Category: Sherpa’s AT Thru-hike

Miles today: 20.0

Total miles: 1686.9

I was excited for today’s hike because at the end of the day we’d be in Grayson Highland State Park, where there are wild ponies. I’ve been looking forward to these ponies since I started even thinking about hiking the AT. I’d heard you don’t always see them, so I was hoping that I’d be lucky enough to come across them but at the same time trying not to get my hopes up.

We had several really big climbs today, but since the area is pretty touristy, they were surprisingly easy with plenty of switchbacks. I didn’t realize it until after the fact, but it’s a holiday weekend this weekend so there were a ton of weekenders out. About 3 miles from the shelter, Delta and I climbed a hill to a grassy meadow and came across a herd of wild ponies!!! I let out an audible squeal and got so excited as soon as I saw them. We’d heard they let you pet them and will even try to bite at your poles or water bottle, but this particular herd was pretty skittish. They wouldn’t let us get too close, but I was able to get close enough to take a photo. They were so cute and ahhhh it was just great.

We arrived at the shelter by about 4pm to find a bunch of weekenders there. It was a full shelter, with six of us in there and then many others tenting. I haven’t been at a shelter with that many people since July in Maine. Whereas before I may have been excited to chat with all these new people, this experience made me realize how I’ve kind of mellowed out. I found myself observing the weekenders’ interactions and conversations and finding a lot of it really superficial. Maybe I’ve spent too much time in the woods or away from people, but so much of what they were talking about seemed pointless. Like at one point they were talking about movies but really they were each just yelling out a title of a movie they liked and the others would be like YEAH! or eh, i didn’t like that I liked _________ more! It wasn’t even a conversation, they were just saying movie names. I can’t really describe it, but it felt like they were talking simply just to fill the silence, not because they were having worthwhile conversations with each other. I guess I’ve kind of lost the urge to fill silences and constantly chat, as I talked to them but mostly just cooked my dinner and observed and was quite content in that. I realize I sound like a crazy recluse person writing/thinking all this, but that’s not the case. Or at least I hope not…

Miles today: 17.7

Total miles: 1665.9

Brrrr it’s cold again today. Worse than that, it’s windy. Since we aren’t going into town today anymore to resupply, we have a pretty easy 18 mile day. I felt bad for skipping town because I knew Delta really wanted his fast food. The road where we would hitch from to go into town is actually the road where there is a visitor center for Mount Rogers. The Visitor Center was open and in our guide book it said you can order pizza to the visitor center. I suggested that we get food delivered as a compromise–Delta could have his food fix (who am I kidding, I’d enjoy it too) but we’d still be able to put in a good amount of miles. Luckily, the ranger at the visitor center was super nice and let us come inside into the warm heated area to loiter while we decided what we wanted and placed our orders and waited for it.

Finally our subs and pastas arrived and we went outside to pay, etc. I was not looking forward to eating it outside in the about 40 degree weather, but at least it was warm food. Delta stepped inside for a second to get something and the ranger told him that we could eat inside! This was the best news I could’ve heard!! She allowed us to go into a back room with a table and chairs and eat our lunch there. As we walked through the room where we’d been loitering before, we distinctly smelled Febreeze. In fact, it smelled like she’d sprayed an entire bottle of it. Ugh, we were definitely super stinky. Once we get to Damascus, this will be our longest time without showering somewhere since the 100 mile wilderness in Maine–about 8 days. We were sure working up a nice ripe hiker scent.

We pigged out as usual and then still had 11 miles to hike after eating. I am sad to report that we did not all prevail over our food. Delta engaged in a battle with his food and lost, having to stop several times while hiking to…. dispose of his food. Luckily, I was able to prevail over my food and surprisingly wasn’t uncomfortable hiking after eating so much.

A mile or two before the shelter, I came across awesome trail magic from a local church. They’d set up a huge trunk with all kinds of snacks and supplies and a cooler of sodas. Even though I wasn’t really hungry at the moment, I loaded up on snacks and was super excited at all the unexpected surprises of the day–a warm place to sit in the middle of the day, hot delicious food for lunch, and now trail magic.

I got to the shelter and was getting worried when it grew dark and Delta still hadn’t shown up after an hour or so. Finally, he arrived and relayed the events of the day about his food mishaps to me. As he was telling me about it, a mouse dropped from the ceiling of the shelter and missed my head by an inch or two. Looking back, it’s funny because we paused for half a second as I scared the mouse away but instantly returned to our conversation as if that hadn’t just happened. Apparently, I’m that used to living amongst mice and in shelters. It was another freezing cold night. Definitely not getting used to these temperatures.

Miles today: 18.4

Total miles: 1648.2

We had a formidable task ahead of us today: 14 miles away was the town of Atkins, where there was a restaurant serving a 16 ounce hiker burger. Our goal was to get there for lunch and show that burger who’s boss.

We were so determined to get to Atkins that we only took one quick five minute break in those fourteen miles. It did help that it was misty/raining and cold, so we were not too inclined to stop. We got to Atkins by about 1pm and entered the no frills truck-stop type restaurant and ordered our giant burgers. Both Delta and I had no problem finishing our burgers and fries. Delta even got a BLT after finishing his. Over lunch, we talked about the next day–we had planned to go into a town with a grocery store to resupply, but if we did that it may cut our day super short to 7 miles with all the time it takes to get into and out of town with hitching, etc. I suggested that we resupply at a gas station down the street in Atkins and then be able to do a full day tomorrow and get to Damascus, VA sooner. We already are planning to take a zero in Damascus, so I wanted to get there as soon as possible–it’s about three or four days away. Delta really wanted to go into the next town to get fast food, but ended up agreeing it wasn’t worth cutting our day short.

So after lunch, we headed to the gas station down the street and did the dreaded gas station resupply. Resupplying at gas stations suck because the selection is terrible and it’s always overpriced. But it was only 3-4 days worth of food, so it could have been worse had we needed more food than that. After buying our food, we very reluctantly headed back out into the frigid air for the final 4.5 miles of the day. The miles flew by and we got to the shelter super quick. We passed a neat old schoolhouse on the way, which was fun to look inside.

I knew Cerveza and Milkrun were behind us and I was dreading that they’d get to the shelter just in time to wake me up again. Luckily, they showed up after dark, but early enough that I was still awake. It was nice to finally be able to enjoy their company rather than be annoyed at their late arrival. I also had just finished Catcher in the Rye so I was bored with nothing to read and grateful to chat with them before bed.

Miles today: 19.1

Total miles: 1629.8

We had a pretty easy hike today. In the middle of the day we came across Chestnut Knob shelter, which was unique in that it was fully enclosed (rather than 3 walls), complete with a door. It was on the top of a 4400’ mountain, the tallest peak we’ve been on since Moosilauke in New Hampshire. We enjoyed lunch shielded from the wind inside the stone structure. For the next mile or two after the shelter, the trail was on an open ridgeline. It was beautiful walking, in a meadow with mountains stretching out in all directions. Apparently the location of the shelter in this high altitude meadow was considered as a location for the Vanderbilts’ Biltmore Estate.

We got to the shelter with plenty of time to spare. I’ve been reading Catcher in the Rye, which I haven’t read since I had to read in for school in… maybe freshmen year of high school? I remember not really liking it all that much, but this time around I love it and find myself laughing at loud. Perhaps some of my enjoyment of Holden’s often harsh criticisms of people is due to feeling the same frustrations at phony-seeming interactions in society, especially now that I am separated from such social norms on a regular basis. 

I went to bed at my new-normal time of about 6:45 and was unhappy to be awoken JUST as I was falling asleep around 7:30 or so to Cerveza and Milkrun arriving late again. Same as before, I couldn’t fall asleep until after they’d made their dinner and gotten in bed themselves. It’s times like this I hate that I’m a light sleeper–I wasn’t able to fall asleep until after 9 again, which is like midnight in the real world. I hoped that we aren’t now stuck in a pattern where this is a nightly occurence.

Miles today: 23.8

Total miles: 1610.7

We had a big day today. There were lots of annoying little ups and downs in the morning. I wanted to get a lot of miles out of the way early, so I didn’t stop until after the first shelter at 11:15 or so, at about mile 11. I sat and had lunch and waited for Delta to catch up. I waited for 45 minutes or so, but he didn’t show so I got up to leave. As I was walking away, he caught up but hadn’t eaten yet so I left as he stayed to get water and eat.

There was a roadwalk section and I was pleased to discover some unexpected Trail Magic at a stop sign–some cans of Coke. Nice! I took one and carried it as motivation to enjoy at my next break. That kept me going for the next 9 miles or so after which I enjoyed it and had another rest/snack break. As I was sitting, I could hear loud booms from a car radio’s bass on the gravel road just beyond where I was sitting. After my break, I walked by the tinted windows of the SUV with its radio blasting and was surprised to see a soccer mom type rocking out to Kid Cudi on this random gravel road in the middle of the woods.

The last five miles of the day were nice and easy hiking, which I was grateful for. On big days like this I always push myself to keep walking as much as possible so I don’t end up having to night hike the last few miles. Since I breaked so little, I actually got to the shelter quite early, a little after 4pm. I was not excited to see signs posted all around the shelter warning that there had been recent bear encounters there. One sign even specified it was an ‘aggressive’ bear encounter. Great. I’m actually terrified of bears, and was even more scared after reading some entries in the register about how bears approached the shelter in the middle of the night and wouldn’t leave. One person wrote that a bear destroyed their pack.

I wanted to hang my food in a tree to avoid drawing bears to the shelter, rather than hanging it in the shelter as I usually do. But Delta said he was keeping his food in the shelter and wouldn’t budge. So it’d be pointless to hang mine if there was still food in the shelter. I ended up hanging it in the shelter as usual and just hoping a bear wouldn’t come. I woke up a bunch during the night half expecting to find a bear next to me but luckily the night was uneventful. Crisis averted.

Miles today: 21.4

Total miles: 1586.9

I awoke this morning to the sounds of a rooster crowing as the sun rose. That was a first on this trip. I got up to discover the Canadians had already left–I was sad I didn’t get to say goodbye to them or even get their address to send them a postcard. Delta and I opted not to have breakfast at Wood’s Hole, but the owner, Michael, told us we’d be able to have coffee even without breakfast. But when we went into the house, we got yelled at for coming inside because it was apparently still closed. We waited around in the frigid cold for a while, in hopes of eventually being told we could come in for coffee, but that didn’t happen. So we had our poptarts and set off into the cold morning.

Not too much to report on the hiking today. It was chilly all day. Got to the shelter as it was starting to get dark. With daylight savings, it now gets dark a little after 5. Whereas I used to eat dinner around 530 or 6 and go to bed by 8, I now eat around 5 and am ready for bed by 630. And then wake up with the sun around 630. I get an insane amount of sleep yet every morning I still find myself wanting to stay in bed an extra hour. That may have to do with the freezing temperatures rather than the amount of sleep, however.

Just as I was drifting off to sleep around 7:45 I was woken up to noises outside the shelter. Cerveza and Milkrun had just arrived, nighthiking in. They then went to get water, which was quite a walk at this shelter, so just as I was falling back to asleep, I got woken up again to the sounds of them coming back from getting water. It was well after 9pm once they settled into bed and I was able to fall asleep. I was annoyed that I didn’t get a chance to sleep until about 3 hours after I first lay down, but oh well.

Miles today: 10.4
Total miles: 1565.5

Today was such an unexpectedly good day. First off, I didn’t know it was daylight savings until I couldn’t fall asleep last night and was messing around on my phone at midnight and found out online. That made me happy and I enjoyed my extra hour of sleep. In town I tried to talk to my friend Paul, who is in Madagascar and who I haven’t talked to since June. We tried to Skype but the interet connection wasn’t the best so I only briefly saw him but it was so good to hear from an old friend.
Before we hit the trail , delta and I went to Dairy Queen (for the third time in the less than 24 hours we’ve been in town). We ate there and ended up meeting a middle aged Canadian couple who had hiked northbound this year. They were super interesting in that they didn’t hike together. Well sometimes they did but more often they hiked at their own paces and met up every so often in towns along the way. The guy, Jelly (his wife is peanut butter, how adorable), was also training during his hike for a 100 Mile race so he did some crazy stuff like hike ahead then run back to where his wife was. Anyway, they were so friendly and nice to talk to. They are currently driving around and going back to trail towns etc to see places theyd been to on their hike. They ended up giving us a ride back to the trailhead. Their next stop was Woods hole Hostel, which was ten miles away ad where delta and I planned to stay tonight. Since they were going there anyway, they offered to take our packs there to make our hike easier. I immediately jumped at the chance to slackpack while delta politely declined since he sets super high standards for himself about the rules he hikes by. Ha I have absolutely no problem giving away my pack for the day and only carrying my water bottles.
I had such a nice ten mile walk to woods hole without my pack. It was like a little walk in the woods!! If only every day were like this. On the way to woods hole delta and I ran into some guy taking a photo of a red chair by the trail. He said he’s a bed and breakfast owner and the chairs being passed along various B&Bs and came all the way from Cape cod. He actually took our photo with it and said he’s going to put it on the Red Chair Travels website. In other words, I became a celebrity today.

We got to woods hole around 445. The Canadian couple, peanut butter and jelly were going to stay the night too. There was also a big Irish family staying (not hikers). It was two sisters that now live in the states with their American husbands, their kids (4 total) and their parents. An adorable family reunion. Woods hole is this awesome log cabin and separate bunk house. They have a farm and have animals, including chickens and goats. They also apparently lead yoga and meditation sessions and give massages but I unfortunately didn’t partake in those.

I had such a great evening there nonetheless. I enjoyed talking with the Canadian couple–they actually are amongst my favorite people I’ve met this entire trip. They are so kind but also funny and sarcastic and by the end of the night we were having a blast poking fun at each other. The Irish family was also really interesting and it was a nice change of pace being around little kids since I never see kids being on the trail all the time. We had delicious homemade pizza with salad for dinner and before we ate we all went around and said something we are thankful for. It was such an international mix of people and we were all so different but it was like a little family meal. By the end of the meal my face hurt from smiling and laughing so much. We had to sleep outside in the bunkhouse without heat with a temperature of 31 degrees, but I went to bed with a smile on my face after an all around great day.

Miles today: 19.7
Total miles: 1555.5

Town today! We woke up excited to get to Pearisburg by tonight. In our guidebook, it has maps of the towns along the trail and Pearisburg has everything a hiker needs: fast food places, a grocery store, and places to stay.
With town on the mind, the hiking flew by. For a while now, like the past month or so, it has become the norm to not really pass anyone at all during the day. At first it was kind of depressing to not see anyone all day but now I’m used to it. In touristy areas, like the shenendoahs, we see plenty of people to make up for it. It’s a special day now though to pass another hiker. However, lately, we’ve started to pass hunters everyday. Today was no exception. I passed two, one creepily lurking in the woods and another right on trail. Passing hunters is the most shocking experience each time it happens. They all wear camo and are creepily silently lurking along the trail so you don’t notice them until the last minute. And then they don’t say anything because they are trying to be quiet so you kind of exchange this silent hello and head nod as you gape at their giant gun. Apparently it’s legal to hunt on/along the trail as long as you don’t shoot down or across the trail. This is something I totally disagree with as the AT is a highly trafficked walking trail and allowing hunters along it seems to me an invitation for accidents to occur. I have a blaze orange vest on my pack so hunters will see me from afar but I still get nervous around them that they’ll shoot me. Also I thinking hunting is cruel and dumb so I try to make lots of noise to piss off the hunters as I pass them. I purposely say hello really loud and rustle the leaves To scare off any animals. HA I showed them.

Anyway, back to today. We had high hopes for Pearisburg and as we approached town around 330, we had our first sights of it. We exited the woods and were greeted first with a landfill and then some type of factory or plant spewing black smoke out that smelled absolutely disgusting. Welcome to town!!! It’s times like these I enjoy taking a big whiff of the “fresh” air, sighing, and saying “ah, the great outdoors”. We had a road walk from the factory to town that emerged in a residential neighborhood. The first house you see when leaving the trail and heading to town is a trailer with children’s toys scattered across the yard, an overturned car seat in browning grass, and a confederate flag flying proudly above the door. Oh pearisburg, this was definitely not how I imagined it. As we walked toward the restaurants and such we passed a ton of abandoned businesses and houses and even a motel that had burned down! It was a hilarious experience and a lesson to not have too high of expectations. Nonetheless, it was still nice to be in civilization. Delta and I stayed at a motel and ran into the two southbound guys that were ahead of us. It was milkrun and Cerveza, the two 19 year olds. I’m apparently stuck with 19 year old boys now. We did the usual town stint: enjoyed a hot shower, pigged out, resupplied, and watched movies on TV. As sketchy as Pearisburg is, it still was nice to rejevuenate and stay somewhere actually warm for a change.