Project Eveningland

4/6/2023 Thursday

Had I decided to sleep in the shelter last night (I ultimately decided to tent) I would have been awakened near midnight by the arrival of Honey Badger and SQRL (pronounced “squirrel”).

4/5/2023 Wednesday

I spent some time in the morning chatting with Lefty and Helium—Helium’s name was written on her dry bag, so that’s why I associated it with “bag” yesterday. The human memory is so idiosyncratic.

4/4/2023 Tuesday

The Damascus Diner is an oasis of human warmth on a cool spring morning. Heavens, that sausage and that sausage gravy! I can still taste the slight peppery bite. They only had bananas as a fruit topper for the waffles I ordered.

4/3/2023 Monday

I’m still nauseated but doing much better. It was way easier to eat today. I am so damn glad that the last dose is behind me. Will reached out last night—he’s in the area—and offered to drive me around today. A chance to see a trail friend and get a strip mall haircut! My dream!

4/2/2023 Sunday

By morning the blackout and the nuclear anti-protozoal meds had reduced me to a lump curled on the bed beneath every blanket I could find. The power was still out.

“My husband was a great traveler, so I’ve spent many happy evenings without understanding a word. The thing is to keep smiling and never look as if you disapprove.” -Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham

4/1/2023 Saturday

I woke around six AM feeling pretty damn good. The antibiotics seemed to have “dropped a train” on my protozoan bodyguests. Well, maybe the antibiotics did and maybe they didn’t, but later they dropped a train on me.

3/31/2023 Friday

My high little ridge campsite stayed warm last night. I watched a tiny brown mouse poke around under my tent vestibule in the bright moonlight. He didn’t linger—there’s no food in my tent and, judging from the amount of ash in the fire ring, this site gets used a lot. Plenty of crumbs around. Last night I poked my head out of the tent while Benny and I were talking on the phone and saw a night lit by stars, a bright half moon, and town lights—Winchester maybe?

3/30/2023 Thursday

Tiny valleys are cold at night. The frigid air settles in all the crevices. I was glad to climb the ridge to my pre-dug cat hole because it meant sitting in the sun in the morning.

3/29/2023 Wednesday

Finally, I found some sleeping accommodations that didn’t leave me cold at night. Two heaters and a toasty Doug/Rhetoric. What a treat. Speaking of treats: I used the breakfast sandwich method this morning. Two sandwiches totaling somewhere around 840 calories. I was hungry again 45 minutes later.

3/28/2023 Tuesday

I wish I could share with you, just as an intellectual exercise, the feeling of losing your phone or not having a way to recharge it while you are alone out in the woods. Boomers and older folks may find it difficult to identify with this feeling. The next several paragraphs may cause the ghost of Edward Abbey to throw up a little in his mouth (which, honestly, good).

3/27/2023 Monday

I ate a bratwurst late last night for “fourth meal” but still woke up around six in the morning with a stomach so empty it hurt.

3/26/2023 Sunday

Do you know what happens to “boiled buttered potatoes” (a Cloud family staple of old) when they sit in the fridge overnight? They become breakfast potatoes. They find their way to the griddle with some oil and become crispy and very, very agreeable. They will get neighborly with any old thing—eggs, toast, breakfast meats. I introduced Dad to the delights of fried Spam, which I’ve been craving.

3/25/2023 Saturday

A hearty breakfast can really smooth things over. A world-class, southern, gourmet breakfast for $12, on the other hand, can lead to full and total amnesty for a negative hostel experience. There was egg soufflé, potato casserole (four inches deep, unbelievably creamy, perfectly soft shredded potatoes all the way through), spicy kielbasa, regular sausage well done, biscuits & gravy, a fresh strudel with cream cheese and soft red cherries, tomato pie, French toast with fresh local honey and homemade jams, and lots of other stuff. It tasted like the food I imagine they’d serve in the Great Hall at Hogwarts.

3/24/2023 Friday

In the morning I walked down a wide stone path cut through the fine spruce and fir forest. I walked up two balds—Little Hump Mountain and Big Hump Mountain. The paths through the wide open grassy landscape are just murder on the ankles. The trail is very exposed, and the sun was hot. The trail becomes a series of deep, braided, muddy ruts which force one to walk awkwardly, one foot in front of the other in the narrow space.

“Well, what do we got on this thing, a Cuisinart?!” -Dark Helmet (Spaceballs)

3/23/2023 Thursday

When you’re the youngest of four, it’s hard to keep up. Many of my childhood memories are colored with a general feeling of “c’mon you guys, wait for me!”

3/22/2023 Wednesday

I had misgivings from the start. Twenty miles, this early? Going backward? In the cold and rain? Well, at least we (Lost-and-Found, Wedge, Hide, me) would be slack packing, and we’d be returning to a warm cabin (single wide with wood paneling).

3/21/2023 Tuesday

Wedge, L&F, and I have come to quite like Steve, the shuttler. He’s a retired postal worker, very helpful, really takes care of people, understands hikers. He dropped us at Spivey Gap just before eight.

3/20/2023 Monday

The cold was well and truly brutal last night. I woke at 4:30 very chilled. I had turned off one heater to make room to charge my cellphone. I dunno why I did that. It rather spoiled my last night. It was a fantastic few days at Nature’s Inn. Lots of good people around and Amy does a wonderful job. She’s so organized. It was something like an adult snow day, though there was no snow. It had a bit of a ski lodge atmosphere with the bitter cold outside.

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3/19/2023 Sunday

I did everything I could to block the draft under the door, but the heater couldn’t keep up. Room stayed in low 50s. It reminded me of my first shabby apartment in Pittsburgh (not to be confused with my second shabby apartment in Pittsburgh). It was on the first floor of a lovely old Colonial Revival in Highland Park. It was so leaky that I had to keep the heat at 58 and it still cost hundreds a month to heat. Back in 2023, I slipped into my 15 degree sleeping bag. Slept until almost eight. Went into common room to warm up by the wood stove.

3/18/2023 Saturday

I changed my mind and decided to catch a shuttle to Devil’s Fork Gap, then hike to Sam’s Gap (the main pickup point for the same hostel). It was a slack pack because I left my tent, sleeping bag, and other equipment right in the same room where I’ll be sleeping tonight. It took a while to get things going in the morning but Betsy—who I’m told should actually be called Bessie—is up and running and taking hikers where they need to go.