[at-l] I love/hate when this happens... Foothills trail?

[Jan Lite]

Thought this was worth a second read.
Thanks for the fine report, Hopeful, and I relived my first "distance" hike,
also in an unexpected snow.
Wish I'd a been there with you!
Barring that, thanks for writing about it. I miss the vivid trip reports
that used to pepper the list.
This was a good 'in.
(Next time, take me with you! As a fellow '03-er, I respectfully request
notice! ;-) )

Missing the trail adventures and fellowship,
Ms. Shoe

PS Why don't we get up a group to piddle down the Foothills Trail, in part
or all?
 I believe Frank could guide us well.

On Sun, Nov 14, 2010 at 7:41 PM, <hopeful_2003 at comcast.net> wrote:

>
> Hey y?all, Mrs Hopeful and I just returned from doing some trail magic for
> the sobos at the Fontana Hilton. The first week of November Lastminute
> (GAME03), a mother and daughter from our church and I hiked Newfound Gap
to
> Davenport Gap. There were 2 goals. One was to leave word in the logs about
> the hiker feed and the other was to help the mom and daughter get their
> first real taste of long distance hiking. Well, I know there are those who
> don?t see 32 miles as long distance but for newbess it is. They were both
> trooper and never complained about anything. The first day out was 11
miles
> which was enormous for the newbees. Among their first tastes was hiking
into
> the shelter well after dark. They were clearly anxious when it became
> certain that the sun would be well down before we made camp. Anxious or
not,
> they pushed through showing no real fear. I guess Lastminute kept them
> encouraged. Another first was the snow we woke up to on the second
morning.
> Actually, it snowed lightly but none stop for 3 days. By the time we got
out
> there was a foot down with drifts deeper. On the second day I began
worrying
> whether I needed to form Plan B in the event the snow got bad. I knew we
had
> no immediate option but to press on that day and then consider bailing on
> day 3. I told them that Plan B had merit because if we bailed to the Cosby
> campground, they?d get to sleep a night on the restroom floor while I
hiked
> on to contact Ox (GAME99) to give us a ride back to my car. They missed
out
> on that first :) As it turned out, they were heart set on hiking on to the
> end. Somewhere along the trail on day 3, the daughter turned to me with a
> smile wide as sunset and bubbled out, "I can?t believe I?m living this
> adventure!" From that point on I stopped worrying whether I had got them
in
> over their heads. They learned a lot: hiking after dark is not the same as
> being lost, you can keep warm even while hiking in the snow with damp
> clothes, damp clothes can be dried in your sleeping bad, nalgenes full of
> hot water down in you sleeping bag keep the chills at bay, mice don?t
ambush
> hikers. It was a wonderful trip and all the more enjoyable watching
newbees
> get trail broke and reliving my early hikes through their questions and
> revelations.
>
> Last week we took grub to the hilton and enjoyed some time with both sobos
> and section hikers. The brother and sister in law of a sobo came to visit
> him. The sister in law could hardly believe that we were there to do a
feed.
> She was really taken aback when she learned how many folks who were not in
> attendance had contributed stuff to make the feed possible. They gave
> everything from plates and forks, to soft drinks, to fire wood, to veggies
> for stir frying. A trailer was loaned so we could haul in a rick and have
a
> big fire several nights. There was plenty of wood left for hikers to come.
> One of my most enjoyable moment was watching the notion sink into her that
> there are lots of folks in and out of the community who care about the
> community. I can?t speak for anybody else but I had a great time. If all
> that wasn?t enough, Codygirl stopped by and we got to meet face to face.
> I?ll let her tell about her adventures. Hopeful
>

-- 
"The Ordinary Adventurer"
A new backpacking adventure book
http://www.FunFreedom.com
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