Week 3 Pictures

Our first snake encounter

Cheoah Bald: my favorite camping spot of the whole trip 

Campfire on Cheoah Bald

Spring pushing its way past dead leaves

Fontana Dam, the tallest dam in the eastern USA

Downstream from the dam

Entering the Smokies

Remains of a mountaintop house

Foggy Smokies

Some parts of the Smokies almost felt like the Northwest

Week 2 Pictures

Working hard up Kelly Knob

View from Raven Rock

Break time

Improvising to get a spout for water collection

Walking through a Rhododendron tunnel

Inside Rock Gap Shelter

Self portrait atop Wayah Bald

The trail isn't always clear

A rare picture of the two of us; on top of Wesser Bald's fire tower

I weirdly liked to take pictures of my bear bag hangs

Week 1 Pictures

Now that I can finally upload pictures from my camera, I'll be posting them over time.  Here are some from the first week.

At the parking lot at Springer Mountain

The southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail at Springer Mountain

Our first stream crossing

Bear bags showing how crowded the first night was

Relaxing lunch spot on day 3

Mountain Crossing at Neel Gap

Bundled up in the tent on a cold night

Sunrise view from the tent

Getting our water

Icicles at Blue Mountain Shelter (April 4th freezing rain)

Frozen backpack

The Evolution of a Night Hike, Told in Four Pictures

Because I don't wear a watch, I would track time by taking pictures and looking at the timestamp.  Here are four such pictures taken during my one and only night hike.

8:18pm: Cool, I'm alone on the trail and it's quiet

9:18pm: Shit, I'm alone on the trail and it's quiet

9:53pm: I'm getting a little tired, but no big deal.  I'm almost there I think

10:43pm

Day 73: The End

Origin: Blackburn AT Center

Destination: Potomac River, Maryland border

Today's miles: 12.8

Total miles: 1,020.3

Magge wasn't going to get to Harpers Ferry until 1:30pm, and given the nasty weather, I wasn't in a hurry to get up and start walking.  As a result, I got a later-than-usual start, leaving the Blackburn Center at 8:20am.  My knee was in pain and stiff from the previous day, but I took an Aleve and once it warmed up I could walk nearly normally, albeit while sometimes gritting my teeth.  Walking briskly through the rain, I arrived in Harpers Ferry in four hours and took a bit of time to walk through the historic town.  It's a neat place in a beautiful location, and it had a surprisingly large number of visitors walking around despite the inclement weather.  With a bit of extra time to kill before Magge arrived, I decided to walk across the Potomac River, so now I can say I hiked from Georgia to Maryland, instead of just to West Virginia.

Once Magge arrived, we visited the Appalachian Trail Conservancy headquarters, where I registered my hike and we became members.  We had an amazing experience on the trail (yes, even Magge says she did) and volunteers helped make it happen, so we want to be able to contribute going forward.  Afterwards, we walked around the old town for a while, ate lunch and then made the six hour drive home.

Just like that, my journey is over.  I wish I had the time to complete a thru-hike, but I can't complain with being able to complete over 1,000 miles.  Perhaps I'll come back to finish it, but thru-hiking the PCT or maybe even New Zealand's Te Araroa Trail, depending on where I'm living next time I can take this much time off, is on my bucket list and a priority.

I'll make a few more posts over the next week or so, mostly to finally share some of the pictures taken with the camera.

This sign is short-changing me six miles

Magge looking across the Potomac to Maryland

 

Day 72

Origin: Rod Hollow Shelter

Destination: Blackburn AT Center

Today's miles: 17.8

Total miles: 1,007.5

I didn't have that many miles to hike but I wanted to get an early start anyway because I had a tough section called the Roller Coaster to cross and I wanted to beat the forecasted afternoon thunderstorm.  The Roller Coaster is a rocky 13.5 mile stretch of closely-packed hills.  None of the hills exceed 1,500 ft of elevation or 500 ft of ascent, but the constant ups and downs is tough of the muscles and joints.  It is sections like this one that leads many hikers to surprisingly state that the Appalachian Trail is more physically demanding than the other two long American trails, the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail, despite their traversing much larger mountains.  In fact, the AT has nearly twice the elevation gain per mile of hiking vs. those those trails.

I had gone nearly 1,000 miles without any major issues with my body, but a mile into the Roller Coaster, my right knee started to scream.  It came out of nowhere and without twisting it, so I'm not sure what's wrong with it.  The rest of the day went much more slowly than I am accustomed to, but I did make it to my destination, the Blackburn AT Center, before the storms hit.

The Center is run by the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, the volunteer organization that maintains this portion if the trail.  From August to April, the center is rented out as a cabin, but during the other months it is maintained as a place for AT hikers to hang out, and there is a second, smaller cabin available for hikers to sleep for free.  Given the approaching storms, this sounded good to me.  Unbeknownst to me, the caretakers also often make dinner for hikers, so I got a free spaghetti dinner tonight with salad.  The caretakers thru-hiked a few years ago and weren't ready to leave the trail, so took this job.  It was definitely a cool place and I'm glad I stopped by.

Only 12.5 miles to go to Harpers Ferry.

Day 71

Origin: US 522

Destination: Rod Hollow Shelter

Today's miles: 23.6

Total miles: 989.7

Last night there was a long line to use the washing machine and drier, so I had to wait until this morning to do laundry.  As a result, I couldn't catch the early shuttle back to the trailhead and didn't get started hiking until 11am.  Not ideal for a 24 mile day, but still very doable.  There wasn't much that happened today that is noteworthy enough to write about; after 10 weeks, everything today has pretty much been covered before.  I did get another helping of trail magic today, though, which was great.  I ate a few hot dogs and cupcakes provided by a couple who thru-hiked last year.  By the time I arrived at the shelter, all of the flat areas had already been claimed with tents so I had to stay in the weird-smelling shelter all by myself.  Luckily, the bugs weren't too bad and I got used to the smell.

Day 70

Origin: Gravel Springs Hut

Destination: US 522 (then to Front Royal)

Today's miles: 13.4

Total miles: 966.1

Last night I shared the shelter with Running Shoe, a 65 year old German who started at Springer Mountain two weeks after we did.  After I had gone to bed, he yelled, "Schlange! Snake!" as he leapt up from the shelter's edge.  I rushed to the edge of the platform to see what I thought could have been a poisonous copperhead (but I'm not good at identifying these things so who knows) trying to climb into the shelter.  Running Shoe used his water bottle to push the snake away, but it just went to the other side to the to climb up closer to where I was sleeping.  Running Shoe threw me a trekking pole and I used it to push the snake away, but the little bugger was stubborn and kept moving forward.  I planted the pole underneath the snake and then flung it 10 feet away, and finally he slithered into the grass.  Knowing it could easily come back later, I didn't sleep very well.

When I got up at 6am, it was still raining.  Not needing to make many miles today and not wanting to get back into wet clothes, I took more time getting ready than I usually do.  Once I got going, however, I made good time and hit the highway leading to Front Royal before noon.  I stood in the pouring rain for a while trying to hitch a ride, but no one took pity on me so I decided to just walk the four miles into town.  As I walked, dozens of cars sped past me until an oncoming BMW turned into a driveway in front of me.  I thought that there was no way a BMW driver would let a dripping, stinking hiker sit in his car, but he rolled his window and asked, "how does a ride into town sound?".  "Incredible," I responded.  He told me he had passed me and thought no one else would bother to stop for me so he turned around.  Thanks for the best part of my day, Jim.

Once I got into town, I checked in a motel and ordered lunch.  Yes, I ate this all.

I mostly rested the remainder of the day as I prepare myself for the last push.  Magge will pick me up in Harpers Ferry on the 10th, and I'll enjoy myself as much as I can (and as much as the weather will let me) these last three days.

Day 69

Origin: Rock Spring Hut

Destination: Gravel Springs Hut

Today's miles: 28.4

Total miles: 952.7

When I checked the weather on Tuesday, the forecast for today was beautiful but it was ugly for Friday.  So when I made my plans, I decided that I'd put in a big day today so I'd have a relatively short day to Front Royal on Friday, where I would resupply for the last time and dry out.  It would have worked out perfectly.  It was therefore disappointing when I checked the weather last night, and the updated forecast had nothing but rain for today and tomorrow.  I evaluated some other options, but ultimately decided to bite the bullet and put in a long day today.

I got on the trail at 6:15am so I could get in as many miles as possible before the rain started.  About an hour passed before it started to sprinkle, but it really didn't bother me too much.  I saw another bear soon after I started; it was maybe 50 feet from me and it bolted deeper into the woods as soon as it heard me.  It wasn't that big so I'm guessing it was a juvenile.  Once again, it was gone before I could even get my camera out of my pocket.

I maintained a good pace all morning with the intent of getting to Elkwallow Wayside by around 2pm so I could pack on some calories.  Once there, I ate three hot dogs, French fries and drank a couple of Mountain Dews and bought some chocolate bars and Clif Bars for later.  While I was stuffing my face, the rain picked up in intensity and had turned into a downpour by the time I left.  I only had six miles left, so I just put my head down and went into Magge's bag of tricks and pulled out "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" for a while.  The trail was nearly a giant puddle at this point but time passed fairly quickly and I pulled into the shelter at 5pm.  It was cool enough today that the bigs aren't a big problem, so I decided to sleep in the shelter to avoid packing up a wet tent early in the morning.  I should be in Front Royal in time for lunch tomorrow.

Day 68

Origin: Hightop Hut

Destination: Rock Spring Hut

Today's miles: 23.9

Total miles: 924.3

I was dragging most of the day today and it felt like it took forever.  I don't think I ate enough food to make up for the huge day yesterday and a relatively big day today.  Perhaps I should have stopped for a milkshake.  The Mayo Clinic estimates that a person my size burns over 500 calories an hour backpacking, so given that I've been walking 12 hours I day, I'm probably burning over 6,000 calories a day right now (I likely hike faster than their baseline estimate).  So while it seems like I sometimes eat a disgusting amount of food (see the 1lb hiker burger we ate in Atkins), I actually need that.  Tomorrow, I need to find a way to get more to eat because I have another long day planned so I can take a short day in Front Royal on Friday.

The most interesting thing I saw today was a guy sleeping right in the middle of the trail.  I passed him around 9am and thought someone had just left their sleeping bag behind before I saw a head.  He didn't even have a tarp underneath him.  Just off the trail, his friend (I assume) was also sleeping on the ground.  I wanted to take a picture but I had already walked too far past them and I didn't feel like turning around.

Here's yet another Virginia vista:

Day 67

Origin: Calf Mountain Hut

Destination: Hightop Hut

Today's miles: 34.4

Total miles: 900.4

Today was the best day of hiking alone that I've had.  Every day since Magge left, I have been against some deadline: a shuttle pickup, darkness or storms.  Today I had no shuttle and the forecast looked great, so I could hike as much as I wanted to without any pressure.  And I ended up hiking a lot.

I was on the trail at 6:30am and didn't see another hiker on the trail for four hours.  What I did see, though, were my first bears.  I could hear something large in the woods and I looked over to my right.  At first I didn't see anything, but then I noticed two cubs descending a tree about 100 feet away (following mom, I assume, which is what caused the noise that made me look in this direction).  Before I could even get my camera out of my pocket, they had slipped away.

I forgot to mention yesterday that I am now in Shenandoah National Park.  The park is very motorist-friendly and the Skyline Drive weaves its way through the forests, often within earshot of the AT.  While I find the road to be mostly a nuisance, it comes with a perk - roadside grills called "waysides".  Today I stopped at one for a late lunch/early dinner and got a burger and a milkshake (yes, I had that for lunch yesterday at McDonald's - don't judge me, I hiked 34 miles today).  It was a nice novelty to pop out of the woods for an hour and get a hot lunch.  I'll probably do it once more to save the dinners I have so I won't need to buy anymore for the rest of the trip.

I pulled into the area where I planned to stop for the day (26.2 miles from where I started) at 5:00pm.  I still felt good and the weather was great, so I decided to do an extra 8.2.  I actually felt stronger as the day went on and I averaged 3.4 miles an hour over this last section.  I followed a hiker named Zip, who is well known for being fast, over the last 3 miles to see if I could keep up.  It was over the biggest climb of the day and I finally lost him towards the end when I desperately needed a water break, but I ended up finishing in 45 minutes.  Extremely happy with the day, but tired, I set up camp, ate some food and crawled under my quilt.  The nights have gotten cooler, which I love, and I'm looking forward to a good sleep.

Early in the morning, try to picture it without the power lines:

Day 66

Origin: Paul C. Wolfe Shelter

Destination: Calf Mountain Shelter (with a resupply stop in Waynesboro)

Today's miles: 12.7

Total miles: 856.0

With my brevity yesterday, I didn't mention that I got my first full-blown trail magic since our first day on the trail.  Sarah, John and King, locals who like hikers, were grilling food on a road that I was crossing and asked me if I was hungry as I walked by.  It took me by surprise because I assumed, since I never hit trail magic, that they were just making food for themselves.  They gave me a shish-kabob, baked potato, frozen strawberries, home-baked cookies and brownies and drinks. Before I came across them, I was thinking of pushing into Waynesboro for a 35 mile day, but spending 30 minutes eating ruled that out.  It was completely worth it.

This morning I walked the five miles into Waynesboro.  I needed to pick up a mail drop and buy some new socks.  My old socks tear up the skin on my heels - I assume because they've gotten too crusty to be softened with a single wash.  Yesterday, the pain was so bad that I didn't know how I would finish the day.  Luckily, a trail friend named Joyride had given me an extra pair of socks and they worked well enough to get me into town without doing more damage.  I thought about staying the night in Waynesboro to give my skin some extra time to heal, but after looking at my AT guide, I didn't like how that set up my walking schedule.  So I decided to get back on the trail after a disgustingly large lunch at McDonald's.  The drivers in this town are fantastic towards hikers.  I didn't even have to pull out my hitcher thumb as drivers were pulling over to see if I needed a ride.

I finished the day with a quick seven miles to a shelter that is overcrowded.  I hope it's just because it's the first shelter from town.  There are more tents than tent sites here, although I did arrive early enough to get a proper, flat site.  With the bugs are bad they are, I don't think I'll sleep in a shelter again unless I have to.  I did last night because I thought I was too tires to pitch my tent, but I doubt I'll make that mistake again after barely sleeping.

Day 65

Origin: The Priest Shelter

Destination: Paul C. Wolfe Shelter

Today's miles: 29.6

Total miles: 853.3

Long day.  I'm tired.  Going to bed.

On the trail at 6:45am:

Day 64

Origin: VA 60

Destination: The Priest Shelter 

Today's miles: 20.6

Total miles: 823.7

I got a later start than I would have liked today, as I didn't get dropped back off at the trailhead until 11:15pm.  Kicking off a day of hiking in the heat is tough, especially when I got as poor of a night of sleep as I thought I was going to have.  On top of that, the first portion was a steep climb up Cold Mountain.  I struggled a bit and wondered if I had enough energy to hit my goal of 20 miles by a reasonable hour.  I got to the top of the mountain, which I believe is the last grassy bald that I'll come across (picture below) and took a short break.  Suddenly, I felt good to go and I was able to get a good rhythm the rest of the day.  I pulled into the shelter at 7:00pm and was pleased that this was the least buggy night we've had in a while, so didn't bother to set up the tent.  I have a big day planned for tomorrow, so being able to break camp extra quickly will be helpful.

Day 63

Origin: Johns Hollow Shelter

Destination: VA 60 (then to Buena Vista) 

Today's miles: 20.1

Total miles: 803.1

One of the big differences is my daily routine now that I'm alone is that I'll get up and on the trail much earlier.  It took us usually an hour and a half to get ready in the morning, which was too long for me and I would get antsy.  This morning I woke up at 6:00am and I was on the trail at 6:30am.  Those who know me know that I'm typically not a morning person, but out here it's different.  I love being in the woods early - it's quiet, it's cool and I love the way the morning sun filters through the forest.  

I had to cover 20 miles by 3:00pm to catch a shuttle into town, so I pushed my pace early.  By noon, I realized that I had plenty of time so I had a pretty relaxed time after lunch.  I found the perfect creek, sat on a rock in the middle of it, and soaked my feet in the refreshingly cold water.  I had been staring off into space for I don't know how long when another hiker came along and said, "A slice of heaven, ain't it?" and I couldn't agree more.  I then walked through an area that had been a community for freed slaves until the 1920s.  All that was left were remnants of stone walls, but it was interesting to imagine people trying to make a living in this dense forest.

I got to the highway a little before 3:00pm and waited for my shuttle, but it never came.  Another hiker joined me in waiting but we eventually gave up and tried to hitch a ride into town.  We couldn't get a bite - a big difference from experiences in Georgia and North Carolina - until we offered a guy pulling out of his driveway some money.  Once in town I ate dinner and then spent the rest of the night on the phone with Magge and family and trying to arrange travel for some trips we'll be taking once I'm done. Unfortunately, the hostel where I'm staying is out of beds so I'm on a couch that is too short for me, so I'm not anticipating a good night's sleep.