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Damascus to??

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    • Damascus to??

      I had great weather the first two days. Camped on top of Whitetop Mountain and did shots with a scottsman. Next day fog blew in 40 mph winds visibility sometimes only 75 feet and rain all the way over Mt. Rogers and into Grayson Highlands. Stayed at Wise shelter and left early in the am and did a 20. There was a guy with us hiking with his 14 year old nephew. The nephew went missing sometime 4/4 after leaving Wise. Do not know if they have found him. There were many places where it is confusing as to where the trail goes due to all the pony paths and poor marking. I left arrows in the dirt at confusing intersections. Some places the trail was so flooded it was hard to tell where it went. I hope they find him. He had two or three days of food.
      "Dazed and Confused"
      Recycle, re-use, re-purpose
      Plant a tree
      Take a kid hiking
      Make a difference
    • NoAngel wrote:

      I had great weather the first two days. Camped on top of Whitetop Mountain and did shots with a scottsman. Next day fog blew in 40 mph winds visibility sometimes only 75 feet and rain all the way over Mt. Rogers and into Grayson Highlands. Stayed at Wise shelter and left early in the am and did a 20. There was a guy with us hiking with his 14 year old nephew. The nephew went missing sometime 4/4 after leaving Wise. Do not know if they have found him. There were many places where it is confusing as to where the trail goes due to all the pony paths and poor marking. I left arrows in the dirt at confusing intersections. Some places the trail was so flooded it was hard to tell where it went. I hope they find him. He had two or three days of food.
      What kind of libation?
    • Yes. I just talked to a thru who says the kid took a side trail in the highlands and ended up walking in a big loop. The thru agreed with me the trail is poorly marked in that area and he relied on following hiking pole holes to stay on the trail.
      "Dazed and Confused"
      Recycle, re-use, re-purpose
      Plant a tree
      Take a kid hiking
      Make a difference
    • NoAngel wrote:

      Yes. I just talked to a thru who says the kid took a side trail in the highlands and ended up walking in a big loop. The thru agreed with me the trail is poorly marked in that area and he relied on following hiking pole holes to stay on the trail.
      I can't recall exactly where it was, but there's a section where the AT comes out in a large parking area on the parkway, I came out and could not find a blaze, backtracked into the woods to be sure I was on the trail and saw a white blaze 30 yards in...looked and looked and finally saw a blaze way down at the other end, started walking fast to make up the lost time, after a while things started looking familiar, after about a mile I came to a concrete pillar telling me I was going in the wrong direction...they had rerouted the trail but left the old blazes which caused me to make a big circle....it was all good.
      I may grow old but I'll never grow up.
    • Drybones wrote:

      NoAngel wrote:

      Yes. I just talked to a thru who says the kid took a side trail in the highlands and ended up walking in a big loop. The thru agreed with me the trail is poorly marked in that area and he relied on following hiking pole holes to stay on the trail.
      I can't recall exactly where it was, but there's a section where the AT comes out in a large parking area on the parkway, I came out and could not find a blaze, backtracked into the woods to be sure I was on the trail and saw a white blaze 30 yards in...looked and looked and finally saw a blaze way down at the other end, started walking fast to make up the lost time, after a while things started looking familiar, after about a mile I came to a concrete pillar telling me I was going in the wrong direction...they had rerouted the trail but left the old blazes which caused me to make a big circle....it was all good.
      A short ways out of Damascus they had a re-route due to a bridge being washed out. The map showed the new route as the trail to the left the AT to the right. The map was assbackwards. I did two fords a short one 10 feet across and 6" deep but the next one was where the bridge was. I looked at and thought no different than what you run into in Massachusetts or Vermont so I put on my camp shoes and waded in. Maybe 25 feet across and not quite up to my knees. All the nobos I talked to did the same thing.
      "Dazed and Confused"
      Recycle, re-use, re-purpose
      Plant a tree
      Take a kid hiking
      Make a difference
    • NoAngel wrote:

      StalkingTortoise wrote:

      Was the Scotsman Willie, the Energizing Bunny?
      Aye he t'was. :) You know him?
      Met him on the climb to Big Bald on the first day of my section (18 MAR) and took a break with him at the Big Bald Shelter during a rain / hail storm.

      A few thrus we met later commented that William had a poor sense of direction and they often had to turn him around on the trail.

      He stayed ahead of us on Saturday and we figure he got into Erwin before noon on Sunday. Don't know if he made a brief stop then continued NOBO or if he stayed in Erwin and stayed behind us the rest of the way to Dennis Cove. Either way, we didn't see him again.
      Trudgin' along the AT since 2003. Completed Sections: Springer Mountain to Clingmans Dome and Max Patch NC to Gorham NH

      "The days I keep my gratitude higher than my expectations...those are pretty good days." Ray Wylie Hubbard
    • CoachLou wrote:

      The 2 days HB and I were up in the Highlands, it was overcast and stormy. We stayed on course, but with all the paths and no sun twice I had to stop and check our path because I just felted turned around
      I had no problems finding the trail when I went through there, 2 ft of snow, had to step in the post holes, which had filled with slushy water...I needed hip boots, not trail runners.
      I may grow old but I'll never grow up.
    • Damascus to Ft. Bastian.

      I had to end my trip at Ft. Bastian because unfortunately I had picked up the nasty Nora virus en route and came down with it my first night at the fort. I'm pretty sure I got from eating an apple from the box of fruit that the church had put in the one room school house museum that I past earlier, as I didn't wash the apple :( .

      After a delicious dinner of some beef stew that Mountain Mike made we sat around the camp fire and told stories over a couple of beers and some good bourbon. About 1:30 am I awoke with a sudden urge to be like Linda Blair in the Exorcist. I barely made it out of the tarp. Then things wanted out the other direction. So there I am running around in the woods with my headlamp, going now where was that trail that MM pointed out that has the privy? Damn I should I have paid better attention. Finally I found it and had the major blow out.

      The next day I laid up under my tarp until late morning, when I came out Mountain Mike was headed down the trail to the privy with a board and hammer. I asked him what he was doing and he said he need to reinforce the privy- wow I must have had a major blow out. Well, I am now at home and still tired and weak and recovering, so I'll post some pictures and stuff later.

      Moral of the story: wash it, wash it and wash it again.
      "Dazed and Confused"
      Recycle, re-use, re-purpose
      Plant a tree
      Take a kid hiking
      Make a difference

      The post was edited 1 time, last by jimmyjam ().

    • It was great to meet Jimmy Jam & talk with him while sipping bourbon around the fire. I just wish I had returned to the Fort sooner to get things cleaned up & in better shape before his arrival. I departed in mid January when tennis elbow prvented me from closing up properly& my returned was delayed on the arrival of some equipment. I'm still not unpacked fully ret but making progress. Litter is cleaned up & brush around the buildings cleared. Burning it now as I sit typing besides the fire. Shower is fixed. I finished hocking it up as JJ & Cropduster set up & tested it. Then when Cropduster went to get in it wouldn't fire up again. Some pine needles got stuck in the pump impeller so it wouldn't provide enough PSI to fire the burner. Water tanks are full, 600 gallons to use without having to go down to the creek. New generator shed build since I had to relocate it from it's winter residence in the shower stall. New gate started, I dropped a tree in the driveway last year after I got robbed. I now have it eyebolted to a tree so I can move it. Tomorrow I hope to get a cable on it to take up some of the weight when it swings & get a lock on it. Then finish redecking the privy floor & return to working on the cabin roof. Hopefully enough time before I get called back to work to get it ready for sheathing & a real roof. This FEMA Roofing (tarps) don't last through the winter. Hopefully after Myrtle I'll get a real roof on it.

      The post was edited 1 time, last by Mountain-Mike ().

    • Mountain-Mike wrote:

      It was great to meet Jimmy Jam & talk with him while sipping bourbon around the fire. I just wish I had returned to the Fort sooner to get things cleaned up & in better shape before his arrival. I departed in mid January when tennis elbow prvented me from closing up properly& my returned was delayed on the arrival of some equipment. I'm still not unpacked fully ret but making progress. Litter is cleaned up & brush around the buildings cleared. Burning it now as I sit typing besides the fire. Shower is fixed. I finished hocking it up as JJ & Cropduster set up & tested it. Then when Cropduster went to get in it wouldn't fire up again. Some pine needles got stuck in the pump impeller so it wouldn't provide enough PSI to fire the burner. Water tanks are full, 600 gallons to use without having to go down to the creek. New generator shed build since I had to relocate it from it's winter residence in the sower stall. New gate started, I dropped a tree in the driveway last year after I got robbed. I now have it eyebolted to a tree so I can move it. Tomorrow I hope to get a cable on it to take up some of the weight when it swings & get a lock on it. Then finish redecking the privy floor & return to working on the cabin roof. Hopefully enough time before I get called back to work to get it ready for shething & a real roof. This FEMA Roofing (tarps) don't last through the winter. Hopefully after Myrtle I'll get a real roof on it.
      Wow you've been busy since I left. Hey Rome wasn't built in a day. :)
      "Dazed and Confused"
      Recycle, re-use, re-purpose
      Plant a tree
      Take a kid hiking
      Make a difference
    • Mountain-Mike wrote:

      This is why I suggested to Crop Duster not to stay in the cabin when I told him it wae infested with ladybugs.. I took this pic monday before I took the screen out. Although their bites aren't real painfull it's like little pin pricks. I got about a dozen of them in the process.
      I wonder if an aphid bite hurts, I guess we'll never know.

      Honestly I didn't know ladybugs bit, I don't think I've ever had one that did that, though I've never seen that many in 4 square feet either.
    • I've never had one bite me either. When I was at UCONN the Ag school used ladybugs as natural pest control and when they mowed the fields in the fall they would invade leaky the widowed dorms by the millions looking for warmth and shelter. We would have to use a vaccume to remove them since each room would have hundreds of them inside.
      Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.
    • For several years I've avoided pesticides and used ladybugs to control aphids within the garden. As neighbors keep bee hives, I've also avoided herbicides. However other neighbors liberally utilize both types of chemicals without regard. As a result she's lost several colonies.

      The insect infestation in this area for decades is box elder or Boisea trivittata.
      Harmless unless they invade the house and stepped upon. Stains the carpet.

      Lest we forget.....



      SSgt Ray Rangel - USAF
      SrA Elizabeth Loncki - USAF
      PFC Adam Harris - USA
      MSgt Eden Pearl - USMC
    • Mountain-Mike wrote:

      It was great to meet Jimmy Jam & talk with him while sipping bourbon around the fire. I just wish I had returned to the Fort sooner to get things cleaned up & in better shape before his arrival. I departed in mid January when tennis elbow prvented me from closing up properly& my returned was delayed on the arrival of some equipment. I'm still not unpacked fully ret but making progress. Litter is cleaned up & brush around the buildings cleared. Burning it now as I sit typing besides the fire. Shower is fixed. I finished hocking it up as JJ & Cropduster set up & tested it. Then when Cropduster went to get in it wouldn't fire up again. Some pine needles got stuck in the pump impeller so it wouldn't provide enough PSI to fire the burner. Water tanks are full, 600 gallons to use without having to go down to the creek. New generator shed build since I had to relocate it from it's winter residence in the shower stall. New gate started, I dropped a tree in the driveway last year after I got robbed. I now have it eyebolted to a tree so I can move it. Tomorrow I hope to get a cable on it to take up some of the weight when it swings & get a lock on it. Then finish redecking the privy floor & return to working on the cabin roof. Hopefully enough time before I get called back to work to get it ready for sheathing & a real roof. This FEMA Roofing (tarps) don't last through the winter. Hopefully after Myrtle I'll get a real roof on it.
      Hi Mtn Mike, just wondering if this means that you bought Ft. Bastian from the Brit?