ADAMS:  548 miles down;  Only 1,644 to go!

Editor’s note:  Retired newsman Jerry Adams posted this picture May 17 at the quarter-way point (548 miles) of his second summer-long hike on the Appalachian Trail (AT).  “Only 1,644 miles to go. Woohoo!” he said. You can keep up with his travel at at-grasshopper.com or on Facebook.

By Jerry Adams, contributing editor

MAY 14, 2019  | Their chatter let me know they were coming a few minutes before they caught up to me on the trail this morning.  I stopped to let the young couple pass and we chatted.

Adams

“Since I left Springer in March, more than 500 people have passed me on the trail, “ I said. “But that’s OK. I’m slow. We’ve been out here for more than 500 miles and more than 500 hikers have already left the trail, ending their journey. We’re still here!””

They smiled. We chatted briefly about the two topics on every hiker’s mind — the machete guy and bears. Bears have been wreaking havoc in this area of Virginia, and the machete guy had just been arrested for killing one thru-hiker and cutting up another.

That’s so very sad. I am waiting to read the coverage to see if I knew the victims. One woman I met had been harassed by him 100 or so miles back. I pray it wasn’t her. The crazy man had been arrested for aggressive behaviour and then released in Tennessee and North Carolina. A man I know bought him a bus ticket home and tried to help him, but he ended up back on the trail anyway just north of Marion.

Bears have been getting into food bags, even those hanging from trees. They are becoming more and more aggressive in this part of Virginia, and I altered my hiking plans to stay where bear-proof metal containers were available. So far, thankfully, no bears.

I was without cell coverage for several days and when I got a signal, I was bombarded with messages that had sat unread for days. Are you OK??? They all asked, having seen the news coverage of the machete guy that I had missed.

I’m fine, ambling along on my Appalachian Trail journey from Georgia to Maine. I am old and tired, but upright and mobile!  It has been a couple of hundred miles since I last posted; this is the first real opportunity to sit at a computer and process (and share) my thoughts and my adventure.

Three hours ago, I was on the trail, planning to stay at a nearby hostel, wondering where I was going to resupply. The trail detoured down a road and a woman stopped, rolled down her window, and asked if I wanted a ride to Marion. I thought briefly, and said “Sure!” Twenty minutes later, we were at the library. (I confess I went to get a tasty cheeseburger and fries at a Main Street restaurant before walking back up the hill to this keyboard.)

An ever present issue

Weather continues to be an issue just as it was the last time I thru-hiked in 2011, but I have had remarkably good luck at sections I really wanted to see.  The details of the hike from Hot Springs, N.C., to Erwin, Tenn., escape me (smile,) but the hike north from there was wonderful. I weathered a thunder, lightning and a hail storm the last time I hiked through Beauty Spot Gap clearing and Roan Mountain was hidden by dense fog, with heavy rain thrown in for good measure.

This time, the weather was wonderful.  Bill Hasskamp, an old high school buddy, had asked me to pray for his parents as I hiked through the area. Their ashes were scattered on Big Hump Mountain, and I thought of them — and him — and my parents who died years back. It came to me that my Dad, who died in 1972, had been dead for more years than he had lived. It also came to me that my Mom passed away about six weeks after her 68th birthday and that I have now lived longer than she lived.

Big Hump Mountain was more spectacular than Roan, but it doesn’t get the attention because there is a road by Roan.  It’s a hard hike up Big Hump, but well worth it.

I thought I had the mountain to myself as I surveyed the extraordinary scenery, but then realized I had company. A young woman thru-hiker named Turnip was nearby.  She looked beyond me and said, “Oh, there’s Grandfather Mountain! That’s where I learned to backpack!” She was getting emotional, and I was too, taken by the wonderful world God has made. I told her that I was so glad that she was there with me, because it was so nice to have someone to share this terrific experience. She agreed, we chatted and she hiked on, leaving me to my thoughts.

I pushed on to Damascus, Va., 470 miles from Springer Mountain in Georgia and got there on a Thursday afternoon after an 18-mile day.

My last time there, eight years ago, I found a surprise at the post office. A high school buddy sent me a photo from the 40th reunion of the Christ School class of 1969. He wished me well on my hike and challenged me to name the guys in the photo.

This time, that same friend, Adair Watters, greeted me at the post office and took me to Arden, N.C., for our 50th reunion. It was surreal to be out of the woods and back on campus with the guys with whom I shared the journey to manhood. Another friend gave me a ride home on Sunday and I rested and swapped out gear before heading back to Damascus.

I was puzzling over how to get back to Damascus, when Bill Hasskamp sent me a message telling me that if I got to Asheville, he’d get me the rest of the way. Awesome. I spent a nice evening with Bill and his wife Jo Anne, and I was back on the trail one week after I left.

The hike continues, and the weather continues to be colder and rainier than I would like, but I also know that soon it’s going to be hot. Very hot.

Despite the rain, I have been blessed to share some wonderful time with the ponies of Grayson Highlands. Mares and foals were hanging out at Thomas Knob Shelter when I got there.

This place is very special to me. Eight years ago, again in the rain, I had a chance encounter with a man who became one of my best friends. He was headed south, I was going north and we found that we had a special place in common — Mepkin Abbey, a Trappist monastery near Charleston. That’s my spiritual home and he’s the caregiver for my friends, the brothers.

We shared stories and news about the brothers and he gave me a group photo of the  guys. He went south and I continued north. The Lord brought us together.

So after an hour at the keyboard, it’s time to get a hot shower and a look at the news.

I might stop by the library in the morning to post again after I get my thoughts together and have another meal or two. I didn’t expect to be here and would not be except for the kindness of a woman named Debbie, who stopped and offered me a ride.

God is Great. Patience Grasshopper and trust in the Lord thy God. Onward and northward; on to Maine.

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