Why would the local long-hairs clean out the hiker box? After all, they have access to a whole store full of gear at employee prices???
I think that's the point.Originally Posted by Last Call
"Maybe life isn't about avoiding the bruises. Maybe it's about collecting the scars to prove we showed up for it."
Stayed in the hostel in June ... it was a bit scruffy after all of the NoBos had been through, but as has been said, a seriously good respite from the trail. Pirate cooked pancakes for breakfast. Winton and his folks cleaned, painted, and sanded floors this summer and the place looks really good. I was up there in September just to chat with him. Winton is a seriously good fellow who knows his stuff and will help hikers and tourist with whatever they need. Winton's memoir, Just Passing Through, is worth the read and is as entertaining as Bryson's book. If you want to get a sense of the AT culture, read the book. Buy his book at Mountain Crossings and get him to autograph it for you (I paid full price for my book and I'm not kin to Winton--my comments are unsolicited). There is a lot of history in Walasi-Yi and Winton and his people are carrying on the tradition.
nobody will compare to Jeff and Dorothy
mountaincrossings posted a picture of Lumpy on their Instagram account today (10/30) ... good to see him again
If they were the hosts during the 1992 season, I'm not that crazy about Dorothy. When we hiked the Springer to Unicoi Gap section back in 1992, I had a small argument with the woman taking care of the store when we got to Walasi-Yi. For some reason, she didn't want to let me & the hubby take showers there - even though we were willing to pay for them. Something about water problems and the showers being "for thru-hikers only" (I had mentioned that we were section hikers earlier).
It made no sense to me at all, seeing that we had hiked exactly the same amount of miles up to that point as any NOBO thru-hikerAND there were thru-hikers happily availing themselves of the facilities at the same time.
She finally did let us have the showers. They were great!!! Then, all nice and dry and clean, we started hiking again. Five minutes later, the skies opened up and we walked in a downpour the rest of the day until we got to Low Gap shelter. More chilly, wet, and miserable than ever!
The AT is no respecter of persons
This reflects my experiences there as well. All good--Pirate, Lumpy, Cool Breeze, Winton (and others) were all very helpful and accommodating. And the book is a good read as well. Better than Brysons in my opinion.
Haven't read the book. Need to, I guess.
My experiences with Winton:
1. My Scout Troop came in from a Springer section hike a few years back. Our cars were up the road at the State park. We were telling the kids and other adults to stay put, we'd hike up and be back shortly. Winton (didn't know who he was at the time) asked what was going on. We told him and he reached into his pocket, pulled his car keys out and tossed them to us. Beauty. No questions, discussion or whatever.
2. My Thru attempt: came into the store and was looking at gloves. Got some great advice on what to get, what to use, etc. No pushing towards anything, just the staff and Winton's honest attempt to help.
Old Hiker
AT Hike 2012 - 497 Miles of 2184
AT Thru Hiker - 29 FEB - 03 OCT 2016 2189.1 miles
Just because my teeth are showing, does NOT mean I'm smiling.
Hányszor lennél inkább máshol?
Boy do I agree with this
Wolf's just trolling y'all
no he's not
I've always loved the place and people who work there always very nice to deal with. Have used them for shuttle rides in the past, and stayed at the hostel in spring 2010. No complaints at all. But after reading "Just Passin' Thru", I was curious if any hard feelings came about from some of the people mentioned in the book, just based on some of the personal details discussed in the book.... and after the book came out, one person in particular mentioned in that book... who used to work there... seemed to depart
Walasi-Yi is one of only 2 places on the Trail where the Trail passes thru a building, the other is some zoo up North, Pennsylvania I think....
Bear Mountain Zoo, New York
"Maybe life isn't about avoiding the bruises. Maybe it's about collecting the scars to prove we showed up for it."
I stopped by Mountain Crossings today after Friday’s bad weather aborted my hike down from Dick’s Creek Gap and asked the person behind the counter if Winton had sold the place. With pleading eyes he looked over at a female employee and she said, “It’s okay, you can tell.” He pointed behind him toward the living quarters and said that George and Logan, the couple that had been managing the store, had bought it two weeks ago and taken over the lease of the building from Winton. He said that Winton has visions of a sailboat in his future. He plans to make some sort of good-bye announcement in a week or so.
The owners’ plans are to continue the business as is. No word on who will do the shakedowns, though. Everything looked normal, and store traffic was heavy as usual for this time of year. Outside, the same old psychotic cat walked along the stonewall alternately greeting some visitors’ outstretched hands with a rub, and others with a bite, whatever struck its warped fancy. About sixty feet up in one of the trees that grow in the ravine south of the outside patio sat a black bear, oblivious or uncaring to the camera carrying gawkers and waiting patiently for darkness to fall in order to begin his nightly scavenger hunt for the carelessly tossed candy wrapper, or sticky-lined Styrofoam cup. The sun broke though the gray clouds and set the entire mountainside ablaze with the seasonally late arriving reds, oranges, yellows, purples, and golds. For a moment Yonah peeked out above the ridgeline to the South, its toothy grin once again greeting the hikers climbing out of Neel’s Gap and laughing at them all the way to Unicoi.
Suddenly my mind was flooded with the memory of sitting here on the patio more than a quarter a century ago with my seven-old daughter, proud of the little trooper for making her first trek up Blood Mountain. I wondered if her own now seven year-old child would also stand here a half a century from now and remember generations gone and then ponder if her own grandchildren will one-day stand here also. A tug on my arm brings me back to reality. I look down into the face of my wife, still as fresh as the spring day that I married her forty years ago, and into her eyes, bluer than any sea that the restless Winton will ever sail. And, she gently says, “There is hot coffee waiting for us on the square in Dahlonega.” We turn to walk across the smoothly worn stone and down the ancient steps, the disappointment of the aborted hike replaced with the joy of generations gone and to come.
The days are growing shorter. Before long the mountains will be filled with the sound of the bare, ice-covered limbs rattling against each other like dry dead bones. But, for now it’s Autumn, the world is ablaze in color, and life is really, really good.
So it is. Thanks Ace for sharing the good stuff.
I heard from a very unreliable source that they are going to put in a Starbucks and fill their sales floor with North Face clothing.
I'll have what she's having.
I'm not good at sharing. It said so on my kindergarden report card.
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