I took forever getting out of town. A walk to the post office, some time at an internet cafe, and then a stop at the Chinese Buffet. Girl's gotta eat.
It's getting hot out here ya'll. The hike out was very easy and pretty. So nice that things are pretty green now. I camped at Manassas Gap Shelter and met some fasties: Portrait and River Rat. Nice guys. We all tented and left the shelter to the mice.
Next day brought another hot one. I was Sweaty Betty all the way to Bear's Den. The roller coaster, "a series of tightly packed ups and downs for 13.5 miles, " starts about 10 miles before this hostel. I was super glad to break it up. This was the second time I've done this section and both times were in high heat and humidity.
Got up early the next day to do the 20 into Harpers Ferry. This section looks easier on paper, but has quite a few rocks. I took only a small break and made it to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy Headquarters at 3:15pm where I received the number 207. I am the 207th thru-hiker to check in. Almost made the 100's.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Front Royal, VA
After taking 5 zeroes (4 for the wedding and 1 for the hiker bug), I traveled back to Reeds Gap and walked to Waynesboro. The 19 miles was fairly easy because Marie had my pack at a hotel in town, so I got to slack pack for one more day. It rained on and off throughout the late afternoon, and when I got to town, I learned it was going to do a lot more than that on the following day. Geez, call me soft, but I took another zero. I was glad I did because it stormed all the next day. In fact, the weather had been terrible during the entire time I was off. Great timing for me!
With improved weather, I started into the Shenendoah National Park the next day. Spaceman and Rocket, a couple I met earlier in my hike, arranged a ride with a trail angel and let me tag along. I hiked with them for a good part of the day. This time of year, there are a ton of section and day hikers in the park, so we ran into our fair share. It can be strange because they often want to stop and chat, and I often feel obligated to let them know the big 3 answers: California/Pittsburgh, March 10th on the Approach, and Maine. Yes, all the way to Maine, baby!
The first day in the park, I decided to push on past the shelter at 20 miles because Spaceman and Rocket were camping ahead as well. Also, the bugs at that particular hut, as they call them in the SNP, were very bad. My friend, Pele (GAME '04) who introduced me to long distance hiking 5 years ago, thinks that bugs are my biggest enemy on the trail. She thinks they are the real reason I've gotten off in the past. She'll be glad to know that I'm still hiking even though they are in full blood-sucking effect. Turns out, pushing on was a great idea. Red Rider who is slack packing Indiana Jones through the park, offered us a ride back to the Grace Lutheran Hostel where they were having free spaghetti dinner. He said he would drive us back in the morning, so I hopped in the car. Yeah! The dinner was great and the cheescake made by one of the older parishoners was FANTASTIC!
On the way back to the trail in the morning, a bobcat ran across Skyland Drive in front of us. When it got to the other side it stopped turned back and looked at us. It was a good start to the day. The weather remained nice with only a little sprinkling. I hiked most of the day with Indian Jones. The AT has turned into Cayenne's Trail of Wayward Boys because not a few days go by that I don't spend at least half a day listening to the life story of a twenty-something boy. Its really very sweet. I feel like big sister.
At Hightop Hut that night, I found a decent tent site even though it was pretty packed. As I was making dinner, I discovered that I was sharing the space with the Fatpackers. I just read an article in Backpacker Magazine about this guy that takes people on hikes to help them lose weight, and here he was sitting next to me at the picnic table. Apparently, he charges each of them $1700 to go hiking through the SNP. This does not include airfare. Could not believe it. I gotta get into that racket.
I spent the next day hiking by myself. It was a nice change. I wish I could say that the sights were amazing but I find the park to be just so-so. It is not my favorite part of Virginia. It is, however, a favorite tourist spot for many. I know this because the waysides are full non-hiking visitors. The park has many waysides and restaurants that serve food, so one can imagine that this is why some thru-hikers have fond memories of the place. On this day, I had dinner at the tavern at Big Meadows. I'm used to people staring at me, but they were really looking at me like an alien that day. I was the only sweaty hiker in there at the moment. Didn't stop me from eating a giant plate of nachos and an order of fries. Not it did not. That night, I hiked on to the campground and found some fellow thru-hikers to share a tent site with.
I woke up a little later the next morning. I had a breakfast of probars with Hansel and Gretel, the brother/sister team that let me share a site with them. While we were eating our trail food, the neighbors at the campground were making bacon. Torture. Is this becoming a food blog? Also, campgrounds are so noisy. People were up so late. Like 11pm. I had to listen to a couple who were about my age ask each other over and over again about the status of their son's bowels. "Did he poop yet, honey?" "Do you know, did he poop?" Jeesh.
The Skyland Resort was calling me that day, and I arrived just in time for lunch. When I got there, I ran into so many guys that I had met before: Disco, 6 string, Bean Pole, Dayman, and Mean Gene. It was really nice to see them all again. I was afraid that I'd be meeting only new people. After lunch, I hiked on to Pass Mountain Hut where Evergreen and Bum Knee were already set up for the evening. Even more friends I already knew. I assumed they all went to trail days, but none of them had. They just had a more relaxed schedule.
The next night, I camped with some of these boys at Compton Spring. Disco and 6 string played a little music and we enjoyed the evening until late night when it stormed and stormed. The rain was pretty heavy, it actually bounced into my tent a bit, but I stayed dry enough, and the next day I found myself in Front Royal where I did the hiker ghetto dry-athon where you string all your wet stuff all over the place to let it air out. So classy.
All right ya'll. Next time you hear from me, I'll be past 1,000 miles.
With improved weather, I started into the Shenendoah National Park the next day. Spaceman and Rocket, a couple I met earlier in my hike, arranged a ride with a trail angel and let me tag along. I hiked with them for a good part of the day. This time of year, there are a ton of section and day hikers in the park, so we ran into our fair share. It can be strange because they often want to stop and chat, and I often feel obligated to let them know the big 3 answers: California/Pittsburgh, March 10th on the Approach, and Maine. Yes, all the way to Maine, baby!
The first day in the park, I decided to push on past the shelter at 20 miles because Spaceman and Rocket were camping ahead as well. Also, the bugs at that particular hut, as they call them in the SNP, were very bad. My friend, Pele (GAME '04) who introduced me to long distance hiking 5 years ago, thinks that bugs are my biggest enemy on the trail. She thinks they are the real reason I've gotten off in the past. She'll be glad to know that I'm still hiking even though they are in full blood-sucking effect. Turns out, pushing on was a great idea. Red Rider who is slack packing Indiana Jones through the park, offered us a ride back to the Grace Lutheran Hostel where they were having free spaghetti dinner. He said he would drive us back in the morning, so I hopped in the car. Yeah! The dinner was great and the cheescake made by one of the older parishoners was FANTASTIC!
On the way back to the trail in the morning, a bobcat ran across Skyland Drive in front of us. When it got to the other side it stopped turned back and looked at us. It was a good start to the day. The weather remained nice with only a little sprinkling. I hiked most of the day with Indian Jones. The AT has turned into Cayenne's Trail of Wayward Boys because not a few days go by that I don't spend at least half a day listening to the life story of a twenty-something boy. Its really very sweet. I feel like big sister.
At Hightop Hut that night, I found a decent tent site even though it was pretty packed. As I was making dinner, I discovered that I was sharing the space with the Fatpackers. I just read an article in Backpacker Magazine about this guy that takes people on hikes to help them lose weight, and here he was sitting next to me at the picnic table. Apparently, he charges each of them $1700 to go hiking through the SNP. This does not include airfare. Could not believe it. I gotta get into that racket.
I spent the next day hiking by myself. It was a nice change. I wish I could say that the sights were amazing but I find the park to be just so-so. It is not my favorite part of Virginia. It is, however, a favorite tourist spot for many. I know this because the waysides are full non-hiking visitors. The park has many waysides and restaurants that serve food, so one can imagine that this is why some thru-hikers have fond memories of the place. On this day, I had dinner at the tavern at Big Meadows. I'm used to people staring at me, but they were really looking at me like an alien that day. I was the only sweaty hiker in there at the moment. Didn't stop me from eating a giant plate of nachos and an order of fries. Not it did not. That night, I hiked on to the campground and found some fellow thru-hikers to share a tent site with.
I woke up a little later the next morning. I had a breakfast of probars with Hansel and Gretel, the brother/sister team that let me share a site with them. While we were eating our trail food, the neighbors at the campground were making bacon. Torture. Is this becoming a food blog? Also, campgrounds are so noisy. People were up so late. Like 11pm. I had to listen to a couple who were about my age ask each other over and over again about the status of their son's bowels. "Did he poop yet, honey?" "Do you know, did he poop?" Jeesh.
The Skyland Resort was calling me that day, and I arrived just in time for lunch. When I got there, I ran into so many guys that I had met before: Disco, 6 string, Bean Pole, Dayman, and Mean Gene. It was really nice to see them all again. I was afraid that I'd be meeting only new people. After lunch, I hiked on to Pass Mountain Hut where Evergreen and Bum Knee were already set up for the evening. Even more friends I already knew. I assumed they all went to trail days, but none of them had. They just had a more relaxed schedule.
The next night, I camped with some of these boys at Compton Spring. Disco and 6 string played a little music and we enjoyed the evening until late night when it stormed and stormed. The rain was pretty heavy, it actually bounced into my tent a bit, but I stayed dry enough, and the next day I found myself in Front Royal where I did the hiker ghetto dry-athon where you string all your wet stuff all over the place to let it air out. So classy.
All right ya'll. Next time you hear from me, I'll be past 1,000 miles.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Reeds Gap (near Waynesboro, VA)
I left town late with Shoofly and Nero, but only scheduled 11.3 miles to Wilson Creek Shelter. The leaves are finally here, so the scenery is changing a bit. We've been hiking without them for two months, so I'm actually looking forward to the long green tunnel.
This part of the AT in Virginia has some longer climbs. It is true that there is a great deal of ridge walking in VA, but there are also days where you go uphill for miles.We slowed down a bit here because of a planned meeting with Vachon (AT '08) and his wife Mary Lynn who have invited me to slack pack when we get near their house. Like a typical thru-hiker, I had to bring along a couple of extras, so I invited Shoofly and Nero to come along.
We hiked to Middle Creek Campground and stayed the night with Maniac. Its unfortunate that this campground is more than a mile off the trail because its a fun little stop and they make burgers and fries. We were able to get a ride from Steve in his pick-up. He came around the corner at the perfect time and left us each with a beer.
The following day, I saw my first rattlesnake of this hike and ran into some folks I hadn't seen for a bit. We cross the Blue Ridge Parkway pretty regularly since leaving Daleville. At the shelter that night, we met John Hastey who drove up the BRP and brought in dinner! He made us all eggs, sausage, and pancakes. His trail name is "Angle" because of a misspelling on a thank you card he received.
We headed out later on the next day because we were only going to the James River to meet Mary Lynn. This day was beautiful, and this little section before the river is really nice and fairly easy walking. We met section hikers Gerda and Papa Doc. They get to the shelter at 2pm and set up for the night. We were pretty amazed by this because we usually eat lunch around that time. We got to the shelter early and decided to cook dinners for lunch because we had extra food. We hung out for a bit and tried to stay dry once the showers started but we got a little wet when we finally left for the bridge.
Mary Lynn greeted us with hugs and ice cream at the James River and so began 5 days of incredible Southern Hospitality. We went back to Casa Lipscomb and had venison roast for dinner. Yum. We decided to zero the next day and we helped our hosts plant potatoes and corn, saw a movie, and went to lunch. Oh the luxury.
We had to get back to work after the day off, and we slackpacked 22.5 miles on the first day of the great slack-pack-athon, and 25.1 the next day. On the third day, I got very sick, but hiked anyway and it will now be known as my worst day on the trail ever. I was nauseous the whole time but luckily made it. I had to take the next day off.
I am writing this from Marie's parents house where I have been for the last few days attending the wedding events for her brother, Pete and his new wife Leah. Last night was super fun, margarita filled, and lots of dancing. Its gonna be hard to get back on the trail, but I've got miles to go...
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Daleville, VA
I wish I had the time to give you every little detail since I last posted but unfortunately I do not. Actually, I also don't have the inclination. The truth is, sometimes I'm just walking and thinking and nothing of great import happens. Hard to believe but true. Here are my stats since leaving Damascus:
Damascus to Lost Shelter (16.0)
Lost Shelter to Wise Shelter (17.3)
Wise Shelter to Trimpi Shelter (20.0)
Trimpi Shelter to Chatfield Shelter (17.7)
Chatfield Shelter to Atkins, VA (4.3)
Atkins to Knot Maul (14.1)
Knot Maul Shelter to Jenkins Shelter (19.0)
Jenkins Shelter to Jenny Knob Shelter (23.8)
Jenny Knob Shelter to Woodshole Hostel (20.0)
Woodshole Hostel to Pearisburg, VA (10.0)
Pearisburg, VA to "The Captains" (20.4)
"The Captains" to Laurel Creek Shelter (17.3)
Laurel Creek Shelter to Pickle Branch Shelter (22.5)
Pickle Branch Shelter to Catawba, VA (12.5)
Catawba, VA to Daleville, VA (19.8)
Some of the highlights:
The first day of the Grayson Highlands was gorgeous. Though, the ponies seemed intent on staying on the horse trail rather than the AT. There were a lot of dayhikers down there.
I met Valkore, a country boy, famous for killing, skinning, seasoning, and cooking a rabbit at one of the shelters. Apparently, he shares. I wish he would have caught one on the two times I stayed with him. Yes, he is named after the puppy dragon in the Never Ending Story. Yes, he knows that his name is spelled wrong.
I had a week of trail magic fantastico. This included a guy named Freak, hiking 2 hot pizzas and a cooler full of drinks to Jenkins Shelter, ATOM (Appalachian Trail Outreach Ministry) feeding us in one of their church basements, a Budlight Lime after a slack pack, and homeade PB&J sandwiches. People are so nice to us sometimes that you'd swear we weren't just a bunch of dirty folks walking around in the woods.
Almost saw a tornado in Pearisburg, VA. Sirens, warnings, everything.
Caught up with my buddies, Nero & Shoofly, and have been having a ball with them and the giant crowd they usually roll with.
Took a zipline across a roaring stream to "The Captains" where we camped and I got to watch Swamp People on his couch.
All in all:
I have had better weather than you might imagine. Here and there, we have had some touchy situations on balds or exposed ridgelines, but I can not complain.
I'm feeling pretty good, and I'm handling problems (like snapping one of my trekking poles in half) alot better than I have in the past..
I feel very fortunate to be out here again :)
Damascus to Lost Shelter (16.0)
Lost Shelter to Wise Shelter (17.3)
Wise Shelter to Trimpi Shelter (20.0)
Trimpi Shelter to Chatfield Shelter (17.7)
Chatfield Shelter to Atkins, VA (4.3)
Atkins to Knot Maul (14.1)
Knot Maul Shelter to Jenkins Shelter (19.0)
Jenkins Shelter to Jenny Knob Shelter (23.8)
Jenny Knob Shelter to Woodshole Hostel (20.0)
Woodshole Hostel to Pearisburg, VA (10.0)
Pearisburg, VA to "The Captains" (20.4)
"The Captains" to Laurel Creek Shelter (17.3)
Laurel Creek Shelter to Pickle Branch Shelter (22.5)
Pickle Branch Shelter to Catawba, VA (12.5)
Catawba, VA to Daleville, VA (19.8)
Some of the highlights:
The first day of the Grayson Highlands was gorgeous. Though, the ponies seemed intent on staying on the horse trail rather than the AT. There were a lot of dayhikers down there.
I met Valkore, a country boy, famous for killing, skinning, seasoning, and cooking a rabbit at one of the shelters. Apparently, he shares. I wish he would have caught one on the two times I stayed with him. Yes, he is named after the puppy dragon in the Never Ending Story. Yes, he knows that his name is spelled wrong.
I had a week of trail magic fantastico. This included a guy named Freak, hiking 2 hot pizzas and a cooler full of drinks to Jenkins Shelter, ATOM (Appalachian Trail Outreach Ministry) feeding us in one of their church basements, a Budlight Lime after a slack pack, and homeade PB&J sandwiches. People are so nice to us sometimes that you'd swear we weren't just a bunch of dirty folks walking around in the woods.
Almost saw a tornado in Pearisburg, VA. Sirens, warnings, everything.
Caught up with my buddies, Nero & Shoofly, and have been having a ball with them and the giant crowd they usually roll with.
Took a zipline across a roaring stream to "The Captains" where we camped and I got to watch Swamp People on his couch.
All in all:
I have had better weather than you might imagine. Here and there, we have had some touchy situations on balds or exposed ridgelines, but I can not complain.
I'm feeling pretty good, and I'm handling problems (like snapping one of my trekking poles in half) alot better than I have in the past..
I feel very fortunate to be out here again :)
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