Project Eveningland

“That’s me. I’m watching you. You’re doing great” –Naomi Nagata

3/17/2023 Friday

Dear Reader, please help me. I’m trapped listening to just the worst conversation while waiting for a shuttle from the hostel that’s 20 minutes late. For the last few days, I’ve kept running into a person who just sets my teeth on edge. They make my skin crawl. And why am I breathing cigarette smoke outdoors?! Where is the fucking shuttle?!

3/16/2023 Thursday

Well, the crabbiness passed in the night. In the morning something in me softened—I think it happened when I helped Hide reacquire a piece of gear. Hide wasn’t there at the shelter; I helped by passing on a message—long story.

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3/15/2023 Wednesday

Last night somebody started washing pots and pans, loudly, right outside the cheap door to my bedroom, at 10:30 at goddamn night. I went out and said, politely at first, “what the fuck are you doing?” He was reluctant to stop and carried on for ten more minutes before I came out and confronted him again. I don’t normally get up in people’s faces but Christ on a cracker! I was so pissed at the thoughtlessness that it took me a bit to return to sleep. Took sleeping pill…

3/14/2023 Tuesday

Hostel noise has a way of drawing you to wakefulness in the morning. It’s honestly a very gentle way to wake, under the right conditions. In the morning, I met the other half of the couple that own the hostel (Sunshine and Jumanji).

3/13/2023 Monday

When I arrived last night at the shelter area, Indiana told me that the precip was done. His confidence did not persuade me—quite the opposite. The light rain continued most of the night and sounded a bit icy on the outside of the tent.

3/12/2023 Sunday

When I looked out the hotel window in the dark this morning, the rain was intense. It flowed down the steep driveway of the Knight’s Inn outside my window. I bought breakfast sandwiches to have for breakfast—the hotel’s offerings were just too underwhelming.

3/11/2023 Saturday

Do I have the energy to write this on my zero day, after six days in the Smokies? Yes. Apparently.

3/10/2023 Friday

Do you remember that old queer rights chant, “out of the closets and into the streets!” from, I wanna say, the 1970s? Take that same cadence and chant, “out of the Smokies and on with our lives!” It was eleven miles (rounding up) from Cosby Knob to Standing Bear Farm, where I planned to stay tonight, so I wasn’t in any hurry. It’s all downhill anyway. I’ll admit it is a relief to be getting out of the Smokies after six long, hungry days.

3/9/2023 Thursday

I’m writing this from my tent, perched on a small parcel of level ground nestled between dramatically swooping inclines covered in, you guessed it, rhododendrons. The shelter is above me in the ravine and I can hear the sounds of friendly hiker chatter (there’s a ridge runner here who used to be an attorney and has a manner not unlike Mr. Rogers about him—none of the thru hikers were chuffed to have a “cop” sleeping in the shelter with them).

3/8/2023 Wednesday

We have now had four full days in the Smokies, with no rain, in March. Is this because I saved those orphans from that boxcar? All I did was call child protective services.

3/7/2023 Tuesday

Today’s conditions made for an unusual hike. It was sort of like hiking on the moon in the sense of a dark side and a light side. One minute it’s frigid and windy, the next minute you cross to the other side of a ridge and it’s sunny and warm. Couldn’t ever get my layers quite right to stay comfortable. So, yeah, doesn’t that sort of remind you of the moon?

3/6/2023 Monday

Several people at the shelter area last night decided to pre-dig their cat holes after they saw me do it. I found an old shovel head in the shelter (the handle being long gone) and used that.

3/5/2023 Sunday

Finished packing and caught the first shuttle back to the trail at 9AM. It really was a kindness that they don’t have an earlier one. I would have felt pressure to be on it. As it is I slept in until 8:15! Though, I had to get out of bed at 4:30AM to eat because my stomach woke me up.

3/4/2023 Saturday

Amy, the owner of Wing and Hoof, prepared us a hearty little breakfast bar with sausage and bacon cooked to perfection. I’m still thinking about it. Bill had carried on the small talk on the way to the hostel last night. I took up the work on the way back to the trail this morning. I left my umbrella in Amy’s other car, which she had picked us up in. I didn’t notice until later in the day. The forecast is looking pretty favorable, so I can just wait until the next outfitter and replace it then. I did the Smokies without an umbrella the first time.

3/3/2023 Friday

As I began the long climb out of the NOC, the rain held off and I felt a kind of thermal equilibrium—the damp and cold were exactly right to counterbalance the heat created by my body. I listened to a new playlist I created last night as I climbed. Best new song of day: “New Beginning” by Phoria.

3/2/2023 Thursday

Will found our accommodations last night severely wanting.

3/1/2023 Wednesday

The landscape is becoming less familiar to me because I’ve reached the point where Trip and I started hiking together (back in 2021) and we were chatting away (and paying less attention to the scenery).

2/28/2023 Tuesday

The guy at the BnB made Will and me a lovely breakfast with fresh fruit and fresh biscuits. Portions could have been a little larger but they’re not used to hikers. I took him up on his offer of a fresh cherry tart.

2/27/2023 Monday

Woke up at 5:30 and talked with Mom on the phone in the dark while walking around the empty hotel parking lot in warm humid weather. Or maybe it was colder but I’ve just gotten used to being outdoors.

2/26/2023 Sunday

The rain ceased overnight. The winds got drier as morning arrived, to the degree that the rainfly began drying. There were lots of folks at the shelter area. A small shelter and privy surrounded by tent sites tucked amid low shrubbery and rhododendron. The higher numbers feel more normal for the AT.