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

The Castle

Jones Falls the day before


Moreland Gap Shelter to Hampton TN 10 Miles

Dawn came, and with it birds of a cacophonous chirping nature. I’ve been listening to the chirps of the birds and figuring I could write lots of songs by stealing their tunes. Some of these birds come up with some crazy intervals. I can’t stay asleep once they start; my brain is trying to figure out the tune and then they unexpectedly change it. I thought birds didn’t change their tunes? I stayed up late reading “Catch 22.” This book keeps getting stranger; but I like it. I ate my customary breakfast bar; more like forced it down, and then packed up as everyone roused and got ready. We only had 6 miles to go to the Kincora hostel where we are planning on stopping today. There should be a shuttle there to take us in to town to resupply. The forecast predicts a 70% chance of rain in the afternoon so we figured we had plenty of time to get to the hostel. Dad has been sending us texts from the National Weather Service to help us plan our days.

When we got to the hostel some guy was handing out cheeseburgers and they were GOOD! We didn’t dig the accommodations so we split. It was only a few more miles up to a road where we could just walk in to town. We hiked the 3 miles to a side trail that took us to Route 321 and then we hiked a couple of miles in to town and another hostel called Braemer Castle. It’s a huge house and there are so many rooms here, you can see why they call it a “castle.” It reminds me of the house I grew up in but bigger. We walked a mile or two to McDonalds to eat, Dollar General to re-supply, Meme’s Café to do laundry and get some caffeinated beverages then eventually went to dinner at Hillbilly Bob’s Barbecue and Catfish. We heard the Baked Potato With Everything was amazing but of course they were out of those by the time we got there; DAMN! Every bastard in this state has thousands of potatoes growing in their backyard and this place is out of them? We had some BBQ and then I went over to the local bar to check out the home-grown entertainment.

The band was cool: two guys on guitar and bass with a drum machine. They did that Wagon Wheel song from Old Crow Medicine Show. I wasn’t expecting that; Rolex has been playing that song nearly every night that we break out the guitar. The bar was interesting, I met a relocatee named Angela and we talked about the practice of starting businesses and the nuances of a Philly Cheesesteak. Cubit, HaHa, Cyclone and Rolex were back at the Castle, so I came back to post blogs and read my book.

I’m tired, and my legs are still doing this crazy thing where they seize up when I’m walking. I look like some kind of invalid walking down the street. When I left the bar to walk home my legs weren’t working right and I’m sure I looked really drunk, hobbling down the street like some moonshined, old bastard. I’m surprised the local sheriff didn’t swing by with a “Hey Boy! Where you goin’ to tonight?” I got back to the hostel and I’ve been loading up my blogs from this past week. Hopefully we’ll be in Damascus, Virginia in a few days. We just passed 400 Miles!

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

Mister F. Gentle Spirit

Mountain Harbor Breakfast!


Mountain Harbor B&B to Moreland Gap Shelter 18 Miles

Got up and had an awesome breakfast. The house at the B&B was beautiful and the food was incredible! Terry and Mary cooked the most delicious food. I watched some news on this huge TV while I sipped my coffee and we were surrounded by amazing people in an amazing place. It was painful to leave but we had to. We got out on the road and up the hill a thousand feet. It was rough going.

Along the way we passed a cemetery and some people were hangin’ out, paying their respects and they gave us a “hey!” as we walked by. It was kind of weird just rolling by a cemetery like that in the middle of the mountains. It was a good sized one too, just sitting right there in the middle of nowhere. We passed a road with some horse and buggies. Someone had told HaHa about a cool waterfall named “Jones Falls” and when we saw the sign we took the side trail. It was awesome! We climbed up the falls and Mike slid down, hurting himself, but not too bad. He got a nice sized gash just above his right ass cheek. They decided to find an alternate way up. I stood under the frigid rain of the falls and we got some footage of that. The footing was very treacherous under the falls and I eventually came down before I hurt myself too.

Refreshed, we moved on and the trail got really boring. Cyclone and Rolex took off as usual and I kind of hung back with Haha for a while. The trail was so boring after the excitement of the falls. I eventually got to Laurel Fork and there was a strong, cool stream. The book said it was contaminated; but, I jumped in anyway and rinsed off my aching feet. I needed something to break the monotony of the last section. If the stream wasn’t contaminated before, it sure is now! My feet were putrid! The next climb up to the shelter was long and just kept going and going and going. Finally I got in to the shelter and besides my brothers; there were some people already here. A young girl and her father (can’t remember their names) with their dog, “Maddie” were there along with two other women. I can’t remember any of their names; I have to take better notes… Haha rolled in later and tented up but we didn’t really hear from him tonight, he just kind of disappeared.

There was cell service here so I logged in with the computer and decided to check my bank accounts. Yesterday I had tried to get some money out and it was telling me I had no money. I checked the account and it was horrible! I’m way overdrawn and there are a ton of bounced check fees! I started to look at the charges and got really pissed. I called Jeff to find out what happened and the situation isn’t looking good. As if I need more stuff to worry about, there are hundreds of dollars in overdraft fees. DAMN! How am I supposed to stay focused on the trail with all of this other crap going on? Tomorrow, we’re going to try to get in to the Kincora Shelter and get a re-supply in Hampton, TN. I’ll have to get on the horn then and figure out what we’re going to do…

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

Dehydration into Paradise

Looks easy doesn't it?


Ash Gap Campsite to Mountain Harbor B&B 17 Miles

My brothers left out of the camp early. They knew it would be a long day. We had a thousand-foot climb in a short distance up Roan Mountain and I had heard it was going to be rough. It wasn’t that bad; but while I was running down the hill from Roan Mountain to Carver Gap, my GPS fell off. We had taken a break at the Carver Gap Sign and that’s when I noticed my GPS was missing from it’s clip on my shoulder strap. I hiked all the way back up Roan Mountain looking for it because I had remembered glancing at it just as I passed the turn off for the Roan Mountain Shelter. I scoured the trailsides and never found the bastard. It seems sadly ironic to lose a GPS. This is the second one in as many months. I am so PISSED at myself! Now we aren’t going to be able to track our progress unless I can find a way to buy another GPS. We don’t have the funds to be able to do that right now so I guess we won’t be GPS logging anymore. It really hurt to lose that thing. I’m pretty upset we can’t track our trip on the website anymore. Oh well, I just gotta forget about it; find Acceptance… UGH! DAMNIT!

Earlier in the week, everyone was talking about how tough Roan Mountain was going to be and although it wasn’t easy, it really wasn’t all that bad. That’s probably because we did it in the morning. I’ll bet most people try to do it at the end of a long day so they can stay in Roan Mountain Shelter. I’m kind of pissed because nobody mentioned “The Humps.” Little Hump Mountain and Hump Mountain NEARLY KILLED ME! Little Hump came first, I was bonking as I climbed the sunny slope and I knew I was getting low on water; then, I saw Hump Mountain and I was just not ready, not worthy. I was bolstered temporarily by the sight of Rolex and Cyclone climbing through the long, waving grasses of Hump Mountain, about a half of a mile ahead of me. I thought they might stop at the top and wait for me.

Hump and Little Hump are both balds, so there is no cover from the sun, no trees anywhere and on this day, lots of sun and wind. The wind kept knocking me off balance and the sun was beating down. It was some of the toughest hiking yet. I bonked near the top of Hump Mountain but kept pushing. As I crested the top, I saw to my horror that my brothers had kept going and were still out of vocal range. Discouraged, I had to collapse for a while. I took off all of my clothes except for my underwear and I just lay there at the top of the grassy peak. Some SoBo came cruising past in the skimpiest shorts I have ever seen a man wear. Through my delirium, I began to get uncomfortable that I was laying there in my underwear and I’m glad he didn’t stop to talk. Maybe he was feeling the same way about some guy lying spread-eagle with unfocused eyes, in his sweat-soaked undies.

I managed to get back up and continue on. Shortly thereafter, I completely ran out of water with no water sources for six miles. I tried everything, I blew into the Camelbak to try and get a few drops more. I didn’t have the SteriPen, so I couldn’t purify any ground water even if I had found a good source. It was looking bad. I knew that Cyclone and Rolex were getting further and further ahead of me and I had no way to communicate with them that I needed water. I was having visions of dying of thirst and passing out and rolling down some cliff to my final resting place.

In my daze, I missed a turn and went about a mile in the wrong direction down a steep trail. Finally realizing my mistake as there weren’t any blazes, I balked at having to climb back up the hill I had just come down. My throat was sandpaper and my stomach was quivering from exhaustion. I found where I had missed the turn and in retrospect it seemed so obvious. I was angry at myself for making such a stupid mistake at such a critical time.

I kept trudging along. I wanted to kill my brothers for not waiting. As I finally got down to the end of my endurance, there was a stream alongside the trail. It didn’t look very clean and I almost tripped over an unfamiliar nalgene bottle (it was Levi’s Bottle that Cyclone had found earlier) in the middle of the trail with a note on it. It was from my brothers and it was full of clean water that Cyclone and Rolex had left for me since they had the purification equipment. I gulped the whole liter of water down in about three seconds and then I almost threw it back up. The note said that they were going in to the hostel and I dragged my sorry, dehydrated ass down to the road. I wasn’t sure where to find the Mountain Harbor Bed & Breakfast and Hostel. I took a guess and went left down the road. It was there, about a half mile down the road and it was wonderful! I collapsed on the grass next to Rolex and he informed me I had to jump up and get a shower if I was going to make the shuttle for dinner.

There were a few other hikers there: “Never the Same”, “Always Changing” and “Haha” had come in with Cyclone and Rolex. I met Tyler, a young boy who is living there with his Aunt and Uncle who own the place. They took us to some restaurant for dinner and then we came back to the barn, played some guitar, had a meeting, pet the horses and I set up my hammock nearby. It’s a really cool place and I hear the breakfast is amazing. I can’t wait. I really needed that meeting too. We talked about page 86. I didn’t realize how much I had needed that! Life is good again!

My trail name has changed as well. It turns out there is already a Jukebox on the trail. Someone flamed me in an email that I have been confusing people by posting as Jukebox on Trailjournals.com so I mentioned that I would have to change my trail name. Later, I was discussing my negative demeanor toward my brothers on the trail and I said something like, “If I wasn’t in so much pain all the time, I’d be Mister F***ing Gentle Spirit!” Always Changing said, “that’s your new trail name, Mr. F***ing Gentle Spirit.” I think it’s going to stick. It describes me pretty well.

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

Roan Mountain Ramblin'

Cyclone overlooking the Fields


Fire road Campsite to Ash Gap Campsite 18 Miles

I stayed in the hammock and let the fellas leave early this morning, I’m sick of being rushed so I just suggested they take off without me. I have enough water so I’ll just meet them way up the road. We had a cool camp last night despite the imminent threat of thunderstorms and crazy winds and lightning, I lit a fire. It turned out to be a good idea. We had a nice fire.

Water sources haven’t been very good and I haven’t been able to wash the mud off of my legs. I hate sleeping in my bag with dirty legs. My feet have a wet dog smell after a while and I don’t like transferring it to my sleeping bag along with the dried dirt crumbs and possible varmints living in them. I got out of camp about 45 minutes after Cyclone and Rolex. I am starting to really like hiking alone. You wouldn’t believe the things that go through my mind as I hike, especially when I’m in pain. I have been writing a novel in my head as we walk. I also go through all of these fantastic scenarios.

We got in to Ash Gap campsite and the water was way down the hill and hard to fill up. We only stopped here so we wouldn’t have to hike all the way up Roan Mountain on a 23 Mile day. They say that it’s beautiful to stay at the top of Roan Mountain but I was chafing so badly when I got in to the campsite that I just couldn’t go anymore. The space between my leg and scrotum looks just like seared ahi. I know that sounds disgusting but it’s true. I’m not exactly bleeding but the skin is bright read and rubbed off. There’s a kind of foam of dead skin collected down there and not only does it smell awful but it looks really dangerous bacterially. I asked Cyclone if we had any Neosporin and he threw me the tube. I’m really worried it might get seriously infected since I can’t really clean it. I’m not about to try and wash it. It’s excruciating to touch. I’d hate to have to get off the trail from something as stupid as Jock Rot.

I’m definitely not looking forward to the climb up Roan Mountain tomorrow but as long as I just put one foot in front of the other I eventually get up the hills in time. Continuing up Roan Mountain at the end of this day would have been a bad idea. I went and got some wood and started a fire while my brothers were down trying to get some water from the trickling stream. I’m starting to dig these nightly campfires. I have an idea they scare the bears away. It’s probably not true but I like the idea of it and it helps me get to sleep. We filmed our setup of the tents and I want to do a time lapse thing with it. I’m too tired to continue typing and it’s really uncomfortable sitting on this log. Tomorrow...

David AKA "Jukebox"


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

Zero In Gatlinburg

The Crew watching Cyclone Sing

We got up and went to get some breakfast at this pancake place we heard about and ended up walking all over Gatlinburg before settling on a Burger King. It was horrible; we just kept getting mad at each other and not being able to decide on a place. Hiking with three brothers can really suck. Right after we left the hotel, we ran into a whole crew of people we knew including Cubit, MMM, Jill, and MacGyver. We found out they had been here last night too and they went to Karaoke, so we missed them, DAMN! That would have been fun. They were contemplating staying in town again tonight and that was making a Zero Day seem very nice.

Our bodies are still messed up but we really want to get down the trail. At this point we’re getting angry at each other all the time and part of it is because we aren’t meeting our goals in mileage. I keep reassuring the fellas that we are going to speed up at some point; it’s only been two weeks. It will take a month just for us to get our hiking legs. That’s not helping though. I’ve never done anything like this before but it seems to me that we’ll be able to make a lot of time once we get used to it. No one else seems to agree with me. Money is looking like it might be an issue as well; but, I’m trying not to think of that and let God handle the worrying. I’ll handle the hiking.

We couldn’t decide on a place to eat and we ran into Dixie Dawg and his partner Kansas. I think that’s his name. We saw them walking down the street and they looked like a couple of rough characters. I imagine the three of us look equally seedy and tentative. No wonder people keep getting out of our way; maybe we smell too.

During an Indiana Jones inspired breakfast at Burger King, we decide to take a Zero and get a cheaper hotel that we heard about up the street from Stoplight number 8. The stoplights are all numbered here and you can find anything by asking what stoplight it is next to. I heard about this when I was reading about Gatlinburg in the trail handbook and I thought it was funny so I wrote a song called “Stoplight Number 3” I will sing it for you sometime.

The hotel was a bargain and we ended up getting a double suite for the same price as a single. I borrowed the front desk’s computer and sat up there for hours catching up on blogs while the girls there were taking reservations and stuff. It was weird; I was just hanging out behind the counter like I worked there, uploading pictures and blogs and trying to answer my email. We’ve been getting a few donations from people and that is really nice. It makes me feel like I’m accomplishing something in light of our substandard mileage attempts.

Later that evening we went out in town, had dinner two friends of Cyclone’s who came down to hang out with us. We would later give him the trail name of Blue Blaze and her name was Stephanie. We ate a great steak dinner. Cyclone quizzed the waiter on his Meat Knowledge since Cyclone used to be a butcher and we all had delicious cuts of fine beef. We cruised over to the Karaoke bar after that and met up with all the hikers. Everyone sang. Cyclone did this great ray Charles tune and Rolex and I were surprised at his soulful voice. We’d never heard him get that “urban” before. We left the bar in stages related to our preference and the night ended in the way that nights like that tend to end. If it sounds like I’m not really saying anything; well, that’s because I’m not.

David AKA "Jukebox"

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