My Week with Pig Pen by Brian (aka Hammer Time)

Just got back from spending a great week on the trail with Dan.  I hiked 6 days with him and then Robin and I provided"slack pack" service for a day.   We covered 72 miles from Roan Mountain TN to Damascus VA during the 6 days I hiked with him - not much by his standards but A LOT by mine. He was a good sport and backed his mileage down so I could keep up.  I got to meet many of his fellow hikers that he has spoken of including Fifty - Fifty, Big Brother, Little Brother, the Buzzard Boys, Blackhawk Bob, Rocket, Bomber, Crasher, Rocky, Stumbles, Blue Bird, Smokes, Smiley Virgin, Bahala Na, and several others.  The first thing anyone says when you meet them is "What's your name?" , so I had to quickly adopt a trail name.  I adopted the name "Hammer Time" because of the blacksmithing / truck driving connection so that will be my trail name from now on.  Here's a brief recap of the week:

Thur, 4-25, Robin and I drove up to Roan Mtn. where Pig Pen was waiting on us.  We took him to eat a big breakfast and then he spent a couple of hours sorting out his gear and resupplying his food out of the stuff we brought up.  We got on the trail about 2:30 and did 9 miles winding up at the Vango/Abby memorial Hostel.  I think that is the only night so far Dan has spent in a hostel.  Jones Falls was the highlight of the day, and Dan passed the 400 mile mark.

Fri, 4-26, we hiked 14.2 miles and stayed at Laurel Fork shelter.   Sat, 4-27, we hiked 9.1 miles and camped by Watauga Lake.  We had intended to stay at the Watauga Lake shelter, but it was full when we got there.  9 miles is a very short day for Dan, so he made a side trip into Hampton TN in search of food and met me later in the day at the camp.  I spent the day thinking about the sub sandwich or hamburger he would be bringing, but all he could find was some stale doughnuts that tasted like chemicals.  One bite, had to spit it out. 

On Sunday, we woke up to steady rain.  We waited and waited and finally had to break camp in the rain around 10:30.  We hiked 6.5 miles in the rain to the next shelter.  There was only one person in it so we (I) decided 6.5 was enough for the day.  We stayed holed up in the shelter the rest of that day.  The other hiker was a nice guy named Bahala Na.  He explained his name meant "whatever may come" in native New Guinea.  We hiked near Bahala Na for the rest of the way into Damascus. 

On Monday we hike 13.6 miles and tent camped.  One of the high points for that day were getting my first trail magic.  A local church maintains a trail magic box of ice cold soft drinks and little debbie snacks.  They were awesome and helped me make the last few miles.  We also got to hike about 1.5 miles through a big pasture and had cows judging us.  The hiking was so easy through the pasture that Dan forgot his trekking poles at the trail magic box and wound up doing an extra 1.5 miles to retrieve them.

Tuesday we hiked 14.4 miles to a dry campsite.  We had to carry a lot of extra water the last few miles of that hike because there wasn't any for a few miles before and after the camp.  Wednesday was the easy day, only having to hike about 5.5 miles into Damascus.  We made it in by 10:00, ate a bag of doughnuts and waited on Robin to get there.  Robin arrived about 11:00 and we went straight to the nearest mexican restaurant.  We spent the night in a hotel, and the next morning dropped Dan off at 7:00 am for a day of slackpacking.  He only had to carry his pack, raingear, food for the day and water.  Robin and I spent the day in Abingdon and Damascus and then took him a pizza up to the designated meeting place.  We also took Cokes, beer, and snacks for the other hikers that would be coming through. He hiked 23 miles in 8 hours and then hiked another 5 after the break. 

Some of you may have seen the photo entitled "Our new friends from Germany" from the first post about trail magic.  We ran into these hikers again in Damascus , over 400 miles north of the previous meeting, and got to provide some more trail magic to them.  We gave "Smokes" and "Smiley Virgin" and ride to the grocery store and then they came through our trail magic station the following day. 

Here's some pics from the trip:

Jones Falls

View from the hostel porch

Footbridge near Laurel Falls

Little Brother on ledge trail along river

Laurel Fork Shelter

Pig Pen and Kara

View of Watauga Lake.  We would hike across the dam in the distance the following morning.

Tent site on Watauga Lake

Kara taking a snooze

Block mural in Vandeventer shelter

Dan and Kara in Vandeventer Shelter

View out of the shelter

Vandeventer Shelter

Watauga Lake blanketed by clouds

Trail magic!

Hiking through the pasture



Kara in the pasture



Head judge.  Don't know if I passed.

Hammer Time, Pig Pen, and Kara

Pig Pen and Kara at the TN/VA line

Welcome to Damascus!

Dan waiting on me at Mt. Rogers Outfitters

Trail Magic station Robin and I set up

Pig Pen, Smiley Virgin, Rocket,Robin,Kara, and Smokes

Me and Robin with Dan as he sets off again.