I’m now 15 days out, Springer Mountain, Georgia. My feet are taking a rim racking. Uphills and flats are OK but downhills are painful. My German policeman friend “Gray Wolf” has been helpful in instructing me how to use my walking sticks properly. I didn’t realize a person could be as inept at using walking sticks as myself. It turns out that I didn’t know anything about walking sticks at all. I tried to return the favour of his advice by proffering some insights into the ways of the magnificent awakening Springtime forest around us. However, he is remarkably disinterested in mosses, lichens, ferns, fungi, insects, and trees. He doesn’t care to know the difference between a shagbark hickory and a hemlock or a bryophyte from a phonebook. What’s worse is he exhibits a distinct air of disaffection for all denizens of the forest.
At this point it seems that our association may end soon. My feet are becoming more and more painful each day while Gray Wolf is constantly spouting about how great he is feeling. God speed, perhaps I will catch up to him in Virginia.
Fontana Dam, that the AT crosses, was built during WW II principally to generate power for the Manhattan Project. They needed massive amounts of power to create weapons grade enriched uranium at the Oak Ridge Laboratory near Knoxville, Tennessee. Or, at least that’s what the local folks say.
After crossing the dam and registering for entry into the Great Smokey Mountains National Park I hiked as briskly as possible to get to the Shuckstack Fire Tower and a campsite at Birch Spring Gap, some 5 miles distant. On one of the flatter sections of the trail I saw an older fellow coming toward me and I admonished him that he was going the wrong way. He said he had been hiking with his son “Smasher” over Spring Break from University and he had to go south to get to a taxi to the airport. I of course asked him where he was from and he replied he was a professor from Boston. After my career of dealing with academics for over 30 years I could sense a bit of reservation. So, I said “You mean Cambridge?” He said “Yes”. So I asked him what he taught and he blandly replied “I teach physics at Harvard.” I said “Wow!” Thinking he may be stringing me a line I said “Yes, and my granny built the Brooklyn Bridge.” He replied “No really.” So, I thought I’d get him to corroborate the Fontana Dam Manhattan Project story. He said “Yes, it was essentially true that Oak Ridge worked on uranium enrichment and Los Alamos in New Mexico worked on Plutonium. Einstein was at Princeton University and oversaw the Oak Ridge work, while Oppenheimer oversaw the Los Alamos project.” The things a man can learn in the woods.
That night at the shelter I met another character that called himself “Loner Boner”. I was a bit frightened at first but his last name is spelled Bohner. He is 75 years old, from southern Indiana, and hiking the AT for the third time. He was hard of hearing and shouted so loud that everyone else in the shelter quickly became annoyed. So, I went off to get water, made myself supper and went to bed. That night the mice chewed a hole in my pack and helped themselves to my crackers. Dental floss and pack needle fixed it well enough. I’ll do a rant on the deplorable state of the AT Shelters in the future.
The following day I got an early start and was soon passed by a woman going about twice my speed. As she passed I managed to find out that she was from near Denver, Colorado and her trail name was “Deer Dog”. When I asked her how she could travel so fast she spun round and said she’d done the Pacific Crest Trail last year and played rugby. She glowered at me from under an oversized blue bandana like a Hillary Clinton or a Mother Superior, or both, and said “Well, Long Stride, nice meeting you, but I’ve got another 25 miles with my name on them today.” She was built like an intercontinental ballistic missile and just blasted off out of sight.
The altitude is increasing and with it the cold, plus it’s been raining constantly. I hope to soon pass Clingmans Dome at 6655 feet. The trail still has large patches of ice. I plan to take a “0” day at Newfound Gap at mile 207.3. My feet are pounded to pieces and complaining constantly.
I apologize for not getting many postings out. Walking, aching feet, and exhaustion are talking their toll.
I’ll try again soon.