AT Summer '16: Back to MI

Joe was feeling a bit better this morning. Although still not 100%, he managed to eat most of a pancake breakfast at Mojo's before we got on the road back to Dexter. Non-freeze-dried meals are so incredibly amazing after a week of trail food.

This morning as we packed up, I was tending to a few of my bug bites and it dawned on me that the puffy one on one of my toes is actually not a bug bite at all. It's poison ivy. Matt (a confirmed poison-ivy expert, since he is super-sensitive to it and has had it more times than any of us can count) has it on one of his feet too. We must have picked it up last night at Saunders Shelter when we were walking to and fro betwen the shelter and the spring to filter our water. This will be my first experience with poison ivy; I've never had to deal with that before. So far, it seems to stay under control as long as I slather it with heavy layers of Ivarest.

We got on the road right after breakfast and pulled onto Bridgeway around 6pm. It was so good to be home. And no, this picture isn't actually us having a yard sale... it's just all our gear spread out to dry, since everything had gotten pretty damp after our last few days of hiking.

It always makes me feel a little sad to put all my gear away after a trip. So, after drying everything out, instead of packing it all away in the basement, we piled it along the wall of our upstairs hallway for now. Thought it might be sort of underfoot right there, at least it's at-the-ready, in case we have another spontaneous opportunity to do another trip before the end of summer. You just never know.

AT Summer '16: Saunders Shelter to Hikers Inn, Damascus, VA (Day 6)

Appalachian Trail, 9.4 miles

Our final hiking day. Matt and Joe set their alarm for 5:30 this morning and made all sorts of clattering as they bumbled around and got their stuff packed up. We didn't really mind the early wake-up though, since we were all eager to get an early start and make our way into Damascus. The boys were hoping for one last opportunity to see a bear, and they felt that being the first on the trail in the early-morning hours would boost their odds. Since it was a very warm day and rain was predicted, they both hiked shirtless, which also boosted their wilderness quotient. :) Sadly, no bears were spotted.

I was a little concerned about Joe because he woke up feeling kind of green. He insisted it was because of the mushrooms in the freeze-dried beef stroganoff meal he ate for dinner last night. Despite not feeling well, he and Matt powered through the 9+ miles to Damascus. We never did catch up with them until we got to Hikers Inn.

I decided to hike with Jay all day, since it would be our last stretch of time on the trail together for a while. We had a lot of fun talking over the highlights of the trip and enjoying some nice views from the side of Straight Mountain and Feathercamp Ridge. It helped that it was a pretty easy hiking day: three miles of descent, then three miles of gentle climbing, then three more miles of descent. He has been such a good sport on this trip! He has muscled through with his usual sense of humor. I love him so much!

Here he is, looking pretty sprightly with only about two and a half miles to go before reaching Damascus:

He didn't really feel the need to yell and shriek until around mile 9. He unintentionally startled some day hikers with his whooping... he didn't see them because he was so focused on getting each foot in front of the other. The day hikers were in tennis shoes and looked clean and perky - a sharp contrast to our sweaty, smelly, beleaguered selves. But seeing clean, tidy people also meant that we were getting close to civilization. Before long, we were stepping onto level ground and following another stretch of the Virginia Creeper Bike Trail into town, and within another quarter mile we were at Hikers Inn.

Still shirtless, Joe and Matt had arrived about an hour before us, and asked a passerby to take their picture just before they ditched their packs at Hikers Inn. I think this is my favorite picture of the whole trip. I'm so happy these guys came along and that they had fun together.

By the time Jay and I arrived at Hikers Inn, Tim was there too. Joe was lying on one of the bunks in the hostel and not feeling so well. Though he was in good spirits, he had thrown up twice soon after he and Matt had arrived. I don't think you can blame all that on the freeze-dried mushrooms in the stroganoff, so my mind of course went all sorts of directions: maybe it's giardia from the water? Norovirus from the unsanitary shelters? Some other scary bacterial or parasitic thing that will take months to shake? A mum worries. He was also feverish. We were all a bit concerned, but not so much that we couldn't leave him for a couple hours while we walked a few blocks to Hey Joe's for a much-anticipated taco lunch. While we were out I stopped at a drugstore and bought him some Tylenol and ginger ale (alas, no Vernors, so Schweppes had to do). By evening, he was on the mend, but he still didn't eat much. Hoping he feels better in the morning for our drive back to Michigan.

AT Summer '16: Lost Mountain Shelter to Saunders Shelter (Day 5)

Appalachian Trail, 6.4 miles

Today was our easier day: around six and a half miles. A couple miles into our hike we met up with the Virginia Creeper Bike trail, which felt very flat and manicured, after five days in the wild.

Also today we decided on a trail name for Jay: "Old Yeller." Because about every twenty steps or so, he lets out some kind of hoot or shriek or yell of exhaustion.

Despite the shorter-mileage day today, we are feeling fairly tired, even Tim.

At Wise Shelter tonight, Matt and Joe made a nice fire, which was great because we had lots of time to enjoy it, since we finished up hiking at around mid-afternoon.

Some previous hikers took artistic license with a stump near the campfire and turned it into a pig sculpture.

Having all this free time at the end of the day sometimes proves to be not such a good thing though. Matt and Joe started monkeying around with a huge vine that looked great for swinging on, but as luck would have it, it gave way just as Matt was swinging and he flew into the brush. No major injuries except for a scraped-up leg, but it did give us old folks plenty to grouse about, considering it would be nearly impossible to evacuate an injured hiker out of this place at 8pm, with no cell service and no nearby road access. Getting old and fretful can be such a bother.

Dinner tonight was quite the hodgepodge. We are all at the end of our food supplies, so we are eating up whatever is left. I had a package of Thai-spiced tuna, mixed in with freeze-dried Just Veggies, topped off with the leftover gravy from the beef stroganoff Joe re-hydrated for his dinner. He liked the stroganoff okay until he realized there were little bits of mushrooms in there; that was a deal breaker for him. Fortunately by that time he had already eaten 90% of the package.

AT Summer '16: Thomas Knob Shelter to Lost Mountain Shelter (Day 4)

Appalachian Trail, 12.2 miles

My prediction was 100% true. The snoring last night was so. Incredibly. Loud. Must bring ear plugs next trip.

This was another long, hard hiking day. It rained hard last night, so the roots and rocks on the trail were slippery this morning.

Here is a picture of the guys eating and coffee-ing in the misty morning air:

The guy in the red shirt above is a high school teacher called Jerry. He was out for a five-day section hike as kind of a test run for a possible thru-hike next year. Super nice guy. He was pretty miserable, though, as far as hiking goes. He said the trail wasn't what he expected, and he probably wouldn't be doing a thru-hike after all. I told him he should wait to make that decision until after he was done with his section hike. Sometimes the actual hiking part can be absolutely torturous but then you get to the end and you're like "wow, it's so cool I lived through that - I'm going to do it again sometime!" As I've mentioned before, it's kind of like childbirth in that way.

I hiked with Jay for the whole day today because I just feel better when we are together. I worried a lot yesterday when he was quite a ways behind me. So today he was stuck with me crowding him from behind. and chattering to him throughout the day. The skies threatened from about noon onward, and it felt like we were barely staying ahead of the rain and thunder.

We had hoped for some great views at the top of Whitetop Mountain, but the fog and clouds were super thick and we couldn't see much. It was also very windy; it felt like the wind might actually fill up our pack covers like sails and carry us off. At one point near the top of Whitetop, Jay stumbled a little bit and I looked up just in time to see him losing his balance, a horrified look on his face as he did what looked like a sashay-dance-move down the windswept slope next to the trail, his trekking poles flailing. Fortunately he caught himself before careening down Buzzard Rock. It would've been terrible if he'd rolled his ankle or something, but because he was just fine, the whole scene was actually pretty entertaining!

About a mile before reaching Lost Mountain Shelter, the clouds opened up and we finally got the rain that had been threatening all day. We got pretty well soaked. When we arrived at the shelter, it was crammed with people (mostly boy scouts), but fortunately the rain let up shortly and we were able to dry out. Matt and Joe decided to stay in the shelter tonight, and Tim and Jay and I are tenting. We're hopeful that the worst of the rain is over. 

AT Summer '16: Old Orchard Shelter to Thomas Knob Shelter (Day 3)

Appalachian Trail, 11 miles

Woot! It finally happened! We saw the wild ponies!!

But hold your horses (see what I did there?) and first let me start by telling you about the whole day, from the very beginning. Impossibly, even though today was only 11 miles, it felt much longer than the 14-plus miles we hiked yesterday. I mean it just seemed to go on and on. And on. And. On. I am absolutely giddy that we are now stopped for the night.

At the beginning of our hike this morning, things actually started out pretty easy and fun, because after an initial two-mile climb we found ourselves at the top of Pine Mountain with a small herd of longhorn cattle. The trail goes over a fence stile and into a bald at the top of the mountain where the cattle wander around and graze. They looked kind of threatening, but they pretty much ignored us, so we were able to get a few good pictures. The mountaintop was really pretty and a nice place for a short break too.

This was the first time this trip that we came out of the woods into a wide-open spot, so it was kind of novel. Here are Jay and Joe at the top.

On the profile of our topo map, things looked to be kind of straightforward and simple after that. But I should know better! Though the elevation change wasn't dramatic, the terrain became pretty rocky after we passed Wise Shelter, so it was a little challenging at times. Even the flatter parts of the trail were filled with rocks.

I hiked with Joe and Matt for several miles and as we started to make our way up toward Wilburn Ridge, we were rewarded with... yes... THE PONIES!!

Actually, at first it was just one pony, and we were pretty thrilled with just that one little guy. He was kind of off in the trees, near the trail, and didn't seem to mind at all that we were hiking right alongside him.

We didn't know it at the time, but we were soon to reach the time of Wilburn Ridge and see a lot more ponies: 

In fact, some of them got so bossy with us that we had to move away a bit. They were nibbling on our packs, our map, our shoes, our shirtsleeves... I think we must have been so sweaty that they were like, cool, mobile salt-licks!

Also at the peak were some amazing views and a really cool and huge rock formation. After some quality pony time, the boys made me hyperventilate by climbing up onto the cliff (from which they would surely fall to a grisly death if they slipped just a little). I was really, really happy when they made their way back down. Click these pictures for a cool view:

Tim caught up with us shrtlly, and we fussed over the ponies awhile longer. 

Joe and Matt and Tim moved on from there and I decided to wait for Jay. He came along after a little while and we had lunch together on a big boulder. 

From there, we set off to finish up the remaining miles to Thomas Knob, which is where we are staying the night. One of the cooler rock formations en route to the shelter is called Fat Man Squeeze (which, in fact, is a very appropriate description). Even the not-so-fat hikers have to kind of wiggle their way through a really narrow canyon-like pass. Matt got a good picture of Joe and Tim making their way through it.

I went on ahead of Jay for the last few miles. We determined it shouldn't take either of us more than an hour or two to make it to the shelter. We apparently didn't know that we were entering a time warp! I got quite a ways ahead of him and I kept slogging on by myself, thinking the shelter had to be just ahead. But it Just. Wouldn't. Appear. After what seemed like way more than an hour, I started to think for sure that I had overshot it. I mean, it was definitely possible...I was getting tired...inattentive... having trouble judging distance... I totally could see myself missing a small wooden sign pointing to a side-trail to the shelter. I whimpered a little as I was hiking and even yelled for Joe a few times, hoping that he and Matt and Tim might be just ahead. No one yelled back.

About 10 minutes past freak-out stage, I heard voices not too far off, and saw that a group of other hikers had set up their tents among the trees. I crashed my way through the underbrush to their campsite and asked them in a somewhat crazed and frantic voice if Thomas Knob Shelter was anywhere close. They said yes, just another eighth of a mile or so down the trail. I wanted to collapse with gratitude. When I got to the shelter, Tim and Joe and Matt had been there for about half an hour and they too had each felt like they surely had missed their turnoff. We were all so happy to be stopped for the day! But I was still kind of worried about Jay who was still en route, so I dropped my pack and backtracked about 20 minutes north on the trail to see if I could find him. I was so relieved when I finally saw an orange shirt off in the distance. Between grunts and moans he was all like, "Did you see all those ponies!?" We made it back to the shelter in short order and even had a chance to filter our water for the night before it started to drizzle a little bit.

It is supposed to rain hard tonight, so we decided to sleep in the shelter, along with quite a few other hikers. One guy is pretty huge and I can pretty much guarantee that our night will be riddled with snoring again.

AT Summer '16: Trimpi Shelter to Old Orchard Shelter (Day 2)

Appalachian Trail, 14.1 miles

OMG, I am so glad this day is done. The climbs were really rough. This day felt more like 40 than 14 miles. Thanks to my annoying bone spurs on both feet, I blistered both heels.

Joe and Matt were both powerhouses today. Joe is in great shape due to his distance and cross-country conditioning, despite taking a couple weeks off before summer training starts. And Matt kept up with him impressively all day today, but his feet are starting to blister pretty bad. That kid has such a high pain tolerance though! He barely seems bothered by it!

The rest of us spread out quite a bit today to hike at our own pace, knowing that it would be a long hard slog to get to Old Orchard Shelter. Which is all fine, except I tend to fret when not everyone is in my line of sight. Especially Jay. He is flagging pretty hard and is having some hip pain. We broke out the Advil today, and not a moment too soon.

In the wildlife department, Jay saw two bears today! He was the first to get on the trail this morning because he wanted an early start, knowing that it would be a super long day. He first saw a smaller juvenile bear off in the woods, and not long after, a large (mama?) bear on the trail. Both skittered off pretty quickly before he could get a picture. The rest of us are jealous!

Tim is his usual steady self, sometimes hiking with the boys, sometimes with Jay or I, and sometimes bringing up the rear. He stays constantly cheerful, powered by his morning brew.

Our site tonight is like a little tent village. I can't believe how many people are here! I counted like a dozen tents and hammocks near us, and there is another whole area on the other side of the shelter with at least that many. I don't know where all these people came from! It feels kind of weird to be this deep in wilderness yet have a lot of voices and humanity about. We are all tenting tonight, since the shelter was full to overflowing long before we got here.

Also, mercifully, there is a privy here!! It is such a delight to actually SIT DOWN to go potty after such a wicked long day. Amazing how much you can appreciate something as primitive as a pit toilet.

Speaking of comforts, I made a huge mistake by thinking I could forego a sleeping pad and use my Crazy Creek Hex chair as a stand-in. While the thing does unbuckle into a flat pad-like surface and weighs less than a pound, it is decidedly not soft enough for this old lady. I am totally coveting the Thermarest ProLite that Jay is using. I'm thinking of buying a hammock for my next hike, which would satisfy my ultralight tendencies and prevent me from bruising my hipbones while trying to sleep on my side.

Tomorrow we hike to Thomas Knob and hopefully we'll get to see ... PONIES! We'll be passing through Grayson Highlands, which is where they usually hang out. There is a chance of rain all day, we are told. Hopefully it holds off till we get to the shelter.

AT Summer '16: Partnership Shelter to Trimpi Shelter (Day 1)

Appalachian Trail, 10.6 miles

We made a quick run to Mojo's Trailside Coffeehouse for breakfast so that we would have something in our bellies by the time our shuttle came. Wouldn't you know, our shuttle guy ended up being Lone Wolf, whom you might remember from last year's trip. Dude's a legend. It was fun to see him again.

Wolf dropped us off at the Mt. Roger's headquarters and we were on the trail by about 9:30 this morning. Here we are all clean and fresh-faced. That did not last long.

It was actually a pretty moderate day, since there weren't many big elevation changes across our 11-ish miles of hiking. (That's not usually the case on the first day of a section hike. It's more typical to have a huge climb on day one, since section hikes often start at a roadside trailhead or town, and those are usually situated in a gap between mountains. We were at an advantage because our dropoff point was not in a gap.) Here are the guys pausing for a little trailside lunchtime break.

So yeah, we kind of lucked out on the moderate elevation changes today. However, very little of the AT is what I would call easy! The second half of the day there were some decent hills, plus the trail was super rocky, which was pretty hard on our feet. It took us around 3:45 to cover our 10.6 miles. Near the end, I had to lecture Jay about eating more. He hadn't eaten anything substantial all day since the Mojo's breakfast quesadilla at 7am, and he was stumbling down the trail like a drunken sailor! Finally he wolfed down some trail mix and snacks. Gotta keep an eye on that guy.

We got to the shelter in the early afternoon which was great, because it gave us some time to relax a little before getting organized and making dinner. The shelter is stone and has a nice fireplace on the back wall, which Matt and Joe took advantage of by making a nice little fire. It's not a bad place to stay, but I did see a couple mice running along the walls. Despite that, the boys and Jay and I decided to sleep in the shelter tonight. Tim of course is tenting about fifty yards away from the shelter, since he is averse to mice.

After we ate dinner, two thru-hikers showed up and made it clear they would be using the shelter also. Which is fine of course, except that they were a little loud and somewhat potty-mouthed. Even worse, though, was that the bigger of the two of them ended up being a supersonic snorer. I feared this might happen from the moment he showed up at the shelter, because there was no overlooking the fact that the guy is hugely overweight. He regaled us at dinner time with stories about how he started hiking the trail at 400 pounds (!) and had already lost 70 in the three months he's been hiking. But people, listen: that still leaves 330 pounds, every one of which was reverberating with noise to rival a freight train by 10pm. I mean this is the worst I've ever heard. After half an hour of trying to block out the noise, Jay and I ended up dragging our stuff out of the shelter and setting up our tent in the dark, about 25 yards away. Impressively, we could still hear him, but at least the volume from that far away was easier to ignore.

We are trying to really rest up, because tomorrow will be our longest day of the trip: a little over 14 miles.

AT Summer '16: Heading to Damascus (Day 0)

Today's the day! We packed up the Honda and headed to southwest Virginia for another 65-ish miles on the Appalachian Trail.  This time there are five of us: Jay, Joe, Matt, and Tim. We ended up taking two cars because five people and five backpacks was too much to shoehorn into the Honda. Here are Jay, Joe, and Matt at a gas station in northern Ohio, where we stopped to meet up with Tim. 

It will be a different experience this time, not only on account of having a larger group, but also because we are hiking north to south, reason being that we really wanted to start and end in Damascus like last time. It's such a nice trail town, so we booked the Hikers Inn hostel again and are using Sun Dog Outfitters to shuttle us north tomorrow to begin our hike at Partnership Shelter. That's just a stone's throw from the Mt. Rogers recreation area headquarters.

Since we arrived in Damascus right around dinner time, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to eat at Hey Joe's in Damascus. Fish tacos and nachos all around. Here's a good shot of Joe under his namesake sign.

The weather forecast this week looks iffy. They are saying rain will start mid-week and could continue all the way through Friday. I guess I don't mind all that much, since the temps will be pretty warm. But I really want at least one clear day near Grayson Highlands so we can see the famous wild ponies! I've been hearing about these ponies for years from other hikers who have section-hiked Virginia. The ponies were brought into the area in 1974 to graze on the highland balds and keep invasive plant species at bay. Supposedly they are pretty friendly and don't mind hikers. I really hope we see some!