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

[Frank Looper]

Looks like just me and you, Hot Foot.

On Sat, Nov 20, 2010 at 9:46 AM, Jan Lite <liteshoe at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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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