Month: November 2013

What started into one zero has turned into five. Oops.

Delta and i planned to leave Hot Springs Monday morning and have three twenty something mile days into Gatlinburg where we’d get picked up to go to thanksgiving at Shuffles. We got up at 6am on Monday and were getting our stuff together to head out when Delta brought up the weather. Tuesdays forecast was for all day rain and in the 30s. Not hiking weather. More like hypothermia weather. If we headed out this morning we were basically committing to walk all day in the cold rain and then likely have our wet clothes freeze overnight and then have to walk 23 miles in the snow the next day.

So instead we decided we’d try to slack pack Monday and then take rainy Tuesday off. This meant we’d also have to take Wednesday off because that was the day we needed to be at a road so we could get picked up for thanksgiving. I wasn’t crazy about taking so much time off but it was more appealing, not to mention safer, than hiking in the 30s in rain. Now to find someone to drive us up to Max Patch, 20 miles away, so we could hike from there North to Hot Springs. We had to wait until 9am til the outfitter in town opened to call and see if they could drive. When we got a hold of them they said it’d be $55 which was more than we wanted. Then, miraculously, a group of college kids came into the hostel we were staying at and they just so happened to be hiking Max Patch and had extra room in their cars. So we got a free ride! They took me, Delta, and Afternoon Delight up to Max Patch, a beautiful bald mountain. We were lucky enough to have great views on this day. We had 20 miles back to Hot Springs, mostly downhill. It ended up being the easiest and most enjoyable twenty I’ve done. Time flew by and the hiking was even easier with just a daypack. I made great time, finishing in about 6 and a half hours including breaks and wasn’t even tired after. I could do this all downhill slack pack everyday!

The next two days I relaxed more than I ever have. I must have watched ten movies. That’s not an exaggeration. Delta and I hung out with AD and a guy Stripe who just finished his thru hike and was back in town. Crunchmaster and gospel, two other SOBOs also got to town and stayed at the hostel so we had a nice little group going. One highlight was enjoying Hot Springs’ hot springs with a bath at the spa. Delta, Stripe and i reserved an hour and relaxed in a hot tub filled with the hot spring water drinking beers.

It snowed about three inches overnight on Tuesday. I’d gone to bed at 3 the night before because I was up late watching movies so I was sleeping in the next day. I awoke being pelted by snowballs in my bed by a pack of boys. So much for sleeping in! Ha. Wolf Bird drove to Hot Springs on Tuesday evening and we had a wonderful reunion and had fun catching up and drinking beers and playing cards at the hostel.

On Wednesday we went and picked up Blondie and Cool Blue about an hour away from Hot Springs. They are about 60 miles behind me and delta on the trail. But they are both ready to be done and so they plan to do ten 30 mile days to get to springer. I think they’re crazy and will hurt themselves but they are pretty determined.

It was so great being reunited with so many people I hadn’t seen in many months. We were all making fun of each other like old times in a matter of minutes. The five of us drove about four and a half hours Wednesday afternoon to Shuffles house near Atlanta for thanksgiving. Shuffle finished the trail on Sunday!!! It was a miracle Wolf birds crappy car made it but we got there and had a great time. Shuffle and her family are so kind and cooked us so much food. They tripled recipes and got two 15 pound turkeys to feed our hungry hiker appetites.

After much eating and relaxation, we left Shuffles this morning (Friday). We are currently on our way to Asheville NC on a spontaneous trip to check out the town which is supposed to be awesome. I’ve wanted to visit here for a long time so I’m really excited. And a SOBO named junco who already finished lives in town so I think we have a free place to stay. It has been a very long break from hiking but it’s been great to see my hiker family and have a mental break. I’m excited to get back on trail though tomorrow (hopefully) and finish up these last 250 miles. It should be about two weeks til I finish. Wish me luck!

I’m being lazy and skipping blogging each day for my last section of hiking from Damascus VA to Hot Springs NC. Rather, I’ll just write a quick summary.

Leaving Damascus was tough as leaving town always is. It had rained/snowed overnight in Damascus but not stuck on the ground. However, once I gained elevation after the first mile or two of the day, there was an inch or two of snow on the ground. Thus I walked through snow all day and my feet got pretty wet by the end of the day. Since we were slow to leave town, I had to squeeze 18 miles in starting at 11 am. I only took one quick break and the rest of the day I was kinda rushing to try to make it to the shelter before dark when it’d get even colder. The overnight low was forecast to be 17 and I was staying at 4500 feet so I think it ended up getting down to single digits. It was by far the coldest and most miserable night I’ve had on trail. Once I stopped walking my feet got so cold that they went numb and didn’t regain feeling for almost an hour. I set up my tent in hopes of it providing extra warmth but setting it up on top of snow was not warm. I felt like I was laying on a bed of ice all night and probably only slept two hours. By daybreak it was still freezing and extremely tough to motivate myself to get out of my sleeping bag. Once I eventually got moving I felt better but boy was that cold tough to deal with.

One day in this section we met a SOBO we hadn’t met yet, Afternoon Delight. We hiked with him for a few days which was nice to have new company. Another day delta and I were hitching into town when a giant semi truck stopped for us. It was bringing Christmas trees to Connecticut. He offered to drive us to CT if we wanted. We did not take him up on that offer but it was the best hitch and so hilarious that I still laugh thinking about it.

We climbed Roan Mountain, which is supposed to have beautiful views, but on the day we did it we were in a cloud. The mountain has open bald ridges but we were being blown by extremely high wind gusts and then later sideways blowing rain. The visibility was very low and it was a cold, wet, windy few hours. The shelter we stayed at that night was the highest on the AT and luckily had four walls and a door, keeping us warm and dry from the howling wind and rain outside.

A major highlight of this section was trail magic from Mr Rob Bird. The day after Roan, I was feeling kind of miserable. The weather had cleared but I had to put on my still wet clothes in the cold morning. Also lately I’ve found the mental aspect of the hike to be more difficult. The cold weather all the time makes it hard to stay motivated. It can be tough to enjoy everyday when all I want to is be warm in my sleeping bag. I’m getting so close but it still feels so far in many ways. Anyway I was having a tough day mentally when delta and I crossed a road with a sketchy white van parked on the side of the road. We both made comments about getting in and getting kidnapped. Then, the front door of the van opens and a man yells to us, “want some snacks? Come hope in the van. It’s warm!” And, like the smart girl my parents raised, I hopped right in that van. It really was warm and there was a cooler full of sodas and plenty of snack food. We met Rob Bird, who had run a hiker hostel in MA for over ten years but recently retired and moved to TN. Now he drives up to trail crossings waiting for hikers to walk by so he can give them snacks and such. After a few minutes of chatting (and being relieved that he wasn’t a kidnapper when he talked about meeting other hikers we know), he invited us to stay at his house for the night. We accepted his offer and waited for Afternoon Delight and the three of us and Rob were off! It was the most unexpected trail magic at a low point in my day/week/hike. Robs kindness was yet another reminder that things will work out and get better and the trail has mysterious ways of working. Rob let us shower and do laundry and then took us to a Chinese buffet. He then slack packed us twenty miles the next day and we got to sleep in warm beds two days in a row. Most of all though Rob was a truly generous and fun person to be around. He was full of stories and made us feel so welcome, inviting us to come back anytime. It’s people like him that I’ll remember from my hike even years down the road.

The next three and a half days were cold again and cloudy and one day rainy. I had one pretty miserable night where the shelter was so incredibly infested with mice that I opted to tent in the rain rather than be kept awake by mice all night. Yet it was equally or possibly more miserable in my tent, where everything got wet and it was still raining in the morning. I had to pack up all my wet stuff in the freezing cold rain and ugh the weather just sucks lately. Luckily I was going to town that day so it helped motivate me.

I’m in hot springs NC now with only 272 miles left. This town is tiny but awesome and we opted to take a zero because the high for today (Sunday) is about 30 which would’ve made for cold hiking. Unfortunately the weather for the next week is supposed to stay unseasonably cold with overnight lows in the low 20s. But I’ll be entering the smokeys where I’ll remain at about 5000 feet throughout the park, making for even colder temperatures. I’m actually really nervous for the cold and it’s also supposed to snow and rain. I’m sad my hike is drawing to a close and would want it to continue even longer if the weather were nicer. Yet the cold is so miserable that I am kind of at the point where I just want to finish to get it over with and be warm inside all day. I’m trying to enjoy my last two weeks or so though and looking forward to thanksgiving which I will spend with shuffle at her house with a mini reunion with wolf bird and cool blue.

Town today!! The day started off freezing cold in the 20s but surprisingly warmed up to the nicest it’s been in weeks, nearly 60 degrees. I was hiking in a t-shirt and shorts for the first time in as long as I can remember. It’s amazing how much my mood is affected by the weather, as I was so much happier with the sun and warmth. The trail coincided with a bike path for part of the day and we ended up talking to some people biking the rail trail. These particular people hadn’t ever heard of people thru-hiking the AT so they were beyond amazed at Delta and I, asking tons of questions and saying how impressed they were with us. It was flattering and kind of funny how much of a celebrity we felt like. They took our photo and then later when we got to town we went into a local gear shop and found this same couple browsing backpacks, saying we’d inspired them.

Hiking was good today but it felt like it took forever to get to town because I was so eager to get there. We are taking the day off tomorrow, the first zero day since Vernon NJ–way back in September. I am SO excited to relax and take a break. I’m even more excited because it just so happens that the weather is supposed to be freezing cold, rainy, and snowy and I DONT HAVE TO WALK IN IT! I have under 500 miles left, so I’m really excited about that. I don’t have an exact end date planned, but it’s definitely doable to finish in a month or less from now. So a month from now I may be done. It’s crazy how close I am, but at the same time 500 miles is still a ways to go. I’ll get there eventually though!

Miles today: 17.3

Total miles: 1703.2

Today was such a good day! It was cold and windy in the morning, but I didn’t care because the scenery today was so beautiful. The day started with a climb and then I had views for nearly an hour or two of my hike. It was beautiful open, treeless highland meadows surrounded by mountains in the distance in every direction. It was one of those rare times when I was so in awe of the beauty around me that I had a smile pasted across my face as I hiked. Also, I saw more ponies!!! This herd was less shy and one of the ponies even let me take a selfie photo with it.

I stopped for a break at a shelter 5 miles in and discovered an awesome blanket/hat. It has a unicorn face/head that you wear as a hat and then there are gloves attached you put your hands in and then a blanket part, so it’s like a cape with a unicorn head. I of course had to take it and proceeded to wear it for the next two days like the true crazy person I’ve become. It was fun to see people’s differing reactions, from people who immediately said “I like your hat!” to others who were clearly uncomfortable and pretended not to notice.

The hiking continued to be pretty easy today and the day wasn’t that long. Delta and I got to the shelter to discover Foot, the basically homeless guy there. Along with another guy who seemed also fairly homeless. Great. With that, we decided to tent instead of stay in the shelter, which turned out to be a smart decision. It got down into the 20s at night, so tenting helped keep us a little bit warmer.

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.