Changing Plans: Going to New York

Butterfly on Poison Hemlock


Watauga lake Shelter to Iron Mountain Shelter 14 Miles

One thing I’ve noticed out here is that people keep saying, “The next section is pretty easy, you’ve gotten over the hard part,” and they are always LYING BASTARDS!

We woke up late and in the morning everyone left us. Rolex got up earliest and left without me and Cyclone. We took off last and crossed the Watauga Dam. Two huge brown Eagles were on the dam and unfortunately they took off before we could get good pictures of them. It was a tough day and Cyclone and I had a lot of discussion about what we are going to do about our schedule. If we are going to get off the trail by August 24th, we are not going to make Maine, it’s just not possible. I want to skip ahead to New York and at least finish out to Maine but Rolex doesn’t want to do that. Cyclone seems cool with the idea but I just found out he has to get off the trail the first week in July. I wasn’t aware of this; I thought we were all clear to go all the way to August 24th.

When we got to the shelter we had decided we would talk to Rolex and try to convince him to skip ahead. This way we can start again next year at Damascus VA during what they call “Trail Days” which is a festival for Thru Hikers in the second week of May. That way if we decided to finish the trail next year, we can start then at Damascus and just finish up through PA. After talking to Rolex we discovered he’s planning on leaving the trail when Doug does so I guess I’ll be the only one on the trail. I’m not sure how I feel about that. That’s not true; I’m sure how it makes me feel, it pisses me off. I’m cool with hiking the trail alone; but I wasn’t planning on it, and I have trepidations about the situation. I really don’t have a problem with hiking alone, we’ve been having such a hard time getting along I would prefer it at this point. I’m planning on making it to Katahdin before I have to be back in San Diego in September. I’m not sure how it will affect the film but whatever happens is part of the story.

We met some folks at the shelter here tonight and they are marveling over the computer and we are showing them some of the videos that we’ve taken. Four are from Miami, their trail names are Sunshine Bee (who spotted a mossy gorilla at Laurel Fork Falls); Piecemeal (67) (It’s taken him 7 years to get from Springer to here); Burninator (who burns things); Sweat Heifer (who shot one of her ex-husbands) and a large group of young fellows from Greensboro who roasted tortillas over a custom Spit and Grille thing made out of wood.. Right now they are throwing knives. I may go over later and give them some lessons. For now, I’m going to post blogs since we have a good internet connection from this shelter out here in the middle of nowhere.

David AKA "Mister F. Gentle Spirit"


Website:
http://www.brotherproof.com
Blog:
http://brotherproof.blogspot.com
Pictures:
http://www.photobucket.com/brotherproof
Film:
http://www.youtube.com/wbaf1
Myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/brotherproof
David's Website:
http://www.davidpatrone.com

Night Hiking to the Lake

Turtle Crossing in the Dark

The Castle to Vanderventer Shelter 15 Miles

We get up and argue about what to do for breakfast; eventually deciding upon the walk down to McDonald’s. It’s already burning hot at 8AM. At some point we decide to chill out and brave the heat by lying on the porch for a few hours. We’re contemplating a night hike instead of getting murdered in today’s humid heat. We have extra miles to do because of the way we side-hiked to get into town yesterday. The consensus is to head out of town before dark so we can follow the blue blazes back to the AT. It will be too hard to see the difference between blue and white blazes in the dark; so we need to get that first section done before the sun goes down.

We cook dinner in the little kitchen at the Castle before we head out on to the road in the late afternoon. I opted for Pepperoni and Tortillas for my breakfasts and my pack feels heaver than I remember it. The boys are antsy. The longer we sit around, the worse it gets. It feels strange not to be leaving when we have nothing to do.

Eventually we get on the road and hike out of town on the shoulder of Route 321. This will be our first, real night hike and we’re thick with anticipation and trepidation. I can already feel us ready to snap; we don’t know what to expect. We leave the road to take the side trail knowing that we have a painful six miles to go, straight up and straight back down, before we cross this same road again only a mile away from where we are now. It is tempting to just walk a mile up the road and skip the rough section, especially when we want to make up time. There was some discussion about it a few times in the past 24 hours and I can feel them thinking hard behind me as I pull right on to the blue blaze trail. I just couldn’t skip a section. I’m looking out for my future well-being.

Once we get back to the main trail, the first climb is straight up and with each step; I can’t help but think of how pointless this section is. I have to keep reminding myself that I would have tortured myself forever if we had skipped this section. Night hiking is tougher than I thought. I don’t have the best headlamp for it and the shadows cast by my two brothers’ headlamps behind me are confusing. Several times we scare up something in the brush beside us and it scares the living hell out of us. It’s probably just a small deer or a raccoon but it sounds like a herd of elephants as it tramples up the hill just outside of our light radius. I feel like the little kid in “Where The Wild Things Are” with inconceivable monsters lurking, only their eyes visible, just outside of lamp shine. As the sky gets completely dark, it’s difficult to navigate and the Mosquitoes are relentless razors of distraction.

We get to the road and cross over into a park at Watauga Lake. It’s a huge lake and the shelter we’re trying for is about ten miles away on the other side of it. We’re not having a good time in the dark. We lose the trail in the open park and can’t figure out which way to go. After a frustrating hour of searching and map referencing, we find it. The stars are bright and it’s beautiful looking over the lake at night. The moon isn’t full yet but it gives us some light while we are in the open. We re-enter the woods and trudge thorough a swampy section that slows us down tremendously.

I thought I would love hiking in the dark but it really sucks. It’s tough to find your footing and although it’s great not to have to hike in the heat, you’re still sweating from all the exertion and frustration of keeping on the trail and trying to make sure you don’t miss the blazes. We’re in a park so there are side trails all over the place. We’ve come up with a system of yelling out “Blaze” whenever we see one so that we don’t miss them but it’s frustrating and confusing and I’d give anything for God to just turn on the lights.

Sometime just before midnight we come across a bright sign that indicates the side trail to a shelter. The shelter we want is still another six or seven miles away. We had expected to go much further tonight; but, noone complains when I take the turn and head for the shelter. We’re all in silent compliance. Cubit and HaHa, who had left out earlier from the castle were there; we woke them up. We needed to talk to humans and shake off the night terrors. I set up my hammock in the dark and sought solace from the flying razors. Night Hiking sucks, and that’s all I have to say about that!

David AKA "Mister F. Gentle Spirit"


Website:
http://www.brotherproof.com
Blog:
http://brotherproof.blogspot.com
Pictures:
http://www.photobucket.com/brotherproof
Film:
http://www.youtube.com/wbaf1
Myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/brotherproof
David's Website:
http://www.davidpatrone.com