Superlatives

1. Favorite meal and/or snack: trail meal = Knorr broccoli and cheese pasta side, tuna or salmon with mayo and relish, chocolate for dessert; town snack = potato salad and swiss cake rolls
2. What is the best song or mantra that has found its way into yer head on th' trail? The Happy Wanderer is the most common song in my head, although I have different tunes every day. I’ve also composed one that gets stuck in my head a lot, to the tune of “Battle Hymn of the Republic”.
3. Who has been the most unlikely thru-hiker? Bulldog, who is trying to be the first blind guy to thru-hike the AT using just sticks (hiking poles)...although he has a camera man with him who is filming for a documentary...good intentions, and it sounds really challenging (what does he do at trail junctions???), but they skipped the Smokies and several other sections so far.
4. Most unusual hiker? (Please describe!) On March 20 I decided to tent camp at Locust Cove. I heard some voices down by the spring. I knew I was in the front of my thru-hiker group for that day, and a jeep trail led from the valley toward the spring, so I was unsure who might be down there on the weekend. Then three guys (plus a dog) walk up from the spring, wearing all camouflage clothing, carrying HUGE external frame packs with all sorts of gear hanging on the sides, hunting knives strapped to their belts, and one carrying an axe. The normal questions arise, how are you, where are you hiking to, etc. They said they were hiking to Fontana to go fishing. Hmmm. A pack of my fellow thru-hikers showed up, and we all pitched our tents. These guys didn’t even lay out sleeping bags for the night. Hard core!
5. Best Trail Magic? Unicoi Gap, Georgia (day 6). I’d been hiking in the rain for a few days. Coming steeply downhill to the gap I was thinking it’d be really nice to sit down out of the rain for a few minutes before climbing the next mountain. Wayne and Linda had a large tent, folding chairs, sandwich fixings, cookies, fruit, donuts, chips, soda, sweet tea, etc.
6. Best/Most Unusual Trail name​? Little Spoon and Big Fork are a couple from Maine…we call them Cutlery. Grandma…who is a guy…he’s just really slow at packing.
7. Best weird conversation overheard in a shelter (or participated in)? March 17, Wayah Shelter. A conversation on the merits, characteristics, properties, and varied uses (of which there are many) of Livermush. Scruffy had packed some in from town and was sharing with everyone (yes, I tried some and it was good). For those of you unfamiliar with this southern delicacy, livermush is a processed meat product, similar to liverwurst, which can be eaten cold, fried, in omelets, etc. Use your imagination. We then proceeded to refer to Livermush for aobut 3 or 4 days afterwards, normally wishing we had some (it’d be really good in ramen, wouldn’t it?).
8. Greatest missed photo op? Documenting all the snow when I crossed into North Carolina, since my camera had gotten wet and wasn’t working, but more specifically it would have been March 14 at Muskrat Crek Shelter. Due to cold rain and snow, the shelter was full, with a couple tents pitched right next to it, and one guy (Picker) sleeping on the picnic table under the awning.
9. Largest mudhole? The entrance and floor of Double Spring Shelter in the Smokies (thanks to melting snow)
10. Friendliest hiker? Dr. John—a two-time thru hiker (’04 and ’07), he packed out some treats for me when he stopped at towns and I didn’t (milk, grapes, summer sausage).
11. Best shelter? Mountaineer Shelter in Tennessee (although I didn’t sleep there).
12. Eeriest place name? Dismal Creek Falls
13. Longest day? 21.2 mile on April 14 from Lost Mtn. Shelter over Mt. Rogers and the Grayson Highlands to a cowboy camp at The Scales.
14. Best mountain? Roan High Knob
15. Favorite section? Virginia Highlands/Grayson Highlands
16. Funniest moment? March 17, I had to push on to Wayah Shelter because there was too much snow at the campsite. I arrived late, in the rain, tired, hoping for a spot in the shelter. I hadn’t met any of the guys there before. I walk in and one guy (Scruffy) hands me a bottle filled with a warm, yellowish liquid…to warm my hands (turns out it was tea, but I didn’t know!). Then another guy (Sofa King) hands me a plastic grenade and tells me to pull the pin! (turns out it just makes noise). An interesting way to meet these guys, with whom I ended up hiking for a couple days.