Weekend SOBO sighting in southern NC

[Rain Man]

I did the Wallace Gap, NC to NOC/Weser, NC section this weekend. Met four SOBOers (three were flip-floppers).

Gimli -- on Saturday (Oct 16) I met Gimli a little after noon, about half an hour south of the Siler Bald Shelter. He had a plane to catch and was making tracks for Atlanta. Gimli is from Hawaii, where he was a high school math teacher, and on the executive board of the Sierra Club. He started in Hampton, TN, summitted Katahdin on Sept 8 (I think), and was finishing up the southern leg.

Gandalf & Samwise -- On Sunday (Oct 17) I met this SOBO husband and wife team at Cold Spring Shelter at 10:30. They also are from Hawaii and had been with Gimli, but he had to go on ahead to make his flight. Gandalf is on the executive board of the Hawaii Sierra Club with Gimli. They had stopped there for a morning coffee break. I was stopping for breakfast. They all knew my daughter Grass from their NOBO leg.

Dances with Moose -- Later that same day, around 1:00 I met this true SOBOer, about half an hour (for me) before I hit Tellico Gap. He looked cool, calm, and collected. He had done the 30- miles from Fontana to Wesser the day before, and was duing the 27+ miles from Wesser to Winding Stair Gap (to hitch to Franklin) today.

That's all... besides a ton of Atlanta tourists looking at leaves in the nice weather.


:sun
Rain Man

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[MileMonster]

Wow, good to hear Dances with Moose is doing well. We met him in passing just south of Pinkham Notch on naked hiking day.

[grrickar]

We heard that there was a 22 year old girl hiking SOBO solo that was two days ahead of us when we were SOBO section hiking to the NOC. The guy who shuttled us to Fontana Village and back was telling us about her. Anyone have a clue as to who she might be? She would have been in the vicinity of Fontana Dam on or around Oct 8th. We asked a few people, but no one could recall seeing her.

[steve hiker]

We heard that there was a 22 year old girl hiking SOBO solo that was two days ahead of us when we were SOBO section hiking to the NOC. The guy who shuttled us to Fontana Village and back was telling us about her. Anyone have a clue as to who she might be? She would have been in the vicinity of Fontana Dam on or around Oct 8th. We asked a few people, but no one could recall seeing her.
That could have been Oatmeal Stout. I ran into her on Oct. 9 as I was coming out of Siler Bald Shelter, a few miles before U.S. 64. She started at Katahdin in early July, and was planning to finish at Springer on Oct 15. I figured that came to about 20 miles per day!

[Jaybird]

on our recent (Oct 4-8) section hike from Hampton,TN to Damascus,VA...we met several SOBO thru hikers:


"Pisses in Wind" (from GA) @ Kinkora, Hampton,TN


"Rally" (from FL) & "Windsock" near Abingdon Gap,VA


"SnapperHead " (From Texas) near Double Springs Shelter (in NC)


"Ray-O" (from PA) near Damascus,VA.

[Lucinda]

My b/f and I were section hiking last week in GA. We ran into Dances with Moose at Neels Gap on Thursday as we were also heading SOBO. I think he finished yesterday. It was great to run into him. Pretty exciting to see someone only a few miles away from fulfilling a dream! That guy could really fly.

[tomat2004]

Oatmeal Stout finished her hike on the morning of 10/15/04. She was the third "true" Southbounder to finish after Whiz Kid and Miracle Man. I believe her hike covered four months and 1 day. (As a side note, several flipflopers have finished including Webber and Han-early Oct.,Ghost-10/15/04, and Coyote and Ishmael-10/16/04.) There would also be others in the last half of October that I am not aware of.

[A-Train]

My good friend Subman (03') was down hiking from Amicalola to Neels. Said he ran into "Dances with Moose" on springer, just finished a thru-hike. That was last friday I believe.

[U-BOLT]

Pretty sure Ghost finished about a week ago.

[Rain Man]

I hiked from the NOC/Wesser, NC to Fontana Dam this weekend, October 29-31, 2004. Met quite a few SOBO thru-hikers, plus some long-distance section hikers. Here they are--

Louie - met this LD section hiker about 2:55 just barely south of the Sassafras Gap Shelter on Friday. He did 1,500 miles in 2002 (I believe that's the right year) until he was injured. He came back for a section last year, and is finishing up this year.

Porch - this thru-hiker arrived at the Sassafras Gap Shelter later on. He took his trail name from the first thru-hiker he ever met, as a tribute to him.

Rally - also arrived at the SGS. From Florida.

Rocket Man - arrived around 7:00 at the SGS, after hiking 33 miles from Mollie's Ridge Shelter in the Smokies. A hyper hiker, who had read that Porch was going to have some whiskey at the SGS that night. He also has a multitude of/much longer trail name? From California. Had done some "work for stay" at a hut with my daughter Grass.

Rocks - met this thru from Israel around 10:25 Saturday morning north of Cheoh Bald and Locust Cove Gap.

Lev - met him about 20 minutes later. Born in Russia (thus the name), lives in D.C. He had met my daughter, Grass.

Home Fry - met this thru around 11:00 just south of Stecoah Gap. His name comes from the fact that he can walk out the back door of his home in Maine to the trail. Thus he was a "home fry" when he got on the trail up there.

Pisses in the Wind - he was hiking with Home Fry. From Roswell, GA. Got his name from the fact that he "marked" Katahdin ... and many mountains since? On Thursday night, my group of 4 arrived at the Fontana Hilton Shelter at 11:30, after driving from Nashville. Pisses woke up and spoke with us quietly a few minutes as we bedded down (so this was my second meeting with him, though first in the light of day). Home Fry slept soundly through our arrival ... and departure the next morning at 7:45 for the shuttle to Wesser by Jeff Hoch.

Dennis - met this hiker around 2:20 Saturday afternoon just north of Brown Fork Shelter. He had an odd assortment of gear and told me he was on a "spiritual journey" to talk with the Lord, and had started in Hot Springs, NC and hoped to make it to Springer. He had an old external frame pack, two Coleman sleeping bags, plastic sheeting, was wearing cotton sweat pants, and had two rough wooden hiking poles. Dennis seemed like a nice fellow. He asked about getting food in Wesser. I told him the best bet for a grocery store might be to hitch into Robbinsville, but he said he'd have a really hard time, due to being a black man, and he'd rely on getting something in Wesser.

Epiphany - met this girl around 3:20. From Indiana. She had just done some yellow blazing around sections she had hiked before. Was trying to catch some hikers ahead.

Smoky the Bear - met this thru around 4:30 just north of Cody Gap and south of Yellow Creek Gap. From Massachusetts.

Night Rain - NR was at the Cable Gap Shelter when we arrived around 5:50. He was a very nice shelter mate. Enjoyed talking about the trail. Asked if either of us wore contact lens. Said the last store had 8 kinds of condoms, but no kind of contact lens solution. I had an unopened sample bottle from when I got new contacts last month, so I gave it to him. He returned the favor by offering Gold Bond Medicated Powder when I let on later that I was suffering from some chaffing. That stuff solved my problem! The next morning I gave him some Snickers bars and Power Bars in gratitude.

Charlie the Tuna - met this retired thru-hiker at 9:30 just south of Walker Gap. From Raleigh, NC. He had met my daughter Grass too. Had a 48 pound pack. Had hiked a lot with Epiphany. Has his pictures posted on www.andrewsfamily.net under Links, then "CK goes out for a walk."

Free Spirit - met this girl at 10:30 about halfway down (for us, for her - halfway up) the mountain to Fontana. From Long Island, NY. A section hiker from Harpers Ferry.

I took photos of all these hikers and will post them as soon as I get the film developed. Look in my WhiteBlaze gallery.

P.S. The hike was tough! That's a hard section. But the people were fun.
:sun
Rain Man

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[The Solemates]

On our thru this year, we met Lev with Gourmet Dave, Bearcharmer and hubby (Bucky?), and Shirt in the SNP around Easter. At that time he was just traveling the US and doing some hiking. I guess he decided to SOBO. Good for him.

We also met Pisses in Wind when he had been out less than a week N of Saddleback in ME.

We met Charlie the Tuna in Stratton, ME. He was hiking with Macheus, who evidently has gotten of the trail. I think we even gave him a bunch of food at the Fox Inn. He was a good guy. Im glad to see he has made it thus far.

Interesting to read up on people we met on the trail....

[gravityman]

When we hiked the Long Trail this summer we meet a SOBO named Lucky at the Inn at the Long Trail around August 15th or so. He was contemplating leaving the trail at that point, and we tried to tell him to stay the course. Anyone know if he kept going?

Thanks,

Gravity