{"id":389,"date":"2010-06-20T19:45:06","date_gmt":"2010-06-21T00:45:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.trailstealth.com\/blog\/?p=389"},"modified":"2010-06-20T19:45:06","modified_gmt":"2010-06-21T00:45:06","slug":"trail-days-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.trailstealth.com\/blog\/trailstealth\/trail-days-and-more.html","title":{"rendered":"Trail Days and More…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another month of May has come and gone, and although I didn\u2019t get out to the woods as much as I would have liked to, there were still a few camping and hiking trips to make note of.<\/p>\n

TRAIL DAYS\u2026<\/p>\n

First off, there was \u2018Trail Days<\/a>\u2019, the hiker festival in Damascus, Virginia.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t get over the mountain until Saturday afternoon, and missed out on the parade<\/a>, but did receive reports about it, including \u2018the good, the bad, and the ugly\u2019.\u00a0 It is not unusual for some of the hikers in the parade to dress up<\/a> in strange costumes<\/a>, like the fellow who wore a trash can<\/a> that one year, or \u2019Pirate<\/a>\u2019, an infamous trail-hiker, who is known for some of his ingenious and creative getups<\/a>, but having heard of the fellow wearing a pink tutu<\/a> (not sure who he was), I wasn\u2019t very upset about missing out on the parade, after all.\u00a0 I also missed out on the hiker\u2019s talent show<\/a>.\u00a0 Oh, well\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Trail

Trail Days 2010<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Camping for the 3rd year in a row at \u2018Hoppy and Birdy\u2019s\u2019 place on the outskirts of town, I enjoyed seeing several trail-friends, many of whom I haven\u2019t seen since last year\u2019s \u2018Hairnt-fest at Hoppy\u2019s.\u2019\u00a0 It rained awhile that afternoon, cooling things off and making for nice nap-weather, at least until I realized that part of the soothing \u2018dripping\u2019 sounds I was hearing were actually rain drops somehow leaking through one of my old tarps and into my shelter.\u00a0 The wind blew off another tarp, so I had to re-adjust everything to make the shelter more satisfactory; \u2018stealth-tarping\u2019 can be like that sometimes.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Hoppy<\/a>

Hoppy and Birdie's front porch<\/p><\/div>\n

Speaking of \u2018stealth-tarps\u2019, the inventor of the Appalachian stealth-tarp, Strider<\/a> (the Trail Legend of \u201993-\u201894), was there at Hoppy\u2019s, and I got to talk to him about stealth-tarp designs, and such, including the time he couldn\u2019t find his stealth-tarp at Whistling Gap\u2014now that is true stealth!<\/p>\n

I did take my guitar with me this year, having promised \u2018Paw Paw<\/a>\u2019 that I would play him a song (he requested a song last year, but I didn\u2019t have a guitar).\u00a0 I never did see Paw Paw, however, which was unfortunate, because he is such an awesome fellow and a good friend, but did play guitar for quite a while both nights that I stayed in Damascus.\u00a0\u00a0 Paw Paw\u2019s son, \u2018Matt-man-du<\/a>\u2019 was there, however, and we had a good time jamming by the side-door.\u00a0 His request\u2014the \u2018\u2026beat the $#!% outta you\u2019 song (aka \u2018the Industrial Strength Love Song\u2019)–seemed to get the evening started off on the right rowdy footing, and before long, many people were gathered around Hoppy and Birdy\u2019s side-door singing along.\u00a0 Rat Patrol<\/a>, Donny Reb<\/a>, and a couple other quality musicians<\/a> joined in with the impromptu jam session<\/a>, despite the light rain that began to fall.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Bol'Dar<\/a>

Bol'Dar jamming<\/p><\/div>\n

Sometime during Saturday\u2019s live music session, (I\u2019m not sure where I was) one of the musicians (Donny) took a moment to get on his knees<\/a> and propose to his girlfriend\u2014she said \u2018Yes<\/a>\u2019. ..I can\u2019t believe I missed that.\u00a0 One of my favorite moments of the evening was when Hoppy turned and looked at me and said \u2018See what you\u2019ve done?\u2019\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t sure if I should apologize, but he and everyone seemed to be having a good time, so I took the phrase as a \u2018good thing\u2019.\u00a0 Another quality moment was when I had just finished a song, looked up, and the \u2018Mailman<\/a>\u2019 was there, saying \u2018Welcome home.\u2019\u00a0 I did feel welcome and right at home, and very grateful to have so many good friends around.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Donny<\/a>

Donny Reb proposing marriage<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cLowrider<\/a>\u2019, who had been working near the Gazebo all day, made an entertaining and dramatic entrance<\/a>, wearing his funky, colorful suit and an \u2018Elvis\u2019 cape, and took group photo\u2019s<\/a> of most everyone by the side-door.\u00a0 Later still, we were all entertained with the rather amazing \u2018fire art<\/a>\u2019 of \u2018Turbo Joe<\/a>\u2019.\u00a0 It was pretty awesome.<\/p>\n

\n

\"LowRider<\/a>

LowRider and Bol'Dar<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

\"Turbo<\/a>

Turbo Joe doing his Fire Art<\/p><\/div>\n

The next day, Sunday, I spent some quality time talking with \u2018Okeepa<\/a>\u2019, and helped to carry water up to Birdy\u2019s chicken coop.\u00a0 I was impressed by the ingenious anti-raccoon fencing she had installed (there had been several incidents last year, with not only raccoons, but with a rude dog that attacked her rooster, \u2018KFC\u2019).\u00a0\u00a0 While we were feeding and watering the chickens<\/a> up behind the barn, the turkey that \u2018Strider\u2019 and \u2018Hoppy\u2019 had been deep frying was finished, and I was told to help myself, if I wanted.\u00a0 It was a funny thing, by the time I walked into the kitchen, the turkey was only a skeleton, as if someone had vacuumed the meat right off the bones.\u00a0 That\u2019s hikers for you!\u00a0 You just got to love it.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t help but laugh to myself, remembering the scene from the movie \u2018Trinity\u2019 (the ‘spaghetti western’), where Trinity\u2019s family was devouring a turkey buzzard like savage beasts. Obviously, someone had \u2018had a li\u2019l run-in and, uh, ran out\u2019.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Birdie<\/a>

Birdie and Okeepa<\/p><\/div>\n

It soon became an incredibly lazy afternoon, however, and many of the campers left for home, wherever that may be. We all said our \u2018Hairnt-byes\u2019 to them, and the front lawn began to thin out.\u00a0 Hoppy and Birdy both took naps on the front porch while it rained, and I was seriously thinking about packing up and driving back over the mountain, when finally Birdy got up, inspired to drink some Irish coffee, and told me I wasn\u2019t going anywhere.\u00a0 I was glad that someone made the decision for me, as I can be rather indecisive at times, and determined that since I wasn\u2019t going anywhere, I could start on the noble occupation of drinking beer again.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Hoppy<\/a>

Hoppy and Birdie asleep<\/p><\/div>\n

The Sunday night party was less populated, but just as much fun as the Friday night party, and I got to play more guitar under Johnny Reb\u2019s tarp in the \u2018island<\/a>\u2019 part of the front lawn.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t help but laugh when Birdy slipped and fell in the mud, not once but twice–I was glad I stayed an extra day.<\/p>\n

After helping with the clean-up crew<\/a> on Monday, sorting the aluminum cans from the actual trash, and after having a cup of coffee or two with the rest of the clean-up crew, I finally packed up and went back to Tennessee.\u00a0 It was good to see so many trail-friends.\u00a0 Many Thanks To Hoppy and Birdy<\/a> for all the hospitality!<\/p>\n

There was another brief camping expedition at the \u2018Big Bone Lick State Park<\/a>\u2019 in northern Kentucky.\u00a0 Having stayed there for a night, I can say that this campground is the quietest campground I have ever encountered.\u00a0 Being Mother\u2019s Day<\/a> weekend, the campground was completely full, but despite that fact, that night it was eerily quiet.\u00a0 There were no babies crying, people snoring; not even the dogs would venture a bark.\u00a0 The next morning, when the Sun began to rise, it seemed as if even the birds were hesitant to sing.\u00a0 I would have liked to have hung out there longer and seen more of the park, but I was traveling on someone else\u2019s schedule.<\/p>\n

THE HIKES\u2026<\/p>\n

There were just a few hikes to mention.\u00a0 The first was a hot, yet windy hike over the Beauty Spot section of Unaka Mountain.\u00a0 The views<\/a> were very good from the bald.\u00a0 There was another hike from Spivey Gap to Whistling Gap (and back); it was a beautiful day<\/a> and I met several thru-hikers<\/a> (and a couple of section hikers) on the trail.\u00a0 There were many wild flowers<\/a> blooming, including the mayapples<\/a>, which made the air smell more like perfume.\u00a0 I enjoyed cooling my feet off in the Spivey Creek<\/a> before heading down off of the Mountain.\u00a0 The last hike of May was a leisurely climb up Cliff Ridge above the Nolichucky River Gorge<\/a>.\u00a0 During this hike, not only did I see one of the largest birds I have ever seen in the wild, but I also encountered a camouflaged lizard<\/a>.\u00a0 Also, I didn\u2019t realize it at the time, but I also came into contact with some nasty, leg-chewing chiggers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

\"View<\/a>

View from High Rocks<\/p><\/div>\n

OTHER STUFF\u2026<\/p>\n

I want to take a moment to \u2018con-hairnt-ulate\u2019\u00a0 \u2018Jonny Bluegrass and Mermaid<\/a>\u2019 for having their first child, a baby girl named \u2018Vivian\u2019.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Jonny<\/a>

Jonny with baby Vivian and Ruth Buzzy<\/p><\/div>\n

I also want to wish a speedy recovery to the \u2018Web Wizard\u2019, who somehow managed to crash a motorcycle and cracked a few ribs and injured his arm.\u00a0 Also, I hope \u2018Legs\u2019 has recovered with his accidental fall into \u2018some kind of ornamental palm tree\u2019 with sharp, needle-like leaves that kept him from coming to \u2018Trail Days\u2019 this year.<\/p>\n

More adventure soon, I hope\u2026<\/p>\n

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~boulderman\u00a0\u00a0 6\/10\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another month of May has come and gone, and although I didn\u2019t get out to the woods as much as I would have liked to, there were still a few camping and hiking trips to make note of. TRAIL DAYS\u2026 First off, there was \u2018Trail Days\u2019, the hiker festival in Damascus, Virginia.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t get […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trailstealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trailstealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trailstealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trailstealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trailstealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"http:\/\/www.trailstealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":406,"href":"http:\/\/www.trailstealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389\/revisions\/406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trailstealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trailstealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trailstealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}