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!

Abingdon Gap Shelter to Hiker’s Inn, Damascus

Appalachian Trail, 10.4 miles

Rain was predicted today, and it came right on time, just as we packed up and set off for Damascus. It got so dark just before the rainfall started that it felt like it was about 9pm! The rain felt cool and nice, and on the last day of a hike, you don’t even really care if you get wet because you know that a shower and dry clothes are just a few hours away.

We made great time today since the hike was mostly downward. It was only about 10am when we reached the Tennessee/Virginia state line. It sure felt good to put another state behind me!

By the time we got into Damascus just three and a half miles later, the rain had stopped.

Once we got down off the mountain, it was a short walk to Hikers Inn, where the owners, Paul and Lee, graciously provided us with thick, warm towels and a hot shower. It’s a lovely place and it was great to talk with Paul about his 2010 thru-hike.

And of course we then bee-lined it to Hey Joe’s for a fish taco lunch.

The day was topped off by a nice dinner at the Damascus Old Mill Inn with our Georgia friends (Zach, Scott, Jeff, and Rusty). They also finished their hike today, and were staying just a block away from Hikers Inn.

Tomorrow we head home. And I already have all sorts of plans for the next hike.

Double Springs Shelter to Abingdon Gap Shelter

Appalachian Trail, 8.3 miles

We were able to reach Jay by phone when the trail crossed 421 at Low Gap today. Thankfully, we found out that Matt is fine. Well, not exactly fine - he broke two vertebrae in his neck in a wrestling accident over the weekend, and had to have a metal rod put in to hold them together! But the surgery was successful and he’s going to be okay. He’s been in the hospital for a few days but is going home today. I texted him and his reply was pretty chipper so hopefully he is not feeling too bad.

We saw Bob Peoples today at a trailhead with a bunch of other guys wielding chainsaws and weed whips. Thursdays are trail-maintenance days for their group, and they were going at it. It is so cool the way they serve like that.

I can’t believe that tonight is our final night on the trail! We are camping with the four guys from Georgia. Three of them have hammocks, and they showed me how to hang them. I’m thinking of getting one. I’m not too crazy about the weight and bulk of a tent, so a hammock might be in my future.

I'm grateful for lots of time to relax and enjoy the quiet of the woods on days like this when we finish early. I think Tim is liking it too. Here he is, hard at work lounging and sudoku'ing. If you click the picture you can see the hammocks of our Georgia friends in the background.

Besides the four Georgia guys, there are two other people here at the shelter tonight. I yogi’d* some salt and olive oil from one of them because my dinner was so bland. Wouldn’t mind some sriracha sauce, but no one seems to have that out here. I seriously cannot quit thinking of the fish tacos I’m going to get at Hey Joe’s tomorrow.

*Yogi (verb): The art of "letting" food be offered cheerfully by strangers without actually asking them directly. Named after Yogi the Bear and his goodnatured luck in obtaining picnickers’ goodies.

Iron Mountain Shelter to Double Springs Shelter

Appalachian Trail, 7.6 miles

Finally a gentler day. Short and not much elevation gain. Despite the ease, I’ve developed a small blister on my left heel, so I babied my feet a bit today by going slower.

A mile or so into today’s hike, we passed a grave (!) along the trail - certainly not the kind of thing you see every day while hiking. A tombstone marks the burial place of Nick Grindstaff, a man who lived his last 40 years in this region as a hermit. Legend says that he was kept company only by his dog, a steer, and a pet rattlesnake. His tombstone’s inscription is rather morose: “Lived alone, suffered alone, and died alone.”

The trail also passed through a cow pasture today and it was oddly refreshing to step out of the woods into a big open space with no trees or rocks - just lots of grassy open hills (and plenty of cowpies). The cows were only mildly curious about the humans hiking past them.

A fence-hop was built into the trail as a way for hikers to get into and out of the cows’ fence (without letting the cows out).

We arrived at Double Springs Shelter in time for lunch, and it was Thai day at the Wheeler Bistro. Tim had a Thai peanut noodle dish, and I had Thai tuna. It was the best tuna I ever tasted. I am so happy my appetite is working properly on this trip! In previous trips I have had such a hard time refueling, because I seemed always plagued by a low-grade nauseous feeling, and no food ever seemed appetizing. I talked to a nutritionist about it a few months ago, and she suggested I eat a couple of dates and almonds every few hours while hiking (even if I’m not hungry), just to keep the pipes busy. It has helped a lot. I’ve had almost no nausea, and in fact right now I’m really jonesing for some fish tacos from Hey Joe’s in Damascus. Which is where we plan to eat our first “real” food after the trip is over.

Tonight we feel very spoiled to have a campsite right next to a spring. It is such a luxury to finally have as much water as we want. Tim even carved out a little pool downstream where we could soak our feet in the icy-cold water.

There is no cell service where we are tonight. Which is disturbing because Tim received a cryptic text message from Jay and we are not able to reach him to figure out what he meant. It said “I trust Jeanette told you about Matt.” (Matt is my nephew.) I have no idea what that means, but Jay apparently sent me a message about Matt that I didn’t receive yet because the cell signal is so poor, and I’m worried that something bad has happened to him. :( I’m trying not to think about it until we can reach a place where we can call someone and get clarification.

Vandeventer Shelter to Iron Mountain Shelter

Appalachian Trail, 6.9 miles

Why do I keep thinking the trail is going to get easier as the week goes on? Today seemed hard again, even though it was a short mileage day and the climbs weren’t as difficult as the previous two days. Not sure what’s up with that. Maybe the trail name Cupcake is really starting to take hold of me…

Tim has taken to brewing a mid-morning cup of coffee right on the trail. Which makes sense because we are in the habit of getting up early and hiking half of our mileage by about 10:30am. Here’s a shot of the trailside barista.

As we expected, there was very little water available today. I found one spring about halfway through the day, but it was just a trickle. Definitely not enough depth to sink the filter bulb. So I collected what I could by using a small cup and pouring it into one of my empty bottles, and then filtered it later. Inconvenient, but do-able.

Today we reached our highest elevation of the trip, around 4100 miles. I am my usual sweaty self as a result. The cute haircut I got right before this trip is not quite so cute today.

I miss my fam. I’ve texted with Jay and Maria a few times just to check in (Joe is incommunicado because he’s on a youth group service trip), but I haven’t called because I am trying to make my phone battery last through the whole week. It sounds like they are doing just fine.

I hiked most of the day solo today, because Tim went on ahead to get past the church boys. I actually kind of liked to hike on-and-off with them throughout the day, because they are funny and they remind me of my Joe.

Campsite Near US 321 to Vandeventer Shelter

Appalachian Trail, 9.1 miles

As we hoped, there was a faucet at Watauga Lake, so we cameled up. It was nice to have plenty of water for our long climb up to Vandeventer.

Today I lost Tim for about two hours. We came to a place where the trail diverged a couple different ways, and we were both scoping around and looking at maps for a minute. When I looked up, I thought he had gone ahead of me, but he had actually stopped to check out one of the side trails. Not knowing this, off I went toward the white blazes, pushing hard to try to catch up with him, not realizing I had actually left him behind me. We caught up with each other about four miles later at a muddy spring just shy of Watauga Dam Road. Though I like Tim’s company, I can’t say I minded hiking solo for a little bit. I do love to be alone in the woods.

We gained a lot of elevation north of Watauga Dam, so it was definitely another long and challenging day. We stopped for a fiver at the dam(n) access road and met a few guys from Georgia who were really nice and funny. Sounds like they will be hiking pretty much the same itinerary as we are this week, so I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of them as the week goes on.

I became the recipient of some awesome trail magic this afternoon. When we arrived at Vandeventer Shelter, we chatted with two thru-hikers who were resting before pushing on to the rest of their 20-some mile day. The topic of my lost sandals came up, and without hesitation the one dude unclipped his crocs from his pack and handed them to me! I was like, “Wha? No way! You need these!” But he insisted he never wears them and was planning to pick up some flip-flops in Damascus anyway. I’m telling you, I was giddy with excitement over these battered up plastic shoes, no matter that they are men’s size 12. My feet were so blissfully happy to get out of my boots! Later I found out the guy’s trail name is “Mom.” Totally makes sense.

Around 4pm, two groups of kids showed up at the shelter with guides. There is a group of girls heading southbound, and a group of boys going northbound. They are all between 12 and 15 and they’re simultaneously adorable and annoying (the girls tend to do a lot squealing and screaming). A few are teary-eyed because of blisters, so we gave them some bodyglide and moleskin to take the edge off. My thru-hiker friend (“Mom”) helpfully gave them some candy and then went on his way toward Damascus. The kids are all from a big church in Florida and they’re doing a trip through a ministry called Wilderness Trail. The boys will stay here at Vandeventer tonight and the girls still have a ways to go, as they’re shooting for Watauga Lake before nightfall. (Good on 'em... the poor things are doing a 12-mile day and seem a bit ill-prepared.)

The shelter is pretty crowded tonight, and there are quite a few other hikers trickling in still. Right now it’s 8pm and I think there are about 20 people around. Tim and I are tenting again. I usually prefer shelters, but since we have the tent anyway, and there are so many people about, the tent will do just fine. Also Tim doesn’t care for the shelters because the possibility of mice kind of freaks him out.

There is water here, but it’s almost half a mile down a ridiculously steep side trail. Still, we need to really fill up because we hear that there won’t be a lot of good water north of here tomorrow.

The view here at Vandeventer Shelter is really pretty. I didn’t mention this to anyone, but this shelter was the site of a murder in the seventies. A solo hiker was killed with a hatchet(!) by a guy who wanted her fancy new backpack. Luckily Tim’s backpack is much newer and nicer than mine, so I feel quite safe. :)

Kincora Hostel to Campsite Near US 321

Appalachian Trail, 8.6 miles

We could not get out of Kincora fast enough this morning. Impressively, Tim braved the spiders all night and was understandably ready to scram by 6:30am. As was I, since the cats had crawled all over me all night as I slept half-sitting-up on a grimey, smelly couch near the woodstove. On the bright side, maybe the lingering smell of cats on my clothes will drive away any mice we encounter in the shelters this week.

After a quarter-mile hike down Dennis Cove Road, we were on the AT! It felt good to see those white blazes again! Within only a couple miles we came upon an awesome rock wall and the beautiful Laurel Falls. I swear it is like medicine to be out here.

It was a hard climb up to the top of Pond Flats. Harder than I expected. I sweated buckets all day long and am a little concerned about water. Water is supposedly very sparse for the next 12 miles or so, and I am drinking like a fish. I don’t have much left in the platypus tonight, but there is supposedly water available from a spigot at Watauga Lake, which is a quarter mile north tomorrow morning.

In the bad news department, when we stopped for the day, I put down my pack and made the devastating discovery that somewhere along the way, my sandals had come unclipped from my backpack and apparently fell out on the trail. This seriously messes up my comfort level for the week, because it means I won’t have any alternate footwear in the evenings when my feet need a break from my boots. I am so bummed.

The Road to Damascus, Part Deux

After a way-too-long hiatus, tomorrow I am back on the Appalachian Trail! My brother Tim and I drove five-hundred-thirtysomething miles to Damascus today, for a repeat attempt at finishing the section hike in which we were foiled by a blizzard last time.  

No chance of a blizzard this time around, as the forecast is calling for temps in the eighties and nineties all week.

We arrived in Damascus around 4:30pm to park the car and meet up with Lone Wolf, a guy I know from whiteblaze.net, who shuttled us to Kincora Hostel. Wolf (as his friends call him) is a cool cat. He’s like a blend of Duck Dynasty and Matt Graham of Dual Survival. The dude has thru-hiked the AT five times and loves the trail so much that 15 years ago he moved from his native Connecticut and settled in Damascus (the most storied trail town on the AT) to work at an outfitter and just be around trail people. We spent the 75-minute shuttle ride peppering him with all sorts of questions about his hikes.   Wolf delivered us to Kincora Hostel, where we are staying tonight in preparation for the beginning of our hike tomorrow.

Kincora is owned by trail hero Bob Peoples. Bob is legendary among hikers for his many years of AT trail maintenance and general bad-assery, as expressed by this graffiti penned by a fellow hiker on the wall of a nearby AT shelter.

While it was great to see Bob, his hostel was in really rough shape. And I mean really rough. Eighteen cats (no that is not a typo) were swarming around the main room when we walked in, and they immediately began circling our legs and hiking poles, meowing and hoping for a handout. Everything smelled like cat pee. We decided to investigate the bunkhouse out back to see if it smelled any better. I was relieved to find it didn’t smell too bad - however, as I was getting my stuff situated, Tim casually observed that “It looks like there’s a spider on your bunk.”

Well people, spider is really not the word for it. This thing’s leg span was as wide as a softball. It could have carried my backpack if it wanted to. When I took its picture, the flash made its (huge, scary, evil) eyes light up.

Tim rolled up a magazine and gave it three hard whacks, smearing guts and legs all over the bunk. When he scooped up its carcass with the magazine and flung the spider outside, it made an audible thud as it hit the ground.

I could have gotten over all this if that spider hadn’t had friends. But as soon as the first spider met his demise, we found another. And another. And another. And just when we thought we’d obliterated them all, I spied the biggest one yet, directly over my bed.

“That’s it,” I said. “I’m done.” I abandoned Tim and chose the cat-pee-smelling hostel over the spider-infested bunkhouse. Which is where I sit now, with cats crawling all over me as I write this. It’s going to be a long night.

Tomorrow’s supposed to be a good weather day, which is good because we are doing our steepest incline of the trip. Also, we will be tenting out in the open tomorrow night, instead of near a shelter, because the Watauga Lake Shelter (our original destination for our first night) is closed due to bear activity.

Detroit Free Press International Half Marathon

I really should try to be better about blogging my races. I did a few good ones this past summer to get ready for the big cahuna, but honestly they all kind of pale in comparison, so they didn't feel memorable enough to blog about. The Detroit Free Press half marathon was today and it's pretty dang fun—although my left IT band didn't really think so, as I had stop a few times and give it a little love. Stretching seems to do the trick, but the moral of the story is: stretch early and often. That was really the only way I could get the job done. But done it is, and at a meh-just-okay time of 2:27. I had hoped to squeeze in under 2:20, but whatev. At least I was faster than everyone sitting home on the couch, eh?

One of the things I love about big events like this is all the signs people hold as they cheer for the runners. Some of the really good ones I saw:

• "Way to go Melissa and all you adorable random strangers"
• "Toenails are overrated! Keep running!"
• "Run like a damn Yankee" (in reference to the Tigers running the Yankees out of town last week)
• "Run like you stole something"
• "The Zombie Apocalypse just happened, and they're right behind you. Keep running!"
• Two-tenths of a mile into the race: "Just 26 miles to go, people! You got this!"

Also some of the shirts that runners wear are pretty funny. Here are ones that I liked a lot:

• "I am a bomb technician. If you see me running, you better try and keep up."
• "WTF?? (Where's The Finish?)"
• On a half-marathoner: "I thought you said 1.31"
• On a full-marathoner: "Because 26.3 miles would just be crazy"
• "In my mind I'm a Keynyan, but in my legs, I'm a chubby white guy"