Damascus

Wow... so weird to be here. Halfway done. Both feels like I'm almost there (because I'm pretty much cruisin at a pretty good pace now) and so far away (still a whole month to go!?!). Feels like what I've done has both flown by and also taken forever.. weird.

And the trip into Damascus has been an experience. Fortunately spent a night in a good shelter (more like a cabin/hut as it actually had four walls) because we were at a pretty good elevation and at an exposed location at the top of a ridge. Well it stormed all night - constant rain with occasional really heavy downpours on a tin roof, loud gusting winds all night, and occasional lighting and thunder that LITERALLY shook the wooden platforms we were sleeping on! (I say we, because I was sharing that place with a fella that goes by the name of 'Buddha'. ...nice guy, but I think I would've named him 'Madden' or something because once he stopped hiking, he started talking. It was like he liked the sound of his own voice or something... constantly thinking aloud or something.. that and he couldn't stop talking about how he couldn't wait to watch NFL football all day sunday. ;)

But then a few days later (losing track of time here and I don't have my journal in front of me) on my way into here, I make it to 'Wise' shelter after a BEEEAUTIFUL day of hiking! Can't begin to describe the different scenes I was lucky enough to witness.. But it was cold.. and it only got colder. As I got ready to go to sleep it was a very windy 29 degrees.. (no clue what the wind chill was). The wind kept up all night and brought with it some fine hail for most of it. While I did the best I could to stay warm in the shelter, the wind would occasionally dust my face with the hail throughout the night. Had a really good scare when I woke up in the middle of the night to realize that wrapping my rain fly around my sleeping quilt had turned out to be a really stupid idea! :| YIKES - a wet (from condensation) down quilt was what I began imagining and so I though I was SCREWED!!! so I quickly get the rain fly off and tuck it under me and shift everything as close to the back wall of the shelter as i can... hoping that the warmth of my body passing through the quilt might cause the wetness to evaporate.. well luckily the outer shell (made of Epic fabric i think) seemed to have done its job as the bag kept its loft throughout (even after being stuffed back into its stuff sack 'til the next night) - meaning the down didn't get completely soaked making it useless.

Sooo anyway.. woke up to find it was still 29 degrees, windy, and there was at least an inch of tiny hail on the ground and everything else.. like a course powdered sugar. Pretty. but not very inviting. But staying in one spot not knowing how the weather could turn or when was not in my plans.. So thankfully the two other guys, Treetop and G-Dawg, (who I'd found tucked into the shelter behind a huge tarp the evening before) and I packed up and set out to summit Mt. Rogers, hike the ridges after it, and hopefully reach a shelter at a lower altitude some 23 miles further on. (There were shelters at 5 and 17 mi, but neither were much lower.) So we climbed - yeah, real smart huh ;) The hail turned into snow and we had precipitation pretty much all day... we ended up hiking through probably 3-4 inches.. biting winds mixed with either snow or hail at several exposed parts of the trail. Most of the day really actually was fun and the scenery, when visibility allowed, was pretty. Have to say that if I'd been alone, I'd have been a little nervous about making my way through it all on my own.. there were times when the wind was blasting, or visibility wasn't good. And 2 or 3 times we had to stop and really look around a bit to find the blazes marking the trail. Fortunatly most of the time you could pretty easily make out a trail - even when it led up through rocks/boulders.

But I digress yet again.. Good day. Took a short break at the Thomas Knob shelter to eat a little and do some business that a couple of us had skipped when packing up and leaving the first shelter because it was just too damned cold and we had all wanted to get moving as soon as possible. So I'm the first to head out the the privy (nice one I might add ;)... and as I was about to drop trou' I hear these thuds coming from off to my right on the trail.. next thing I know I see this pony slowly coming up the trail.. apparently there are feral ponies in this park (Grayson Highlands State Park).. and w/o knowing it I'd seen some in the distance the evening before on my way into the shelter (before it started all the hailing/snowing business) - had just thought they were horses..

So anyway, it walked on up the trail past the privy where I'm standing there watching it go past (w/ my pants unsnapped and half unzipped). BTW, the trail's only about 10 ft behind the privy which faces the away from it. So I'm thinking about how very cool that was and sitting down to begin.. well you know ;) Pretty snow-covered pine trees directly in front of me.. and I begin hearing more hoof-steps... sure enough, here comes another one! .. and then another, and another, and... i counted 11 or 12 in all! Have to say that was the most fun I've ever had taking a dump! ;) watching over my shoulders as all those ponies plodded on by in single file up the trail in the falling snow.. too cool.

Have to say it was an exhillerating and fun day until much later when all the trudging and slipping started to become more work than fun.. we made it to the shelter at 17 mi to eat a quick bite for a last boost of energy on our way to the last shelter before Damascus. By this time the snow/hail had turned to slushy freezing-a**-cold rain. This shelter (Lost Mtn) was still at a pretty good altitude and not extremely inviting.. G-Dawg was pooped and wanted to stay, but the other two of us weren't even considering it - we knew we wanted to stay at the next shelter. So after thinking about staying there alone and getting a second wind from the quick bite, we all set out for it. And eventually got there.. 23 miles. All wet, cold, and tired. But knowing we were only about 10 miles out of town. A short hike in the morning and we'd be out of this crappy weather. So yeah, we were at a lower altitude, but it was still pretty cold - i think it was around 36 degrees. And we were all pretty soaking wet. G-Dawg and I quickly set out to get water (we only had about half an hour of light left) and luckily the spring had a small puddle waiting for us. I know it probably doesn't sound like a big deal, but it was.. it meant re-hydrating and eating a nice big hot dinner (all of my dinners are dehydrated and need to be cooked). After getting and treating water, I put on my thermal vest and full-leg spandex tights (the only clothes I wasn't wearing!) for extra warmth and set about cooking dinner and gorging on whatever food I had left! :) We ALL had a good time just stuffing ourselves silly, knowing we could use it and that we could eat everything we had because we'd be in town tomorrow. We swapped and shared food and tasted each others concoctions - after his first meal, i think G-Dawg came up with some mix of buffalo sauce (from me), turkey gravy, and salmon and maybe something else w/ instant potatoes.. i have to say that it smelled nastey, but wasn't tooo bad.. they seemed to like it better than I did. But I don't guess anything's that bad when you're that tired and hungry!

So still wet and cold and shivering, I tucked myself into my vapor sac liner and sleeping quilt underneath my (this time set up) free standing rain fly. MMMmmmm... not too long and i was nice and warm even if still dirty and wet ;) BTW, you don't know what a foul stench is until you've smelled my socks and shoes.

Have to say though that given those two days, I'm REALLY pretty happy about alot of my gear choices for cold weather. Some things that really worked well for me: a great light-weight wool/possum fur (called PossumDown) hat on my head, a "Buff" (which I think I've probably used EVERY day of this trip) which at times covered my nose, mouth, ears and down my neck, cycling arm warmers, my one pair of heavy wool hiking socks and latex gloves (yes, i said latex - gotem' from Quizno's!!) on my hands, a mesh-like sleeve-less vest under a short-sleeved spandex shirt under and short-sleeved polartec(?) shirt (Prana) under and super lightweight waterproof patagonia shell, my nike-pro compression shorts (worn EVERY day), rei sahara converable pants, nike storm-fit rain pants, and a pair of light smartwool hiking socks and plastic Oregonian FoodDay (?) newspaper bags and nike trail runners on my feet! Laugh now, but the latex gloves on my hands and plastic bags on my feet worked like a charm! Super light-weight and they worked great. Gotta love it when things work like you hope they will. So bottom-line is while one of my biggest worries was cold weather and while I don't really WANT to face a whole lot more of it, I have a lot more confidence that the gear i have will get me through it.

I was fairly amused to find that while camped out for the night in the shelter, just about every piece of gear was utilized.. my tent was laid out under me to block drafts from under the shelter and through slits in the floor.. tent poles supporting the rain fly to keep in some warmth and block some wind/rain.. trimmed down 3/4 length sleeping pad under my torso and empty pack under legs/feet.. sleeping quilt fully cinched down around me, a vapor barrier bag liner, and the sleeping pad.. and I almost used my platypus hydration bladder/bag as my pillow but it was too cold, so I ended up using a stuff sack with all my other empty stuff sacks and plastics bags - giving me a pillow about the size of a deflated softball! .. next time I actually think I'll somehow use my crocs (soft plastic clog-like sandals) too - either in my pack to prop my feet up more or under my head for a better pillow..

uggh.. I've gotta be tiring as I know I must be droaning on and on about nothing now..

Umm... yeah, so i started this entry the day I got here, Wednesday Oct 26th. We got into town around 12:30-1pm (after taking our sweet time packing up that morning ;), checked in at a bunkhouse the local outfitter offers ($10/room/night - 3 of us shared a room), ate at a local eatery (Dairy King) which has become our favorite place to eat (good food at pretty good prices), and hit the library (where I now sit) to hit the internet. Btw, I was pleasantly SHOCKED to see in the register at the outfitter that not only was Foxtrot staying at the bunkhouse, but so were Chef and Critic!?! Foxtrot was out slackpacking, so I was actually going to get to see him later that day, and Chef and Critic had bailed out of the bad weather and gotten a ride into town (skipping 25 miles of the trail - those hosers! ;). So it was cool to have a chance to hang out with everyone I'd actually spent much time with on the trail. We ended up arranging for a cab ride into the next town to actually watch a movie (the Wallace and Grommit Were-Rabbit one) together ;) It was a good time - we actually had the whole stadium-style theatre to ourselves :)

Upon hearing about Foxtrot's slackpack and the fact that he already had a shuttle setup the next morning to head back to the same point to set off again, Thursday, the 27th, G-Dawg and I set out to do the same 21-22 mi slack pack. It was a pretty good day - still a bit chilly, but no rain and the sun was out at times. And we eventually passed by Chef, Critic, and Treetop as they had all gotten a late start heading back out of town.. But despite carrying hardly any weight (just lunch/snacks/water and rain gear), my legs felt really fatigued.. So with much deliberation, I decided to zero today, Friday, October 28th.

[Librarian is asking that I finish up].

So i head out really early tomorrow morning.. update y'all again later!!

"The Fool!" (that reminds me, I'll have to give you guys the other half of why I was given that name - Mama, didn't like it so I was reminded to tell her this part that I missed.)