Emai from Stacy, Oct 19
(A NOTE FROM MOM:
Stacy was sick in the spring and had to come home from the trail for a few weeks.
When she was well again, she faced a dillemma.
Maine in October is brutal enough to make officials close the Parks.
Rather than run the risk running out of time before she ran out of trail, she decided to estimate where she would be if she had not come home.
Then Stacy jumped ahead to that point. After she finished the hike in Maine, She had to go back to Blacksburg, VA
and hike South to Clingman's Dome, TN. to fill in the gap.
That way she would finish hiking the whole Appalachian Trail in ONE SEASON.)
only 259.2 miles left
Well, I'm not too fond of bulk mailings but out here on the trail the
computer time is not too plentiful. So deal with the slight impersonal part
of this I will try to e-mail each of you when I can.
I am right now in Damascus, Va getting ready to cross over to TN.
Wow it is
amazing down here. It is a big change from the middle of "Trail Days."
Much
calmer. Upon arriving to town I was greeted with a great surprise.
About
two miles before town Ed, another thru-hiker, and I were in deep
conversation; the sun was in our eyes.
It was the perfect day for hiking.
I noticed a woman walking in our direction and thought to myself "that lady
walks kind of like my mom."
No sooner had that thought passed into my mind
when I saw her face. No wonder she walked like my mom, it was her.
Talk
about being shocked. Knowing where I was, she decided to take a detour on
her trip to visit my brother,
Chris, and his wife, Corinne, in southern VA.
She hiked the last bit into town and then we spent a great time
hanging out
looking a lots of pictures of the rest of my hike.
Check some out at
https://www.angelfire.com/ok/goodsport
Two days ago I had my first snowfall of this season, reminding me of the
beginning down in NC and GA.
Mount Rogers was amazing. It looked as if
someone had taken a can of fake snow and sprayed everything.
The ponies
were out in Grayson Highlands State Park and very friendly.
I had wanted to stay at Thomas Knob Shelter near the summit
but decided to
spend the night down the mountain about 1500 feet lower.
I arrived at the
shelter before I was planning on stopping and two south-bounders,
Matt and
Tim were already in the process of building a fire.
That was the clincher
in my choice. Boy was it cold that night;
the wind was howling so fast and
hard.
Although we were just acquaintances we all got pretty friendly that
night.
I am glad there are good spirited hikers with warm bodies.
If we
had not snuggled that night none of us would have gotten any sleep.
We awoke with ice in our water bottles and huddled together in the corner of
the shelter
so the temps got down below freezing, not to mention the wind
chill, and in my 20 degree bag - it was pushing the limit.
The next day Tim, Matt, Ed and I pushed to get over Mt. Rogers to some lower
elevations
but when arriving at a road 8 miles before our destination the
four of us made a great decision.
In light of the forecast that in town it
was supposed to get down to the teens --
hitch to Damascus and sleep with
four walls surrounding us.
Before meeting up with these guys I had spent the previous five nights in a
shelter alone.
Having a shelter with fewer that four people when going
north-bound was rare, let alone it being empty.
I enjoyed that time by
myself although last week it was tough being solo.
I had major withdrawal
from the hiking community I was used to during most of my hike.
My next stop will be Erwin, TN (with a brief stay at the Kincora Hostel in
between here and there).
I will be entering the cold mountains with an added
idem to my pack.
My mom delivered a sleeping bag liner to get me thru the
next 2 1/2 weeks. I'm starting to wind down with mixed emotions.
Knowing
that I will have to face the real world soon I'm hesitant to hurry these
last few weeks (esp. after e-mails and talking to many of you who have been
off the trail for a month or so).
The trail is calling my name.
Going to do 11.2 out of town this afternoon.
Can't wait to hit some of the knobs and peaks between here and Clingman's.
To all of the 2000 milers in the bunch: I am hoping to get in touch with
Storyteller
but have the wrong e-mail address. A little help please :)
-- Stacy
Email Stacy:
Email:
beastlymountainwoman@hotmail.com
