Beginning Point: Audie Murphy Monument
Ending Point: John's Spring Shelter
Daily Mileage: 13.7* Miles
Total Miles: 695.3* Miles
Weather: Beautiful sunny day!
*We were supposed to walk another 5 or 6 miles but noticed that the trail crossed Rt. 311 twice; Rt. 311 is the road that takes us to the Homeplace Restaurant. Thus, we decided that eating was way more important than those few miles so we took the shortcut.
We woke up to sunshine this morning - I could get used to this sort of thing. We had decent hiking weather, and a slight change in terrain with some uphill climbs and lots of scrambling/bouldering opportunities too. Dragon's tooth was the view of the day - actually, the view of the week, really. It's been awhile since we had some good vistas. Getting down from Dragon's Tooth is when things got interesting... It was chock full of scrambling and even a few metal stairs bolted to the rock face. Fun when you only have to carry a water bottle, challenging when you have 25 pounds rocking around on your back to throw off your balance. And where do you put the trekking poles on those sorts of climbs? Stephan and Dan were able to snap off a few pictures but I wasn't quick enough.
Stephan was quite entertaining today - he had me laughing so hard I nearly wet myself (twice). We were climbing down a risky rock face and Stephan tried to "off-road" around it. This new direction lead him through two sapling pines that were close together - and our Stephan (actually it was his pack) quickly became lodged between them. Dan tried to answer his M'aidez plea by trying to force the two saplings apart (I was beyond cackling and had moved on to gripping the rock for support during my hysterics) but alas, Stephan could not be freed. In the end, as I wiped the tears from my eyes, Stephan was able to back up. Thus, Dan and I decided that Stephan's trailname should change one final time to "Wide Load". We thought a bumper sticker bearing his new trail name might also be appropriate for his pack.
We had dinner at The Homeplace Restaurant today. We've been looking forward to this for about a week now, and it was delicious. We ate two servings of roast beef, two servings of fried chicken, 2 mashed potatoes, 2 coleslaws, one pinto beans, one green beans, and 2 biscuits apiece. After that, the boys had 2 servings of peach cobbler - I only had one, but ended up helping Stephan finish his second. I could hardly get up from the table. Fortunately on the property was a gazebo in the sun that called our names, so we waddled over there and stretched out on the benches. We were there for awhile when another hiker, Dr. Bob, walked up. We met him the other day at Rice Field Shelter. Turns out that he grew up in the same town as Stephan and he was headed back that way next week for his 40th highschool reunion. Small world!
We made some phone calls and then walked to John's spring shelter. On the way there Stephan almost scared the poo out of a miniature poodle. He claimed the dog barked first and appeared menacing. I'll grant that the dog was running free from his owners and they were a little too far back, but this was a cute puppy dog! And I didn't hear the dog bark until Stephan shouted "hey!" at it. And I don't blame him for barking, either. The owners quickly appeared and grabbed the leash; all seemed right with the world again. But then Stephan nearly turned his ankle while passing the dog and the dog visibly jumped away in fear that this huge, menacing guy with nasty sticks might land on him. The poodle owners then picked up the dog while Dan and I passed to calm the dog down. But Dan and I started giggling. And the giggles grew to guffaws which gave way to cackles... "Stephan's afraid of the puppy!"
Butterfingers
Stephanie
Beginning Point: Laurel Spring shelter
Ending Point: Audie Murphy Monument
Daily Mileage: 17 Miles
Total Miles: Miles
Weather: Beautiful sunny day!
We went to sleep to the sound of rain last night and awoke to a sunny morning - thank the heavens! I was getting tired of all that rain. We had lofty goals of hiking 22 miles today so that we could have a leisurely stroll the following day in order to get to The Homeplace restaurant before it closed, however, we fell 5 miles short of our goal. Which was just fine with me because my feet and knees were so sore from the rocky trail that I didn't have another five in me.
In the morning we walked through open fields and crossed several stiles. While rounding a turn, Dan noticed something off in the distance and wondered if we had seen it too. Stephan and I didn't see what caught his eye, so Dan said it looked like a statue of the Virgin Mary. Stephan and I exchanged quizzical looks, and then Dan started laughing because he realized that what he mistook for a religious icon was actually a power line tower shaped like a V with a cross bar on top. I should also tell you that Dan doesn't see so well without his glasses and usually doesn't wear them due to fogging.
We had a big lunch at Sarver Hollow Shelter, one of the nicest shelters we've seen in VA complete with a covered eating area and a shelter-cat! We aren't sure how the cat got there; she seemed very domesticated and dependent upon humans for food acquisition. Judging from the shelter log, Tigger had been there for almost the entire month of June and hasn't seen any reason to leave. And why should she? Everyone who visits the shelter makes sure she ate a portion of their meal - jeez, Dan gave her most of his tuna pouch, the kind packed in sunflower oil. Then she had some of my tuna, and some ramen noodle soup. She was a very friendly cat, so hopefully someone in the area will claim her and give her a home. Oh, and by the way, we weren't sure that Tigger was a girl, we just read the shelter log to find out what folks were calling her. Then Stephan felt her up and ascertained that Tigger was indeed a girl - poor kitty.
Late in the day we had a big climb, over 1500 feet which used to be nothing in the more southern states, but we haven't had a lot of those lately. It was well-graded with plenty of switchbacks, and the late day sun cast a golden hue over the pine needles that covered the treadway. It took me a while to make the climb - my feet hurt more than my knees - and near the top I took off my boots and hiked in my crocs. We planned on having dinner at the Audie Murphy Monument and then hiking on to the next shelter, but as I've mentioned, plans changed. The Monument was interesting; apparently Audie Murphy was the most decorated veteran of world war II. He died in a plane crash near Brush Mountain, where the monument was later placed. Stephan and I dined on Lipton's Alfredo Broccoli noodles with tyson's chicken. Dan bought an 8x10 ft tarp to go over his hennessy hammock; fortunately it was large enough to accommodate the three of us (since we still don't have Stephan's tent - 2 more days to pick it up in Troutville).
Stephanie
Beginning Point: Bailey Gap Shelter
Ending Point: Laurel Creek Shelter
Daily Mileage: 14.6 Miles
Total Miles: 660.1 Miles
Weather: rain, rain, and more rain.
We don't seem to have much respite from the horrible R-word. It seems as soon as my boots dry out, the skies rip open with a fresh batch of the wet stuff. It rained off and on from 6:30 am to 2 pm, and its been raining solid since (and now its 9). Horrible weather! The kind that starts permanently changing attitudes. We read in the shelter register today that our friend Yogi has developed a case of the "Virginia Blues" and was planning to yellow blaze (car travel) to Shenandoah to hike with his girlfriend, and then might think about continuing north after some time in NYC, his hometown. Our other friend Shoe is off for family reasons. It seems that lots of other hikers are starting to develop ailments - knees and ankles do not take kindly to repeated daily abuse.
We learned from reading the shelter register that our friend Kiwi had a close encounter with the poison ivy kind. He said he had to spend 3 days at the same shelter before he could continue hiking - Heels are very bad places to get PI as well as blisters. I think we just missed Kiwi by an hour or 2 this afternoon... Hopefully we'll catch him tomorrow.
Well, todays miserable outlook was changed by some trail magic. Not only did the boyscouts give us one of their dinners (food for 8 - or 4 hungry hikers), we also had some magic from Super Dave who hiked in '02-'03. Judging from the shelter register, he regularly leaves sodas and little debbie snacks between the War Spur and Laurel Creek shelters. Those treats were just what I needed to get motivated to hike again today. The kindness of strangers permeates this trail and is probably the biggest reason that some folks make multiple thru hikes.
Hey Boyscouts - that dinner was awesome! Filled me up and warmed me up, too! Could I get that recipe? Good Luck to you all back home in Mentor.
Butterfingers
www.hikingat.com
Beginning Point: Rice Field Shelter
Ending Point: Bailey Gap Shelter
Daily Mileage: 16.2 Miles
Total Miles: 645.5 Miles
Weather: Glorious sunshine after a questionable foggy morning.
Alarms began ringing around 6 am; Turtle Don rose, made breakfast, and broke camp before anyone else got out of their sleeping bags. Next to rise were the boyscouts that camped with us... or at least the adults were up. They tried to wait out the fog, too, but their section-hike agenda got the better of them. Finally we decided to eat some breakfast and hope for the best. Lightweight Joe left around 8:45; we didn't roll out until an hour later. Just as we were packing up, Stephan realized that he didn't have the tent. The working theory is that it rolled under the bed at the Holiday Motor Lodge and went unnoticed until just now. Hmmm, what to do?
Fortunately we ran into Graybeard a few miles from the shelter. His cellphone had good reception, and thus Stephan was able to call the Holiday and have the tent shipped to Troutville. Now all we have to do is make sure we hit shelters (with enough space) before nightfall.
Now for another topic...I wanted to let you know what's in my pack now because its a little different from when I first began this journey. If this sort of thing doesn't interest you, you might as well skip the rest of the entry.
*Pack - Granite Gear Vapor Trails and pack-cover for rain
*Bag - Western Mountaineering Highlight
*Sleeping bag liner - cocoon salt (silk)
Sleeping pad - Z-Rest by thermarest
*Silnylon ground-cloth
Boots - Asolo 520 full leather
*Camp shoes - crocs (they weigh 12 oz for both)
*1-L nalgene bottle for water
*1.8-L platypus hydration system
Headlamp
Digital camera
*Clothes - rain gear, 2 pr. smart-wool socks, 1 pr. board shorts, 1 pr. zipoff pants (only using the shorts), 1 pr. patagonia ladies boxer- briefs, 1 pr. cotton underwear, 1 sport bra, 1 running top w/ bra, 1 caliper short sleeve shirt, 1 duo-fold long-sleeve shirt, 1 fleece, 1 wool hat, and 3 bandannas.
Kitchen - 2-L cook pot, pot grips, pocketknife, 8 oz. fuel bottle, insulated plastic mug, spice kit, soap, garlic paste, and olive oil.
Library - trail maps, 1 notebook, 1 novel (Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance), 1 pen, and my pocket-mail.
*Hygeine - tp for day use, tp for camp use, hand sanitizer, wipes, toothbrush and paste, comb, and some personal products.
*Medical supplies - analgesics, foam callous cushions, vitamins, ibuprofen (vitamin I), bandaids, duct tape, toenail clippers.
It seems like a lot when I list everything, but really, my pack never weighs more than 29 pounds when I leave a town. I am not carrying my stove or silshelter (a tarp) anymore because Stephan and I are cooking together and we use his tarp-tent because it has no-see-um bug netting (I hate those guys!) The goal every night is to make it to a shelter, so we don't tent too often. So, I carry about 1.1 pounds less than if I carried a stove and my shelter. We are usually pretty even with food distribution.
I bought a new stove in Neels Gap (around mile 30) - its an alcohol stove made by Etowah Outfitters. It weighs about an ounce and a half and burns denatured alcohol. This particular model is nicer than the popcan stoves because you can simmer with it. I think I sent this stove home in Damascus because I hardly ever used it since Stephan often cooks for us. I figure thats only fair because I prepared and dehydrated most of the meals we eat - why should I cook twice?
Happy Hiking!
Steph
Beginning Point: Pearisberg, VA (Holiday Motor Lodge)
Ending Point: Rice Field Shelter
Daily Mileage: I don't want to disclose (7 miles)
Total Miles: 629.3 Miles
Weather: cool, rainy, and foggy
Hi Everyone,
Today... well,... um,... yeah. We didn't make the mad miles we planned on doing. As we set out to hike this morning it began to drizzle. Then the drizzle turned to a light rain, to a full-on rain, and then back to a drizzle... And then the fog rolled in. We heard the weather was really nice the week we were off the trail. Oh well. The rain must have "missed" us and wanted to wait for our safe return before setting those H2O molecules free.
We passed an interesting sign early in the day... it read, "water unsafe to drink - high levels of naturally occurring bacteria in stream". Of course, it was immediately downstream of a landfill, so we question the phrasing part about "naturally occurring" bacteria. Good thing we didn't need water.
We're here at the shelter now. We had planned on stopping here for a hot lunch and to warm up. Then we decided a nap in the sleeping bag was a good idea. Then we awoke when another hiker showed up at 4:30. Oops. The next shelter is 13 miles away, and with the threat of rain, staying put seemed like a grand idea.
At the shelter was Lightweight Joe - his base weight is 8.5 lbs or so, and he made a lot of his gear including his pack and a sleeping bag/quilt. He told me he's taking a week off soon and plans to sew a tarp-tent -- a very lightweight shelter -- with some of his own modifications. I think we will see him again after his week off and I'm interested to see his design.
We also met Turtle Don who is the self-proclaimed slowest hiker on the trail. He might be right, too, because we saw him this morning a little behind us and he arrived at the shelter about 3 hours after us. You have to admire his tenacity.
We are also here with a boy scout troop - some of them have never been on the AT before and they seem to be having a good time. The group is from Mentor OH, so we have some common roots - here's a shout out to Cleveland!
It is damp and chilly outside the shelter and only slightly less so inside. Hard to believe its technically summertime now. Oh, and by the way, there was much talk about the summer solstice, June 21st, which is "Naked Hiking Day". Lightweight Joe informed me that monday was very cold and he didn't see any naked hiking going on.
Nite!
Butterfinger
Hi Everyone,
It's been a few days since I last journalized - I took a little vacation from the trail. Our Blackfoot (Dan) had a wedding to attend and was going to be off the trail for a week. Stephan's Grandmother wanted to visit, and we wanted to continue hiking with Dan, so we all took a little break.
Martha Lynn, Stephan's grandmother, whisked us off to Colonial Williamsburg last Tuesday through Thursday. Williamsburg was fun - got to see how things were done in 1774 such as leather working, millinery (the dress maker), the apothecary shop, and lots other places. The people in the shops perform the activity using the knowledge and tools of the day, so when you ask them questions they answer by saying, "we don't know about that yet,..." We spent about a day and a half there, and also looked around Yorktown and Jamestown. Lots of battlefields and historic stuff there. Good reminders of my history lessons. Plus, we attended a couple of guided tours and speeches given by historic figures, so those were interesting.
Then Stephan and I hopped a greyhound for Washington DC. We stayed in Capitol Hill, a few blocks away from the Capitol Building, the Mall, the Whitehouse, and the Smithsonians. We visited a few of the museums, the sculpture garden, the botanic gardens, and the Holocaust Museum - I highly recommend this one in particular if you are in the area. We found a good thai restaurant nearby capitol hill as well. Thanks to Pat M. for letting us stay in his new place!
We left the trail last Tuesday and will resume hiking first thing tomorrow morning. I fear that I've grown soft in these last seven days and that every mole hill will feel like the largest mountain. Ugh! What did that song say? "These boots were made for walkin', and that's just what they'll do."
Steph
(Note that Stephan wrote this entry)
The next day we set off from Roan Mountain with happy hearts to head into the mountains. We headed up through a pasture filled with multi flora rose - looks beautiful, but damn those exotics. We also met up with Bluebird for awhile. Lots of new trail in this area with great waterfalls. Dave Underfoot described this area as the sub-tropics of Tennessee. We had so many stream crossings we had to watch out for alligators and other deadly jungle animals. The thing about this section of trail is the data book says its a 14 mile section, but its really 17 miles. Not a big difference but if you are looking for the shelter and not finding it, you tend to get upset. We did have a nice camp next to a river a few miles south of the shelter.
(Stephanie takes over writing now)
Due to the macho-nature of hanging the bear bags (a.k.a., our food), Stephan and Dan were responsible for this camp duty. I awoke in the morning to find two of the bags hanging and the third bag jammed into the crotch of a limb about 4 feet off the ground. This is now known as the bear-bag debacle - hahaha!
We finally arrived at Kincora, a hostel run by Bob and Pat Peoples - awesome folks. Because of the rains that developed throughout the day, hikers began to bottleneck at the hostel and we had it filled to capacity. Bob and Pat jammed us all into their vehicles and dropped us off at the AYCE chinese buffet - which I usually wouldn't visit, however, this was a great buffet, especially for $4.50!
www.hikingat.com
Beginning Point: Helveys Knob Shelter
Ending Point: Trents grocery store in a field underneath a fifth wheel horse trailer
Daily mileage: 17.1 miles
Total mileage: 598.1 miles
Today went much better than yesterday; we met all our goals in good time and we had a hot meal and beer at the end of the day. We began with a little rain in the early morning (which means a late start for us). Stephan made some coffee with cocoa and we sat around the shelter for awhile with London Len and Smokestack and chewed the fat until the skies decided what to do. The sun didn't poke out until after 11 am, then we had a nice sunny afternoon for hiking (which also means about 110% humidity after all this rain).
We arrived at Jenny Knob Shelter for a late lunch and found London Len and Smokestack still there. Both fellas are in their 60's and are strong hikers. London likes to keep up the banter between us "septics" and himself (the ole' limey!). We like to exchange idioms and various slang terms (for instance, a bird is a girl, a broiler - as in broiler chicken - is an old woman). Smokestack is a trail maintainer in GA near Bly Gap.
While we made lunch and chatted, we pulled out anything damp and set it in the sun to dry. I also shot a videoshort of Dan wringing out his socks... you should note that before he started wearing 2 pairs of thin socks, he used to wear one thin and one thick sock on each foot, and several times each day he had to remove them and wring them out. He would extract about 1 cup of water/sweat per foot! Poor Dan. Now the volume is greatly reduced but still sizable (see video when available).
We left Jenny Knob around 4 and started hearing the distant rumbles of thunder. We made good time - 7 miles in 2.5 hrs - but we spent the last half hour in the rain and sliding down the mud slicks. The last half mile or so was on Rt 606 to Trents Grocery (a gas station with deli and short order menu) where we planned to have dinner. They also have camping and showers for $2 in the field next to the shop, so it sounded like a good deal to us. Only thing is, Dan is now using a Hennessy Hammock which requires 2 trees nearby to one another - something that was lacking in our field. Fortunately there was a fifth wheel horse trailer... so as I type this email, our dear Blackfoot is sleeping (or trying to) with most of his body underneath the trailer and his head under the overhang part. I promise to take a photo in the morning.
At any rate, dinner was good and we bought some beer to take back to camp. I tried to convince London to get a couple of Schlitz Bull Ice 40s, but the thought of a hangover from those killed that idea. He did say he wanted the strongest beer they had (it was 8.9% alcohol!) to be fair.
Its kind of crummy hiking in the rain, dealing with wet/damp belongings all the time. But the trail camaraderie is quite strong and makes up for these little discomforts. It gives you greater appreciation for those creature comforts, I think.
www.hikingat.com
We did a 9-mile day on Wed., and a 24-mile day on Thursday. Wednesday morning was another rainy morning on top of a previously rainy night and we weren't too motivated to leave the shelter early. I think we left around 10:30 or so and only traveled about an hour when we decided to take lunch by a stream and a patch of sunlight. It was by the stream the we discovered how much the moths love Dan - most of his things were covered in one-inch long white-bodied moths! I think they were drinking up salt or something (see photo). Within the hour it began to rain again so we pushed on.
We arrived at Chestnut Knob Shelter, an old fire warden's quarters. Cap't Bly was there, and we were later joined by Apostle (James) and Scortch (Amanda) - good to see her again. Cap't Bly is a captain for large tanker ships and shared a bunch of his stories with us - pretty cool guy.
On Thursday we woke early enough to catch the sunrise and were hiking by 7:15 - pretty good for us. We thought we would have an easy day of hiking, judging by the elevation profile maps, however, yet again, we didn't count on the boulder fields we had to cross. I did alright for the first 16 miles, but the last 8 were gradually more and more painful for me (feet and knees). We hiked through 3 boughts of rain during those 8 miles and finally arrived to camp with only one space left in the shelter. Stephan pitched the tent while I made dinner in the twilight. At least there was chocolate pudding for dessert!
www.hikingat.com
Beginning Point: Atkins, VA
Ending Point: Knot Maul Shelter
Daily Mileage: 13.9 miles
Total Mileage: 549 miles
Weather: rained on us during dinner but sunny during the day
We had a brief but fun visit with Mom. She took us to a motel in Marion and was very pleased that all my accumulated dirt scrubbed off in the shower. She said I looked like I lost a lot weight, which I guess I have... hard to tell when you don't use the same scale every time you weigh yourself.
We found a good dinner and some brew at a place called Happy's... I think Mom was amazed by the amount of food we ate. We had the appetizer platter, salads, bread, rib-eye steak and baked potatoes. I polished off every morsel of food on my plate! Then we had dessert to top it all off.
We had an exciting visit at the Marion coin-op... we think one of the laundry patrons was about to be arrested (not sure why) as we were leaving. Dan said he overheard the mother of 2 boys say, "hurry up and get in the car - do you want Mommy to go to jail?" Marion sure is an interesting town.
In the morning we finished up our town errands. Mom carted us to the post office and learned how our bounce boxes work (we break up our maildrops and send stuff to he next town 4-5 days ahead so we don't have to carry it all). Then it was off to the grocery for our perishables. The whole time Mom was shaking her head, telling me that if I ate like that after my hike I would be 200 pounds in about a week. Probably true, too.
In case you are interested, our typical resupply staples consist of the following: 1 - 2 blocks of cheese, a bag of bagels, a package of crackers (triscuits and wasa hold up the best), a package of tortillas, a jar of peanut butter, enough candy bars to last until the next town, gorp, additional oatmeal (often I will eat 4 packets for breakfast) and sometimes a small amount of fresh fruit. We usually get Cliff bars or other energy bars in our maildrops so we don't have to buy those. A treat of late has been instant pudding made with powdered milk - does the trick, and has lots of calcium! It's all about the calories, Baby. It's hard to get enough when hiking. I read that women require 3-4,000 calories and men need 5-6,000 per day of hiking. No wonder I eat every 2 hours out here.
Okay, back to the hiking brief... we left Mom at noon and began our 14 mile trek to the shelter. We had plenty of distractions along the way, including more styles, and we didn't roll into camp until 7:30. The rain began at 7:35, so we had to cook amongst the raindrops.
Beginning Point: unnamed campsite
Ending Point: Atkins, VA
Daily Mileage: about 18.3 miles
Total Mileage: 535.1 miles
Weather: Nice morning to wake up to, then the fog rolled in, then the sun burned it off, then a torrential rain fell, and fell again!
Today's mission is two-parted; goal 1 is Pizza and goal 2 is Mom. We had a 6-mile hike to Partnership Shelter which is the nicest shelter by far that I've seen. It has running water, a shower (!), a sink, and nice privy (sans view). And a 3 minute walk to the Mt. Rogers NRA Visitor's Center gets you to a phone, primarily used to obtain pizza deliveries... mmmm, pizza....
We waited until 11 am and placed an order for a large pepperoni and mushroom and a side order of 20 hot wings. We sat on the lawn of the visitors center and anxiously awaited our lunch. From the time we placed the order to the time we finished eating, we had consumed MANY calories. Lets do the math... (and we made assumptions on the caloric densities of pizza and wings)
Dan had 2 iced teas and 2 sodas (~760 cal), half a chocolate bar (110 cal), 3 slices of pizza (~900 cal) and wings (~800 cal). That presents a grand total of 2570 calories from one meal. Stephan and I ate similar amounts of the same. We would have ordered a second pizza but we had a big climb coming up and didn't want to lose what we just gained, as it were.
No sooner did we pack up our things when it began to rain. Then it began to fall in cat-and-dog fashion. Then the thunder and lightning show started. We have incredible luck at finding thunder storms. Stephan tried to convince Dan and I to turn around and ask Mom to meet us at the visitors center, however in the end we continued hiking and the storm lasted about half an hour. It was a pretty cold rain and I did have second thoughts....
This section of trail has many styles - these are stairs that take you up and over barbed wire fencing. We hiked through lots of pastureland in the afternoon (careful where you step!) and passed some cattle... Dan had a tip he wanted to share with everyone... "Just because a cowpie looks dry on the outside doesn't mean it's dry on the inside!" He had to scrape off his boot.
Eventually we found signs of civilization - the last 2 miles of trail into Atkins lead through a field (and every blade of grass! why put switchbacks on a low elevation hillside??), and then to the truckstop where Mom was waiting for us!
Yeah Mom - Awesome to see you!
www.hikingat.com
Beginning Point: Wise Shelter
Ending Point: unnamed campsite
Daily Mileage: around 24 miles
Total Mileage: 516.8
Weather: No rain, part sun, low 70s?
Today's goal was to hike 30 miles to the Partnership shelter, rumored to accept pizza deliveries! As you noticed, we fell about 6 miles short of this goal. We thought about night hiking to arrive there around 10 pm, however the terrain was a rocky and full of roots and water crossings and we didn't want to hike through that with our headlamps (really they are good for small task work like reading or cooking). We decided to shoot for 30 miles because the elevation profiles on our maps didn't look too bad and my mom is planning on meeting us in Atkins, VA for dinner on Tuesday (and breakfast the following morning). I'm very excited to see her!
We took several breaks today - another reason why we didn't meet our goal. Lunch was right on the trail... too bad I didn't take any pictures of that - Stephan's legs alone presented a formidable obstacle course for any passers-by.
We forged on and eventually found our way (limping) into Trimpi Shelter for dinner. Some nice folks from Michigan were already set up for the night... After seeing us spread out, cook, eat and rest during our 1.5-hr stay, they began making bets as to whether or not we would make it out of the shelter and to our final destination (a campsite about 4 or 5 miles up the trail). However, we proved them wrong and bounced out of there with renewed energy - and it was a fairly level to downhill trek to boot. I think it was around 8:15 - 8:30 when we finally found our campsite... sunlight that passed through the tree canopy illuminated everything in a golden glow. A nice way to end a hard day!
Cheers,
Steph
Beginning Point: Lost Mountain Shelter
Ending Point: Wise Shelter
Daily Mileage: 17.3 Miles
Total Mileage: 492.0 miles
Weather: cool, not too sunny.
Out at 8:30 am. Trying to keep track of calories consumed during a day.
Moved slow today despite low mileage yesterday and 2 zero-mile days in town. Dan theorized that the number of zero days is negatively related to hiking performance on subsequent days (thus explaining my slow pace these last 2 days!).
We had big plans for a 20-mile day today and came up a little short. We had at least 3,000 feet of climbing though, and lots of rocks, boulders and gravel underfoot. I am not looking forward to Pennsylvania! These rocks are hard on the feet and knees and I swear they jump up and trip me. These mountains are alive, I tell you! On a daily basis I nearly twist an ankle and my trekking poles routinely are caught in rocks or tree roots, causing me to wrench my shoulder nearly out of socket. But the scenery sure is nice.
Also, I think this mountain must be leaking water from every crevice big and small; we had so many stream/springs running down the trail and crossing the trail that I stopped trying to avoid getting my boots wet and just stomped in every puddle. Throw caution to the wind! Besides, I just treated my boots with a new coat of boot-wax so they should be watertight for a while.
In the afternoon the weather improved some. We took photos at a solar composting privy at Thomas Knob Shelter, including a funny one of me pretending to be caught by surprise while seated on the throne. Just as we were leaving Thomas Knob, a deer approached us and so we were quiet and snapped some photos of her. Then we realized that this deer was accustomed to handouts and had no intention of darting off. And we thought we were special...
Later in the afternoon we came upon a rhododendron grove that was in full bloom - such a beautiful sight with all those magenta blossoms! They aren't supposed to bloom until late June.
And then the highlight of the day... Grayson Highlands has feral ponies and we saw 3 packs of them. We got some good photos of the first set. These fellas weren't very interested in us as it was dinnertime and there was lots of grass to eat. The second set was apparently bored of field greens and thought they would se what kind of goodies they might from us. These ponies are shorter than typical domestic horses; they look you in the eye. At first I thought it was cute, the way they licked my open hand. Then they figured out I didn't have any treats for them and things got a little ugly! One chewed on the gaiters I had fastened to the back of my pack while another thought my watch looked tasty while a third snuffled around the baskets on my trekking poles! Pretty soon I was running away from the ponies (one chased me) and pleading with them not to eat my things. Dan and Stephan didn't help - I think they were laughing too hard.
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Okay, so we didn't get our early start like we said we would. The morning weather was awful! We slept on the bottom level of the red barn in hopes of a sunrise because the view from the shelter was facing that direction and offered a kingly view of the valley. We did wake up early and even were packed and ready to go by 7:45, however just as we were ready to depart, a huge cloud of fog rolled in along with gale-force winds. I took one look and stated that I didn't want to leave - fortunately the guys agreed, so we unpacked, climbed into our sleeping bags and played a round of Spades. Around 10 am the weather changed favorably and we made a run for it. The morning was beautiful, but windy, especially on Little Hump and Hump Mountains. The winds gusted around 30 - 50 mph; enough to repeatedly push me off the the treadway. We had great views for most of it, but then the weather turned foul again and the mountaintop was surrounded by a cloud and bone-chilling winds. Apparently African Longhorn steer graze those mountaintops; we however, only saw their evidence in the form of cow-pies. I heard that this species is the only one that eats briars and angelica.
We finally made our way to Rt. 19 and started walking towards Roan Mt. After 20 minutes, a generous fella in a pickup truck offered us a ride. He dropped us off next at the post office and off we went. During this brief town trip, a father and daughter overheard us talk about where we might find lodging for the night and they invited us to stay with them. Trail Angels Rock! We accepted their offer and then made our introductions. Our angels were Erik and Erin Anderson, from the DC area and part-time from Roan Mt.
Erik drove us to the grocery store where we resupplied and then took us home. They had extra beds and offered us use of the laundry machines and showers before we sat down for dinner - so nice to be clean again!
Stephan is taking over the tale now because Stephanie takes a really long time to pack...
So Erik and his daughter made us a great spaghetti dinner with four pounds of italian sausage in it. Our stay with Erik and Erin was really nice because it gave us a chance to recover completely and enjoy some creature comforts. For breakfast they made us an egg potato dish with sausage and bacon and coffee. We had our photos taken after breakfast and then Erik and Erin brought us back to the trailhead.
This was the best trail magic we've encountered to date on the trail, mostly because we got to spend time with our angels. Erik had many interesting stories about his career in the Airforce. Thanks so much for your hospitality and kindness!
That's all for now,
Steph
-- Stats from Day 34 --
Beginning Point: Clyde Smith Shelter
Ending Point: Overmountain Shelter
Daily Mileage: 14 miles
Total Mileage: ZZZ miles
Weather: Cold and foggy in the a.m. with sun and beautiful skies in the p.m.
After the day we had yesterday, I was pretty tired and definitely wasn't looking forward to putting on my cold wet clothes and boots. I was the last one ready this morning and we didn't leave until about 10:30 or so. Definitely a late start. We had some pretty big climbs today; Roan Mountain was 2000 ft above the shelter and then some grassy balds, after that had nearly 1000-ft climbs.
On the walk to Roan Mountain, we saw 19 red efts [webmaster insert: I believe an Eft is a type of salamander]. These guys are so cool; they are bright orange with several spots on their backs. They move so slow you wonder how they evade predators. I guess the bright orange color says "I don't taste good". Anyway, when they move, it kind of looks as though they have broken limbs - it doesn't look like they should bend that way. And if we see one, we usually one or two more nearby. Moxie and Whoa! (thru-hikers we recently met) counted 44 today, and Shoe said he must have seen over 200! Mind that we all hiked the exact same trail; I think there is a correlation between the time one leaves the shelter and the number of Efts observed.
The hike up Roan Mountain took us about 2.5 hours; we took our time and discussed some potential post-AT plans, including opening a micro-brew restaurant and naming it the Salamander Brewing Company, featuring Red Eft Ale and Hellbender Stout. We had jobs for all our hiker friends Kev-Dog can tend bar, Yogi can do the accounting, Terrapin can DJ on the weekends, Shoe can fashion pottery for the tables, Goofy can be the head waiter and Shivers can wear the Red Eft suit and attract customers by the roadside. Its still a plan in the works, really.
We stopped for a snack in a beautiful mossy spruce forest before we reached the top only to find that we were just a couple 100 yards from the summit. That was okay because we had great views and sun to dry out our wet boots from the previous days' rain. We met up with Terrapin and Goofy up there as well. We decided to have an early dinner on the bald, but G and T took off. We were sitting on the former site of the Cloudland Hotel, which operated from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. They boasted weather free from Hay Fever and health-beneficial fresh air and water from the mountains that ran at 13 degrees. I heard the NC-TN border ran right through the grand ballroom; alcohol was permitted on the TN side but against the law on the NC side, and some NC sheriff would nab any drinkers that crossed the line. Must have been a well-liked guy.
We summitted a few more balds after Roan mountain and the views only got better. I think Round Top is my favorite one so far, but Max Patch is a close second.
Due to our late start and long lunch break, we didn't arrive at the Overmountain shelter until nearly 8 p.m., so pretty much we just ate dinner and called it a night. We are planning an early start tomorrow with a trip into the town of Roan Mountain to pick up mail-drops and do a quick resupply. We think we can reach Damascus VA in about 4 days after Roan.
Night all!
Steph
Wow, today was all about mother nature. We had some more wildlife encounters today... This time with the juncoes (cute little gray bird). Apparently the youngsters have fledged from the nest and are enrolled in beginners flight school. I watched one baby junco try to land on a branch about 6 feet from me and miss; he almost did a 360 around the limb! He then decided he needed a better place to perch and chose the back of Stephan's pack - you should have heard all the scolding chatter from Mom and Dad! They were going bonkers. I guess the baby only stayed there 5 or 10 seconds; it was pretty funny.
Our next nature encounter was with the rain. The clouds were giving us mixed signals all day long; one moment we would have sun-dappled forest, the next would be dark and ominous. We lunched at Beauty Spot for about 45 minutes and about 4 miles later took a mid-day rest at Cherry Gap shelter. That's when the skies made up their minds and it got a little ugly. We left around 4 p.m. with the goal of 8.7 miles to Clyde Smith Shelter. It started to rain about 4 miles from the shelter, around 6:15 p.m.. And this was no ordinary rain, my friends. It was so dark we almost needed our headlamps on. Suddenly the winds kicked up, gusting between 25 and 40 mph I would guess. We were a little concerned about falling limbs and at one point heard some wood crack overhead. We carried on at a very quick pace; we heard rumbles of thunder but didn't see lightning until an hour had passed. At one point the rain was bowing horizontally, pelting the sides of our heads and stinging our ears. This rain still hasn't let up after 3 hours. I think we covered 8.7 miles in 3 hrs 15 minutes - record time. Amazing what a little adrenaline can do for you.
We finally arrived at the shelter and amazingly there was enough room for us all. Yogi, Shoe, Terrapin and Goofy were there and gave us a hearty greeting. Two other folks are here but I haven't caught their names yet. Stephan and I prepared pasta-roni for first dinner and started a second pasta dinner while eating the first one. 20 miles is great for building an appetite. Then Dan surprised us with a pudding dessert which was gone in 2 seconds. I followed that with a candy bar (again, inhaled) and a cup of cocoa. The sad thing is I could still eat some more, but we don't have any more water to cook with and we can't bear the thought of going out in he rain right now to filter more water. So, we may just eat ramen noodles in addition to our oatmeal in the morning. Depends on how hungry I am during the night.
Speaking of which, its sleepy time for me. I am the last one with a headlamp on, so that means bedtime (and its not even 9:30!),
Cheers,
Steph
Oops - I counted my days wrong! Today marks day 32; No Business Knob Shelter should have been Day 31.
-- Stats from Day 32 --
Beginning Point: Uncle Johnny Nolichucky Hostel
Ending Point: Curly Maple Gap Shelter
Daily Mileage: 4.2 miles
Total Mileage: 343.1 miles
Weather: Surprise! Warm and humid.
Well, today we had intentions of doing great things, however after breakfast, my gumption sort of died. Dan had been hiking on pulled shins for the last few days and didn't mind the rest either. So for a change, Stephan was the one who wanted to push on. However Stephan alone did not comprise a moral majority, but Dan and I compromised by agreeing to hike the 4.2 miles to the shelter after the heat of the day had passed. Sometimes the appeal of town treats is too alluring.
We found the shelter empty (first time thats happened) and settled in; we looked at the maps and At Companion guides to plan our next leg of the journey into Roan Mountain, when off in the distance we begin to hear voices. First we see Yogi and Shoe, then Terrapin and Goofy! They were slack-packing south from Iron Mountain Gap, about 20 miles north of where we started today. Slack-packing means they left their full packs at the hostel they stayed at last night and got a lift to Iron mountain, and they cut off about a 4000 ft climb, which we still have to do. We are very jealous of their planning and hope to catch up to them in Damascus.
I have a few wildlife observations to make in this entry... The first is about blackflies. Apparently these aren't as toothy as their kin in the northern states, but they are quite annoying because they dive-bomb your eyes, ears, nose, and mouth and nothing you do will drive them away. I think I am going to have to break down and get some bug repellent. As I sit and type, I hear the buzz of annoying insects near my head.
The second is salamanders. While filtering water this evening, I noticed some movement and discovered a cute little guy about the length of my index finger. I don't know what kind it was, but I snapped a photo and enjoyed watching his finger-like gills twitch.
Okay, enough for now. We are planning to get an early start tomorrow so that we can try to avoid the heat.
Steph
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