Reunited (Temporarily)

When I woke up this morning (April 30), I knew I only had to do about 10 miles to get down into Damascus, so I let myself sleep in a bit and took my time. When I was putting my tent away, I noticed an older gentleman sitting at the picnic table, so I went over to join him for a few minutes.

It turns out that he’s 80 years old and has done four thru-hikes of the AT. Four! His first one was in 1973, and his trail name is Trek. Right now, he’s working on completing the fifth of five sections of the trail. He's headed down to Springer Mountain, Georgia, and over the previous four springs and summers, he’s been working his way down from Maine. He wanted to do one more hike of the AT but didn't think he could handle a full thru-hike, so he broke it up into sections.

He's a really interesting guy. And he looks incredibly healthy — certainly not 80 years old! He told me that when he hiked the trail in the ’70s, he’d literally go days without seeing anybody, and now he can't go more than a few hours before he runs across another hiker. So he was lamenting the trail’s rise in popularity a bit, but he also admitted that one of the things he likes about having so many people on the trail now is that if he falls and can't get up, he knows it won't be long before someone comes along who can help him out, and he certainly didn't have that luxury 50 years ago. So I thought that was pretty funny.

I knew the rains were going to be coming in soon, so I didn't dally too much. It was a fairly uneventful hike into Damascus, other than crossing the Virginia border. That marks another state down. And then once I entered Virginia, I only had about four miles to go, which was great. It felt good to be in my home state. Unfortunately, before I could make it down to the bottom, I got caught in the rain. But it was no big deal.

I found my way to the town center, and there’s a gazebo there, and some hikers were hanging out under it, including Astronaut and Maple Leaf. I seem to bump into those guys a lot. Astronaut’s parents had come into town, and they were all just hanging out, waiting until they could get into their Airbnb. They’d brought some beers to the gazebo, and when Astronaut offered me one, it took every ounce of willpower in my body to say No, thank you. I knew S. would be there soon, and she was bringing all sorts of good stuff with her, so I refrained.

S. called me from the road to say she was stuck in traffic but would be there within 30 minutes, so I took the opportunity to pop over to the outfitters briefly. She’d given me the address to the Airbnb, and it turned out to be within walking distance of the outfitters, so I headed over there next and sat on the steps to wait.

Before long, she pulled into the driveway, and it was wonderful to see her. I hadn't seen her since I left for the trail and had missed her a lot. And as a surprise bonus, she’d brought our dog Thistle Bean. It was pretty great to see her, too.

We unloaded the car and immediately cracked open some of the beers S. had brought from one of our favorite breweries back home, Decipher. I’d specifically requested some Dieci, and I downed mine in about three gulps. I think I absorbed it more than drank it, really. Anyway, I’m just really excited at the prospect of spending a few days with S. and the Bean.

Wife Addendum:

Okay, I know you all don’t read this blog to hear from me, but Rob asked if I’d cover what all we did when he was off trail, so I hope this is still interesting! I tend to be more long-winded than him, so be warned.

As he said, he was waiting on the steps when Thistle and I pulled up, and he had quite the mountain man vibe going and had clearly lost a lot of weight already. I had packed a ton of food for the next few days, so I was hoping to keep him well fed in the short term, at least.

After everything was in the house and Beanie was out in the yard, we sat down to catch up a bit while we enjoyed some Decipher beers. I had a Barley Late, which Rob helped me finish once he’d dusted his own. He took a few minutes to hang everything from his pack all over the back porch to dry/air out and then threw his clothes into the washer before getting into the shower. Thistle wouldn’t leave his side and lay on the floor by the tub the whole time.

While he was showering, I laid out everything I’d brought him for his resupply. I knew it was a ton more than he needed or could ever hope to carry, but I wanted him to have a variety of things to choose from, and I’d also tried to get things that probably aren’t so easy to find in most resupply places. As he was looking everything over, he told me that early on in the hike, he’d been really craving sweet things, but now, he only wants savory stuff [*makes note to self*]. He added that he’d gotten sick of peanut butter already. A lot of hiker foods seem to have peanut butter in them, so that should be interesting.

After his shower, he put on a pair of Kuhl pants I’d brought from home, but after he buttoned them, they literally fell to the ground around his ankles. Uh-oh. Thankfully, he had a belt with him. Not sure what we would have done otherwise. Next, we went down the road a little ways to the Food City supermarket and picked up some basics. Rob was craving tonic water, so we got a few bottles of that, both of which he drained before the night was over.

Back at the house, I baked up some fresh sourdough bread (thank you, Wildgrain) and put out some cheeses and crudites. Rob couldn’t get enough of the raw carrots, of all things. Our friend Sebastian had sent along three specialty beers, so we enjoyed the first one (Danksy from The Answer in Richmond, VA) while we had our bread and cheese, and it was fantastic! Sebastian has amazing taste in beers and somehow finds all this cool stuff that the average Joe can’t usually get their hands on. Thanks, Sebastian!

For dinner, I made us roasted Brussels sprouts and a salad with sherry vinaigrette dressing, and Rob cooked up the salmon I’d brought (he does fish better than I do). Afterward, we split a bourbon-barrel-aged Karabash from Decipher, followed by some Old Grand Dad, while we watched a couple episodes of “Ghosts.” It was so nice to be in the same space as Rob again. And Thistle stuck to him like glue all night, including jumping into the bed, which she never does at home. Rob’s ladies have definitely missed him!