500 Miles, The Damascus Lodge Teamwork Steak Feast, and What No One Mentions About Grayson Highlands

One dark, foggy morning, we all piled onto a ferry, about eight of us, and the ferry driver started singing Hotel California, only she was substituting “Hotel California” for “Nolichucky River.” Fits. That led to several of us writing an appropriate song to record at the nighttime bonfire at the lodge after we all returned from our day’s adventures, packed with fog and humidity. One of the lines a hiker came up with to replace in the Eagles’ lyrics was «you can have all the ramen you want, but you just can’t feed the beast»… a play on the popular trail food base to which everyone often adds ingredients that would make us cringe if we ever made this kind of recipe at home. Fast forward about a week. After enjoying fantastic weather, the striking beauty of Laurel Canyon, and an unusual summer day at Watuaga Lake, many members of the group who crossed and jumped on the trail ended up in Damascus, at the same lodge.

Teamwork of Almost Strangers Creates Great Food

The question of dinner arose. I suggested steaks to get our recovery protein load up to where it was supposed to be. Ten people were quickly excited about a barbecue feast using the equipment available at the hostel. I quickly put together a plan. Assigning the grilling and preheating the boiling water for the potatoes and corn, I emptied my backpack in preparation to race to the grocery store on my bike. I headed up the bike path and hit Food City to pick up supplies for an amazing dinner. Ten steaks made twelve, in case some people came in during dinner preparation at the lodge. Corn on the cob was on sale, so they entered the basket. A bag of potatoes. A large bag of onions and all kinds of bell peppers. The mushrooms put the load on top and my backpack barely fit everything while I loaded the supplies at the register. The load was about double what I normally carry on my back when hiking. I chose to bike downhill on the main road rather than the gravel-covered trail, as the wheels sank deep into the softer surface. After almost getting hit by some vehicles not used to having bikes on the road, I stormed into the hostel stocked with provisions for dinner. The potatoes are gone
in boiling water. A couple of people started cutting up all the vegetables. It was an incredible teamwork of hikers. The spices were chosen from the lodge’s supplies: All Bay, Cajun Mix, and some Himalayan salt made for most of the spice base. Half a kilo of butter fell on top of the pile of vegetables that was now on the Blackstone. The boiled potatoes were now wrapped and placed on the grill to be finished like bakers. The most important element of this entire effort was how the group of hikers worked as a team to make it happen. Needless to say, the food was excellent and the underlying atmosphere was one of love for the adventure we are all enjoying and the camaraderie of ten relative strangers united by a love of the trails and the outdoors, working seamlessly and cooperating together to deliver a fantastic steak dinner for everyone involved. The other thing that made this hostel great, besides the amazing group of people there, is that they had a piano. Playing it was a nice change of pace from my usual multiple sessions of playing my guitar at various points along the way.

The detour of Hurricane Helene north of Damascus

The storm uprooted many trees and the trail maintainers from the local club have done a great job clearing all the fallen trees blocking the trail. When there is still the occasional hit, the effort of getting down or over really drains your energy as you have to do calisthenics to get over the hit. The detour is appreciated as the alternative would have had us pass through the reconstruction zone on the shared Virginia Creeper/Appalachian Trail which would normally have made use of the numerous bridges over the river that had been wiped out by the storm. However, there are some very confusing junctions in certain parts of the detour. Yes, there are nicely carved signs showing the way at most crossings, but sometimes the directional arrow is not conclusive as to the final crossing path to take. Also the flames change from white to yellow and then from yellow to blue. The blue blazes used on this stretch are a dark blue compared to the usual sky blue and make it very difficult to locate the next blaze in the trail’s dark green canopy-covered tunnel. For some this may not matter, but these are details that hikers should probably keep in mind.

What they don’t tell you about Grayson Highlands

Ponies are interesting and cute as everyone says. There are many publications on that topic. The open views are wide and with the clouds in the sky like those puffy white cotton balls, visually it was a beautiful hike. What I didn’t realize, however, is that for the five miles or so after the shelter in the red spruce, the rocks on the trail itself are worse than anything I’ve experienced so far and foreshadow the many days of difficult, rocky trail that await us all in Pennsylvania. After climbing back into PA on my 22LASH, while hiking through Grayson Highlands, all the normally unchallenged memories of trips and falls, stubbed toes, and sprains and pulls of all the ligaments and tendons came flooding back to me. For younger hikers, I suppose this detail isn’t even noticeable, as the more flexible muscle components of youth simply go through the stress and strain, but for us older hikers, a wrong turn or unexpected snag of a toe hang under a small rock, or movement underfoot on a loose rock where we thought stability existed can end a hike due to an injury sustained due to the conditions. Our pace slowed to a crawl as we had to carefully place each foot step. Here I was also convinced that my decision was reaffirmed by bringing the trekking poles this time. Fortunately, the canes I purchased have been very stable, even though I originally thought that the friction grips on the adjustable canes didn’t seem like they were designed to withstand the punishment they were receiving. Poles have saved me hundreds of times, and when I look back, I’m quite surprised I didn’t hurt myself more severely with my 22LASH when I was too stubborn to use trekking poles.

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