Zero again, again
A bunch of lazy bums we are. Staying again for another day. It's been so awesome and relaxing though. More great food. More swimming in the pool. More chilling on couch. More napping. Totally soaking it all in since we're not going to get another chance to hang out at anyone's house for the rest of the trip. Tink has been working on putting dreads in Apache's hair for the past 2 days. Many thanks to Rainbow Eyes' parents for hosting us for the weekend! We're all laughing about the idea of coming back here after the trail is over and living in the tree house in the backyard. Well I guess we have to start hiking again tomorrow. I thought it'd be cool to try to do the Maryland challenge (hike the 41 miles of the AT in Maryland in one day), but now I'm having second thoughts. I'm sure I could do it, but I think now that I'd rather take my time. See what there is to see in Harpers Ferry tomorrow. Get my picture taken at the ATC headquarters. Then go into Maryland and see what there is to see. Hopefully there will be some berries starting to come out. The terrain is rediculously flat. Should be a breeze. Looking at the forecast, we should have nice weather for the next week too.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
June 23
Zero again
Well we could have gotten back on the trail today, as we had originally anticipated. Rainbow Eyes said he planned to stay until Monday, and he would get us back to the trail if we wanted to go. But, yeah, we just hiked 1000 miles. We need a few more days off. So we stayed again, and ate more delicious food, relaxed all day, and did some more swimming in the pool. There's a sign outside in the backyard that says 'welcome thru hikers', that his parents made. This has been so great at Rainbow Eyes' house. At night, a bunch of his local friends all came over to hang out.
Well we could have gotten back on the trail today, as we had originally anticipated. Rainbow Eyes said he planned to stay until Monday, and he would get us back to the trail if we wanted to go. But, yeah, we just hiked 1000 miles. We need a few more days off. So we stayed again, and ate more delicious food, relaxed all day, and did some more swimming in the pool. There's a sign outside in the backyard that says 'welcome thru hikers', that his parents made. This has been so great at Rainbow Eyes' house. At night, a bunch of his local friends all came over to hang out.
 |
| Rast-Apache getting some dreads. |
June 22
Zero
Well, today we are taking a zero at Rainbow Eyes' house. His folks have been really great. We've been spoiled with awesome food all day. Most of the day we've just been relaxing by the pool and taking a swim in the afternoon heat. Rainbow Eyes is quite the home brewer too. He's been offering up all kinds of samples of stout he has made, as well as various wines. Tomato wine, banana wine, strawberry wine, and my personal favoite - mint wine. We took a side trip to the closest town to browse around the Walmart and the mall. A Spenser's store is especially hilarious when you've been in the woods for a while. Even with our hiker looks, we still weren't the weirdest looking people in Walmart.
Well, today we are taking a zero at Rainbow Eyes' house. His folks have been really great. We've been spoiled with awesome food all day. Most of the day we've just been relaxing by the pool and taking a swim in the afternoon heat. Rainbow Eyes is quite the home brewer too. He's been offering up all kinds of samples of stout he has made, as well as various wines. Tomato wine, banana wine, strawberry wine, and my personal favoite - mint wine. We took a side trip to the closest town to browse around the Walmart and the mall. A Spenser's store is especially hilarious when you've been in the woods for a while. Even with our hiker looks, we still weren't the weirdest looking people in Walmart.
 |
| Relaxing by the pool. |
June 21
1000
We were up at 730am. Well, Rainbow Eyes woke us up then. Even though we had a late night last night, we wanted to get an early start today. One, to beat the heat, and two, to get to Harpers Ferry, WVa. We had a few more bumps on the rollercoaster this morning. The last third of it was much easier than what we had done yesterday. We hit the sign that marked the WVa border. This next section would skirt the Virginia/West Virginia state line for about 14 miles. I have hiked 1000 miles to get here. Awesome! The opposite side of the sign (for southbounders) noted that the Tennessee border was 535 miles away. Been in Virginia forever. It was still hot and miserable. By the early afternoon, we had only made it about 7 miles to the Blackburn AT Center. This was a really cool place. The caretaker there gave us freeze pops. We ate lunch, filled up on water, and hit the trail again. We were all dragging. Except for Rainbow Eyes. He had some sort of inner energy he had tapped in to. It's probably since he's so close to home, and his partents are coming to Harpers to scoop us all up to take them to his house in WVa. Extra motivation. We really wanted to stop hiking, but the allure of showers, food, and rest was a huge draw for us as well. But the body would not cooperate with the mind. Tink, Apache, and I stopped short at Keys Gap, about 6 miles south of Harpers Ferry. Rainbow Eyes hiked on in the evening heat to Harpers to meet his parents. My feet are really messed up now. I don't want to hike any more today. The rest of us walked 0.3 miles to a restaurant. I had a salad, gravy fries, and sweet tea. Great snack. Some other hikers we knew were there too. In a couple of hours, Rainbow Eyes' parents pulled up in front of the restaurant and we all drove out to their house about an hour and a half away in WVa. We had gotten in touch with Slims too, and he had hitched back to Harpers, so he was coming to the house with us too. It was good to be back together again. It was so good to get a shower to wash off the sticky, caked on layers of sweat. Sitting in the air conditioning. Watching TV. This sure beats hiking.
We were up at 730am. Well, Rainbow Eyes woke us up then. Even though we had a late night last night, we wanted to get an early start today. One, to beat the heat, and two, to get to Harpers Ferry, WVa. We had a few more bumps on the rollercoaster this morning. The last third of it was much easier than what we had done yesterday. We hit the sign that marked the WVa border. This next section would skirt the Virginia/West Virginia state line for about 14 miles. I have hiked 1000 miles to get here. Awesome! The opposite side of the sign (for southbounders) noted that the Tennessee border was 535 miles away. Been in Virginia forever. It was still hot and miserable. By the early afternoon, we had only made it about 7 miles to the Blackburn AT Center. This was a really cool place. The caretaker there gave us freeze pops. We ate lunch, filled up on water, and hit the trail again. We were all dragging. Except for Rainbow Eyes. He had some sort of inner energy he had tapped in to. It's probably since he's so close to home, and his partents are coming to Harpers to scoop us all up to take them to his house in WVa. Extra motivation. We really wanted to stop hiking, but the allure of showers, food, and rest was a huge draw for us as well. But the body would not cooperate with the mind. Tink, Apache, and I stopped short at Keys Gap, about 6 miles south of Harpers Ferry. Rainbow Eyes hiked on in the evening heat to Harpers to meet his parents. My feet are really messed up now. I don't want to hike any more today. The rest of us walked 0.3 miles to a restaurant. I had a salad, gravy fries, and sweet tea. Great snack. Some other hikers we knew were there too. In a couple of hours, Rainbow Eyes' parents pulled up in front of the restaurant and we all drove out to their house about an hour and a half away in WVa. We had gotten in touch with Slims too, and he had hitched back to Harpers, so he was coming to the house with us too. It was good to be back together again. It was so good to get a shower to wash off the sticky, caked on layers of sweat. Sitting in the air conditioning. Watching TV. This sure beats hiking.
 |
| Wild, Wonderful, West Virginia! |
June 20
Celebration day
I heard some rustling just after first light. Crayola was packing up and moving on to meet her parents who were picking her up. Guess she's not one for goodbyes. The rest of us slept in pretty late. We didn't start hiking until after 10am I think. Today is a big day though. It's June 20. That means it's the first day of summer, the summer solstice. It's Crayola's birthday too, and Bambam hiked out fast from camp to try to catch her to give her a card we had all signed. He was leaving the trail for a bit anyway, and needed to get back to his vehicle a couple hundred miles south. It's also West Virginia Day, and Rainbow Eyes is really excited about that. He's really wanting us to make it to the border today, so we can be in his home state of WVA for WVA Day. This year the border just so happens to be at the 1000.0 mile mark too. Pretty cool, but that means we need to hike about 23 miles today. Also since it's the first day of summer, it's unofficially "hike naked" day on the trail. Spoiler alert: I didn't participate. Sorry ladies! It sure would have made sense to though. It's brutally hot today. Our pace is slow. We are drenched in sweat. My feet are soaked. Not from rain, or stepping in a creek. No, the sweat is rolling off of me, down my legs, and saturating my socks and shoes. We've been taking small breaks all day, pretty much at every water source. Drinking whatever water we were carrying, and refilling there. Dipping bandannas in the springs, and cooling off our legs, arms, and heads. The heat is miserable. We would hear later that the temperature was around 97 degrees. We got to Rod Hollow shelter around 2pm or so. Took a lunch break. Drank tons of water. We all took naps. Apache and I strung our hammocks up across the beams of the cooking pavilion here. We spent about 4 hours at the shelter resting in the afternoon heat. We had only hiked about 10 miles. We still have 13 more to do to get to the West Virginia line. Totally demoralizing. Not only that, but right past this shelter is the start of the infamous "roller coaster". I've heard mixed things about the difficulty of this section, but what it boils down to is a 13 mile stretch that is a series of 10 or so climbs of about 300-600 feet. Up and down, up and down. We trudged out to the start of the roller coaster, in relatively high spirits. The first hill was tough, but we did okay. Second climb came up and we tackled that. We were still going strong. I even got a hilarious video of the crew coming over one of the ridges. Going up the hill they were making 'click-click-click' noises, like you'd hear on the way up a hill on roller coaster tracks, then as they passed the top and headed down the descent, they all raised their hands up in the air, screaming 'wwwweeeeeeeeeee' on the way down. Hey you've gotta keep yourself amused out here. Somewhere around the third or fourth climb, it was dark out. Still hot as Hades. We were night hiking over the roller coaster, trying to finish out a 23 mile day, in upper 90 degree heat. I never said any over our ideas were smart. Hey, we're just trying to add bonus points to our hike. Anyone can hike the Priest and Three Ridges, but who marathons it? At night? Anyone can hike the roller coaster. But who does it at night? My new mp3 player is failing though. It got wet with sweat, or humidity, today. The speakers are still great, and I used Tink's Ipod to give us some hiking tunes along the way. The roller coaster ended up getting the best of us though. I don't think it would have been so bad if the trail was graded better. The climbs and descents were one thing. It was really steep for most stretches of it. And it was very rocky and rooty. Then there was the heat. It was a recipe for slow hiking. Our head lamps attracted all kinds of bugs. I kept breaking through spiderwebs with my face. We were dripping with sweat, tired, and miserable. We ended up stopping at a campsite, about 3 miles short of our goal of the state line, totally drained. I'm having huge foot issues from wet shoes rubbing my feet for the past couple of days. All us guys have some bad chaffing issues in terrible places to be chafed. The roller coaster gets my vote for worst section of the AT so far. Tink had packed out some sparklers, and despite us just wanting to pass out, we lit them in honor of all the things we were celebrating today.
I heard some rustling just after first light. Crayola was packing up and moving on to meet her parents who were picking her up. Guess she's not one for goodbyes. The rest of us slept in pretty late. We didn't start hiking until after 10am I think. Today is a big day though. It's June 20. That means it's the first day of summer, the summer solstice. It's Crayola's birthday too, and Bambam hiked out fast from camp to try to catch her to give her a card we had all signed. He was leaving the trail for a bit anyway, and needed to get back to his vehicle a couple hundred miles south. It's also West Virginia Day, and Rainbow Eyes is really excited about that. He's really wanting us to make it to the border today, so we can be in his home state of WVA for WVA Day. This year the border just so happens to be at the 1000.0 mile mark too. Pretty cool, but that means we need to hike about 23 miles today. Also since it's the first day of summer, it's unofficially "hike naked" day on the trail. Spoiler alert: I didn't participate. Sorry ladies! It sure would have made sense to though. It's brutally hot today. Our pace is slow. We are drenched in sweat. My feet are soaked. Not from rain, or stepping in a creek. No, the sweat is rolling off of me, down my legs, and saturating my socks and shoes. We've been taking small breaks all day, pretty much at every water source. Drinking whatever water we were carrying, and refilling there. Dipping bandannas in the springs, and cooling off our legs, arms, and heads. The heat is miserable. We would hear later that the temperature was around 97 degrees. We got to Rod Hollow shelter around 2pm or so. Took a lunch break. Drank tons of water. We all took naps. Apache and I strung our hammocks up across the beams of the cooking pavilion here. We spent about 4 hours at the shelter resting in the afternoon heat. We had only hiked about 10 miles. We still have 13 more to do to get to the West Virginia line. Totally demoralizing. Not only that, but right past this shelter is the start of the infamous "roller coaster". I've heard mixed things about the difficulty of this section, but what it boils down to is a 13 mile stretch that is a series of 10 or so climbs of about 300-600 feet. Up and down, up and down. We trudged out to the start of the roller coaster, in relatively high spirits. The first hill was tough, but we did okay. Second climb came up and we tackled that. We were still going strong. I even got a hilarious video of the crew coming over one of the ridges. Going up the hill they were making 'click-click-click' noises, like you'd hear on the way up a hill on roller coaster tracks, then as they passed the top and headed down the descent, they all raised their hands up in the air, screaming 'wwwweeeeeeeeeee' on the way down. Hey you've gotta keep yourself amused out here. Somewhere around the third or fourth climb, it was dark out. Still hot as Hades. We were night hiking over the roller coaster, trying to finish out a 23 mile day, in upper 90 degree heat. I never said any over our ideas were smart. Hey, we're just trying to add bonus points to our hike. Anyone can hike the Priest and Three Ridges, but who marathons it? At night? Anyone can hike the roller coaster. But who does it at night? My new mp3 player is failing though. It got wet with sweat, or humidity, today. The speakers are still great, and I used Tink's Ipod to give us some hiking tunes along the way. The roller coaster ended up getting the best of us though. I don't think it would have been so bad if the trail was graded better. The climbs and descents were one thing. It was really steep for most stretches of it. And it was very rocky and rooty. Then there was the heat. It was a recipe for slow hiking. Our head lamps attracted all kinds of bugs. I kept breaking through spiderwebs with my face. We were dripping with sweat, tired, and miserable. We ended up stopping at a campsite, about 3 miles short of our goal of the state line, totally drained. I'm having huge foot issues from wet shoes rubbing my feet for the past couple of days. All us guys have some bad chaffing issues in terrible places to be chafed. The roller coaster gets my vote for worst section of the AT so far. Tink had packed out some sparklers, and despite us just wanting to pass out, we lit them in honor of all the things we were celebrating today.
 |
| The worst roller coaster in history. |
June 19
Catching up
Big plans for today. I'm not sure exactly where my friends are, but I'm going to try to go as far as I can and gain some ground on them. I was up uncharacteristically early, and hiking well before 8am. It's been nice and sunny all morning, and I had some great views from both South and North Marshall mountains. Had a bit of deja vu here. I remembered this past October, calling my parents from the summit of North Marshall, to arrange a pick up time at the road crossing near Front Royal. It's been pretty surreal going through these sections of trail that I've been on before. Pretty much from Beuna Vista, up through the entire length of Shenandoah. Last year I was meeting thru hikers and asking them questions, and now this year I am one. Pretty cool feeling. Easy hiking for the rest of the morning. Hiked up Compton peak, where I remembered seeing a bear last year. Made it out of SNP, and to the Tom Floyd wayside. Highking was there drying out some wet gear. I took a lunch break. No bears through SNP. Bummer. I'm like the only person who hasn't seen one. I made it to the road crossing at Rt 522 and another thru hiker was there as well, who's wife had met him there and they gave me a ride into Front Royal to get a burger and some drinks. After that quick pitstop, I was back on the trail around 3pm or so. It was hot. Good to be hydrated. As a bonus I had a full belly of a double Whopper combo from BK as well. I was breaking new ground now. This is officially the farthest north I have ever been on the AT. The rest of the afternoon was hot and humid. I made it to the Jim and Molly Denton shelter sometime in the early evening, but nobody was there. I was hoping I would have caught up with everyone there, since this shelter was spectacularly nice. Cooking pavillion, solar shower, huge front porch with a nice bench to sit on. Oh well. Hydration break, and keep on moving. I signed in the register, and noticed that my crew were the last ones to write in the book. I must be right behind them. 5.5 sweaty miles got me to Manassas Gap shelter, well after 8pm. The sun was setting and the woods were starting to get dark. The crew wasn't here either though, just a huge group of Boy Scouts. I filled up on water at the spring. One of the leaders asked me if I was with the group of five that was just there. The description he gave fit. I was about 45 minutes behind the crew. I threw my pack back on and practically ran out of the shelter area. It was anohter 4.5 miles to Dicks Dome shelter, and I figured they wouldn't have gone all the way there. A: it was a pretty bad shelter from what I've heard, and B: I was assuming they stayed in Front Royal, would have gotten a typical late start, and wouldn't have hiked that far to get to Dicks Dome. It was dark now. I was hiking by head lamp, trying to look out for any campsites, but the woods were thick and overgrown, and I never stumbled across their camp. I passed several side trails along the way, and I wondered if maybe they had dipped off on one of those in seach of a suitable tentsite. In that case, I would unknowingly pass them, but I figured, worse case senario I would get to Dicks and stay there and wait for them in the morning. The downside is that it's been a long day hiking, and I had already put in 24 miles just to get to Manassas Gap. I finally came across a group of hikers huddled around a campfire in the woods just off the trail, and sure enough it was Rainbow Eyes, Tink, Apache, Bambam, and Crayola. I had done over 27 miles today, and caught back up. It was great to be back. Crayola gave me a friendship bracelet she had made. So cool. We stayed up pretty late talking. Apparently, they had stayed in Front Royal last night and had a bad experience. They had left the cheap hotel they were staying at at midnight after finding bedbugs, and ended up tenting and cowboy camping in a field behind the Kmart in town. Sucks about the motel, but it sure made for a good story and another interesting adventure on the AT. I had switched out my tent when I was home, to my ENO hammock. Strung that up, and had the best nights sleep on the trail so far.
Big plans for today. I'm not sure exactly where my friends are, but I'm going to try to go as far as I can and gain some ground on them. I was up uncharacteristically early, and hiking well before 8am. It's been nice and sunny all morning, and I had some great views from both South and North Marshall mountains. Had a bit of deja vu here. I remembered this past October, calling my parents from the summit of North Marshall, to arrange a pick up time at the road crossing near Front Royal. It's been pretty surreal going through these sections of trail that I've been on before. Pretty much from Beuna Vista, up through the entire length of Shenandoah. Last year I was meeting thru hikers and asking them questions, and now this year I am one. Pretty cool feeling. Easy hiking for the rest of the morning. Hiked up Compton peak, where I remembered seeing a bear last year. Made it out of SNP, and to the Tom Floyd wayside. Highking was there drying out some wet gear. I took a lunch break. No bears through SNP. Bummer. I'm like the only person who hasn't seen one. I made it to the road crossing at Rt 522 and another thru hiker was there as well, who's wife had met him there and they gave me a ride into Front Royal to get a burger and some drinks. After that quick pitstop, I was back on the trail around 3pm or so. It was hot. Good to be hydrated. As a bonus I had a full belly of a double Whopper combo from BK as well. I was breaking new ground now. This is officially the farthest north I have ever been on the AT. The rest of the afternoon was hot and humid. I made it to the Jim and Molly Denton shelter sometime in the early evening, but nobody was there. I was hoping I would have caught up with everyone there, since this shelter was spectacularly nice. Cooking pavillion, solar shower, huge front porch with a nice bench to sit on. Oh well. Hydration break, and keep on moving. I signed in the register, and noticed that my crew were the last ones to write in the book. I must be right behind them. 5.5 sweaty miles got me to Manassas Gap shelter, well after 8pm. The sun was setting and the woods were starting to get dark. The crew wasn't here either though, just a huge group of Boy Scouts. I filled up on water at the spring. One of the leaders asked me if I was with the group of five that was just there. The description he gave fit. I was about 45 minutes behind the crew. I threw my pack back on and practically ran out of the shelter area. It was anohter 4.5 miles to Dicks Dome shelter, and I figured they wouldn't have gone all the way there. A: it was a pretty bad shelter from what I've heard, and B: I was assuming they stayed in Front Royal, would have gotten a typical late start, and wouldn't have hiked that far to get to Dicks Dome. It was dark now. I was hiking by head lamp, trying to look out for any campsites, but the woods were thick and overgrown, and I never stumbled across their camp. I passed several side trails along the way, and I wondered if maybe they had dipped off on one of those in seach of a suitable tentsite. In that case, I would unknowingly pass them, but I figured, worse case senario I would get to Dicks and stay there and wait for them in the morning. The downside is that it's been a long day hiking, and I had already put in 24 miles just to get to Manassas Gap. I finally came across a group of hikers huddled around a campfire in the woods just off the trail, and sure enough it was Rainbow Eyes, Tink, Apache, Bambam, and Crayola. I had done over 27 miles today, and caught back up. It was great to be back. Crayola gave me a friendship bracelet she had made. So cool. We stayed up pretty late talking. Apparently, they had stayed in Front Royal last night and had a bad experience. They had left the cheap hotel they were staying at at midnight after finding bedbugs, and ended up tenting and cowboy camping in a field behind the Kmart in town. Sucks about the motel, but it sure made for a good story and another interesting adventure on the AT. I had switched out my tent when I was home, to my ENO hammock. Strung that up, and had the best nights sleep on the trail so far.
 |
| A restful spot north of Front Royal, Va. |
June 18
Leaving home
Got a late start getting back on the trail, but had a good time at home. Made a quick trip to AOA outfitter in Luray and got some much needed BodyGlide and a small compression sack for my summer sleeping bag. Here we go. Said bye to mom. It'll be 3 months until I see my family again. Hiking started out easy up Pass Mountain, and I stopped at the shelter to check the register book to see if anyone I knew had passed by there recently. Took another break when I got to Elkwallow Wayside. Somewhat out of character, I didn't spring for a cheeseburger. Just got some junk food snacks to suppliment my sandwhich and mint iced tea I had packed out from home. I wasn't sure how far I was going to go this afternoon. I was making pretty good time though, and the miles were coming easy. I've been hiking alone all afternoon. Only seen a few other hikers on the trail. Actually, most of the people I've been seeing were day/section hikers coming the opposite direction southbound. When I got to the Hogback Mountain area, the skies started looking pretty unfriendly. No views at all along the way. Everything was greyed out in clouds and fog. It started to sprinkle a bit as I neared Gravel Spring hut, so I pulled in there for the night even though there was still an hour or two of daylight left. My friends had left some funny entries in the register for me to read. Slept in the shelter with some other NoBos and some sectioners. Stayed dry. Knocked out 14 miles all this afternoon in a handful of hours.
Got a late start getting back on the trail, but had a good time at home. Made a quick trip to AOA outfitter in Luray and got some much needed BodyGlide and a small compression sack for my summer sleeping bag. Here we go. Said bye to mom. It'll be 3 months until I see my family again. Hiking started out easy up Pass Mountain, and I stopped at the shelter to check the register book to see if anyone I knew had passed by there recently. Took another break when I got to Elkwallow Wayside. Somewhat out of character, I didn't spring for a cheeseburger. Just got some junk food snacks to suppliment my sandwhich and mint iced tea I had packed out from home. I wasn't sure how far I was going to go this afternoon. I was making pretty good time though, and the miles were coming easy. I've been hiking alone all afternoon. Only seen a few other hikers on the trail. Actually, most of the people I've been seeing were day/section hikers coming the opposite direction southbound. When I got to the Hogback Mountain area, the skies started looking pretty unfriendly. No views at all along the way. Everything was greyed out in clouds and fog. It started to sprinkle a bit as I neared Gravel Spring hut, so I pulled in there for the night even though there was still an hour or two of daylight left. My friends had left some funny entries in the register for me to read. Slept in the shelter with some other NoBos and some sectioners. Stayed dry. Knocked out 14 miles all this afternoon in a handful of hours.
 |
| Crossing the Skyline Drive yet again in SNP. |
Sunday, June 17, 2012
June 17
Fathers Day
Had a nice breakfast this morning of waffles, eggs, and sausage. All of us hikers here at the house snapped photos in the front yard. Then we started driving everyone back up to the mountain in shifts. I'm taking the day off to spend time at home with the folks. What a surreal weekend this has been. All of our hiker guests had such a great time. I can only imagine what they must have thought meeting mom, all in her usually hysterics. Dad hamming it up. It was strange, but really nice, to see all these new people in my parents house, totally comfortable like they were at their own homes. Helping set the table, washing dishes, etc. It was kind of like having 10 brothers and sisters. All I kept hearing was "thank you so much" and "your parents are awesome". Thanks mom and dad for treating my smelly hiker friends like family! It's fitting, since they are my 'trail family'. I spent the afternoon in Front Royal, playing in a softball game with dad. How's that for a wholesome slice of Father's Day Americana? Nice. I did get a nice bloody knee on one play where I hit the ball way into the outfield, was rounding second base trying to push for another inside the park home run, but dad pretty much tackled me. Goober. It was really fun. I'm not going to try to head out to the trail tonight. Going to stop by the outfitter in Luray tomorrow morning to pick up a few items, then get back to hiking again. I'll try to push another big day, 24 miles or so, and see if I can catch back up to my crew. That's been a recurring theme through Virginia it seems. Hey, but if this week has illustrated anything, it's that if I am separated from my crew, I'm always guaranteed to meet other interesting hikers along the way. This is going to be a whole new challenge for me leaving home. For the first 3rd of the trip so far, I've been walking toward 'home'. So that was a huge motivating factor. And a big reward for making this far. Now, once I get past Front Royal, I'll be blazing through totally new and unfamiliar territory on the trail. Most of the hike so far has been new to me, but this time, I'm walking away from home. The only goal ahead is the trail itself. Katahdin as the finale. Not that that isn't an amazing goal, but I feel like it will be a lot different mentally than the hike has been up to this point. The way I see it, I'll have a big mental hurdle to overcome hiking through the Mid-Atlantic states. At least I'll have my disco ball and tunes to make the experience hilarious, unique, and interesting. Haha. Then for the last 3rd of the hike, I'll be making my way through New England. Time to ship the fun stuff home, and get my heavy cold weather gear back too. They say once you hit New Hampshire, you've done 75% of the trail, but only 25% of the work. Sure I'll be in great hiking shape, but it will definitely be a physical smack down. For an added degree of difficulty, the mental/emotional element will be tough too. I should expect to see less and less hikers, experiencing more solitude, and having to dig pretty deep to grind out the miles. From what I've seen and heard though, that should be the most amazing section of the trail as well. Working hard, but rewarded well. It staggering to think about. I've hiked over 900 miles to get here. I've been in the woods of Appalachia for the last 2 and half months. I've still got over 1200 miles to go, and about 3 more months to live in the woods. What!?! But making it this far, it's finally starting to sink in. I can do this. The end is a long way off still, but at least it is in sight. Like just being able to start seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. A long green tunnel. Haha. I have already started to imagine touching the sign on Katahdin. I expect to laugh. I expect to cry. I have to make it there. I'm not sure how often I'll have internet access going forward, but I'll do my best to keep things updated as often as possible. Thanks to everyone who has helped me along the way so far, and thanks for reading.
Had a nice breakfast this morning of waffles, eggs, and sausage. All of us hikers here at the house snapped photos in the front yard. Then we started driving everyone back up to the mountain in shifts. I'm taking the day off to spend time at home with the folks. What a surreal weekend this has been. All of our hiker guests had such a great time. I can only imagine what they must have thought meeting mom, all in her usually hysterics. Dad hamming it up. It was strange, but really nice, to see all these new people in my parents house, totally comfortable like they were at their own homes. Helping set the table, washing dishes, etc. It was kind of like having 10 brothers and sisters. All I kept hearing was "thank you so much" and "your parents are awesome". Thanks mom and dad for treating my smelly hiker friends like family! It's fitting, since they are my 'trail family'. I spent the afternoon in Front Royal, playing in a softball game with dad. How's that for a wholesome slice of Father's Day Americana? Nice. I did get a nice bloody knee on one play where I hit the ball way into the outfield, was rounding second base trying to push for another inside the park home run, but dad pretty much tackled me. Goober. It was really fun. I'm not going to try to head out to the trail tonight. Going to stop by the outfitter in Luray tomorrow morning to pick up a few items, then get back to hiking again. I'll try to push another big day, 24 miles or so, and see if I can catch back up to my crew. That's been a recurring theme through Virginia it seems. Hey, but if this week has illustrated anything, it's that if I am separated from my crew, I'm always guaranteed to meet other interesting hikers along the way. This is going to be a whole new challenge for me leaving home. For the first 3rd of the trip so far, I've been walking toward 'home'. So that was a huge motivating factor. And a big reward for making this far. Now, once I get past Front Royal, I'll be blazing through totally new and unfamiliar territory on the trail. Most of the hike so far has been new to me, but this time, I'm walking away from home. The only goal ahead is the trail itself. Katahdin as the finale. Not that that isn't an amazing goal, but I feel like it will be a lot different mentally than the hike has been up to this point. The way I see it, I'll have a big mental hurdle to overcome hiking through the Mid-Atlantic states. At least I'll have my disco ball and tunes to make the experience hilarious, unique, and interesting. Haha. Then for the last 3rd of the hike, I'll be making my way through New England. Time to ship the fun stuff home, and get my heavy cold weather gear back too. They say once you hit New Hampshire, you've done 75% of the trail, but only 25% of the work. Sure I'll be in great hiking shape, but it will definitely be a physical smack down. For an added degree of difficulty, the mental/emotional element will be tough too. I should expect to see less and less hikers, experiencing more solitude, and having to dig pretty deep to grind out the miles. From what I've seen and heard though, that should be the most amazing section of the trail as well. Working hard, but rewarded well. It staggering to think about. I've hiked over 900 miles to get here. I've been in the woods of Appalachia for the last 2 and half months. I've still got over 1200 miles to go, and about 3 more months to live in the woods. What!?! But making it this far, it's finally starting to sink in. I can do this. The end is a long way off still, but at least it is in sight. Like just being able to start seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. A long green tunnel. Haha. I have already started to imagine touching the sign on Katahdin. I expect to laugh. I expect to cry. I have to make it there. I'm not sure how often I'll have internet access going forward, but I'll do my best to keep things updated as often as possible. Thanks to everyone who has helped me along the way so far, and thanks for reading.
 |
| A full house. Orion, Wiffle Chicken, Jean Claudia Van Damme, Trekking Pole, Tinkerbell Tex, Highking, Bambam, Rainbow Eyes, Apache, and Crayola. |
Saturday, June 16, 2012
June 16
Mom's hiker hostel
I got up early today. 6:30am. Unbelievable. I was on the trail by 7:30. Some of the hikers I have been staying with each night were leaving for the trail as I was eating my breakfast. I told them they could come down into town too if they liked, and some of them are going to meet me later at Thorton Gap when I get picked up by my folks. Hiking this morning was fantastic. It hasn't felt like June at all this week. It's really been mild and cool, and the sun has been out with no rain in sight. I stopped for a quick lunch break at Panorama with Simco. He wanted to push on to do a big mileage day. The rest of the bunch that had started off this morning ahead of me had stopped for breakfast at Skyland, so I had passed them. I flew down the trail the rest of the way to Mary's Rock. I was only held up by another deer encounter. This doe was right in the middle of the trail, so I stopped. It started walking back toward me, which was odd. Turns out there was a fawn like 6 feet away from me in the bushes. I saw it, and the mother coming right for me, so I turned around and gave her plenty of space. She collected her yearling, and they scampered off down the trail. I continued on, rounded a bend, and bumped into the deer family again. They scampered off further down the trail. Strange that they didn't go off into the woods. They were hiking along northbound just like me. This went on for about a mile, then I lost them somewhere. I made it down off of Mary's Rock, and to the parking lot at Thorton Gap. Pops was there with his daughter in law. He handed me a cheeseburger and a Bud Light. Sweet. I called mom and they came up to pick me up. I had left a note on the trail for my new friends to meet me in the parking lot. When mom and dad pulled up we all piled in the car, breaking all sorts of highway regulations, and headed home. We now had Tex (Texas), Wiffle Chicken (California), Trekking Pole (Poland), and Claudia (Denmark). With this new bunch dropped off at mom and dad's house, we now had 11 hikers, including myself! The rest of my crew was at Luray Caverns. Dad and I went to pick them up, while the new group showered and got situated. I got back to the house and started going through my mail. Got my new Osprey pack from REI. Awesome. There were 2 other boxes. In them was my 8" mirror ball, and the motor to go with it, that I had ordered off of Amazon. This is going to be epic! I've got my tunes. I've got my disco ball. I've got some really good Ihome speakers. Game on. We are going to throw some awesome parties coming up. I've never heard of anyone hiking with a disco ball before. Should be great. Mom fixed an awesome dinner for everyone. Beef, chicken, all sorts of veggies, two different potato dishes, and fruit salad. Full house tonight, and several of us are tenting in the yard. Amazing! Thanks mom and dad!
I got up early today. 6:30am. Unbelievable. I was on the trail by 7:30. Some of the hikers I have been staying with each night were leaving for the trail as I was eating my breakfast. I told them they could come down into town too if they liked, and some of them are going to meet me later at Thorton Gap when I get picked up by my folks. Hiking this morning was fantastic. It hasn't felt like June at all this week. It's really been mild and cool, and the sun has been out with no rain in sight. I stopped for a quick lunch break at Panorama with Simco. He wanted to push on to do a big mileage day. The rest of the bunch that had started off this morning ahead of me had stopped for breakfast at Skyland, so I had passed them. I flew down the trail the rest of the way to Mary's Rock. I was only held up by another deer encounter. This doe was right in the middle of the trail, so I stopped. It started walking back toward me, which was odd. Turns out there was a fawn like 6 feet away from me in the bushes. I saw it, and the mother coming right for me, so I turned around and gave her plenty of space. She collected her yearling, and they scampered off down the trail. I continued on, rounded a bend, and bumped into the deer family again. They scampered off further down the trail. Strange that they didn't go off into the woods. They were hiking along northbound just like me. This went on for about a mile, then I lost them somewhere. I made it down off of Mary's Rock, and to the parking lot at Thorton Gap. Pops was there with his daughter in law. He handed me a cheeseburger and a Bud Light. Sweet. I called mom and they came up to pick me up. I had left a note on the trail for my new friends to meet me in the parking lot. When mom and dad pulled up we all piled in the car, breaking all sorts of highway regulations, and headed home. We now had Tex (Texas), Wiffle Chicken (California), Trekking Pole (Poland), and Claudia (Denmark). With this new bunch dropped off at mom and dad's house, we now had 11 hikers, including myself! The rest of my crew was at Luray Caverns. Dad and I went to pick them up, while the new group showered and got situated. I got back to the house and started going through my mail. Got my new Osprey pack from REI. Awesome. There were 2 other boxes. In them was my 8" mirror ball, and the motor to go with it, that I had ordered off of Amazon. This is going to be epic! I've got my tunes. I've got my disco ball. I've got some really good Ihome speakers. Game on. We are going to throw some awesome parties coming up. I've never heard of anyone hiking with a disco ball before. Should be great. Mom fixed an awesome dinner for everyone. Beef, chicken, all sorts of veggies, two different potato dishes, and fruit salad. Full house tonight, and several of us are tenting in the yard. Amazing! Thanks mom and dad!
 |
| Doe and fawn on the trail in SNP near Mary's Rock, SNP. |
June 15
900
I couldn't pull myself out of bed. By the time I finally woke up for good, the shelter was empty, and only a couple tents were still around. 9:30am start. Terrible. Passed the 900 mile mark. Someone had made a "900" out of sticks and pine cones laid across the trail. Crossed the highway at Swift Run Gap soon enough and headed into SNP's central district. I feel like the cold I had is starting to break a little bit. Still have a lot of sinus issues, and the calf is still a bit tight, but I was moving right along at a pretty good clip. Still rockin' out to the electronic tunes. Made it to Lewis Mountain and stopped by the campground store. I new I needed fluids, so I got a 32oz Gatorade, a Coke, and a grapefruit juice. The store keeper convinced me to buy a microwaveable cheeseburger. It wasn't a hard decision. I ate my trail lunch of pepperoni and cheese on flatbread too. I tried calling my dad to come out to meet me again, but no service. Surprise, surprise. Thanks Sprint. I did get all of my electronics charged up while I took an hour for lunch. Climbing up Bearfence Mountain went pretty smoothly. Cruised along up and over Hazeltop, and down into Milam Gap to take a break. I downed a 20oz Gatorade in the parking lot there that I had packed out from the store. At one point, I had to dip off into the woods to dig a hole. So while I'm sitting there, this doe walks right up on me, literally six feet away, just nibbling away on plants. Not much I could do in the position I was in, so I tried yelling and clapping, but it wasn't phased. So I was like, okay deer if you don't care then I don't care. So I handled my business, covered it up and walked right past the animal on my way back to the trail. Weird. I don't know what it was but the next 10 miles or so went by really well. Maybe it was that cheap cheeseburger. My calf stopped hurting and I wasn't as congested. I flew past the campground at Big Meadows, practically jogging down the trail. A mix came on my mp3 player of Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romace' mashed up with some crazy dupstep by Skrillex. That was like turbo boost mode. I was putting the beat down to the trail. Made it to Rock Spring Hut. 24 mile day. Bam! I actually had cell service, so I called mom to let her know I was getting close to Luray. She told me that my crew was at the house tonight! I had managed to catch up within half a day of them. Apache, Tink, Rainbow Eyes, Bambam, Highking were all there, and they had picked up another hiker that I hadn't met before, Crayola. Mom sounded like she was having a blast hosting everyone. They had just had dinner, and were playing Scattergories before having dessert. Ahhhh I can't wait to get home tomorrow!
I couldn't pull myself out of bed. By the time I finally woke up for good, the shelter was empty, and only a couple tents were still around. 9:30am start. Terrible. Passed the 900 mile mark. Someone had made a "900" out of sticks and pine cones laid across the trail. Crossed the highway at Swift Run Gap soon enough and headed into SNP's central district. I feel like the cold I had is starting to break a little bit. Still have a lot of sinus issues, and the calf is still a bit tight, but I was moving right along at a pretty good clip. Still rockin' out to the electronic tunes. Made it to Lewis Mountain and stopped by the campground store. I new I needed fluids, so I got a 32oz Gatorade, a Coke, and a grapefruit juice. The store keeper convinced me to buy a microwaveable cheeseburger. It wasn't a hard decision. I ate my trail lunch of pepperoni and cheese on flatbread too. I tried calling my dad to come out to meet me again, but no service. Surprise, surprise. Thanks Sprint. I did get all of my electronics charged up while I took an hour for lunch. Climbing up Bearfence Mountain went pretty smoothly. Cruised along up and over Hazeltop, and down into Milam Gap to take a break. I downed a 20oz Gatorade in the parking lot there that I had packed out from the store. At one point, I had to dip off into the woods to dig a hole. So while I'm sitting there, this doe walks right up on me, literally six feet away, just nibbling away on plants. Not much I could do in the position I was in, so I tried yelling and clapping, but it wasn't phased. So I was like, okay deer if you don't care then I don't care. So I handled my business, covered it up and walked right past the animal on my way back to the trail. Weird. I don't know what it was but the next 10 miles or so went by really well. Maybe it was that cheap cheeseburger. My calf stopped hurting and I wasn't as congested. I flew past the campground at Big Meadows, practically jogging down the trail. A mix came on my mp3 player of Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romace' mashed up with some crazy dupstep by Skrillex. That was like turbo boost mode. I was putting the beat down to the trail. Made it to Rock Spring Hut. 24 mile day. Bam! I actually had cell service, so I called mom to let her know I was getting close to Luray. She told me that my crew was at the house tonight! I had managed to catch up within half a day of them. Apache, Tink, Rainbow Eyes, Bambam, Highking were all there, and they had picked up another hiker that I hadn't met before, Crayola. Mom sounded like she was having a blast hosting everyone. They had just had dinner, and were playing Scattergories before having dessert. Ahhhh I can't wait to get home tomorrow!
 |
| Eh, what's up doc? |
June 14
Hightop
I was last to leave the shelter. Chose to sleep there last night instead of try to fiddle with my hammock set up the first night out. Another beautiful morning, and the rocks up on the summit of Blackrock Mountain were as amazing as I had remembered. Still hacking and coughing my way down the trail, but my energy levels are still high. I've been listening to some music on my new mp3 player. A friend of mine back in town hooked me up with a bunch of songs. Breezing down the trail. Rockin' out to some awesome dubstep, trance, and electo-house music courtesy of DJ Stroud. I used to be somewhat opposed to the idea of listening to music on the trail. In SNP though, I've already seen what there is to see. Also, the tunes drown out any noise from the Skyline Drive. The only downside is that I probably have walked right past some of the wildlife in the park without even noticing. Oh well. It's really helping me bust out the miles, and since I'm pretty much hiking alone now, it helps the time go by. I stopped for a lunch break at Loft Mountain, and grabbed some liquid refreshments from the campground store. Still made good time this afternoon, but it feels like my right calf is starting to cramp up. Had another pretty long stretch with no water, so I filled up at the ranger station at Simmons Gap, 0.2 off the trail to get me through the late afternoon. I remembered this next section from last summer, and back then it beat me down. This time around I did really well with it. Nothing like a 800+ mile warm-up to get you in shape. A pretty big climb, by SNP standards at least, of 800 feet or so, then back down the other side of the mountain, put me down at Powell Gap. When I got to Smith Roach Gap I started the climb up Hightop Mountain, the third highest peak in SNP. At the sign at the start of the climb, someone had left a couple sodas, so I grabbed a Coke and packed it out to enjoy later at dinner. The climb up Hightop was pretty tough. Easier than I remembered from last year, but probably the toughest climb in the park so far. Got to the shelter, filled up my water bladder, and cooked some dinner. Mashed potatoes and salmon. Yeah, I deserved that today. Right calf is still bothering me a little bit. I got a fire going, and talked with some of the other hikers there. Many of them were at the shelter with me last night too. They all get up early and start hiking, but we end up in the same place at the end of the day. Still haven't seen any bears. Seems like I'm the only one that hasn't. One hiker wrote in the shelter register that they had seen 8 in one day. Oh well, if I've seen plenty in the park before. Maybe on this hike I'll have to wait to NJ to see my first. 21 miles. Day 2 in the Shennies.
I was last to leave the shelter. Chose to sleep there last night instead of try to fiddle with my hammock set up the first night out. Another beautiful morning, and the rocks up on the summit of Blackrock Mountain were as amazing as I had remembered. Still hacking and coughing my way down the trail, but my energy levels are still high. I've been listening to some music on my new mp3 player. A friend of mine back in town hooked me up with a bunch of songs. Breezing down the trail. Rockin' out to some awesome dubstep, trance, and electo-house music courtesy of DJ Stroud. I used to be somewhat opposed to the idea of listening to music on the trail. In SNP though, I've already seen what there is to see. Also, the tunes drown out any noise from the Skyline Drive. The only downside is that I probably have walked right past some of the wildlife in the park without even noticing. Oh well. It's really helping me bust out the miles, and since I'm pretty much hiking alone now, it helps the time go by. I stopped for a lunch break at Loft Mountain, and grabbed some liquid refreshments from the campground store. Still made good time this afternoon, but it feels like my right calf is starting to cramp up. Had another pretty long stretch with no water, so I filled up at the ranger station at Simmons Gap, 0.2 off the trail to get me through the late afternoon. I remembered this next section from last summer, and back then it beat me down. This time around I did really well with it. Nothing like a 800+ mile warm-up to get you in shape. A pretty big climb, by SNP standards at least, of 800 feet or so, then back down the other side of the mountain, put me down at Powell Gap. When I got to Smith Roach Gap I started the climb up Hightop Mountain, the third highest peak in SNP. At the sign at the start of the climb, someone had left a couple sodas, so I grabbed a Coke and packed it out to enjoy later at dinner. The climb up Hightop was pretty tough. Easier than I remembered from last year, but probably the toughest climb in the park so far. Got to the shelter, filled up my water bladder, and cooked some dinner. Mashed potatoes and salmon. Yeah, I deserved that today. Right calf is still bothering me a little bit. I got a fire going, and talked with some of the other hikers there. Many of them were at the shelter with me last night too. They all get up early and start hiking, but we end up in the same place at the end of the day. Still haven't seen any bears. Seems like I'm the only one that hasn't. One hiker wrote in the shelter register that they had seen 8 in one day. Oh well, if I've seen plenty in the park before. Maybe on this hike I'll have to wait to NJ to see my first. 21 miles. Day 2 in the Shennies.
 |
| Concrete signpost in SNP. |
June 13
The Shennies
Got up early, and Mr Lee drove me back up to the trail where I head left off. Still feeling pretty crappy, but I've got all kinds of day time pills and night time pills and vitamins packed out with me. I got started hiking around 7:45am, back into the familiar territory of Shenandoah National Park. Filled out my park registration and I was cruising over the first few ups and downs in the cool morning air. Made it to Calf Mountain shelter in no time. Filled up on water since I remembered from last summer that the upcoming stretch of trail was pretty dry. I had brief cell phone reception and talked to my dad. We agreed to meet around the Rip Rap trail head around 2pm. We met up and I got a ride up to Loft Mountain Wayside with him and got a cheeseburger, large soda, and a blackberry milkshake. Awesome, but pricey. So it goes in the SNP. Headed back on the trail and made it to Blackrock hut for the night. Met a whole new group of hikers there. Just under 20 miles, first day back out on the trail. Not too bad, especially considering I was coughing up all kinds of nasty stuff all day long. I'm convinced the mountain air will work it's healing magic.
Got up early, and Mr Lee drove me back up to the trail where I head left off. Still feeling pretty crappy, but I've got all kinds of day time pills and night time pills and vitamins packed out with me. I got started hiking around 7:45am, back into the familiar territory of Shenandoah National Park. Filled out my park registration and I was cruising over the first few ups and downs in the cool morning air. Made it to Calf Mountain shelter in no time. Filled up on water since I remembered from last summer that the upcoming stretch of trail was pretty dry. I had brief cell phone reception and talked to my dad. We agreed to meet around the Rip Rap trail head around 2pm. We met up and I got a ride up to Loft Mountain Wayside with him and got a cheeseburger, large soda, and a blackberry milkshake. Awesome, but pricey. So it goes in the SNP. Headed back on the trail and made it to Blackrock hut for the night. Met a whole new group of hikers there. Just under 20 miles, first day back out on the trail. Not too bad, especially considering I was coughing up all kinds of nasty stuff all day long. I'm convinced the mountain air will work it's healing magic.
 |
| Beagle Gap, SNP. |
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
June 12
Zero?
I didn't feel good this morning. My throat was kind of scratchy all day yesterday. Last night I didn't sleep well, I was coughing and congested all night. This sucks. I spend almost 3 months in the dirty woods, come into the city for a few days, and catch some bug in town. I went to the store to get enough food to hike up through Shenandoah to my parents' house. Going to pack out some Day-Quill in my medicine kit. I haven't really packed up and sorted through any of my new gear purchases. It's raining too. Getting caught up on blog entries now. It's about 3:30pm. I feel a little bit better, but still like I'm sick. Hmmm. Looks like I might have to wait until tomorrow to hit the trail. Man, I'm going to have to fly to catch up to everyone. In the mean time, on the trail at least, I'm guaranteed to meet a slew of other interesting hikers.
I didn't feel good this morning. My throat was kind of scratchy all day yesterday. Last night I didn't sleep well, I was coughing and congested all night. This sucks. I spend almost 3 months in the dirty woods, come into the city for a few days, and catch some bug in town. I went to the store to get enough food to hike up through Shenandoah to my parents' house. Going to pack out some Day-Quill in my medicine kit. I haven't really packed up and sorted through any of my new gear purchases. It's raining too. Getting caught up on blog entries now. It's about 3:30pm. I feel a little bit better, but still like I'm sick. Hmmm. Looks like I might have to wait until tomorrow to hit the trail. Man, I'm going to have to fly to catch up to everyone. In the mean time, on the trail at least, I'm guaranteed to meet a slew of other interesting hikers.
June 11
Back to W'boro
Hung out with Nate this afternoon for a while, then drove over to Wayensboro to visit with some family friends. Mom and Dad drove down from home to see me too. It was hard to believe that I hadn't seen them in two and a half months. I showed my pictures again, and we had a great meal for dinner. I'm staying the night here at the Lee's. Going to hit the trail tomorrow.
Hung out with Nate this afternoon for a while, then drove over to Wayensboro to visit with some family friends. Mom and Dad drove down from home to see me too. It was hard to believe that I hadn't seen them in two and a half months. I showed my pictures again, and we had a great meal for dinner. I'm staying the night here at the Lee's. Going to hit the trail tomorrow.
June 10
Another zero
Tim left this afternoon. Nate and Jenn and I went to watch some other friends of ours in town play a game of kickball. Then we went over to our friend Crystal's house for a cookout. It was good to see everyone again.
Tim left this afternoon. Nate and Jenn and I went to watch some other friends of ours in town play a game of kickball. Then we went over to our friend Crystal's house for a cookout. It was good to see everyone again.
June 9
Catch ya' later
We all went downtown to get some crepes at The Flat and some gelato at Splendora's. I drove Apache, Rainbow Eyes, Tink, and Bambam back up to the mountain so they could start hiking. For me it was another zero day hanging out in C'ville. I'd have to catch up with the crew later down the trail. The cool thing was though, my little brother, Tim, called me and told me he was driving up from Va Beach to see me. So I got back to Nate's and I got to see my brother and hang out with him for the night too.
We all went downtown to get some crepes at The Flat and some gelato at Splendora's. I drove Apache, Rainbow Eyes, Tink, and Bambam back up to the mountain so they could start hiking. For me it was another zero day hanging out in C'ville. I'd have to catch up with the crew later down the trail. The cool thing was though, my little brother, Tim, called me and told me he was driving up from Va Beach to see me. So I got back to Nate's and I got to see my brother and hang out with him for the night too.
June 8
Road trippin'
I knew I was staying in town longer, but I was willing to take Apache and Rainbow Eyes back to the trail today if they wanted to go. Better idea: let's go to Richmond. We went to go see the new movie, Prometheus, at the IMax theater in 3-D. That was pretty awesome. I didn't realize until the end of the movie, that it was basically the prequel to the Alien movies. We got lunch at Q's Barbecue, which was awesome as always. Then we went to the REI store. Apache swapped out his trekking poles and shoes that were both starting to fail. I bought a lot of new gear, including a new Osprey pack, since I had lost so much weight and my current pack doesn't fit me anymore. On the way back to Charlottesville, I got a call from Tink, so I drove over to Waynesboro to pick her and Bambam up so they could hang out in C'ville for the night too. Thanks Nate and Jenn for letting 5 hikers crash at your hostel, I mean house!
I knew I was staying in town longer, but I was willing to take Apache and Rainbow Eyes back to the trail today if they wanted to go. Better idea: let's go to Richmond. We went to go see the new movie, Prometheus, at the IMax theater in 3-D. That was pretty awesome. I didn't realize until the end of the movie, that it was basically the prequel to the Alien movies. We got lunch at Q's Barbecue, which was awesome as always. Then we went to the REI store. Apache swapped out his trekking poles and shoes that were both starting to fail. I bought a lot of new gear, including a new Osprey pack, since I had lost so much weight and my current pack doesn't fit me anymore. On the way back to Charlottesville, I got a call from Tink, so I drove over to Waynesboro to pick her and Bambam up so they could hang out in C'ville for the night too. Thanks Nate and Jenn for letting 5 hikers crash at your hostel, I mean house!
June 7
Zero
We left Staunton and headed back east to Charlottesville. Taking a zero day to hang out in town there with my buddy Nate. It was fun to show Apache and Rainbow Eyes around, since I had been talking about home for the last 2 months. I made sure to take them to some good places to eat. Ciro's pizza in Waynesboro on the way over to C'ville. Subs at Little John's for dinner in C'ville that night. Hung out at Biltmore for a while. And I wanted to take them to Spudnuts in the morning for donuts.
We left Staunton and headed back east to Charlottesville. Taking a zero day to hang out in town there with my buddy Nate. It was fun to show Apache and Rainbow Eyes around, since I had been talking about home for the last 2 months. I made sure to take them to some good places to eat. Ciro's pizza in Waynesboro on the way over to C'ville. Subs at Little John's for dinner in C'ville that night. Hung out at Biltmore for a while. And I wanted to take them to Spudnuts in the morning for donuts.
June 6
Home! (sort of)
We felt pretty refreshed today, and made it the 4 miles or so to Paul C Wolf shelter quickly. Took a break there to have a snack, then pushed on. We only had 5 more miles to go to get to Rockfish Gap on Afton Mountain. My parents had left my car there for me at the road, so when we got there, we piled in and drove down into Waynesboro. We stopped by Rockfish Gap Outfitters to browse, then went to Ming Garden for the all you can eat Chinese buffet. A-maze-ing! All the time I spent growing up in W'boro, and I had never been there, haha! We took care of some more town chores at the Post Office, then headed over to Staunton, Va to my aunt and uncle's house. We stayed the night with them, having gotten cleaned up and well fed. I showed everyone all of my pictures from the trip so far. It was cool to see them on a big screen TV in HD.
We felt pretty refreshed today, and made it the 4 miles or so to Paul C Wolf shelter quickly. Took a break there to have a snack, then pushed on. We only had 5 more miles to go to get to Rockfish Gap on Afton Mountain. My parents had left my car there for me at the road, so when we got there, we piled in and drove down into Waynesboro. We stopped by Rockfish Gap Outfitters to browse, then went to Ming Garden for the all you can eat Chinese buffet. A-maze-ing! All the time I spent growing up in W'boro, and I had never been there, haha! We took care of some more town chores at the Post Office, then headed over to Staunton, Va to my aunt and uncle's house. We stayed the night with them, having gotten cleaned up and well fed. I showed everyone all of my pictures from the trip so far. It was cool to see them on a big screen TV in HD.
 |
| 856.5 miles to get back home |
June 5
The Hangover
I got up around 11:30am, having slept though the night (errr morning) uninterrupted. Rainbow Eyes had been awake for a few minutes already. We packed up, at breakfast, and rested down at the shelter. Apache didn't get up and moving until 1:30pm. We all started hiking around 2:30. I had done all of this area before, so I knew the hiking would be pretty easy at least. We made it 2 miles from camp and took a break at Three Ridges overlook on the the BRP. Hiked a couple more miles, and took another break. We took another break at Rock Point. We were hiking under 2 miles per hour. Nothing really hurt specifically, I just had zero energy. My body was totally drained. It was like having a hangover the next day after a night of heavy drinking. This was a hiking hangover. We got to a nice campsite at Cedar Cliffs, but decided not to stop there since we had only done 6 miles so far. It was around 6pm at this point. We hiked on, up and over Humpback Mountain, continuously scoping the woods for a descent campsite. We finally decided to stop to eat some dinner around 8pm. We thought about moving on, but with full stomachs, and rain starting to fall, we decided to set up camp right then and there. It rained all night, but I slept very soundly.
I got up around 11:30am, having slept though the night (errr morning) uninterrupted. Rainbow Eyes had been awake for a few minutes already. We packed up, at breakfast, and rested down at the shelter. Apache didn't get up and moving until 1:30pm. We all started hiking around 2:30. I had done all of this area before, so I knew the hiking would be pretty easy at least. We made it 2 miles from camp and took a break at Three Ridges overlook on the the BRP. Hiked a couple more miles, and took another break. We took another break at Rock Point. We were hiking under 2 miles per hour. Nothing really hurt specifically, I just had zero energy. My body was totally drained. It was like having a hangover the next day after a night of heavy drinking. This was a hiking hangover. We got to a nice campsite at Cedar Cliffs, but decided not to stop there since we had only done 6 miles so far. It was around 6pm at this point. We hiked on, up and over Humpback Mountain, continuously scoping the woods for a descent campsite. We finally decided to stop to eat some dinner around 8pm. We thought about moving on, but with full stomachs, and rain starting to fall, we decided to set up camp right then and there. It rained all night, but I slept very soundly.
 |
| Trying to recover |
June 4
Biggest day yet
So, today started just like any other day. Up around 8, on the trail by 9. Yeah, we're not the early bird crowd that's for sure. Beautiful weather. I have done this section of trail in the past too. Nice and easy hiking over Tar Jacket Ridge. We knocked out about 8 miles to the Seely-Woodworth shelter. We decided to keep going, since Spy Rock was only 2 miles further, and that would be a better place to stop for lunch. It was really windy up there but the 360 degree views from the top of the rock made for an awesome lunch spot. We took a break for about an hour, and by this time it was after 1pm. During our break, for some unholy reason, we talked about how cool it would be to do a marathon toady. We joked about not getting and early start this morning, taking lots of breaks today including an hour for lunch, but we set our sights on the Three Ridges Mountain area regardless. After lunch, we had a climb up The Priest. We rocked it like it was nothing. When we got up to the shelter there at the summit, I called my buddy in Charlottesville, Nate, and he wanted to come up to meet us just ahead down the trail. We flew down other side of The Priest, and saw a double rainbow along the way. I know what you're thinking: "double rainbow!?! OMG! what does it mean??? it's so intense!" HAHA. We came out of The Priest Wilderness, to the parking area on Rt 56 next to the Tye River, around 7pm. Nate pulled up with his wife Jenn and their min-pin Vegas, and one of my other former co-workers, Debbie. I was hoping they had brought some Gatorades or something. But Nate went way over the top for us. We sat in the parking lot, he fired up the charcoal grill he had brought, and we feasted on pork chops, hot dogs, BBQ chicken, potato salad, and yes even Gatorade. Nate and I shotgunned a beer for old times sake. Ridiculous trail magic! Apache, Rainbow Eyes, and I stayed there until 10pm, then we got all packed up again to start hiking. We still had another 8 miles or so to complete our marathon. Tonight was the full moon, so that helped us rationalize our decision. Little did we realize, that the moonlight wouldn't help us at all, since we were under the darkness of leaf cover for most of the hike. Oh well. Climbing and more climbing up to Harpers Creek shelter. We stopped to fill up on water to get us through the next section in the Three Ridges Wilderness. The climb up Three Ridges Mountain was grueling. We took lots of breaks. At least doing this at night gave us cooler temperatures. We got to the view at Chimney Rocks around midnight, struggling, but still in relatively good spirits. Mostly we joked about how stupid we were for doing this. We should have planned ahead before doing this. Oh well, we were committed at this point. I really felt like a 'trail boss' for doing this. Around 2:30am, we got over the summit of the mountain, down to the overlook at Hanging Rock, totally spent. The mood had definitely changed. No more wise-cracks and jokes. Just shear exhaustion. We rested on the rock there for a few minutes, having completed our 26.2 mile marathon. We continued on for another couple miles to get to the shelter area at Maupin Field. We got there around 3:30am and set up our tents and passed out. We had just completed a 28.1 mile day, over what is arguably the toughest terrain in the state of Virginia. Just another day on the AT!
So, today started just like any other day. Up around 8, on the trail by 9. Yeah, we're not the early bird crowd that's for sure. Beautiful weather. I have done this section of trail in the past too. Nice and easy hiking over Tar Jacket Ridge. We knocked out about 8 miles to the Seely-Woodworth shelter. We decided to keep going, since Spy Rock was only 2 miles further, and that would be a better place to stop for lunch. It was really windy up there but the 360 degree views from the top of the rock made for an awesome lunch spot. We took a break for about an hour, and by this time it was after 1pm. During our break, for some unholy reason, we talked about how cool it would be to do a marathon toady. We joked about not getting and early start this morning, taking lots of breaks today including an hour for lunch, but we set our sights on the Three Ridges Mountain area regardless. After lunch, we had a climb up The Priest. We rocked it like it was nothing. When we got up to the shelter there at the summit, I called my buddy in Charlottesville, Nate, and he wanted to come up to meet us just ahead down the trail. We flew down other side of The Priest, and saw a double rainbow along the way. I know what you're thinking: "double rainbow!?! OMG! what does it mean??? it's so intense!" HAHA. We came out of The Priest Wilderness, to the parking area on Rt 56 next to the Tye River, around 7pm. Nate pulled up with his wife Jenn and their min-pin Vegas, and one of my other former co-workers, Debbie. I was hoping they had brought some Gatorades or something. But Nate went way over the top for us. We sat in the parking lot, he fired up the charcoal grill he had brought, and we feasted on pork chops, hot dogs, BBQ chicken, potato salad, and yes even Gatorade. Nate and I shotgunned a beer for old times sake. Ridiculous trail magic! Apache, Rainbow Eyes, and I stayed there until 10pm, then we got all packed up again to start hiking. We still had another 8 miles or so to complete our marathon. Tonight was the full moon, so that helped us rationalize our decision. Little did we realize, that the moonlight wouldn't help us at all, since we were under the darkness of leaf cover for most of the hike. Oh well. Climbing and more climbing up to Harpers Creek shelter. We stopped to fill up on water to get us through the next section in the Three Ridges Wilderness. The climb up Three Ridges Mountain was grueling. We took lots of breaks. At least doing this at night gave us cooler temperatures. We got to the view at Chimney Rocks around midnight, struggling, but still in relatively good spirits. Mostly we joked about how stupid we were for doing this. We should have planned ahead before doing this. Oh well, we were committed at this point. I really felt like a 'trail boss' for doing this. Around 2:30am, we got over the summit of the mountain, down to the overlook at Hanging Rock, totally spent. The mood had definitely changed. No more wise-cracks and jokes. Just shear exhaustion. We rested on the rock there for a few minutes, having completed our 26.2 mile marathon. We continued on for another couple miles to get to the shelter area at Maupin Field. We got there around 3:30am and set up our tents and passed out. We had just completed a 28.1 mile day, over what is arguably the toughest terrain in the state of Virginia. Just another day on the AT!
 |
| On Spy Rock |
June 3
Short day
We got a late start leaving the festival. I got a shower in the bath house before we left. Bambam drove us guys back up to the trail. He and Tink were going to park the truck somewhere and hitch back up to the mountain to start hiking again. Had a really big climb going up Bald Knob, which wasn't a bald at all. The climb was long and tough, but we passed the time easily enough, laughing at my expense. Apparently, back in Glasgow, when we were sitting under the big dinosaur, Apache had tried to get my attention when I was passing out rolls of toilet paper to everyone. He said he tried telling me that he would like one, but I was just staring up at Hashbrown as she unraveled her roll, mesmerized. I said "I'm sorry Apache. Did I give you a roll too?" He replied, "Yeah........eventually". I said "my bad", but he said not to worry about it, since I had provided him, Tink, and Rainbow Eyes with comedic material for days. Had a few passing clouds that looked ominous, but it only sprinkled for a few minutes. Awesome hiking, and views, on Cold Mountain, going through the meadows up there. I have been there several times before, and it's one of my favorite spots. We only made it as as far as Hog Camp Gap, 6 miles or so for the day, to a really nice campsite. Earthing and Yodeler were there too. Headed to bed early, tired from little bit of sleep the night before. Hoping to do some big miles tomorrow. I'm getting so close to home now and I can't wait!
 |
| Cold Mountain, meadows on the AT looking northbound |
June 2
800
We started out from the shelter this morning with nothing but climbing. Went up to Little Rocky Row, and took a quick breather, then up and over Big Rocky Row. After that we had some nice ridge walking. Along the way we took another break to swing on a vine that was hanging from a tree. Passed a monument dedicated to a 4 year old that had died on Bluff Mountain in the 1800's after he had gotten lost in the woods. Made it to the BRP, at a parking area just past Punchbowl shelter. HB and Croc had decided to walk the parkway to get to Waynesboro, where they were going to aqua-blaze (float down a river) the section that went along the Shenandoahs. We hiked on that afternoon, knocking out another 11 miles or so. Pretty easy hiking along the Brown Mountain Creek area. We came to the road crossing at Rt. 60. Bambam was there in his truck waiting for us, and gave us a ride 10 miles into Buena Vista, Va. We drove into the city park there, and there just happened to be a campout/music festival going on that day. We pitched our tents in the camping area and walked around to check out the festivities. I saw a canopy set up that had the Devil's Backbone logo on it. That's a local brewery in the Charlottesville area, which I have been to before. When I got to the canopy, who else did I see buy HB and Croc! They had gotten picked up off the road up on the BRP, and taken down into Buena Vista. Funny how that worked out. Apache, Rainbow Eyes, and I went to get some dinner at a BBQ place across from the park. Then I stayed up late, or rather early in the morning, hanging out at the brewery tent. What's great about Devil's Backbone, is they are really hiker friendly there. The have a phone number hikers can call, that is also printed on the bottom of their six-packs, and someone will come to the trail head at Reeds Gap on the Blue Ridge Parkway, pick you up, take you to the brewery and let you camp out on the grounds, and drive you back up to the trail in the morning. Pretty awesome. I finally crawled into my tent at 4am. What a busy day. Hiked 20 miles. I crossed the 800 mile mark. Went to a music festival. Stayed up 'til 4. Another day on the AT.
We started out from the shelter this morning with nothing but climbing. Went up to Little Rocky Row, and took a quick breather, then up and over Big Rocky Row. After that we had some nice ridge walking. Along the way we took another break to swing on a vine that was hanging from a tree. Passed a monument dedicated to a 4 year old that had died on Bluff Mountain in the 1800's after he had gotten lost in the woods. Made it to the BRP, at a parking area just past Punchbowl shelter. HB and Croc had decided to walk the parkway to get to Waynesboro, where they were going to aqua-blaze (float down a river) the section that went along the Shenandoahs. We hiked on that afternoon, knocking out another 11 miles or so. Pretty easy hiking along the Brown Mountain Creek area. We came to the road crossing at Rt. 60. Bambam was there in his truck waiting for us, and gave us a ride 10 miles into Buena Vista, Va. We drove into the city park there, and there just happened to be a campout/music festival going on that day. We pitched our tents in the camping area and walked around to check out the festivities. I saw a canopy set up that had the Devil's Backbone logo on it. That's a local brewery in the Charlottesville area, which I have been to before. When I got to the canopy, who else did I see buy HB and Croc! They had gotten picked up off the road up on the BRP, and taken down into Buena Vista. Funny how that worked out. Apache, Rainbow Eyes, and I went to get some dinner at a BBQ place across from the park. Then I stayed up late, or rather early in the morning, hanging out at the brewery tent. What's great about Devil's Backbone, is they are really hiker friendly there. The have a phone number hikers can call, that is also printed on the bottom of their six-packs, and someone will come to the trail head at Reeds Gap on the Blue Ridge Parkway, pick you up, take you to the brewery and let you camp out on the grounds, and drive you back up to the trail in the morning. Pretty awesome. I finally crawled into my tent at 4am. What a busy day. Hiked 20 miles. I crossed the 800 mile mark. Went to a music festival. Stayed up 'til 4. Another day on the AT.
 |
| Hangin' (literally) out on Little Rocky Row |
Sunday, June 10, 2012
June 1
Scrabble tournament anyone?
We woke up this morning, eaten alive by mosquitoes. I counted 27 bites on my right hand alone. Poor Hashbrown's legs looked like some alien life-form from all the bites she had. We had a weather report for today. Rain, thunderstorms, hail, high winds. The kicker: basically the entire state of Virginia was under a tornado warning. We all talked about it, trying to convince each other that it was a good idea not to hike today. Apache had made a scrabble board on the bottom of his Tyvek ground cloth. So we all decided to stay in the shelter and play Scrabble all day to wait out the nasty storm. Nice, relaxing day. The privy was super nice here too, so that was a bonus. Haha. We played a lot of Scrabble. I did a crossword puzzle with Hashbrown. Apache built a nice dam/spout in the creek next to the shelter to make water gathering easier for us. Tink and Apache came into the shelter with us that night. After dinner I was jamming out to some Daft Punk that Tink had on her Ipod. Croc Hunter made a Bear Grylls style torch. A ridge-runner from the Park Service came up to the shelter just before dark, talking to us for a while, just to check on the hikers in the area to make sure everyone was doing okay. The storm had played peak-a-boo all day with us. The wind would pick up, the sky would get dark, and it would pour for about 20 minutes. Then it would clear up. That process kept repeating all afternoon and night. We definitely would have been okay hiking, but we did hear reports of the storm being much, much worse in other areas nearby, with quarter-sized hail and 50 mph winds. We were happy with our decision. It was my first zero day in the woods. It was awesome.
We woke up this morning, eaten alive by mosquitoes. I counted 27 bites on my right hand alone. Poor Hashbrown's legs looked like some alien life-form from all the bites she had. We had a weather report for today. Rain, thunderstorms, hail, high winds. The kicker: basically the entire state of Virginia was under a tornado warning. We all talked about it, trying to convince each other that it was a good idea not to hike today. Apache had made a scrabble board on the bottom of his Tyvek ground cloth. So we all decided to stay in the shelter and play Scrabble all day to wait out the nasty storm. Nice, relaxing day. The privy was super nice here too, so that was a bonus. Haha. We played a lot of Scrabble. I did a crossword puzzle with Hashbrown. Apache built a nice dam/spout in the creek next to the shelter to make water gathering easier for us. Tink and Apache came into the shelter with us that night. After dinner I was jamming out to some Daft Punk that Tink had on her Ipod. Croc Hunter made a Bear Grylls style torch. A ridge-runner from the Park Service came up to the shelter just before dark, talking to us for a while, just to check on the hikers in the area to make sure everyone was doing okay. The storm had played peak-a-boo all day with us. The wind would pick up, the sky would get dark, and it would pour for about 20 minutes. Then it would clear up. That process kept repeating all afternoon and night. We definitely would have been okay hiking, but we did hear reports of the storm being much, much worse in other areas nearby, with quarter-sized hail and 50 mph winds. We were happy with our decision. It was my first zero day in the woods. It was awesome.
May 31
Awesomely random
Great hiking this morning. Made it 10 miles, into the James River Face Wilderness, to the James River footbridge. This is the longest foot-travel-only bridge on the entire AT. It crosses the James, about 20-25 feet above the river. A bunch of locals and other hikers were there, jumping off of the bridge into the water. I climbed over the railing and took my turn jumping off into the water below. What a rush! I landed in the water kind of funny, and I got a lot of water in my ears. It threw off my balance and equilibrium for a bit, and I took my time crawling up the stairs back up to the bridge. Jumped off again. Much better that time. We walked across the bridge and got to the parking area. The rest of the crew needed to go in to town to resupply, and I went with them just for fun. The thing was, Glasgow was 6 miles down the road, and there had been an accident a little way up, and VDOT had blocked off the entire highway for about a 5 mile stretch in both directions from the accident. Translation: we wouldn't be able to get a hitch, since there were no cars on the road. Walking down the hot pavement sucked. When I finally got to town, I was so thirsty. I was getting a headache too from the water that was still stuck in my ears. We ate at the diner in town. There wasn't much to Glasgow. I was still struggling with my ear issue, and Rainbow Eyes went over to the Dollar General to buy me a bottle of rubbing alcohol. Pouring it in my ears helped a lot to get the water out and dry them out. I started feeling better and I ended up going over to buy a few items at the Dollar General, including a 4-pack of toilet paper since I had just run out. We all sat in a field across from the diner, in the shadow of this huge dinosaur, packing up our gear. Weird. It was getting late and we still had to get back to the trail, so we headed back out to the highway to try to hitch. The road was open to traffic at that point. We all split up to try to make getting a hitch easier. I posted out with Hashbrown and Croc Hunter. Soon enough, a pickup truck pulled up to the stop sign, and Hashbrown and I convinced the guy to give us a ride. He even picked up Tink, Apache, and Rainbow Eyes, who had gone further down the highway. Awesome! By the time we got dropped off back at the James River Bridge, nightfall had come. We were pumped from all the excitement from today, and decided to start night hiking. We made it a couple miles to Johns Hollow shelter, and it started to rain. The shelter sleeps six, and there were two hikers already there. Apache put up his tarp and hammock, Tink tented behind the shelter. Rainbow Eyes, Croc, Hashbrown, and I climbed into the shelter for the night. At about 3:00 in the morning, I had to get out of bed to spray myself down with bug spray. Rainbow Eyes was doing the same thing. The mosquitoes were horrible. We only did 10 miles today, but it was adventure packed. Awesome day!
 |
| The town that time forgot - Glasgow, Va |
May 30
Familiar ground
Today looks like it's going to be tough. Right from the start there's a long big climb up Floyd Mountain. I was pleasantly surprise that the hike up there wasn't very taxing. Took a snack break at Cornelius Creek shelter, and kept moving toward Apple Orchard Mountain. Slims got ahead, followed by Apache, then me, Rainbow Eyes and Tink. On the climb up Apple Orchard, I passed by another trail intersection that would take you to the falls. This was the furthest south I had ever been on the AT before my thru-hike. I was in this exact spot 2 years ago when I did a day hike to the falls. Now I felt like I was home. Awesome. Got up to the summit. Apache was already up there waiting. He had seen Slims, who had taken a short break and kept moving. He's trying to keep up a 16-18 mile per day pace for the next 2 weeks in order to meet some family in Harpers Ferry, WVa. The rest of us made it up to the top. Apache and I moved on while the others started their breaks. We're walking through the Thunder Ridge Wilderness now today. Pulled into a campsite around 6pm at Marble Springs. Slims wasn't there waiting on us. We wouldn't catch up with him. Hopefully we'll see him when we get to WVa. We camped out there with Thirsty, and another hiker, Croc Hunter, who was a really funny guy. In the middle of the night, a noise woke me up. Tink heard it too. She started asking if anyone heard that. I said, yeah, I'm up. Let's go see what it is. There was some animal circling our campsite, down near where Croc and Thirsty had their tents set up. Tink was sure it was a bear, and started yelling "Go away bear!" at the top of her lungs. Everyone else was awake at this point. Haha. Thirsty heard it near his hammock, and started clapping to scare it off. I headed out into the woods with my light on, and eventually caught up to the animal, only to find out that it was just a deer. LOL!
Today looks like it's going to be tough. Right from the start there's a long big climb up Floyd Mountain. I was pleasantly surprise that the hike up there wasn't very taxing. Took a snack break at Cornelius Creek shelter, and kept moving toward Apple Orchard Mountain. Slims got ahead, followed by Apache, then me, Rainbow Eyes and Tink. On the climb up Apple Orchard, I passed by another trail intersection that would take you to the falls. This was the furthest south I had ever been on the AT before my thru-hike. I was in this exact spot 2 years ago when I did a day hike to the falls. Now I felt like I was home. Awesome. Got up to the summit. Apache was already up there waiting. He had seen Slims, who had taken a short break and kept moving. He's trying to keep up a 16-18 mile per day pace for the next 2 weeks in order to meet some family in Harpers Ferry, WVa. The rest of us made it up to the top. Apache and I moved on while the others started their breaks. We're walking through the Thunder Ridge Wilderness now today. Pulled into a campsite around 6pm at Marble Springs. Slims wasn't there waiting on us. We wouldn't catch up with him. Hopefully we'll see him when we get to WVa. We camped out there with Thirsty, and another hiker, Croc Hunter, who was a really funny guy. In the middle of the night, a noise woke me up. Tink heard it too. She started asking if anyone heard that. I said, yeah, I'm up. Let's go see what it is. There was some animal circling our campsite, down near where Croc and Thirsty had their tents set up. Tink was sure it was a bear, and started yelling "Go away bear!" at the top of her lungs. Everyone else was awake at this point. Haha. Thirsty heard it near his hammock, and started clapping to scare it off. I headed out into the woods with my light on, and eventually caught up to the animal, only to find out that it was just a deer. LOL!
 |
| The FAA control tower on Apple Orchard Mountain, elev. 4225 feet. |
May 29
Swimmin' hole
Slims got an early start today and he hikes pretty fast anyway, so he got out in front of the rest of us early on. We were all kind of hiking at our own paces today, not really in a cohesive group. Four miles in, we took a morning break at Boblets Gap shelter for water, snacks, and privy stop. The privy there was really nice. New, clean (for a privy), sky lights, hand railings. Nice, easy hiking all day today. Around the Cove Mountain area, I spotted a few ripe wild blueberries. What a nice treat. I can't wait for more berries to be out. We ate lunch at Cove Mountain shelter. Slims had left a not for us saying he was there a couple hours ago, and was stopping for lunch at the swimming hole at Jennings Creek. We caught back up with him at the creek and we stopped at the swimming hole for an afternoon break. I went for a swim. When Tink, Apache, and I were in the water, a guy along the shore shouted to us that there was a snake swimming near us. We scurried out of the water, waited for it to pass, and got back in. After that relaxing break, we had a climb up Fork Mountain. It was pretty easy though. Funny how in the book, the elevation profile can look tough, but when you hike it, it's not that bad. It works the other way too, more often that way I think. It's all about the terrain, and how well the trail is graded, and there's no way to tell ahead of time from the info in the guidebooks. We made it to a campsite just short of Bryant Ridge shelter. It was a nice two story shelter. Slims had gotten ahead and scoped it out. But we decided to tent since the crowd up there at the shelter seemed older, and we didn't want to make a lot of noise. As soon as we got our tents up around 6pm, the woods got really dark. Weird. The sun doesn't set for hours. A freak isolated thunderstorm rolled in and soaked us. We had a nice fire going anyway. It rained off and on all night.
Slims got an early start today and he hikes pretty fast anyway, so he got out in front of the rest of us early on. We were all kind of hiking at our own paces today, not really in a cohesive group. Four miles in, we took a morning break at Boblets Gap shelter for water, snacks, and privy stop. The privy there was really nice. New, clean (for a privy), sky lights, hand railings. Nice, easy hiking all day today. Around the Cove Mountain area, I spotted a few ripe wild blueberries. What a nice treat. I can't wait for more berries to be out. We ate lunch at Cove Mountain shelter. Slims had left a not for us saying he was there a couple hours ago, and was stopping for lunch at the swimming hole at Jennings Creek. We caught back up with him at the creek and we stopped at the swimming hole for an afternoon break. I went for a swim. When Tink, Apache, and I were in the water, a guy along the shore shouted to us that there was a snake swimming near us. We scurried out of the water, waited for it to pass, and got back in. After that relaxing break, we had a climb up Fork Mountain. It was pretty easy though. Funny how in the book, the elevation profile can look tough, but when you hike it, it's not that bad. It works the other way too, more often that way I think. It's all about the terrain, and how well the trail is graded, and there's no way to tell ahead of time from the info in the guidebooks. We made it to a campsite just short of Bryant Ridge shelter. It was a nice two story shelter. Slims had gotten ahead and scoped it out. But we decided to tent since the crowd up there at the shelter seemed older, and we didn't want to make a lot of noise. As soon as we got our tents up around 6pm, the woods got really dark. Weird. The sun doesn't set for hours. A freak isolated thunderstorm rolled in and soaked us. We had a nice fire going anyway. It rained off and on all night.
 |
| Swimming at Jennings Creek |
May 28
Blue Ridge
With the crew back together, we headed out of Daleville. Took a break after the climb up to Fullhardt Knob shelter. I had to shoo away a black snake that was hanging out near the privy. The water source here was a cistern behind the shelter that held rain water run off. Apparently it's the last of it's kind on the trail, and I can see why. It was gross. I'll go a few more miles to a creek to get more water. Pretty easy hiking today. Going shirtless again, and that keeps me much cooler and a lot less sweaty. Late in the afternoon, we came out of the woods and crossed the Blue Ridge Parkway for the first time. According to the concrete signpost there, I was 97 miles south of Waynesboro. Sweet. The whole crew, Mountain Spice, BG, and Thirsty, all took a good break there at the Taylors Mountain overlook. The crew and I set up camp in the woods just north of there. We had a nice campsite right on the ridge. Nice and easy 15 miles today.
With the crew back together, we headed out of Daleville. Took a break after the climb up to Fullhardt Knob shelter. I had to shoo away a black snake that was hanging out near the privy. The water source here was a cistern behind the shelter that held rain water run off. Apparently it's the last of it's kind on the trail, and I can see why. It was gross. I'll go a few more miles to a creek to get more water. Pretty easy hiking today. Going shirtless again, and that keeps me much cooler and a lot less sweaty. Late in the afternoon, we came out of the woods and crossed the Blue Ridge Parkway for the first time. According to the concrete signpost there, I was 97 miles south of Waynesboro. Sweet. The whole crew, Mountain Spice, BG, and Thirsty, all took a good break there at the Taylors Mountain overlook. The crew and I set up camp in the woods just north of there. We had a nice campsite right on the ridge. Nice and easy 15 miles today.
 |
| Slims, me, Rainbow Eyes, and Apache posin' on the BRP |
May 27
Zero
Well, we had no motivation to get started today. So we decided to take a zero at the HoJo. They did have a pool after all. I ended up crashing in the crew's room. BG stayed in his room again too, and he wasn't feeling great today. Hung out at the hotel all day, got my swim on. Good to relax.
Well, we had no motivation to get started today. So we decided to take a zero at the HoJo. They did have a pool after all. I ended up crashing in the crew's room. BG stayed in his room again too, and he wasn't feeling great today. Hung out at the hotel all day, got my swim on. Good to relax.
 |
| Pool party at the HoJo |
May 26
Sunrise
We woke up around 4am. Thirsty, Bush Googles, and I started hiking the mile and a half or so we had to get up to McAfee Knob. The spectacular hanging rock there is noted as the most photographed spot on the entire AT. We made it up there about 15 minutes before the sun started coming up. A small pink-orange orb started to appear over the ridges to the east, and I got some amazing pictures. So worth it. This was a great idea. We ate some breakfast, taking about a hour and a half break up there on the knob. Started hiking again around 8:30. Took a privy break at Campbell shelter, and also read a hilarious register entry that Apache had left for me there. Then we had a nice and easy 5 miles or so to get over to Tinker Cliffs. Just before the cliffs, I saw a turtle. And I had a mother grouse fly right at me, trying to protect her young. I gave her space, and kept walking as soon as she got her chicks far enough away from the footpath. We hung out on the cliffs for about and hour, catching some sun, and relaxing. Thirsty stopped there for the day to set up camp. He wanted to see sunset from the cliffs. BG and I kept going. Cicadas are out. Millions of them. It's like a Biblical plague or something. Walking through the woods around the Lamberts Meadow shelter, the noise they made was deafening. Not a fun time. It was getting pretty hot, and you couldn't hear yourself think due to the noise from these insects. Had some nice views at Hay Rock. The rest of the afternoon was a nice ridge walk, but I was sweating buckets in the sun. Just before Daleville, Va I almost stepped on a snake that was on the trail. Not very big, maybe 2 feet long, but the coloration on it looked like a copperhead. I took a picture of it, and later confirmed on Google that it sure was a baby copperhead. I got to Daleville, and went to the Howard Johnson to split a room with BG. Nice place, with a pool! When I went to my room, I ran into Bambam, and he told me to come down to their room. I had caught back up with the crew. Rainbow Eyes, Apache, Slims, and Tink were all there! All 5 of us guys went out to dinner at a BBQ place. When we asked for the check at the end of the meal, the waitress said that it was taken care of. Two local couples at the table next to us had noticed we were hikers, and picked up our checks! Amazing! We thanked them, and talked about our trip for a few minutes. It was about an 18 mile day today to get into town. What an awesome day. Loving the AT!
We woke up around 4am. Thirsty, Bush Googles, and I started hiking the mile and a half or so we had to get up to McAfee Knob. The spectacular hanging rock there is noted as the most photographed spot on the entire AT. We made it up there about 15 minutes before the sun started coming up. A small pink-orange orb started to appear over the ridges to the east, and I got some amazing pictures. So worth it. This was a great idea. We ate some breakfast, taking about a hour and a half break up there on the knob. Started hiking again around 8:30. Took a privy break at Campbell shelter, and also read a hilarious register entry that Apache had left for me there. Then we had a nice and easy 5 miles or so to get over to Tinker Cliffs. Just before the cliffs, I saw a turtle. And I had a mother grouse fly right at me, trying to protect her young. I gave her space, and kept walking as soon as she got her chicks far enough away from the footpath. We hung out on the cliffs for about and hour, catching some sun, and relaxing. Thirsty stopped there for the day to set up camp. He wanted to see sunset from the cliffs. BG and I kept going. Cicadas are out. Millions of them. It's like a Biblical plague or something. Walking through the woods around the Lamberts Meadow shelter, the noise they made was deafening. Not a fun time. It was getting pretty hot, and you couldn't hear yourself think due to the noise from these insects. Had some nice views at Hay Rock. The rest of the afternoon was a nice ridge walk, but I was sweating buckets in the sun. Just before Daleville, Va I almost stepped on a snake that was on the trail. Not very big, maybe 2 feet long, but the coloration on it looked like a copperhead. I took a picture of it, and later confirmed on Google that it sure was a baby copperhead. I got to Daleville, and went to the Howard Johnson to split a room with BG. Nice place, with a pool! When I went to my room, I ran into Bambam, and he told me to come down to their room. I had caught back up with the crew. Rainbow Eyes, Apache, Slims, and Tink were all there! All 5 of us guys went out to dinner at a BBQ place. When we asked for the check at the end of the meal, the waitress said that it was taken care of. Two local couples at the table next to us had noticed we were hikers, and picked up our checks! Amazing! We thanked them, and talked about our trip for a few minutes. It was about an 18 mile day today to get into town. What an awesome day. Loving the AT!
 |
| Sunrise at McAfee Knob |
May 25
700
Not sure why, but hiking this morning was tough. Only about 1000 feet of climbing over 4 miles or so up to the area around Dragon's Tooth. It took a lot of of me though. The trail was just really rocky and rugged. Took the side trail to the rock pinnacle of Dragon's Tooth with Earthling and Yodeler, and climbed up to the top of the spire. Nice break there drying out my sweat soaked shirt in the sun, and taking in the great views. The trail past Dragon's Tooth was really tough. In some places you were basically standing on top of a rock face next to a white blaze, then you could look 15 feet down the rock, and see another blaze below. And it's like, okay, there's the next blaze, here's this huge rocky drop, good luck. Toss your poles down, and start to shimmy, butt-slide, whatever you can do to get down. In some places there were steel rungs bolted into the rock so you could use them like a ladder to get down. It was really tough on the knees getting through those two miles or so. In the afternoon, I hiked past the 700 mile mark! Shortly after that point, I came to a road crossing that went about a mile to Catawba, Va. I had burned a ton of calories today. I was famished, and incredibly thirsty. I went down to a gas station there and downed a couple large Gatorades, a few sodas, and inhaled three hotdogs, and a bag of chips. After getting back on the trail again, I ran into Thirsty and Bush Googles, and we headed north down the trail to a campsite just past Catawba Mountain shelter. Along the way to the shelter we got some trail magic from some locals, Sunchips, M&M cookies, and Gatorades. Awesome! We got our tents set up and headed to bed, because we have some big plans for tomorrow. Just under 15 miles today.
Not sure why, but hiking this morning was tough. Only about 1000 feet of climbing over 4 miles or so up to the area around Dragon's Tooth. It took a lot of of me though. The trail was just really rocky and rugged. Took the side trail to the rock pinnacle of Dragon's Tooth with Earthling and Yodeler, and climbed up to the top of the spire. Nice break there drying out my sweat soaked shirt in the sun, and taking in the great views. The trail past Dragon's Tooth was really tough. In some places you were basically standing on top of a rock face next to a white blaze, then you could look 15 feet down the rock, and see another blaze below. And it's like, okay, there's the next blaze, here's this huge rocky drop, good luck. Toss your poles down, and start to shimmy, butt-slide, whatever you can do to get down. In some places there were steel rungs bolted into the rock so you could use them like a ladder to get down. It was really tough on the knees getting through those two miles or so. In the afternoon, I hiked past the 700 mile mark! Shortly after that point, I came to a road crossing that went about a mile to Catawba, Va. I had burned a ton of calories today. I was famished, and incredibly thirsty. I went down to a gas station there and downed a couple large Gatorades, a few sodas, and inhaled three hotdogs, and a bag of chips. After getting back on the trail again, I ran into Thirsty and Bush Googles, and we headed north down the trail to a campsite just past Catawba Mountain shelter. Along the way to the shelter we got some trail magic from some locals, Sunchips, M&M cookies, and Gatorades. Awesome! We got our tents set up and headed to bed, because we have some big plans for tomorrow. Just under 15 miles today.
 |
| On top of Dragon's Tooth |
Saturday, June 9, 2012
May 24
2 months
Had a great breakfast at the house, and got back on the trail around 11am. Two months ago today, I was walking up the approach trail, back in Georgia! Incredible. Feels like it's going by fast. But I know I still have a long way to go. I passed the Keffer Oak early into the hike this morning. It's this huge tree, that's over 300 years old. Pretty cool. After a few miles, I passed the trail to Sarver Hollow shelter, where I thought I was going to be 2 nights ago, haha! Had some nice ridge walking this afternoon. I passed a sign on the trail that signified the Eastern Continental Divide. At that spot, anything flowing off the mountain to the west would end up in the Gulf of Mexico, and anything off the east side would end up in the Atlantic. Thinking about that kind of stuff out here is so cool, but it makes you feel so small and insignificant. Late in the afternoon, I made it up to the top of Brush Mountain. Saw Hopper and Bismark there, who were planning to stop to camp. I kept going and soon made it to the Audie Murphy monument. A flag pole and a plaque honored the most decorated American soldier of WW2. It was nice to pause there for a while to get patriotic and pay respects. I made it to Pickle Branch shelter, which was 0.3m off the trail, at dark. There was someone already in the shelter about to go to sleep. The shelter was pretty crappy, and the weather was nice, so I set up my tent instead. 20 mile day, not bad.
Had a great breakfast at the house, and got back on the trail around 11am. Two months ago today, I was walking up the approach trail, back in Georgia! Incredible. Feels like it's going by fast. But I know I still have a long way to go. I passed the Keffer Oak early into the hike this morning. It's this huge tree, that's over 300 years old. Pretty cool. After a few miles, I passed the trail to Sarver Hollow shelter, where I thought I was going to be 2 nights ago, haha! Had some nice ridge walking this afternoon. I passed a sign on the trail that signified the Eastern Continental Divide. At that spot, anything flowing off the mountain to the west would end up in the Gulf of Mexico, and anything off the east side would end up in the Atlantic. Thinking about that kind of stuff out here is so cool, but it makes you feel so small and insignificant. Late in the afternoon, I made it up to the top of Brush Mountain. Saw Hopper and Bismark there, who were planning to stop to camp. I kept going and soon made it to the Audie Murphy monument. A flag pole and a plaque honored the most decorated American soldier of WW2. It was nice to pause there for a while to get patriotic and pay respects. I made it to Pickle Branch shelter, which was 0.3m off the trail, at dark. There was someone already in the shelter about to go to sleep. The shelter was pretty crappy, and the weather was nice, so I set up my tent instead. 20 mile day, not bad.
 |
| Keffer Oak |
May 23
An amazing zero
So today. Yeh, I should probably try to knock out a 20. I'm not too far behind the crew. Well, here's how that went. Chunder and Yoko got back on the trail. Wanderer and I went kayaking on the New River with Dah Wah He and Blue Eyes. Blue Eyes had all the equipment at his house. They shared a canoe, and Wanderer and I each had kayaks. I picked up some BLTs at the store on the way out of town to the river. Those made a great lunch break on the river. I had a blast! This was only the second time I had ever kayaked. The water was high from all the rain lately, and the river flowed fast. I got some awesome HD video footage of me going through some sections of rapids. Their canoe flipped in one of the rapids, and we were able to recover some items. We finished our 12 mile trip, and headed back to the house for another great meal. No miles today, but I had an amazing time.
So today. Yeh, I should probably try to knock out a 20. I'm not too far behind the crew. Well, here's how that went. Chunder and Yoko got back on the trail. Wanderer and I went kayaking on the New River with Dah Wah He and Blue Eyes. Blue Eyes had all the equipment at his house. They shared a canoe, and Wanderer and I each had kayaks. I picked up some BLTs at the store on the way out of town to the river. Those made a great lunch break on the river. I had a blast! This was only the second time I had ever kayaked. The water was high from all the rain lately, and the river flowed fast. I got some awesome HD video footage of me going through some sections of rapids. Their canoe flipped in one of the rapids, and we were able to recover some items. We finished our 12 mile trip, and headed back to the house for another great meal. No miles today, but I had an amazing time.
 |
| Wanderer kayaking on the New River north of Pearisburg, Va |
May 22
Triple trail magic
Man, I got a late start. Last one to leave the shelter. 10:30am. Not good for trying to catch up. Made it about 4 miles past the shelter to some great views at Wind Rock. As soon as I stepped up onto the escarpment to take in the views, the rain started up again. Put on my pack cover. Took off my shirt, and just wore my rain jacket, unzipped. The rain really cooled the temperature down. I had a really great time walking along the ridge for the next few miles, in the rain. Downpour rather. I saw a wall of grey coming toward me, and just laughed. At one point I saw some wild azaleas, one pink, one yellow, and one orange. Coming down off the ridge, I came across a hollow log next to the trail that had something red in it that caught my eye. It was a small cooler filled with Little Debbie snacks. I grabbed a Nutty Bar. Behind the cooler was a handle of bourbon too. Nice! Standing in the rain, but still in good spirits, I scored some free calories from that trail magic. I took a lunch break a War Spur shelter, and had a good laugh at a cartoon drawing that Apache had left in the register. Later that afternoon, I was climbing the long slog up Johns Creek Mountain, and I came across 2 bins full of more trail magic. I scored an orange, an oatmeal cream pie, a soda, and a beer. Outstanding! More fuel to get me to Laurel Creek shelter. It was still raining and I was soaked, so I decided to push on to try to get to the next shelter 6 miles away. I started out with Chunder and Yoko, and we met a hiker named Dah Wah He. A former thru-hiker, he said a friend of his was picking him up at the next road crossing that was only 2 miles away, and that we could go in with them to get showers, do laundry, and eat. That sounded like a much better plan. We got picked up by his buddy, also a former thru-hiker, Blue Eyes, who took us back to his house near Newport, Va. Another hiker, Wanderer, from the UK, was there with us too. Our hosts fixed us up, and got us all cleaned up and dried out. Awesome!
Man, I got a late start. Last one to leave the shelter. 10:30am. Not good for trying to catch up. Made it about 4 miles past the shelter to some great views at Wind Rock. As soon as I stepped up onto the escarpment to take in the views, the rain started up again. Put on my pack cover. Took off my shirt, and just wore my rain jacket, unzipped. The rain really cooled the temperature down. I had a really great time walking along the ridge for the next few miles, in the rain. Downpour rather. I saw a wall of grey coming toward me, and just laughed. At one point I saw some wild azaleas, one pink, one yellow, and one orange. Coming down off the ridge, I came across a hollow log next to the trail that had something red in it that caught my eye. It was a small cooler filled with Little Debbie snacks. I grabbed a Nutty Bar. Behind the cooler was a handle of bourbon too. Nice! Standing in the rain, but still in good spirits, I scored some free calories from that trail magic. I took a lunch break a War Spur shelter, and had a good laugh at a cartoon drawing that Apache had left in the register. Later that afternoon, I was climbing the long slog up Johns Creek Mountain, and I came across 2 bins full of more trail magic. I scored an orange, an oatmeal cream pie, a soda, and a beer. Outstanding! More fuel to get me to Laurel Creek shelter. It was still raining and I was soaked, so I decided to push on to try to get to the next shelter 6 miles away. I started out with Chunder and Yoko, and we met a hiker named Dah Wah He. A former thru-hiker, he said a friend of his was picking him up at the next road crossing that was only 2 miles away, and that we could go in with them to get showers, do laundry, and eat. That sounded like a much better plan. We got picked up by his buddy, also a former thru-hiker, Blue Eyes, who took us back to his house near Newport, Va. Another hiker, Wanderer, from the UK, was there with us too. Our hosts fixed us up, and got us all cleaned up and dried out. Awesome!
 |
| Hiking through pastures near Newport, Va |
May 21
Fern Gully
The area around Rice Field was gorgeous in the morning sun. Rolling meadows with great views, wild flowers, butterflies, and song birds. The next several miles were a really nice ridge walk. The ferns growing in this area were enormous. Some grew up past my waist. Really cool. I took a lunch break around Symms Gap, saw lots more butterflies, and a hawk! More great hiking in the afternoon. Took a snack break at Pine Swamp Branch shelter, then entered the Peters Mountain Wilderness. It soon started to sprinkle, and as I passed "the Captain's place", I debated riding the zip line across the creek to get to his house, to stay the night there. I kept hiking though, figuring it was only a few more miles to the next shelter and I'd try to beat the rain. As soon as I crossed the footbridge over Stony Creek, the rain started, and I made it to Bailey Gap shelter soaked. I used my bear bag line to string up a makeshift clothes line on the side of the shelter to hang my wet clothes on. Second day out from town, and knocked out 16 miles today. Based on the notes I'm seeing in the shelter registers, I'm still at least a day behind the crew. Got some catching up to do.
The area around Rice Field was gorgeous in the morning sun. Rolling meadows with great views, wild flowers, butterflies, and song birds. The next several miles were a really nice ridge walk. The ferns growing in this area were enormous. Some grew up past my waist. Really cool. I took a lunch break around Symms Gap, saw lots more butterflies, and a hawk! More great hiking in the afternoon. Took a snack break at Pine Swamp Branch shelter, then entered the Peters Mountain Wilderness. It soon started to sprinkle, and as I passed "the Captain's place", I debated riding the zip line across the creek to get to his house, to stay the night there. I kept hiking though, figuring it was only a few more miles to the next shelter and I'd try to beat the rain. As soon as I crossed the footbridge over Stony Creek, the rain started, and I made it to Bailey Gap shelter soaked. I used my bear bag line to string up a makeshift clothes line on the side of the shelter to hang my wet clothes on. Second day out from town, and knocked out 16 miles today. Based on the notes I'm seeing in the shelter registers, I'm still at least a day behind the crew. Got some catching up to do.
 |
| Wild flowers and butterflies |
May 20
Hitchin' a ride
Got breakfast at Cowboy's, again. Pretty great for gas station food. Today is Sunday, and since I haven't gotten to a service while on the trail, I figured I'd stop by the Baptist church. Church is closed though. They are having a hiker service in the town park today for Trail Days instead. Saw Pops en route, and we went down to the park together. I've really appreciated all the things that churches have done for me on the trail. I started trying to figure out a way back to the trail around 1pm or so. Got a black marker, and a piece of cardboard from the Dollar General, and wrote "AT Hiker to Pearisburg" on it. Thirsty and Bush Googles were leaving town at the same time I was, and did the same thing. We started walking down the highway toward Abingdon, since that would be closer to I81. We were quickly picked up by a local, who drove us about 10 miles further north than Abingdon, out of her way entirely. We were now in Glade, Va. The town was wiped out by tornadoes, last year, or the year before. We destroyed the lunch buffet at the rebuilt Pizza Plus, then spent the next 2 hours holding up our signs, standing at the on-ramp for the interstate, trying to get a hitch to Pearisburg. Finally a car stopped, and ironically, it was a couple that were vendors at Trail Days, heading back home to Michigan! All three of us piled into their car, packs and all, and with their dog. The couple that picked us up run a website that is geared toward people over the age of 50, giving info on how to stay active and get outdoors. If anyone wants to check out their site it's at: www.fiftysense.com or find them on Facebook at fiftysense.com. We got back to Pearisburg, and hit up DQ for a Blizzard. They headed south on the AT towards Woods Hole, since that's where they had left off. I went northbound out of town, with the plan to catch up with my crew. I figure they're at least a day, maybe two, ahead of me at this point. Didn't start hiking until after 5pm though. I got about 1 mile out of town, and got the call of nature. Figures. I had a nice toilet to use back at DQ, spent 20 minutes in the woods, and sure enough, had to dig a hole. Around dusk, I saw my first raccoon. After about 1400 feet of climbing out of the lowlands around town, I made it to the top of the ridge at dark. I started picking up the glow of deer's eyes with my headlamp. Saw probably half a dozen or so on the way to Rice Field shelter. There was one other hiker there. Made some dinner, rolled out my mat, and went to bed after a 7 mile day. Good to be back on the trail!
Got breakfast at Cowboy's, again. Pretty great for gas station food. Today is Sunday, and since I haven't gotten to a service while on the trail, I figured I'd stop by the Baptist church. Church is closed though. They are having a hiker service in the town park today for Trail Days instead. Saw Pops en route, and we went down to the park together. I've really appreciated all the things that churches have done for me on the trail. I started trying to figure out a way back to the trail around 1pm or so. Got a black marker, and a piece of cardboard from the Dollar General, and wrote "AT Hiker to Pearisburg" on it. Thirsty and Bush Googles were leaving town at the same time I was, and did the same thing. We started walking down the highway toward Abingdon, since that would be closer to I81. We were quickly picked up by a local, who drove us about 10 miles further north than Abingdon, out of her way entirely. We were now in Glade, Va. The town was wiped out by tornadoes, last year, or the year before. We destroyed the lunch buffet at the rebuilt Pizza Plus, then spent the next 2 hours holding up our signs, standing at the on-ramp for the interstate, trying to get a hitch to Pearisburg. Finally a car stopped, and ironically, it was a couple that were vendors at Trail Days, heading back home to Michigan! All three of us piled into their car, packs and all, and with their dog. The couple that picked us up run a website that is geared toward people over the age of 50, giving info on how to stay active and get outdoors. If anyone wants to check out their site it's at: www.fiftysense.com or find them on Facebook at fiftysense.com. We got back to Pearisburg, and hit up DQ for a Blizzard. They headed south on the AT towards Woods Hole, since that's where they had left off. I went northbound out of town, with the plan to catch up with my crew. I figure they're at least a day, maybe two, ahead of me at this point. Didn't start hiking until after 5pm though. I got about 1 mile out of town, and got the call of nature. Figures. I had a nice toilet to use back at DQ, spent 20 minutes in the woods, and sure enough, had to dig a hole. Around dusk, I saw my first raccoon. After about 1400 feet of climbing out of the lowlands around town, I made it to the top of the ridge at dark. I started picking up the glow of deer's eyes with my headlamp. Saw probably half a dozen or so on the way to Rice Field shelter. There was one other hiker there. Made some dinner, rolled out my mat, and went to bed after a 7 mile day. Good to be back on the trail!
 |
| Trying to catch a ride out of Damascus |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)