6/13/08
Got up early and walked the last 8 miles into Rockfish Gap. Rockfish Gap is a major transit point – a US highway, an interstate and a railroad all cross the Blue Ridge Mountains here. It’s also where the Blue Ridge Parkway ends, and the Skyline Drive begins, and also the southern end of Shenandoah National Park. For all of that, it’s pretty underwhelming – one hotel and a few empty storefronts. But there is also a small office offering “tourist information,” and this is the door to the wonderful town of Waynesboro.
Waynesboro rivals Damascus as the most hiker friendly place on the trail. When you reach the tourist information center, you just tell them you’re a hiker, and they start making calls for you. There is a list of people in Waynesboro, most retirees, who are willing to be called up whenever a hiker needs a ride down to town from the gap (or back up, for that matter).
Twenty minutes after I arrive, I have a ride into town. And Tom doesn’t just dump me downtown – he gives me a tour, gives suggestions on where to eat, and tells me about the prominent role soap – box derby racing plays in the community. (There is an annual race down Main St. One local boy won a nationals championship, a feat that earned him a monument in the city park.
I spend the afternoon ransacking a Chinese buffet, and then hit the internet at the excellent public library before checking into the Lutheran Church. Grace Lutheran runs a free hostel in their church basement during thru-hiking season. A/C, cots, fridge, microwave, TV, internet, showers, pretty much all any hiker could ask for except laundry – and there’s a Laundromat not far away.
6/14/08
Zero day in Waynesboro. Ran a couple errands in the AM, then spend all afternoon in the public library, reading and staying off the burned foot.
I was hoping my repaired hammock would have arrived today, but it has not. And since tomorrow is Sunday, it looks like I’ll be in Waynesboro until Monday. Given the foot, that probably isn’t the worst thing.
6/15/08
Another zero day. Attend church in the AM, but since the hostel isn’t open on Sundays, I need to find a new place to stay. Thoughtfoot and I agree to split a motel room at a place 2 miles out of town. Halfway there we stop for lunch at a Burger King, and a guy sees our packs and offers to take us the rest of the way. Score another one for the kind folks of Waynesboro.
Later, Thoughfoot manages to look up with some other hikers who are heading out to see Indiana Jones. I’m tempted, but instead I opt to spend the whole day off the foot, reading and watching AMC’s Clint Eastwood Marathon.
6/16/08
At 8:30am, Thoughtfoot and I get picked up at the motel – by the same guy who dropped us off yesterday. When we say we haven’t eaten breakfast, he takes us to Weasie’s, the local diner for breakfast – his treat. Again, you can’t beat Waynesboro for friendly locals eager to help hikers.
There is good news and bad news today. The good news is that with some time to kill, I stop over at the outfitters and get myself some new shoes. The boos I’d hiked in since Springer need some repairs, and the spare pair I’ve had send to me are, I now realize, very, very heavy – much heavier than I will need anytime soon. So the outfitter hooks me up with some low – cut hiking shoes – they look like sneakers – that are wonderfully comfortable. Of course it helps that they are half a size bigger, accounting for the fact that my feet have swollen after 800 miles.
The bad news is that my hammock still hasn’t arrived. The really bad news is that due to a miscommunication, he hasn’t even mailed it. Since I’m at going to stay in Waynesboro for another three days, I’ll have to have it sent to Elkton, a town 45 miles up the trail that I otherwise wouldn’t have needed to go to.
All is not lost, though. It still goes down as another zero day spent resting the foot, even though I did walk a couple miles around town doing various errands, and it doesn’t feel too bad in the new shoes.
6/17/08
Thoughtfoot and I got out of town in the morning (thanks again to the volunteer shuttle drivers of Waynesboro), and do a fairly easy 8 miles by mid-afternoon. As always, the first day after a layoff is hard, but the trail in Shenandoah is so well graded that I’m still making decent time. The foot hurts, but I knew it would, and the easy trail makes it tolerable.
Thought about doing more today, but decided to camp at Calf Mtn. Shelter with Butterfly Moon, Firesocks, August, Poppins – Thoughtfoot.
6/18/08
13 miles today, some of it spent walking on Skyline Drive. The road offers some pluses and minuses in comparison to the trail-the pluses are that it’s wonderfully level, which is nice for my bad foot, and that its slightly straighter. The downsides are that walking on asphalt is hard on the feet, ankle, and knees after a whole day, and that the road has a lot less shade than the trail. The road is also actually a much prettier walk, what with nice views of the valleys every mile or so – the trail is mostly a long green tunnel, with trees and underbrush surrounding you and taking away the views. In any event, since the AT and the Skyline Drive cross every mile or two, I end up switching between one and the other all day.
Spend the night at Blackrock Hut, a shelter overrun with 20 + hikers. They are here because of Bojangles. Bojangles is a thru-hiker who dropped out a few weeks ago after 700 miles. After enjoying the comforts of home for a week or so, he missed the camaraderie, and so is out here in his pickup dispersing Trail Magic. It’s an amazing thing, but when free food, Gatorade and beer are being offered, hikers just seem to come out of the woodwork.
6/19/08
Hard day. As before, the foot starts hurting more after a few day’s walking on it.
Highlight of the day was making it to the first wayside in Shenandoah. Part of what makes hiking here so comparatively easy is the waysides = basically the equivalent of interstate rest stops, with burgers and sandwiches – as well as having showers and laundry. (Much too expensive to actually camp at the campgrounds, though) Sitting down to a chicken sandwich, fries and a blackberry shake in the middle of the hiking day is a real treat, believe me.
I do 17 miles today before stealth camping in a spot that is probably against SNP rules. I’m really just too tired to go much further. By the end of the day, my foot is screaming, and it takes half a vicodin to fall asleep. Just as frustrating is the way the pain is wearing on me. When I’m walking, especially on nice flat sections, the pain isn’t too bad – about like having a pebble in the shoe. But having that pebble in their every step all day long is exhausting. And when I stop, it hurts worse.
Shenandoah is supposed to be the easiest part of the entire 2175. Nice level paths, and easy re-supply, all before the heat gets really bad. It’s where I was told that even a putz like me can do 20-mile days.
Instead, I’m pretty much grimly slogging on, behind schedule and wanting to make time, but with a foot that makes me want to cry if I go much over 12 miles a day.
8 miles in to Elkton tomorrow to pick up the hammock, then hopefully back to do some more before dark. May even cross the 900-mile marker. Of course, the other way of looking at it is that it’s the 1375-mile to go marker.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
June 6, 2008
Ugh what a rotten day. To explain why, I need to back up. The zipper on my hammock broke a few days ago, meaning I haven’t been able to close up my bug net. I’ve been getting eaten alive every night.
But last night was by far the worst. Compounding it was the fact that I also didn’t have my tarp – I had left it at the last shelter while taking my siesta yesterday. Luckily, it was a clear night – if it rained I’d be screwed. It didn’t, but all night in an open hammock wasn’t pretty. I even went and laid down on the ground next to a smoldering campfire – the smoke kept the bugs down, but lying in the dirt was not conducive to sleep. I got about 2 hours’ worth.
In the morning I can’t pack up and leave – I’ve gotta sit still and hope that Tetris or Mustang Sally bring my tarp down. Sally does, but it’s 11 am by the time she arrives. Given that it’s going to be yet another mid-90’s scorcher of a day, this means I’ve wasted the best hiking time of the day. At mid-day I’d like to be taking a break – instead I’m just getting started.
And of course the next few miles are on south-facing slopes with minimal tree cover.
I’m a sweaty guy under normal circumstances. In ones like this, the tank top and shorts that comprise the entirety of my clothing are soaked – literally dripping wet – within a half hour.
By 2 pm, we’ve done 5 miles, including an uphill. Sally calls it a day there, but I need to push on into town – the guy who makes my hammock has mailed me a loaner which I can use while I mail the one I have now back for repairs. I want to make the post office first thing in the morning to get it. So it’s 4 more miles, including crossing the James River on a footbridge. After half an hour, I manage to get a ride into Glasgow, and a room in the only motel in town.
Which, as it turns out, is a craphole. There are bugs, the water pressure sucks, and worst of all, the AC only gets it down to about 80°. This is an improvement on the 95° outside, but still not exactly comfortable. At least there is a mini-grocery next door, which helps with my dehydration – in the space of a few hours, I drink approximately 3 gallons of tea, lemonade and gatorade.
June 7, 2008
Yet another 95° day. This one I do not have the heart to face. I hitch a ride to Buena Vista, where a decent motel awaits. I spend the entire day napping, showering, and eating.
June 8, 2008
I arranged yesterday to get a ride back to the trail early in the morning – the forecast is a lovely 99°. It’s a little cooler at 3500 foot, though, and by the time I need to stop for the afternoon, I’ve reached Hog Camp Gap, and some unbelievable Trail Magic.
I knew it was here, having heard about it through the grapevine, but it’s still a sight to see – 30 or so people milling around, cooking up hot dogs & hamburgers, passing around sodas & beers. I’ve actually missed most of it – it’s Sunday, and the group of 1999 thru-hikers who do this every year are going back to work tomorrow – but there’s still plenty to be had.
Crutch more or less lives on the trail, traveling around doing magic, and he’s here dispensing goodness. I catch up with Daisy, and the sisters Wild Oats and Bone Lady, and Double D, and a few others. Double D has a set of clippers, and has given Daisy a Mohawk – practical in this heat. I go the whole hog, and have Wild Oats shave my entire head, including beard. It feels great, though I do look like Uncle Fester.
A couple hours later, I do something that will probably define my hike for the next month. While putting a burger on the grill in the main fire pit, I accidentally step into a pile of ash in a second fire ring. The ash looks harmless – but there was a fire there yesterday, and the ash under the surface is still hot.
To leave out a lot of very painful detail, the upshot of the event is that I have second-degree burns all over the top of my right foot. (The bottoms are fine, thanks to the sandals I was wearing.) We get the wounds cleaned, and I have blisters starting just behind the toes and running to near the heel. Right in the middle, there’s a golf-ball sized spot where the skin has come completely off. The pain is pretty awful. Thankfully, I have some vicodin in my first-aid kit. One of those and two Tylenol PM, and it’s goodnight.
June 9, 2008
Pain much, much less today. Mustang Sally comes in to camp and gives her nurse’s opinion – the only thing I need to worry about is infection. Other than that, the wound will heal in 2-3 weeks, and there’s not much that will change that. And if I can take the pain, I can walk on it.
In the afternoon, Crutch makes a run into town, and I pick up anti-biotic ointment, bandages and tape. The pharmacist seconds Sally’s opinion – it’s going to hurt, but I can theoretically walk.
After spending the rest of the day zeroing at the ongoing trail magic party, I’ll find out tomorrow.
June 10, 2008
Get up early, and am hiking by 7:30. I’m slow, but I’m moving, and the pain in the foot isn’t too bad on the well-graded dirt trails. It does start to hurt more as the day wears on. The heat is not as bad today, but it’s still clearly summer. I take a siesta, then make a few more miles before calling it a day near the top of “The Priest” – the last 4000 foot mountain before New Hampshire. 15 miles on a burnt foot – not bad.
Camped with Barley and Rain, among others, which is good since Rain is “two months” short of finishing her MD. She concurs with everyone else – it’s gonna heal at the same rate, whether I walk on it or not.
June 11, 2008
Downhills hurt like hell on this foot. It’s the first time I’ve ever wanted an uphill, and what I get is a 3000-foot descent.
Make the Tye River in midafternoon, and go in for a soak whit a whole crowd of hikers, before pushing on for a bit more. The trail on the North side of the Tye is uphill – but it’s also very rocky, and the pain in the foot is pretty bad. ½ a vicodin before sleep tonight. 8 miles.
June 12, 2008
First two miles are very, very rocky, and the foot is killing me. I reach Maupin Field shelter at mid-day, and it’s getting hot, and I just don’t have the heart to go on. I spend the entire afternoon in the shelter, napping, getting caught up on my journal, talking to whoever comes in, eating lunch, then dinner. Finally, at about 6, I head out. The path north of the shelter is a well-graded uphill, and the foot is OK. After a bit, I’m able to get over onto the Blue Ridge Parkway and walk on that. It’s not quite heaven – I’d prefer an escalator, thank you very much – but a smooth surface is way easier on the foot than the rocks and roots of the trail.
It’s a cloudless day, and, as I walk on, a cloudless evening. I’m going to miss several “view points,” (as they are marked on the map) by night-walking the BRP, but at this point I’m just dying to get to Waynesboro. I walk on until nearly midnight, then “cowboy camp” – a fancy way of saying “lay in the grass at an overlook ping and throw a blanket over myself.” 9 miles today. Waynesboro tomorrow, and probably for a day or two afterwards. Central Virginia has been miserable.
Ugh what a rotten day. To explain why, I need to back up. The zipper on my hammock broke a few days ago, meaning I haven’t been able to close up my bug net. I’ve been getting eaten alive every night.
But last night was by far the worst. Compounding it was the fact that I also didn’t have my tarp – I had left it at the last shelter while taking my siesta yesterday. Luckily, it was a clear night – if it rained I’d be screwed. It didn’t, but all night in an open hammock wasn’t pretty. I even went and laid down on the ground next to a smoldering campfire – the smoke kept the bugs down, but lying in the dirt was not conducive to sleep. I got about 2 hours’ worth.
In the morning I can’t pack up and leave – I’ve gotta sit still and hope that Tetris or Mustang Sally bring my tarp down. Sally does, but it’s 11 am by the time she arrives. Given that it’s going to be yet another mid-90’s scorcher of a day, this means I’ve wasted the best hiking time of the day. At mid-day I’d like to be taking a break – instead I’m just getting started.
And of course the next few miles are on south-facing slopes with minimal tree cover.
I’m a sweaty guy under normal circumstances. In ones like this, the tank top and shorts that comprise the entirety of my clothing are soaked – literally dripping wet – within a half hour.
By 2 pm, we’ve done 5 miles, including an uphill. Sally calls it a day there, but I need to push on into town – the guy who makes my hammock has mailed me a loaner which I can use while I mail the one I have now back for repairs. I want to make the post office first thing in the morning to get it. So it’s 4 more miles, including crossing the James River on a footbridge. After half an hour, I manage to get a ride into Glasgow, and a room in the only motel in town.
Which, as it turns out, is a craphole. There are bugs, the water pressure sucks, and worst of all, the AC only gets it down to about 80°. This is an improvement on the 95° outside, but still not exactly comfortable. At least there is a mini-grocery next door, which helps with my dehydration – in the space of a few hours, I drink approximately 3 gallons of tea, lemonade and gatorade.
June 7, 2008
Yet another 95° day. This one I do not have the heart to face. I hitch a ride to Buena Vista, where a decent motel awaits. I spend the entire day napping, showering, and eating.
June 8, 2008
I arranged yesterday to get a ride back to the trail early in the morning – the forecast is a lovely 99°. It’s a little cooler at 3500 foot, though, and by the time I need to stop for the afternoon, I’ve reached Hog Camp Gap, and some unbelievable Trail Magic.
I knew it was here, having heard about it through the grapevine, but it’s still a sight to see – 30 or so people milling around, cooking up hot dogs & hamburgers, passing around sodas & beers. I’ve actually missed most of it – it’s Sunday, and the group of 1999 thru-hikers who do this every year are going back to work tomorrow – but there’s still plenty to be had.
Crutch more or less lives on the trail, traveling around doing magic, and he’s here dispensing goodness. I catch up with Daisy, and the sisters Wild Oats and Bone Lady, and Double D, and a few others. Double D has a set of clippers, and has given Daisy a Mohawk – practical in this heat. I go the whole hog, and have Wild Oats shave my entire head, including beard. It feels great, though I do look like Uncle Fester.
A couple hours later, I do something that will probably define my hike for the next month. While putting a burger on the grill in the main fire pit, I accidentally step into a pile of ash in a second fire ring. The ash looks harmless – but there was a fire there yesterday, and the ash under the surface is still hot.
To leave out a lot of very painful detail, the upshot of the event is that I have second-degree burns all over the top of my right foot. (The bottoms are fine, thanks to the sandals I was wearing.) We get the wounds cleaned, and I have blisters starting just behind the toes and running to near the heel. Right in the middle, there’s a golf-ball sized spot where the skin has come completely off. The pain is pretty awful. Thankfully, I have some vicodin in my first-aid kit. One of those and two Tylenol PM, and it’s goodnight.
June 9, 2008
Pain much, much less today. Mustang Sally comes in to camp and gives her nurse’s opinion – the only thing I need to worry about is infection. Other than that, the wound will heal in 2-3 weeks, and there’s not much that will change that. And if I can take the pain, I can walk on it.
In the afternoon, Crutch makes a run into town, and I pick up anti-biotic ointment, bandages and tape. The pharmacist seconds Sally’s opinion – it’s going to hurt, but I can theoretically walk.
After spending the rest of the day zeroing at the ongoing trail magic party, I’ll find out tomorrow.
June 10, 2008
Get up early, and am hiking by 7:30. I’m slow, but I’m moving, and the pain in the foot isn’t too bad on the well-graded dirt trails. It does start to hurt more as the day wears on. The heat is not as bad today, but it’s still clearly summer. I take a siesta, then make a few more miles before calling it a day near the top of “The Priest” – the last 4000 foot mountain before New Hampshire. 15 miles on a burnt foot – not bad.
Camped with Barley and Rain, among others, which is good since Rain is “two months” short of finishing her MD. She concurs with everyone else – it’s gonna heal at the same rate, whether I walk on it or not.
June 11, 2008
Downhills hurt like hell on this foot. It’s the first time I’ve ever wanted an uphill, and what I get is a 3000-foot descent.
Make the Tye River in midafternoon, and go in for a soak whit a whole crowd of hikers, before pushing on for a bit more. The trail on the North side of the Tye is uphill – but it’s also very rocky, and the pain in the foot is pretty bad. ½ a vicodin before sleep tonight. 8 miles.
June 12, 2008
First two miles are very, very rocky, and the foot is killing me. I reach Maupin Field shelter at mid-day, and it’s getting hot, and I just don’t have the heart to go on. I spend the entire afternoon in the shelter, napping, getting caught up on my journal, talking to whoever comes in, eating lunch, then dinner. Finally, at about 6, I head out. The path north of the shelter is a well-graded uphill, and the foot is OK. After a bit, I’m able to get over onto the Blue Ridge Parkway and walk on that. It’s not quite heaven – I’d prefer an escalator, thank you very much – but a smooth surface is way easier on the foot than the rocks and roots of the trail.
It’s a cloudless day, and, as I walk on, a cloudless evening. I’m going to miss several “view points,” (as they are marked on the map) by night-walking the BRP, but at this point I’m just dying to get to Waynesboro. I walk on until nearly midnight, then “cowboy camp” – a fancy way of saying “lay in the grass at an overlook ping and throw a blanket over myself.” 9 miles today. Waynesboro tomorrow, and probably for a day or two afterwards. Central Virginia has been miserable.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Hey -- I'm in Waynhesboro, VA for a few days. Minor foot injury will have me on the shelf for a couple days -- details to follow. In the meantime, photos. Click "next" to see more.
http://www.trailjournals.com/photos.cfm?id=343164
http://www.trailjournals.com/photos.cfm?id=343164
Thursday, June 12, 2008
May 25, 2008
Only made 3 miles out of Pearisburg today, before twisting an ankle pretty badly. Sat down for a while and was in a very bad mood - zero motivation to hike today, especially given that my pack was first-day-out-of-town heavy and there was a steep uphill climb.
So I bailed - I was only a couple hundred yards from US 460, so I walked down to hitch back to Pearisburg. I was only there 15 minutes before I got a ride - from Lipstick.
Lipstick's husband, Raccoon is doing a thru-hike. She's his roving support team, following him from town to town. Along the way, she helps out whoever else needs a hand; today it's me. She takes me to the Catholic Hostel in Pearisburg, where I catch up with Nyquil, who is also struggling to stay motivated. His solution is going to be a dog - he's seen an ad for a "free to a good home" dog.
May 26, 2008
Slackpack. Lipstick is dropping Raccoon 19 miles outside of town and he's walking back. I do the same - nice to crank out 19 miles while carrying only a water bottle, camera, and lunch.
May 27, 2008
11 miles. Could/should have done more, but a lot of folks camping at War Spur Shelter tonight.
May 28, 2008
I've come to the conclusion that the single biggest difference between trail life and "normal" life is water. In the modern, developed world, you don't give water a second thought - it runs hot and cold, and drinkable. If you're finicky, you go down to the store and buy a gallon. Out here it's not so simple. To begin with, it's not always easy to find. Then when you do find it, you have to see if it's clean, or else make it clean. And then you have to carry it with you wherever you go.
This morning, I left War Spur Shelter "cameled up" with about 3 liters of H2O. Inside my pack was a 2 liter bladder with a drinking tube that enables me to sip as I go. I also had two one-liter bottles, both about half-full.
I didn't have them all the way full, as I know I'd have a 1700 foot uphill in the morning, and I didn't want to carry more water than I needed to (water is very heavy). As it turned out, it was a cold, rainy day, so I wasn't sweating too much. I made Laurel Creek Shelter by noon, and had lunch there. But I decided not to reload on water, because my info was showing a creek three miles ahead. Except when I got there, the creek was running through farmland - not very safe to drink, even when chemically treated with Iodine.
By the time I got to Saver Hollow Shelter at 5 pm, I was down to .5 a liter or so, and the map was showing no water for the next 6 miles. Hence I had to stop there - which unfortunately meant a .3 mile walk, steeply downhill, to get to the shelter and its water source. After the downhill, I decided to call it a day after 12 miles. I'd have preferred to push on 2-3 more miles; but you generally have to camp where the water is, especially when all your dinner foods are dehydrated...
May 29, 2008
Today went in stages - first was seven miles of trail done before 1 pm, when I hit VA 621. I noticed that for the upcoming several miles, the AT ran parallel to the road, before they both were crossed by VA 620. So since my ankles were hurting (It's been an awful lot of ridge-walking the last few days, on slanting and sometimes loose racks) I decided to take a little road walk. I'm glad I did - the woods have been dull lately, and some farms, houses, churches and a rural fire station were a nice break. It was also nice looking up at the mountains for a change.
As I was walking, though, I was thinking about how close I was to Catawba. Catawba is where, at 4:30, some friends that I'd been trailing for weeks were meeting for dinner (I knew this from messages left in the shelters). So I decided to take a break by the side of the road, stick a thumb out and see what happened. After only 20 minutes I got a ride - and here is your trail magic - free fried chicken and beer thrown in, and dropped off at Catawba exactly on time.
Catawba, VA, has, from a hiker's perspective, a certain sort of perfection: a post office, a general store, a restaurant, and nothing else. But the general store also serves biscuits in the morning, is a great place to bum rides from nice locals, allows camping in the back yard (no charge), and even provides a garden hose for "showering". And the restaurant is family-style, all-you-can-eat southern cooking. Yeah, that's pretty much perfection.
After 2 1/2 hours of dinner, I camped behind the store and caught up with Trainwreck and Pearl who I'd not seen in a couple of weeks, and Butterfly Moon, who I'd not seen since mid-April. Good times.
May 30, 2008
Another weird day from a trail perspective. I leave my pack at the Catawba general store, the slackpack back over part of what I skipped yesterday - there's an interesting rock formation everyone says is not to be missed - then turn around and hike north again, making it back in time to eat dinner at Homeplace again, and after a couple hours given to digestion, I hit the trail an hour before dark, just going up one mile to a shelter before calling it a day.
May 31, 2008
15 hard, but spectacular, miles today. Went up McAfee Knob, a rocky peak with spectacular views, and crossed the Tinker Cliffs, a long rock ledge with equally spectacular views. Along the cliffs, the trail runs just a few feet away from a 50-foot drop - awesome stuff.
The walking over the last few days has been very hard, because it's been a lot of ridge walking, running right along the tops of mountains. On a profile map, this looks easy - no long, steep ups and downs - but in reality it has a ton of ups and downs, as you climb (literally climbing in many spots) up and down and over rocks.
But I've made decent time, thanks in part to the closest thing I've had to a partner for weeks. I've been walking a lot with Daisy who is 1) male, 2) Australian, 3) someone who hikes faster than I do, but not faster than I can. I've moved quickly through some hard miles just by getting behind him and not letting him get away. Most important, he's good company, and seems to think the same of me.
Still, I camp alone tonight, because I find an awesome spot with room for only one - hanging between two trees up on top of a knob, with a boulder to sit on and, with a view down over a reservoir 2000 feet below. Awesome.
June 1, 2008
Got up at 6 and was hiking by 7 am - going into town today. By 8:30, I'm at Tinker Creek. This is a spot I've been looking forward to, since Annie Dillard's book about the year she spent living along this stream is a personal favorite. It's an amazing book, even if for no other reason than that is one of the few books of spirituality that can speak to - and challenge - people of any or no faith. If you you've never read Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, I recommend it highly.
Alas, where it crosses the AT, Tinker Creek is an ugly, muddy little stream not far from an interstate. Nonetheless, I put my feet into the squalid little Ganges before pushing on to my goal for the day - The Howard Johnson. Showers and laundry, resupply at Kroger, a couple calls, some Internet, and a lot of time sitting around the pool. Daisy was intending to resupply and push on, but the poolside is too tempting, and we end up splitting a room.
June 2, 2008
Run errands in town until 1 pm - new socks chief among them - then head out, making 11 miles before stopping at Wilson Creek Shelter. Highlight of the day, I suppose, was crossing Curry Creek, which is only significant because it lies on mile marker 725 - which is significant since it is 1/3 of 2175.
June 3, 2008
Another milestone of sorts today - hiked up to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Actually hiked along it, actually, since the AT ran parallel to it for 8 miles, and the BRP is 1) much easier 2) nearly deserted on a weekday this time of year.
Needed the help as I had very low energy today. Have not been sleeping well. With help from the BRP, I still knock out 14 miles.
June 4, 2008
Start day with 3 miles down from Shelter to Jennings Creek, where I run into Daisy - he pushed on to here last night.
It's shipping up to be a really hot day, though, and I have other ideas. There's a developed campground only a couple miles from the trail. I head there and find that I can get what I'm looking for - hooks, line and bait. Jennings Creek is a stocked trout creek, and I aim to give it a go.
I spend the afternoon on a rock on the side of the creek, listening to Rosemary Clooney with my feet in the water, fishing line tied to my hiking pole. Of course, the one trout I catch is too small to keep, so the whole effort is just a disaster...
Mustang Sally spent the afternoon at the campground's pool, and did both our laundry to boot. We finally hike out at 5 pm, after it's cooled a bit, and we take a route back to the trail that leaves us near Bryant Ridge Shelter. Despite having spent three hours fishing, I still knocked off seven miles of trail.
June 5, 2008
Mustang Sally and I leave the shelter at 6:30 am - we've heard the forecast is for more high heat, and we want to avoid it. Working hard uphill, we knock off 10 miles by 1 pm. She calls it a day right there, at Thunder Hill Shelter, but at 4 pm I head out again and make 7 more miles before camping at Marble Springs.
Only made 3 miles out of Pearisburg today, before twisting an ankle pretty badly. Sat down for a while and was in a very bad mood - zero motivation to hike today, especially given that my pack was first-day-out-of-town heavy and there was a steep uphill climb.
So I bailed - I was only a couple hundred yards from US 460, so I walked down to hitch back to Pearisburg. I was only there 15 minutes before I got a ride - from Lipstick.
Lipstick's husband, Raccoon is doing a thru-hike. She's his roving support team, following him from town to town. Along the way, she helps out whoever else needs a hand; today it's me. She takes me to the Catholic Hostel in Pearisburg, where I catch up with Nyquil, who is also struggling to stay motivated. His solution is going to be a dog - he's seen an ad for a "free to a good home" dog.
May 26, 2008
Slackpack. Lipstick is dropping Raccoon 19 miles outside of town and he's walking back. I do the same - nice to crank out 19 miles while carrying only a water bottle, camera, and lunch.
May 27, 2008
11 miles. Could/should have done more, but a lot of folks camping at War Spur Shelter tonight.
May 28, 2008
I've come to the conclusion that the single biggest difference between trail life and "normal" life is water. In the modern, developed world, you don't give water a second thought - it runs hot and cold, and drinkable. If you're finicky, you go down to the store and buy a gallon. Out here it's not so simple. To begin with, it's not always easy to find. Then when you do find it, you have to see if it's clean, or else make it clean. And then you have to carry it with you wherever you go.
This morning, I left War Spur Shelter "cameled up" with about 3 liters of H2O. Inside my pack was a 2 liter bladder with a drinking tube that enables me to sip as I go. I also had two one-liter bottles, both about half-full.
I didn't have them all the way full, as I know I'd have a 1700 foot uphill in the morning, and I didn't want to carry more water than I needed to (water is very heavy). As it turned out, it was a cold, rainy day, so I wasn't sweating too much. I made Laurel Creek Shelter by noon, and had lunch there. But I decided not to reload on water, because my info was showing a creek three miles ahead. Except when I got there, the creek was running through farmland - not very safe to drink, even when chemically treated with Iodine.
By the time I got to Saver Hollow Shelter at 5 pm, I was down to .5 a liter or so, and the map was showing no water for the next 6 miles. Hence I had to stop there - which unfortunately meant a .3 mile walk, steeply downhill, to get to the shelter and its water source. After the downhill, I decided to call it a day after 12 miles. I'd have preferred to push on 2-3 more miles; but you generally have to camp where the water is, especially when all your dinner foods are dehydrated...
May 29, 2008
Today went in stages - first was seven miles of trail done before 1 pm, when I hit VA 621. I noticed that for the upcoming several miles, the AT ran parallel to the road, before they both were crossed by VA 620. So since my ankles were hurting (It's been an awful lot of ridge-walking the last few days, on slanting and sometimes loose racks) I decided to take a little road walk. I'm glad I did - the woods have been dull lately, and some farms, houses, churches and a rural fire station were a nice break. It was also nice looking up at the mountains for a change.
As I was walking, though, I was thinking about how close I was to Catawba. Catawba is where, at 4:30, some friends that I'd been trailing for weeks were meeting for dinner (I knew this from messages left in the shelters). So I decided to take a break by the side of the road, stick a thumb out and see what happened. After only 20 minutes I got a ride - and here is your trail magic - free fried chicken and beer thrown in, and dropped off at Catawba exactly on time.
Catawba, VA, has, from a hiker's perspective, a certain sort of perfection: a post office, a general store, a restaurant, and nothing else. But the general store also serves biscuits in the morning, is a great place to bum rides from nice locals, allows camping in the back yard (no charge), and even provides a garden hose for "showering". And the restaurant is family-style, all-you-can-eat southern cooking. Yeah, that's pretty much perfection.
After 2 1/2 hours of dinner, I camped behind the store and caught up with Trainwreck and Pearl who I'd not seen in a couple of weeks, and Butterfly Moon, who I'd not seen since mid-April. Good times.
May 30, 2008
Another weird day from a trail perspective. I leave my pack at the Catawba general store, the slackpack back over part of what I skipped yesterday - there's an interesting rock formation everyone says is not to be missed - then turn around and hike north again, making it back in time to eat dinner at Homeplace again, and after a couple hours given to digestion, I hit the trail an hour before dark, just going up one mile to a shelter before calling it a day.
May 31, 2008
15 hard, but spectacular, miles today. Went up McAfee Knob, a rocky peak with spectacular views, and crossed the Tinker Cliffs, a long rock ledge with equally spectacular views. Along the cliffs, the trail runs just a few feet away from a 50-foot drop - awesome stuff.
The walking over the last few days has been very hard, because it's been a lot of ridge walking, running right along the tops of mountains. On a profile map, this looks easy - no long, steep ups and downs - but in reality it has a ton of ups and downs, as you climb (literally climbing in many spots) up and down and over rocks.
But I've made decent time, thanks in part to the closest thing I've had to a partner for weeks. I've been walking a lot with Daisy who is 1) male, 2) Australian, 3) someone who hikes faster than I do, but not faster than I can. I've moved quickly through some hard miles just by getting behind him and not letting him get away. Most important, he's good company, and seems to think the same of me.
Still, I camp alone tonight, because I find an awesome spot with room for only one - hanging between two trees up on top of a knob, with a boulder to sit on and, with a view down over a reservoir 2000 feet below. Awesome.
June 1, 2008
Got up at 6 and was hiking by 7 am - going into town today. By 8:30, I'm at Tinker Creek. This is a spot I've been looking forward to, since Annie Dillard's book about the year she spent living along this stream is a personal favorite. It's an amazing book, even if for no other reason than that is one of the few books of spirituality that can speak to - and challenge - people of any or no faith. If you you've never read Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, I recommend it highly.
Alas, where it crosses the AT, Tinker Creek is an ugly, muddy little stream not far from an interstate. Nonetheless, I put my feet into the squalid little Ganges before pushing on to my goal for the day - The Howard Johnson. Showers and laundry, resupply at Kroger, a couple calls, some Internet, and a lot of time sitting around the pool. Daisy was intending to resupply and push on, but the poolside is too tempting, and we end up splitting a room.
June 2, 2008
Run errands in town until 1 pm - new socks chief among them - then head out, making 11 miles before stopping at Wilson Creek Shelter. Highlight of the day, I suppose, was crossing Curry Creek, which is only significant because it lies on mile marker 725 - which is significant since it is 1/3 of 2175.
June 3, 2008
Another milestone of sorts today - hiked up to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Actually hiked along it, actually, since the AT ran parallel to it for 8 miles, and the BRP is 1) much easier 2) nearly deserted on a weekday this time of year.
Needed the help as I had very low energy today. Have not been sleeping well. With help from the BRP, I still knock out 14 miles.
June 4, 2008
Start day with 3 miles down from Shelter to Jennings Creek, where I run into Daisy - he pushed on to here last night.
It's shipping up to be a really hot day, though, and I have other ideas. There's a developed campground only a couple miles from the trail. I head there and find that I can get what I'm looking for - hooks, line and bait. Jennings Creek is a stocked trout creek, and I aim to give it a go.
I spend the afternoon on a rock on the side of the creek, listening to Rosemary Clooney with my feet in the water, fishing line tied to my hiking pole. Of course, the one trout I catch is too small to keep, so the whole effort is just a disaster...
Mustang Sally spent the afternoon at the campground's pool, and did both our laundry to boot. We finally hike out at 5 pm, after it's cooled a bit, and we take a route back to the trail that leaves us near Bryant Ridge Shelter. Despite having spent three hours fishing, I still knocked off seven miles of trail.
June 5, 2008
Mustang Sally and I leave the shelter at 6:30 am - we've heard the forecast is for more high heat, and we want to avoid it. Working hard uphill, we knock off 10 miles by 1 pm. She calls it a day right there, at Thunder Hill Shelter, but at 4 pm I head out again and make 7 more miles before camping at Marble Springs.
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