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Where's Funnybone?
Article 11
May 5, 2012
By Jim Dashiell, MD
Tribune Columnist
At the time I write this on April 26, I have been on the AT for one month and have hiked 294.3 miles. Since my last report I have traveled through the Smoky Mountains. I have traveled to the top of and across Clingman’s Dome. I am pictured on a large stony outcropping known as Charlie’s Bunion. I witnessed the most beautiful sunrise at 5900 feet elevation looking out over the top of the clouds. The mountains stuck up through the clouds and the scene resembled a big pond full of hippos. I camped in my tent and in shelters, stayed at a hotel in Gatlinburg, on the porch at Standing Bear Hostel in Hartford, Tennessee, and at Elmer’s Sunnybank Inn in North Carolina where we were fed a wonderful organic, vegetarian meal! I also spent some time at the Smoky Mountain Diner across from Elmer’s where they had great food and wonderful coffee.
Perhaps the scariest time of my journey to date happened when we decided to “slack pack.” Slack packing is when you take in your pack only the essentials, primarily some food and water and perhaps an emergency blanket and rain coat. Curtis (the gentleman who owns Standing Bear Hostel) drove us 20 miles north of the hostel so we could hike back. We got a late start, so had to hike as quickly as possible, hoping to arrive back at Standing Bear Hostel by 8:00 that night. It started raining, then rained harder, the wind blew, and it got much colder. The Trail became a sloppy, gooey mess and it was hard to stand up, much less maneuver the very steep inclines and declines. By the time we arrived at Max Patch Bald, a 800-900 acre grassy area with very few trees on top of a mountain, it was blowing very hard and the rain was stinging our faces. Even though we were walking uphill, it felt like we were walking sideways. It was so foggy I couldn’t see a thing and couldn’t truly appreciate the Bald, but what I could see of it was very beautiful. My clothes were totally soaked and I was very cold. I felt like hypothermia was just one step behind me. I knew I had to keep moving and if I were to fall, become injured and unable to move, things could get very bad. I knew this was a very serious situation.
After 11-12 miles we decided to get off the Trail and find a way back to the hostel. We hiked 2-3 miles along the road, seeing no houses or cars. Upon exiting the forest, however, a truck driven by an IBM employee from South Carolina graciously picked us up and transported us right to the door of the hostel, rescuing us from what could have been a very serious situation. He was so generous that when he let us out, five other guys asked him for a ride to Asheville so they could get in out of the cold. Shortly his truck was again filled with strangers, hikers headed to a warm, dry place for the night. I told him he was the epitome of a Trail Angel. He had never heard the term, but he certainly was our angel and saved the day for us. Upon arriving at the hostel I put on the only dry clothes I had…a pair of swimming trunks, a raincoat, a pair of socks and my camp shoes! Not caring whether my clothes were clean, I simply put them in the dryer because warm, dry clothes were what I needed!
I have encountered airplane wreckage, storm damaged trees fallen across the path, memorial markers of previous AT hikers who wish to be remembered along the Trail, and multiple varieties of plants and trees. I have now experienced slack-packing and stealth camping (which is illegal in the Smokies). You are supposed to stay in a shelter unless it is full, then you can camp near it. But I got tired before I got to the shelter so “stealth camped!” I have not been confronted by any four-legged creatures, but I have revisited hikers I met previously and have met many new people. I have yet to meet anyone my age or older, a fact of which I am very proud. That’s not to say there aren’t any older hikers, I just haven’t met them. I did meet a gentleman who needed to sew a patch on his pants. I gave him some suture material I had brought along and I assume it did the job.
I am doing well and enjoying the journey. I have discovered that I can now comfortably sleep on my stomach, something I haven’t been able to do in over 2 decades! This can be credited to or blamed on losing 26 pounds in the first month of hiking. I am sad to have missed my youngest grandson’s and oldest granddaughter’s birthdays, but I was able to call and sing Happy Birthday to them.
When I get the chance to go on the Internet, I do read the comments people make in my guest book at www.trailjournals.com. I appreciate each and every nice and encouraging comment from people I know, as well as from people I have never met, and I am very touched by them. They make this journey an even more valuable experience and I look forward to reading those comments whenever I have the opportunity. To follow me on a daily basis, go to website www.trailjournals.com, search funnybone, then 2012 AT Jim Dashiell. Please sign into my guest book as I truly enjoy hearing from everyone.
Until the next time,
NE on the AT is NEAT!
Funnybone