Hello my friends ~*~
~Many Names here, hangin' with my mom and dad in a hotel in, uh, catawba? or Salem? Anyway, just ate a nice big meal, took a fantastic shower, am going to sleep in a bed tonight, Hooray! These things in life are just too grand for words ~#*#~!!!
M & D came down for a visit after my cousin's west point graduation (Yeah ,Mike!! you rock!) it's so sweet to see them.
It's been amazin' dayz out on the trail. Where to begin. I feel like evrything is magical but to write about it, hmmmmmm......it's not even about the specifics of what happens but more so the choices and avenues leading up to moments unforgettable. But they all really simple things, like i set off alone just after sunrise the other morning, hiked a couple of miles and stopped in a small meadow because i saw some wild greens to harvest for a salad (i was really craving fresh saled). While picking red clover, chickweed, wood sorrel, violets, ect. i saw a bunch of milkweed shoots. Yay! bay green veggies. i started cutting the little stalks. my new friend Spoonman showed up, wondered what i was doing and wanted to learn all about the wild edibles. Then Huck Finn showed up, and Blessed, Startreck rolled on through....quite a trailside meeting of the minds! Blessed is also really into wild harvesting, he knows things i don't know and vice versa..he really wanted to know how to cook the milkweed. Anyway, the day went by and a whole group of us decided to camp together by a lovely creek, spoonman built a fire so we could boil all the water for the milkweed, i fixed up wild salad and spread it out on a (clean) bandana so peeps could help themselves. Startreck donated some fresh garlic and onions (yum) and we all had a mini sample feast...everyone was suprised at how good it all was. I was so happy, such a sweet crew. Also there was Soundtrack, K-Bar, Schooner, and Ferdie. Music was played late (late for us) into the night, and all was right with the world.
The next day Spoon and i were the last ones out of camp feeling highly Unmotivated. We ended up hitching a ride to a hole in the wall restaraunt for burgers, sweet tea, and ice cream. There were deer heads all over the wall,but where we were sitting was just a deer butt. Just the ol' rump. Hmm... we got a ride..witht the same guy back to the creek, still feeling lazy, swamm in the creek, spoon lost his sunglasses once, i found...twice for good...sunbathed and finally hiked to a sweet clifftop lookout, chilled, watched the sunset....nighthiked five more miles in the dark, cowboy camped by another little creek. Listened to the CRUNCH, crunch of the gyspy moth caterpillars out in full force!!! gross! They fell on me from the trees all throughout the next day. I had one hanging from the tip of my nose, by a thread. Distusting..i am sort of tough...but i don't dig those guys, or the flies, coming on strong! oh! i am covered in bites (natural bug spray sucks, don't let anyone fool you!!)
Trail Days was awsome!! There was so much going on at all times, it was overwhelming. I got to march in the parade wearing my sequence evening gown found on the side of the road (perfect fit!), we all swam in the river after and sang songs, then watched the "Talented Hiker Contest" hiker talent show.....from banjo playing, playing drums on an overturned kayak, Ahab did beatbox (awsome, he won!!!), juggling fire, spoken word, reggea(yeah,Crazy Horse!!one mile an hour) and other stuff. Participated in some contra dancing...that was fun! and back at tent city was just a huge party, lots of music playing and singing, a huge bonfire, drum circle, dancing around the fire, hula hoops, spinning poi(yeah firecracker!i love you mamacita, and, yes, we can be friends forever). Laaaaaate night. so fun, so worth it...and soooooo ready to get back into the woods!!!
Last night, that same group of folks from the wildfood night and i camped out up at this place called the 'Dragon's Tooth'. These spiky unbelievable rock formations sticking up all jagged and ever-so-climbable. We were all hanging out up there for the sunset, Soundtrack (who truly lives up to his names) takes out his flute and plays such an amazing tune, tunes for the moment, just perched up there on the highest peak. I just look around, feelin' so fine. Man, life is good. as it should be. i didn't think i could get any happier this morning as i was hiking down the mountain toward the town where i would meet my parents.....and then i turned a corner and saw a cooler sitting there on the side of the trail with a note that said, "Hey hikers!...i can't remember what it said now, but it was full with cold sodas on ice, i gabbed a coca cola (something i have never drank in my life! I love it now) said thank you to the spirits, and strolled on down the trail.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Monday, May 4, 2009
इ कैन'टी वेट तो हिके इन माय एवेनिंग गोवन
Hey Everybody!!
So i decided to spend another night in Damascus, VA....we were going to leave this afternoon, but it's raining, i hadn't updated or called anyone and a couple of friends are getting off the trail due to foot pain, blues, missing loved ones, and a couple others set out today but turned back, also because of foot pain and are back in town trying to find a solution. So, it feels right to stay. I'm not punching any time clock, so it really deosn't matter.
It's been a really nice week. A couple of Huck Finn's friends from college came out for a week to hike. John and Ben....had a wicked good time with some kindred folks. The weather was near perfect for some of the most spectacular hikes so far. We traveled through/over the Roan Highlands. They are these beautiful open, bald top mountains. Grassy and windy. One sunny day after sharing 3 beers (that were given to us by some folks at a road crossing) between five people, we were sufficiently buzzed (hiker tolerance!! Fun!) hike a short distance to the grassy summit and sunbathed for a delicious two hours. I managed a couple of cartwheels and handstands, i am finally not too sore to do that. Although i would not be able to do it first thing in the morning. It still takes me a few minutes to get upright and able to walk, but once i get moving, i am fine. One night we slept in this big old barn converted into a shelter, open to east and quite a few people got up for the sunrise, it was mellow and sweet. That next was my favorite hike over little abd big hump (i think) mountains. Highlands grassy tops with grazing cattle and a couple of huge longhorn bulls with some serious horns....i tried to not make eye contact. I didn't even take their picture, i was intimidated. After that i came to a psture of grazing horses, all on the mountain top...they're all fenced in and hikers have to go through this akward fence/gate contraption..it's good fun.
Another sweet time was a few nights ago we (huck finn, john, ben, and nightfight) camped out in a grassy meadow on a riverside, made a fire, stargazed, passed around the guitar and played music all night. It was perfect, lots of Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan flyin' around, learned soome new tunes. My friends, Bonnie and Teigan just got their backpacker guitar the other day...so now we can jam!!
The hostels are usually memorable because they're most often run by the coolest cats you'll ever come across. I got early one morning, packed up and took off like a rocket because i was anxious to get to Kincora hostel, for a much needed shower....it was time. I practically ran the 6 miles, got there in record time...my friends arrived later. Kincora is run by this amazing fellow, Bob Peoples..i don't know how to describe the warmth and coziness of the place. There's a small kitchen and living room w/ a couch a couple of armchairs, pillows and blankets, but you feel at ease, and at home. There's a big picnic table out on the front porch, where i ended up giving a couple of massages. The hostel runs on a $4 donation..for a bed and shower, laundry, sometimes a meal. Noone's making any money off this...it's a labor of love. So I did some massages for hikers for donations of any amount and whatever that was, i donated it to the hostel. So that felt really good to me. So many good things happen, it's nice to do something good.
There was another really cool bald mountain called Beauty Spot...when we got up there, it was like a miny tent city....a beautiful evening. There's a road that leads up there so quite a few people (former thru hikers, etc.) were there. A group of lovely wild ones brought up some trail magic for us....rotisseree chicken, cheesecake, baked beans, apples, soda, and best of all..Bubbles!!! It was a bubble fest!! Sunset bubbly!! Good fun, good fun. The sweetness of life is always exaggerated when there are bubbles.
I met Dave's cousin/2nd cousin here yesterday..Gypsy and Lone wolf. It's always great to be far and find a connection. It turns out that she is an avid hula hooper as well (Hoooray!! There's another one!) and will supply some hula hoops for some fellow hoopers for the Trails Days Fest which is coming right up in 2 weeks...a big hiker fest here in Damascus!! I will hike ahaed and then come back...there will be a hiker parade(i have plans for that one!!) music all sorts of fun things for little freaks like myself!!!
I must go...library closing!!!!!! Pecae, Love to all!!!!
MANY NAMES Melinda
So i decided to spend another night in Damascus, VA....we were going to leave this afternoon, but it's raining, i hadn't updated or called anyone and a couple of friends are getting off the trail due to foot pain, blues, missing loved ones, and a couple others set out today but turned back, also because of foot pain and are back in town trying to find a solution. So, it feels right to stay. I'm not punching any time clock, so it really deosn't matter.
It's been a really nice week. A couple of Huck Finn's friends from college came out for a week to hike. John and Ben....had a wicked good time with some kindred folks. The weather was near perfect for some of the most spectacular hikes so far. We traveled through/over the Roan Highlands. They are these beautiful open, bald top mountains. Grassy and windy. One sunny day after sharing 3 beers (that were given to us by some folks at a road crossing) between five people, we were sufficiently buzzed (hiker tolerance!! Fun!) hike a short distance to the grassy summit and sunbathed for a delicious two hours. I managed a couple of cartwheels and handstands, i am finally not too sore to do that. Although i would not be able to do it first thing in the morning. It still takes me a few minutes to get upright and able to walk, but once i get moving, i am fine. One night we slept in this big old barn converted into a shelter, open to east and quite a few people got up for the sunrise, it was mellow and sweet. That next was my favorite hike over little abd big hump (i think) mountains. Highlands grassy tops with grazing cattle and a couple of huge longhorn bulls with some serious horns....i tried to not make eye contact. I didn't even take their picture, i was intimidated. After that i came to a psture of grazing horses, all on the mountain top...they're all fenced in and hikers have to go through this akward fence/gate contraption..it's good fun.
Another sweet time was a few nights ago we (huck finn, john, ben, and nightfight) camped out in a grassy meadow on a riverside, made a fire, stargazed, passed around the guitar and played music all night. It was perfect, lots of Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan flyin' around, learned soome new tunes. My friends, Bonnie and Teigan just got their backpacker guitar the other day...so now we can jam!!
The hostels are usually memorable because they're most often run by the coolest cats you'll ever come across. I got early one morning, packed up and took off like a rocket because i was anxious to get to Kincora hostel, for a much needed shower....it was time. I practically ran the 6 miles, got there in record time...my friends arrived later. Kincora is run by this amazing fellow, Bob Peoples..i don't know how to describe the warmth and coziness of the place. There's a small kitchen and living room w/ a couch a couple of armchairs, pillows and blankets, but you feel at ease, and at home. There's a big picnic table out on the front porch, where i ended up giving a couple of massages. The hostel runs on a $4 donation..for a bed and shower, laundry, sometimes a meal. Noone's making any money off this...it's a labor of love. So I did some massages for hikers for donations of any amount and whatever that was, i donated it to the hostel. So that felt really good to me. So many good things happen, it's nice to do something good.
There was another really cool bald mountain called Beauty Spot...when we got up there, it was like a miny tent city....a beautiful evening. There's a road that leads up there so quite a few people (former thru hikers, etc.) were there. A group of lovely wild ones brought up some trail magic for us....rotisseree chicken, cheesecake, baked beans, apples, soda, and best of all..Bubbles!!! It was a bubble fest!! Sunset bubbly!! Good fun, good fun. The sweetness of life is always exaggerated when there are bubbles.
I met Dave's cousin/2nd cousin here yesterday..Gypsy and Lone wolf. It's always great to be far and find a connection. It turns out that she is an avid hula hooper as well (Hoooray!! There's another one!) and will supply some hula hoops for some fellow hoopers for the Trails Days Fest which is coming right up in 2 weeks...a big hiker fest here in Damascus!! I will hike ahaed and then come back...there will be a hiker parade(i have plans for that one!!) music all sorts of fun things for little freaks like myself!!!
I must go...library closing!!!!!! Pecae, Love to all!!!!
MANY NAMES Melinda
रैन अगं बुत माय स्काई इस नोट क्लौद्य
Greetings from Damascus, VA....463 miles all is well.....just wanted to check in, for those wondering why i'm online but not calling....no cell service again. i want to update more, got to run to the PO for a package, then the library, so hopefully i can write more ~*~
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