone again imitating dogs. I think there's some more people coming
down the trail since it sounds like they're close and there's a LOT of
them. No-Trail-Name says they're Coyetes. Now my mental image of the
coyete is the ones in the Western US raiding sheep farms. Nope. Supposedly
they're in all 50 states now. (I asked where in Rhode Island they were and
NoTrailName says they're down on the shore with shades on. ;-) So their
racket goes on for 15 minutes while they assemble into their pack and head
on into the night somewhere.
The next morning was a typical day breaking camp. Just as I start walking,
it starts to sprinkle a little. No problem, it will pass. As I hike,
the rain picks up. I finally decide to put on my rain gear when I realize
that I'm soaked. To the bone. Completely. Couldn't be wetter if I jumped
in a lake. I also notice that as my feet got wet (trail is a stream in
places) my right foot felt funny. Since I usually get blisters with these
wrong sized boots anyway, I taped my feet before heading out. I can feel the
tape grabbing my tendon on the bottom of my foot wrong. But do I stop
and fix it? No. that would have made sense. I walk all day with it like
that. 11.5 miles later at Old Orchard Shelter, I realize that I can barely
walk.
There's 4 thru hikers in the shelter already. When I peel my boots and socks
off every one of them goes "Ouch" when they see my blister the size of a
Kennedy Half Dollar on my instep and one the size of a quarter on my heel.
I figure if thru hikers are saying Ouch, it must be bad. Since my tendon
is also marking it hard to walk, I decide to head the 1.5 miles back to the
road and hitch to my car. The rain all day put a big damper on my sprits
as well as the pain. So I get to the road and start walking towards Troutdale
since my car is in that general direction. After 4 miles, 2 dozen cars, an
a dozen and a half pickups passing me, I finally get a ride.
These guys are great!!! They make a stop at a gas station where 601 crosses
16 and only a mile or so from Konnarock base camp. So I start to get out and
thank them when they say they're just stopping for drinks and that they'll
take me all the way. They come out of the store with a 12 pack of Bud
7 ozers and offer me one. "I'd love a beer" (even a Bud at this point) "but
I'm freezing" (40 degrees and VERY rainy in the back of a pickup doing 60 isn't
the tropics). "Save it for later." "Sure." So they get me to Konnarock
base camp. When I offer him 5 bucks for going out of his way to help me,
he wouldn't take it. "Just pick me up if you ever see me walking down the
road." "No problem."
In the meantime Janet comes out of the main building to see who this strange
truck is in the driveway and finds me at the lowest point of my life.
I'm cold, wet, tired, in pain, and miserable. I really felt bad. I was
thinking of just taking a hot shower and heading home. But she convinced
me to just dry out and see how I felt in the morning. Since the crew members
weren't there yet, I could use any of the bunks. I grudginly agreed.
The next morning, the rain finally stopped. It was still overcast, but dry.
So I stuck around camp doing some odd jobs. Fixed screen holes and filled
potholes in the driveway with Hammer, split firewood, swept out the pods
(bunkhouses). None of which Janet asked me to do. I wanted to earn my
keep, especially since I wasn't volunteering in an "official" capacity
this year.
That night we went into Marion to the Mexican restaurant for supper. Glad
I had a pod to myself. ;-)
The next day (Tue) was clear skies and warm, in the 80s. I decide to head to
Damascus and just set up my tent and bum around town until the weekend when
everyone else showed up. I walk around Damascus looking for people and
realize that my foot hadn't bothered me. So I decide to do an overnighter.
I unload the 6 days of food from my pack and pick out just enough for
supper that night and breakfast tomorrow, and head for Saunders Shelter
(9.5 miles N). I get there about an hour before dark and find Teresa and
Daniel at the shelter. They were on AT-L before they left to start their
thru-hike. They're starting in D and heading north K, then coming
back to D and heading south to S. So I found them on their first night out
and they're doing great. I also met FEMA (Polar Bear '94) and Tom and Mark.
Just about dark, another thru hiker, Chris, comes in. My foot hasn't
bothered me all day and I feel great. I just wished that I'd brought more
food and could spend another night out. As Chris is making his dinner,
he asks if anyone wants any food. He brought too much and wants to get
rid of the weight. I say if no one else wants it, I'd be happy to take it
back to town and mail it ahead to him. He says no, keep it.
The next morning came and after breakfast, Chris sorts out what he doesn't
want. HotCho, Carnation Instant Breakfast, and 2 cans of Vienna Sausages.
Cool. Now I can stay out one more night. He starts to figure something
else to give me, but I tell him that's why I didn't mention that I didn't
have any food. I didn't want to take food he could use, just what he didn't
want to carry.
So I start out heading North with Lost Mountain (5 miles I think) as my
destination. I figured I'd make a REAL leisurely day of it, and take the
Creeper Trail back tomorrow. As I'm walking down where the AT and Creeper
trail coincide about a mile south of the shelter, I run into Curt again.
He calls me BlisterBoy since he couldn't remember Waterboy. :-) We get
to talking and it comes out that his car is in Atkins and he isn't exepcting
anyone he knows for a few more days to be in Damascus. So we decide to
both take the Creeper Trail back to D that day. So I end up doing something
like 18 miles again. This time, instead of my instep and heel bothering me,
I get blisters on the bottoms of my toes. Ouch.
But we get back to my car and I ferry Curt to his Car in Atkins. He
buys me dinner for shuttling him. I decide since I'm already that far
North on 81, I'd just drop back into Konnarock to see if a couple other
people I know are in. As I'm driving down 16, about a mile from the
Mt Rogers HQ are 3 thru hikers hithing south w/o packs. They ordered a
pizza, but the delivery boy had already been sent home and the guy on the
phone wasn't impressed that they'd already walked over 20 miles that day.
So they were going to hitch/walk the whole way. So I give them a ride.
When we get there, it's the same gas station they guys who gave me a ride
at earlier in the week stopped at. There's no tables or anything to sit
at, so I give them a ride back. I'd heard stories of the new shelter
there, and decided to check it out. NICE. This thing can sleep 40 thru
hikers NO JOKE. 2 floors, each one twice as big as most shelters. And,
get this, there's a shower!!!!!! The Hot Water wasn't hooked up yet, but
man, talk about luxury. Birdman, one of the thru hikers, gives me a beer
for shuttling them. (Wow, this Trail Angel Stuff is fun. ;-)
I head on to Konnarock and meet up with Weather Carrott and Charlotte. We
get caught up and I set up my tent in the "back yard" since there's so many
volunteers this year that _every_ bunk is used. It's the first week of
crew and they're ready to go.
The next day (Thur) is nice, so after a lazy morning of watching the crews
head out and doing laundry, I head to D. I find Snail-No-More at
The Place after I walk right by him and all over town. So I take him
back to his car at the Mt Rogers HQ. How I walked right by it the night
before without seeing it is beyond me... But we go up to Atkins to see
if anyone wants a ride back to D and guess who's there, but Birdman
and his group. Birdman is the only one going back and gratefully accepts
a ride. The 3 of us stop in Marion to buy some uhhhhhhhhhh beverages and
ice to keep the bee uhhhhh cokes cold and head on to D.
Snail and I decide to set up by the River over by the old Mill. It seemed
quieter there last year than up by the pool, or near the parking lot.
Birdman finds some friends and sets up close by as well. Now here's where
things get a little hazy, and not just from the beverages. There's a
swirl of people and I can't remember when/where I ran into them, but
here's a shot:
Since Konnarock Trial Crew were in the field, there wasn't anyone to walk in
the parade, so Hammer found about 8 of us to carry the banner and walk in the
parade. That was fun. There was one point where some guy was yelling
WATERBOY over and over again as we passed him. I had no idea who this guy
was, just I just pulled out my Nalgene as if to say, "Waterboy is never
without water" and just kept walking. It turned out to be Time-To-Fly
from last year.
I met Katie-Did and Time-To_Fly, the 2 thru hikers that spent the weekend with
me last year when I retrieved Tagalong's pack. Katie had to pull off last
year because her cartlidge in her knee was being ground up. But she had
surger over the winter and was hiking this year. Time to Fly finished his
hike last year and had pictures. I totally didn't recognize him. He had to
pull me from the line at Quincey's before I realized who he was.
Mike and I got pizza at Quincey's after waiting an hour and a half. But
I guess that's ok during Trail Days.
I ran into Tagalong and she bought me and some others who helped her last
year lunch at a new deli like place, Black Eyed Susan's.
Solophile gave Snail-No-More and I a guided tour of her Stephenson's (sp?)
tent. Very nice.
Chase, Woodelf, and Ratboy tented with us and brought a Watermellon to
share. When they asked if anyone wanted any, in ohhh 0.00000000001 seconds
Solophile blurted out, "Yeah." We asked her if she was sure, or did she
want to think about it some more. ;-)
We had the usual group picture.
Of course, we saw Mike's slide show both nights. Once again, very excellent.
the second night, Mtn Smith had their "guess the weight of the pack"
and "stuff the sleeping bag in the sack" contests. I didn't enter. I figure
one free pack is enough for me. I did pick up the pack and guesed that it
weighed around 45 pounds. It was 41 something, so I was close. ;-)
The bag was stuffed in 13 seconds. While the stuff the bag contest was
going on, I asked Mike who the red-headed girl in the group picture earlier
that day was. Here's part of the conversation:
"Mike, who was the redheaded girl in the group picture today?"
"The Redhead."
"Yeah, who was she?"
"The Readhead."
"Yes, that one, what was her name?"
"DDDDDDDAAAAAA RRRRRREEEEDDDDHHHHEEEEEAAAADDDDDD"
What can I say, I'm a little slow sometimes. So I walk up and introduce myself
to her. While we're talking, the Mtn Smith guy starts to throw free stuff into
the crowd. One of the larger insulated mugs catches Da Redhead square in the
forehead. She's dazed quite a bit, but gets to keep the cup. ;-)
I acutally missed the Talent Show this year, I think I was taking a nap.
At some point, Kevin and I were sitting by the river over where people
were swimming. It was hot, in the 90s so we start wading. That water
was ICE COLD. Just getting my feet wet was enough. Well, at least for
a while. Later in the day, I did jump all the way in and swam around
for a while. Then I realized how much I looked like a beached whale and
was content to just wade around with my shirt on. :-)
Sunday came and we packed up. I gave Birdman a ride back north. We went
by Konnarock so I could pick up some Dead tapes I left there for crew people
to listen to and we passed Marcus walking up the road. He needed a ride,
so he hopped in and we had a good trip north.
All in all, I'm so glad I didn't pack it up and come home Monday night.
I got to see friends I haven't seen in quite a while and got to make some
new ones. I spent a little more money than I'd intended, but since I was
in town a few more days than I'd intended, that's understandable.
Well, if you're still reading this, you deserve a medal or something, but
I'll just wrap it up by saying I had another good week with good people,
just like I always do on the trail.
-Waterboy GaMe '00
--
S. Schuyler Stultz Recognition Research Inc.
schuyler@rrinc.com 2214 Rock Hill Rd Suite 325
(703) 709 5100 Herndon, VA 20170
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