Day 44: Goodbye, Cuba!

June 3: I took my time leaving town. I had put Shoo-Goo on my shoes to plug some holes forming in the sides, and I figured waiting as long as possible before I had to check out of my hotel room so the glue could cure was a good thing. So I didn't leave the hotel until just before 11:00am. Hopefully the patch job would hold! At least until I reached Chama where I had a new pair of shoes waiting for me.

 

After checking out of the motel, I walked over to the post office to mail my laptop ahead to Chama then, being lunch time, I dropped by McDonalds for a quick meal before leaving town.

On my way out of town, I ran into Dos Equis being dropped off who, as it turned out, started the trail the same day that I did but hiked much faster and arrived into Cuba two weeks earlier. The snow, however, was so bad, he went home for two weeks while it melted and just returned to the trail today. I had taken 7 zero days so far, though, so not including those, he had still had gotten a whole week ahead of me.

Anyhow, I joked that if he planned to keep hiking so fast, I'd never see him again. And, as it turned out, except for the first several miles out of Cuba, I never did.

While Dos Equis and I were exchanging greetings, two other thru-hikers arrived: Cramps and Outlaw. We made cursory greetings, but they walked very slowly heading out of town and Dos Equis and I left them in the proverbial dust. For now, at least. I had no doubt that they'd catch up and pass me at some point.

Evenstar texted me that she had left town about an hour before I did, so I knew she was somewhere ahead. Pez, of course, hadn't stopped in Cuba and now would have been a full day and a half ahead of both of us. I wondered if we'd ever see him again.

The trail followed some paved roads out of town for several miles, and precisely where the trail veered off the paved road onto a gravel one, a trail angel had set up at the junction handing out cold drinks. Awesome! Dos Equis and I stopped to chat for a bit, and Cramps and Outlaw soon caught up who also stopped to chat for a bit. The trail angel, who introduced herself as Solo, said that she was expecting me because Evenstar told her that I'd be following behind at some point, but Evenstar didn't know about the other three so they were a pleasant surprise for her. Until the four of us arrived, Evenstar was the only other hiker she had seen all morning.

Outlaw, Dos Equis, Solo and my backpack. =)

The other three hikers eventually kept hiking, but I lingered a bit longer in no particular rush. Rumors of heavy snow in Colorado were still leaking back to us and I was in no rush to get into it. So I had another cold drink and chatted with Solo for another 10 or 15 minutes after everyone else already left.

But eventually I too had to leave and said goodbye and thanks for the trail magic, then made my way down the gravel road which soon connected with a real trail again. And the trail started heading into the mountains where the terrain was much more rugged. Definitely a lot of uphill!

It wasn't more than about an hour after leaving the trail angel that I caught up with Evenstar again, taking a break by a creek next to the trail. I stopped and we chatted for a few minutes, then when she got up to start hiking again, we continued onward. I moved considerably faster going uphill, but I knew she'd catch up again when I stopped for a break.

Evenstar climbs a steep slope!

A couple of hours later, a light sprinkle started along with thunder rolling through the mountains, but I was ready for a break anyhow so I set up my tarp in a very haphazard manner, over a log that I could sit on while taking a break. I hoped the storm would pass quickly. The weather forecast did call for a slight chance of rain, but it seemed possible that I might be able to wait it out.

When Evenstar arrived, she joined me under my tarp, where we sat around killing time for the better part of an hour waiting for the storm to pass. Then another hiker arrived: Splits. He too was a hiker new to the both of us, so we made introductions and invited him under my tarp as well. (I have a very large tarp and often joke that I could throw large parties under it during a storm.) He did stop, but chose to sit on a nearby log instead of under the haphazard setup I had with my tarp that was flapping in the breeze.

Within another 15 minutes or so, the sprinkle had finally stopped and the three of us continued onward hiking together the rest of the evening.

The meadows late in the day were just covered in these beautiful purple irises!

We finally stopped to set up camp late in the evening, just before sunset, near the San Gregorio Reservoir. Although the rain had stopped, it was poised to resume again at any time so I set up my tarp. Planning to camp under it all night this time, however, I did a decent job of setting it up unlike the haphazard job I had done before.

Shortly after setting up the tarp, it did start to sprinkle and I was happy to be dry and warm under it. I was a bit concerned when a strong wind started to pick up, but my tarp held steady and the wind didn't cause any trouble. What did cause trouble, however--somewhat indirectly--was the rain. I did a good job of setting up my tarp to keep the rain out, but worms started coming out of the ground in hoards as their homes became flooded from the rain and started invading my space! I flicked off about a dozen worms early in the night, but as darkness descended, it became harder and harder to see them. I had a headlamp which I occasionally turned on to check for more invading worms and flicked them off as necessary, but I worried what would happen when I actually fell asleep and was no longer monitoring for them. Would I wake up in the morning covered with worms? It was an unsettling thought as I drifted off to sleep....

Splits, Evenstar and I set up camp not far from the San Gregorio Reservoir.

The meadows full of irises were really the highlight of the day's hike!

Day 141: Pack failure!

July 26: It sprinkled during the night but not very hard, and by morning the sprinkles had stopped. The weather forecast called for rain all day long, but for the time being, it was merely foggy and water in the form of tree snot fell from the trees. Not exactly dry, but not a full-fledged rain either! At least I could feel mostly dry. For now....

I reached the next shelter relatively early in the morning where I took a brief snack break but decided to push onward another eight miles to the Sabbath Day Pond Lean-to. Today was Sunday, after all. Seemed right to shoot for the Sabbath Day Pond shelter. =)

The trail was steep and difficult, as per usual at this point, but the rocks were slick from the fog and the most difficult part of the hiking was just not to slip and fall on one's butt. On one particular boulder, I slowly took steps knowing how slick the rock was. The rock wasn't even particularly steep, but despite going slow and careful, I still slipped and hit the ground hard. I stood up, cursing the trail, and took another five or six tentative steps before I slipped and fell again. G***** f**** ******!!!!

Miraculously, the rain continued to hold off. After a short 12.6 miles into the shelter, though, I decided I had pushed my luck enough and decided to call it quits. In any case, the next shelter was another 11+ miles ahead. I'd never make it there before dark. Nope, this was as good as place as any to quit.

When I took off my pack, I noticed a large hole had ripped in the side of it. I'm not sure where it had happened, but it seemed safe to assume that it was probably during one of my many falls on those slick rocks. I landed pretty hard at times! It was really quite a substantial hole.

After emptying my pack and setting up camp in the shelter, I pulled out my needle and thread and started sewing the hole closed. After an hour, it was largely fixed, but it was an admittedly half-hearted fix. My fingers hurt from trying to constantly push that needle through the thick fabric. I broke one needle in the process, but fortunately I had two more spares. It wasn't a good job of fixing it, but I hoped it was enough to hold it together. "You just need to hang in there for a couple of more weeks," I told the pack reassurringly. "You're almost to Katahdin!"

A trail maintainer dropped by with a small but full-sized watermelon, encouraging us to eat it. I had seen the watermelon on a table when I first arrived at the shelter, but I had no knife to cut it open and cracking it open on a rock didn't seem like the best way to get into it. So I--along with all of the other hikers--sadly passed it up. When she arrived, though, she had a large knife to cut it up and said that she did not want to carry it back to her vehicle and thus, we had to eat it. I was more than happy to indulge. =)

Bearfish stopped at the same shelter too, and we both complained bitterly about how slick and slippery the trail was. I think it made us both feel better. =) The southbounders at the shelter I'd joke, "Quit! Quit while you still can!" And Bearfish would just laugh and say he can't believe I'd actually tell people that. I'd turn to him and say out loud, "You know I'm just kidding!"

Then I'd immediately turn to one of the southbounders and quietly whisper--as if I didn't want Bearfish to hear (but it obviously loud enough that he would hear)--"I'm totally not kidding! Quit! Quit you still can!" All the while nodding my head vigorously. Then Bearfish would laugh some more. Good times!

Even when the trail was flat, the slick rocks were difficult to walk on without slipping!

This was the slope where I fell twice, all of about five steps apart despite my going slow and carefully!

This trail crew was installing some new rock steps.

If you do slip and fall, however, be sure to look around for some good photo ops while you're laying on the ground!

Maine Highway 17

The rocks were the slipperiest part of the trail today, but these bog bridges are slippery as well!

Sabbath Day Pond

Trial magic at the shelter!

This was the rip I found on the bottom, side of my pack. I don't know exactly when it formed, but if I had to guess, it was during one of my many falls on the slick rocks. So I spent an hour sewing it up at the shelter.

Yeah, we finished off that watermelon!

Day 28: Trail Magic!

April 4: During the night, thunder and lightning rocked the area, but it was the wind and the rain I was more concerned about. The wind was far stronger than I imagined it would be, and I wound up opening my umbrella to plug the “hole” in the open side of the tarp. It worked well enough, but when I tried to use my headlamp, it would only stay on for a few seconds at a time before it shut off leaving me completely in the dark to try and write.

The morning was cloudy, but very cold and windy!

So I was glad when morning arrived. The rain had finally stopped, and while the skies didn’t clear completely, at least I could see without the need of my headlamp. But it was still very cold and very windy.

I was tempted to skip breakfast this morning. A couple of days earlier, we had heard reports that a trail angel was making pancakes and eggs for passing through hikers each morning at Sam’s Gap and was still expected to be there through the week. It was also an hour of hiking away, though, and I’m hungry when I wake up. I ate my usual breakfast figuring I’d have digested most of it and would still have room for pancakes by the time I reached Sam’s Gap—assuming the rumors we’d heard were true. Sometimes, they aren’t.

An hour later, I arrived at Sam’s Gap, close on the heels of Strapped who’d been talking about the pancakes non-stop for days. He’s called Strapped because he’s “strapped for cash,” as it were, minimizing stays in towns and picking up trail magic wherever he can to stretch his finances. I knew without even asking that Strapped had skipped breakfast in anticipation of the pancakes.

Sam’s Gap, but there were no pancakes to be seen anywhere. =(

But there was no trail magic. No pancakes. No nothing. A few cars parked at the trailhead, but they all appeared empty. I was mildly disappointed, but glad I hadn’t skipped breakfast earlier. Strapped was still ahead of me on the trail and at a switchback going into the woods yelled back to me, “Where are the pancakes?!”

I yelled back, “I guess there are none!” But he kept hiking. It was too cold and windy to stop to chat in any case.

Several minutes later, I did catch up to him where a fold in the earth created a natural windbreak and Strapped had taken a rest to eat. Since he had skipped breakfast, he was hungry, and he went on about how disappointed he was about the lack of pancakes. I haven’t posted much about Strapped, but he’s one of those guys that I don’t think anyone could hate. He’s always got a big, infectious grin on his face and even now—despite knowing his immense disappointment about the lack of pancakes—he still had that giant, infection grin. I pulled out my camera to take a photo, which I did, then he goes, “Wait, take another one of me being sad.” He puts on an exaggerated sad face and holds out his pathetic breakfast—an energy bar or something. Even with this exaggerated sad face, he still had a happy aura about him. Later, he was telling people that he was so sad about the pancakes, that he might have even had a tear in his eye and I got it on film.

Since I had eaten breakfast, I continued onwards and soon passed a sign warning of trail magic ahead at Street Gap that started yesterday afternoon and would continue through this morning. Trail magic! Strapped would certainly be thrilled about that once he sees the sign!

The trail crosses Sam’s Gap right at the Tennessee-North Carolina border.

It didn’t say what kind of trail magic was ahead—just that something was ahead. Pancakes? Maybe the trail angel we’d heard about had moved locations?

I continued onwards eventually reaching Street Gap where a few other hikers had already stopped and gathered around a campfire chatting—the trail angel circle. Heck, just having a campfire was trail magic! It was still bitterly cold and incredibly windy, and the fire felt great. I was handed a glass of grapefruit juice and a couple of minutes later, a plate with scrambled eggs and bacon. Awesome! Yeah, Strapped was going to be in heaven as soon as he arrived!

He arrived about 15 minutes later saying he saw the sign and tried rushing here as quickly as he could to catch the trail magic before it left. The sign only said it would be there that morning, but it didn’t have a clear time that it would end and he wanted to make darned sure he would catch it.

More eggs were cooking, but with the arrival of Strapped and the other hikers already there, I figured it might be awhile before I could get seconds and I was itching to push onwards. Stopped, even at a campfire, I was getting cold in the brutal wind. So I pushed onwards.

That’s a good sign! =)

Later in the afternoon, the temperatures had started warming and the wind had died down to normal levels—much more comfortable for hiking. The skies even cleared for the most part leaving great views whenever a viewpoint was available.

And late in the afternoon, as I crossed the road at Spivey Gap, two people in a truck at the parking area yelled out to me if I wanted trail magic. Well… sure! Why not?! =) Some sort of childhood lesson about not talking to strangers who offer me candy popped into my head, but I ignored it.

“Sure!” I told them, starting to walk in their direction. “What are you offering?” As if I was really being picky. =)

They pulled out a bag of Easter candy and some Cokes, and I helped myself to both. Minutes later, Disciple and Mongoose also came out of the woods and joined us, then a father and son pair just behind them. The trail angels had been waiting for an hour to do trail magic, and just nabbed four of us in mere minutes. Strapped was still somewhere behind us—I last saw him at Street Gap eating scrambled eggs and with the biggest smile you ever did see. He would be disappointed if he missed this additional trail magic. And he might—his knees had been giving him trouble and he was thinking about slowing it down so not to permanently injure himself. He wasn’t sure how far he would hike that day.

The couple providing the trail magic were former thru-hikers—or at least the guy was. If they told me their names, I failed to make a note of it because I have nothing written in my journal, but the guy said he had hiked the trail years earlier and suffered some pretty bad snow in the Smokies when a trail angel provided him a much needed boost with Easter candy, so now he likes to do the same. He never actually finished his hike—he’d gotten a job offer while on the trail and as they say, it was an offer that he couldn’t refuse. Make that a lesson—if you ever want to thru-hike the trail successfully, don’t send out a bunch of job applications before you start! =)

I eventually continued onwards to No Business Knob Shelter where I met Quirks, a quiet German fellow section hiking the trail. He’d already set up his tent near the shelter, but the shelter itself was still empty which took me by surprise. Disciple soon arrived, however, but he only took a brief stop before continuing onwards. He wanted to get closer to Erwin so as to get to an Easter Sunday service tomorrow morning. Mongoose told me he was getting picked up at Spivey Gap and would likely be slackpacking from there to Erwin the next day, so I didn’t expect him.

Then Strapped arrived, who I was happy to see and he was grinning about the trail magic he’d scored at Spivey Gap—candy and a Coke. There was a note left with it for Thru-Hikers to help themselves, so Strapped hadn’t met the newest trail angels, but he still benefited from them. He was, however, disappointed when he found out that I had had two Cokes and a dozen pieces of Easter candy and the trail angels tried to get me to take some more with me for the trail. I refrained, not wanting to add the extra weight to my pack, and Strapped only took a couple of pieces and one Coke wanting to show restraint and leave something for other hikers. When he found out how much I had had, though, and that the trail angels had tried to foist even more onto me, he was disappointed that he had shown so much restraint!

Strapped puts on his “sad face” to show his displeasure about missing pancakes.

In reality, this is how he looked when I actually found him on the trail.

After Strapped had finished the Coke, we decided to use it to create a “rat trap.” Not so much a device to catch rats, but rather to thwart mice from being able to get our food. You run a rope through it and tie a stick to the end of the rope, dangling from the ceiling, and supposedly mice can’t get your food. They can’t get around the can without falling off onto the ground. The science behind it is simple, but I’ve always thought it seemed too simple—like mice ought to be able to outsmart the device, but in the hundred-plus times I’ve used them, I’ve never had a mouse get into my food so they must work.

So I cut the can in half and make two “mouse-barriers” for the shelter which, surprisingly, had none until then.

The father and son hikers never showed up and Strapped never saw them, so presumably they got off at Spivey Gap along with Mongoose, leaving just Strapped and I in the shelter and Quirks in a tent just outside of it. And that was it—just the three of us all night long!

I put on my warm clothes for the night. Weather predications had indicated that it would be a very cold night—down into the 20s. It was a good night to bundle up!




The trail magic circle around the campfire. On the far right is Disciple. Second to the right is Mongoose. I’m not sure what the names of the girls on the left are. They were section hikers I’d see several times during the week, but everyone always referred to them as the “three girls” who were hiking together and I always knew who they were talking about so I didn’t even think to ask their names. (When I first met them here, I thought they were part of the trail angels! It wasn’t until they left down the trail that I realized they were hikers.)

I’d already scarfed down the bacon before I thought to get a photo of the trail magic. =) Delicious!

Hiking up Big Bald.

Views from Big Bald. What you can’t see are the winds that are so strong that they can push you over!

I goof around at a viewpoint along the trail.

Our wonderful Easter-candy trail angels.

I saw this rock beside the trail thinking it looked like a small tombstone. I guess someone else did too, because someone had already written, “Here’s lies Noravirus.” I’d heard that a bad noravirus epidemic had swept this part of the trail the year before, so maybe this message had something to do with that.

One of the “mouse barriers” we had created for the shelter.