The Samurai Hillbillies

May 9, 2006 (I think . . Last post must have been dated later than it was)
Mile 163, "The Fontana Hilton"

There's a family hiking the AT this year, at least to Harper's Ferry. At first known as "The Family of Six", they have since taken the group name "The Samurai Hillbillies". The name stems from the fact that 1)the lady of the household (with subsequent spawn) are asiatic, and 2) there are practically zero minorities on the trail- an African-American person hiking the trail would probably also get an ethnic sobriquet, something equally sensitive to stereotypes, like "Runnin Home Joe" (southbound) or "Watermelon Lad".

I've run into TSH a few times now. The last time at Cable Gap was not so pleasant. A thru-hiker companion was pretty incensed that TSH made no attempt to make room in the shelter in the pouring rain. He got confrontational; I set up my tent and had a cold supper. I can see the argument from both viewpoints. On the one hand, you ALWAYS make room in a shelter in the rain, even if you have to sleep back to stomach with strangers. On the other hand, I'm not sure I would want a bunch of hairy, exceptionally stinky strangers rubbing up against my wife and kids.

All in all I like them. They have some sort of home schooling thing with the kids where they are taught courses on the trail. If they're anything like asian kids anywhere, the teachers are probably glad to be rid of grade schoolers who need college level textbooks and who actually listen.

They're taking to the outdoors well. Dynamite and The Asian Lady head such characters as Supersnack, Anti-Cat (so named because she always lands on her back), Firecracker, and another rugrat whose trail name escapes me. They're all good people, but I'm glad they're leaving this shelter after I do. Shelter space in the Smokies is at a premium without The Samurai Hillbillies.