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life in the vortex(or "how my hike ended at fort bastian")

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  • after successfully completing my thru hike of the benton mackaye trail, i met up with homebrew at standing bear and hiked north on the at till trail days in damascus.i started out from trail days early monday morning, but found myself hiking within a huge bubble with anywhere between 15 and 30 people at the campsites and shelters.i pushed hard to get ahead, and as a result i tweaked my knee on a downhill that saturday.
    meantime,mountain mike had been trying to figure out how we could hook up,we had kept missing each other , and i was close to laurel creek at mile 580.3. he sent me a text to stay at fort bastian, gave me the number to call trubrit, which i did , let him know i would be there the following day.i walked down the hill from laurel creek, and eventually met mountain mike coming up to meet me.he took my pack and i followed him up the hill to the campsites, in a beautiful pine forest with plenty of great tenting and hammocking sites available. there was a log cabin under construction as well the foundation to a bunkhouse. there was a large tipi tarp style tent with a firepit within it,as well as a few guitars,next to a small kitchen with propane grills. no running water, we got our water from a stream that ran into a large pool at the bottom of the hill for bathing and washing.off the grid, trubrit powered up a generator every evening so hikers could charge their electronics, and to power the bose stereo system.
    there were maybe 20 or so thru hikers already there, and everyone seemed to be having fun. when evening came, the generator powered up the speaker system and the beer started flowing.me and mountain mike talked trails for hours,but when one of the thrus pulled out his guitar, i borrowed one of the "house" guitars and we jammed late into the night.we all were singing laughing and having fun.
    my plan was to rest my knee for a few days and then get back on the trail. by wednesday my knee was feeling stronger. in the meantime, everyone's plans were to go to a big party over the weekend at captains, at mile 650. i started thinking id be better off waiting till friday to hike north, as the trails might be a bit emptier with everyone going to the party.
    so i'm packed and ready 7:30am friday, but trubrit is running late and doesnt start breakfast till 9:30am. trubrit had picked up a yr old stray pointer, and they didnt know what to do with the dog while they went to captains. i decided to stay and watch the dog, and the camp, as i figured with everyone gone, i'd have some peace and quiet i hadnt had since leaving the bmt.
    so i stayed, along with flip( a walking miracle), and hummingbird who was nursing a sore ankle.
    so friday afternoon i set up my tent again in the same pollen outline i had torn it down from earlier that morning. later in the afternoon, a thru asked about my tent, and as i was zipping back up the rainfly, the zipper separated. unable to repair it, i emailed judy at lightheart gear, but it was already after 6 on friday, and she couldnt send me out a loaner till monday, meaning i wouldnt have it till wednesday or thursday.not wanting to take a chance on the rain, which was forecast every day,i decided to stay at fort bastian till my tent came.
    but the following weekend was trubrits birthday, with a big party planned, how could i now leave? so i decided to stay through the weekend, hike out monday north to a place where i could get a bus back to ny.i called coach lou ,let him know my plans, and he told me he had the next weekend free, that he could drive down thrusday, we could hike or camp somewhere, and then he'd drive me home.
    rather than figure out where to meet, i figured i'd just stay the few more days at fort bastian and wait for him there.
    more stories to follow
    Images
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    its all good

    2,779 times read

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