Month: August 2021

Start: Stealth Site (AT mi 2069.3). Stop: Monson, Maine (AT mi 2078.6). Today’s miles: 9.3 miles. Total AT mileage: 1053.9 miles

Just before 3am, rain drops started to splatter down on top of my tent. In a panic, I jumped up and started closing the open vestibule. TieDye was up grabbing his clothes hanging to “dry” and reminded me to get mine, too. I went ahead and peed while I was awake and standing in the sprinkle. I bet I’ll never leave the vestibules open ever again.

I fell back to sleep pretty easily. Then, what felt like moments later, my watch alarm went off. Ugh. TieDye’s alarm went off at the same time, so we were both up awake and slowly moving. The rain didn’t pour by any means, but since it was dripping onto the tent still, I ate my breakfast in the tent and took my sweet time packing everything inside before venturing out of the tent to pack it.

We got started just after 7am and I was on high alert looking for exciting animals. It looks like yesterday was the only day that was going to happen, because all I caught glimpses of today were squirrels, chipmunks, and singing birds. I enjoyed it though.. even if it did decide to be very buggy very early on (resulting in me wearing my bug net over my head), and extremely humid.

I took a break only to dig a hole, and later to eat a protein bar. Originally I attempted to eat the protein bar while walking, but the trail took an upwards turn that had me about choking on the thing with all my heavy breathing. The uphill was called “Buck Hill” so even the trail knows it wasn’t a mountain, but my legs and lungs were sure acting like it was. Thankfully, it was short lived.

On the downhill, the rocks got slippery at times. I did an awkward slide that kept me on my feet but bent down tight on my knees.. it’s hard to describe and I’m still not sure how I didn’t just land on my butt-and honestly I wish I would have, because it would have probably hurt less. TieDye took some slide stumbles too.. which he says his pack took the brunt of the impacts, thank goodness. Between the two of us, we spent a fair amount of time falling! Lol I have new shoes waiting on me in Monson, another great thing to look forward to!

We made it to the road crossing and parking lot just as TweetyBird and Starburst were getting into a car. I waved bye to them, but when I did the driver saw and then stopped to make room for the 2 of us, too! At first I thought it was a hitch, so I felt guilty that the driver stopped for us.. but as it turns out, she’s the shuttle driver for the hostel, so my wave technically saved her a trip.

When we got there, the driver went to get us each a free beer and to my surprise, TBird, DoubleDecker, and Smiles all came running out to hug TieDye! Almost their entire tramily reunited! Townlegs is the only missing link, but she already reunited with the majority and had to hike out to attempt to meet a deadline so she can see family. It was so awesome to witness. I got in on some hugs, too, and was grateful to see these people who’ve been such a big part of my hike. Helping my shin splints, Lyme’s Disease, and of course the friendship and entertainment, as well. I will say, it made me miss my tramily though.

Speaking of my tramily, Curmudgeon, Derby, and Towelie all have summited Mount Katahdin! Lizard, Sauce, FarOut, and Beaver are all very close to doing the same.. I’m just guessing, but I think they’re on day 5 or 6 now. I’m expecting some more epic summit pics to come rolling in while I’m in Bar Harbor with my mom. And then I’m praying like hell I can catch up to them, or at least some of them, by the time I hit Virginia. Curmy is such a fast hiker and will be starting in Harpers Ferry the day I start back at the 100 mile wilderness. He’d have to take a lot of zeros for me to catch him! Lol Derby has completed his thruhike and so will Beaver, so I won’t be getting to see either of them in the south, no matter how fast I try to hike.

Back to the hostel-I quickly took a shower and TieDye and I got our laundry in the machine, that way all my chores would be done by the time mom got there. I was able to get service and call her when I still had 6 miles to hike this morning.. she had made her first flight and was about to catch her connecting one. Then, when I was in the shower she messaged that she had landed and was on the way to get the rental car, she should be there by 2-2:30.. it was exactly noon now. Perfect!

We walked over to get a sandwich at the general store (grilled cheese for me), and sat in the courtyard to eat with some other hikers. I finished before TieDye and headed over to the post office to get my new shoes-which I did without a single issue! Now, when I start in Monson, I’ll have fresh shoes. More importantly, they should last longer since the terrain won’t be as tough when I flip back down to West Virginia.
Shoes in hand, I walked across the street to the Appalachian Trail Conservatory office. The sweet lady there gave me all the details I could ever need to know about hiking the 100 mile wilderness, the process for getting permits at Baxter State Park to even be able to summit Mount Katahdin, and the plans for when and how to register for the shelter before the climb. Plus, I finally got my 2021 thruhiker tag!

I made my way back to the hostel, got our clothes out of the dryer and took TieDye his, then shoved mine in my pack. I settled my bill with the hostel ($10 for laundry and a shower). I also discussed the details for getting a food drop into the 100 mile wilderness so I don’t have to tote 7 days of food all at once, especially for the first 2 days which are the most difficult. She wrote out the details and told me to take some time to do the logistics of it all, and on the 23rd to be there before 11am if I decide I want to have them drop me food half way. I’m thinking I might want to do it!

By the time I wrapped all of that up and got inside where everyone was watching a movie, my mom showed up! After hugging the crap out of her, I introduced her to my friends. Once we said our goodbyes, mom and I headed out of town. We stopped for some drinks for the ride, and then drove down Maine backroads all the way to Belfast, Maine.. a cute coastal town south of Bar Harbor. Our reservations for Bar Harbor aren’t until Thursday, so we’re spending a night in Belfast in a cute cottage across the street from the bay.

We checked in, unloaded our stuff, and headed to dinner. The first restaurant we tried was slap packed full of people on top of people, so we went to a more empty restaurant down the way and had some burgers. I can’t have mom catch covid on a trip to see me.. that would just be awful! We ate, we talked, we enjoyed the scenery. Afterwards we walked to the water and looked in a few shops.. man I’m so happy she’s here!

Now, I plan to enjoy every second with her.. I won’t be posting updates while we’re on our side trip, so this will be my last post for a bit. Also, while I’m thinking about it, service is apparently not great in the 100 mile wilderness, so I may not be able to post those daily blogs until after I’m out and have reached the summit of Katahdin and come back down to town, but I promise to still write every night and attempt to upload when I do get service. It may just be that you’ll get a whole bunch of posts in a single day when I get service again! Haha

The plan is to be on a plane headed to DC for the second half of my trek on 7/31.. so it may not be until then when you start seeing updates again. I apologize in advance if that’s the way it goes down. Much love to you all! Thank you for following me on my journey 🙂

Start: Monson, Maine (AT mi 2078.6). Stop: Thompson Brook (AT mi 2087.9). Today’s miles: 9.3 miles. Total AT mileage: 1062.9 miles

Mom woke me up just before 7am and I quickly got ready and packed up my stuff. We had everything in the rental car and checked out of the room by 7:20. We sat down to breakfast at a cute little place named “Jordan’s” and had our food served to us before 7:45.. as happy as I was that everything was going so smoothly this morning, I was super sad that my mom would be leaving me soon. Too soon, in my opinion.

I had French toast, eggs and bacon with coffee..Mom had blueberry pancakes and eggs with her coffee. We’ve been having some pretty stellar breakfasts in Bar Harbor, I’m sad that those are ending, too. Lol After we ate, we hopped in the rental and headed towards Monson. We took a pit stop for the ATM and gas, and another for me to run to the bathroom.. otherwise, we sailed to Monson and arrived with plenty of time to take care of the errands I needed to handle before setting off into the 100 mile wilderness. For those that don’t know, the 100 mile wilderness is the longest stretch of the Appalachian Trail without a town, cell service, or civilization so to say.. and when you come out of that stretch, you go into Baxter State Park to summit Mount Katahdin, Maine’s highest peak and the northern terminus of the AT.

First, we stopped at Shaw’s Hiker Hostel for me to arrange a food drop in the wilderness. They’re going to deliver me a bucket filled with everything I’ve purchased for a resupply on day 4.. I will call them from a specific mountain top on day 3 (when I’m supposed to have service) and verify my drop off time. As of now, I’ll have to be at a specific logging road at 10am on Thursday to get my food. No pressure or anything.. haha

After setting up all of that, mom and I went to the post office to ship some stuff home (mostly all the pretty clothes she brought me to wear around town in Bar Harbor. It was so nice feeling like a normal person in public..) and then we went to a little place to order a pizza. It was only 11:30, but I knew better than to start hiking without loading up on a proper lunch.

Pizza in tow, we made our way to the trailhead parking lot. This is when reality set in. I was about to start hiking, she was about to drive to the airport. Dammit, this sucks. We ate what we could of the pizza and then I shared the rest with some hikers that had just gotten dropped off. Originally I thought I’d pack it out to eat tonight for dinner, but then I realized I already packed a dinner, and there’s no point in toting extra food with all these climbs coming my way.

When I got all ready to go, mom and I hugged bye. This was the worst part of my entire day. I hate seeing her sad, and she was sad we were going our separate ways. We ended up hugging again right at the trailhead and made promises to check in and for her to let me know she made her flights and got home safely (as I’m writing this, I’m still waiting to hear about her connecting flight, on my Garmin InReach, because I haven’t had service since leaving the WiFi of Shaw’s haha).

I started off into the woods. It was sprinkling, the trail was slick, but it was beautiful and I had missed it. Surprisingly, I didn’t fall any, but I definitely did some sliding.. I just happened to catch myself before hitting the ground each time! Ha! The trail had some brief climbs and steep descents, but none of it was particularly challenging. Which was perfect for me today, because my body struggled to get back into the swing of things. My knees bothered me more than I expected, to the point of taking an extra dose of ibuprofen this afternoon.

I passed some pretty ponds and a gorgeous waterfall. I sat and talked with two NOBOs while we filtered water. They gave me some insight for their plan to summit Katahdin and the day or two before that.. making sure to get permits for certain parts at certain times is tricky.. I like having a backup plan for my backup plan. It might be why I’m good at ICU nursing lol.. gotta love that type A personality, right?

I made it to my planned river crossing and campsite just after 6pm. The rain had moved in and stayed steady just after 5.. I was annoyed with myself for sitting around chatting earlier, because I probably could have had my tent up before the rain, or at least closer to less rain if I wasn’t chatting and lollygagging.. but where I set up is mostly tree covered anyway, so the inside of the tent stayed dry even during the set up. I’m seriously still in love with David’s tent. So much so, I finally cracked and bought one of my own-it just has a forever long wait time.

I unpacked and got everything secure from the rain, then went to the water to wash off. I’m right next to the river and can hear the water rushing by from my tent. It’s the best sound machine there is! Once I was all clean, I changed clothes, hung my bear line, and then set to work making dinner. I wanted to make sure the line was already tossed in the right spot before it got dark on me. Now the sun sets around 7:45 ish, so daylight runs out on me before I expect it to sometimes.. being rainy doesn’t help the situation, either.

My food is put away, my mom just messaged that she made her connecting flight, and I’m all tucked in for bed. It’s 8:15 and I’m pretty tired already. I’m going to try to get some sleep without my earplugs so that when mom messages that she’s landed I’ll hear my Garmin go off.. The thing is pretty dang handy! I’m trying to save battery anyway, since I have 6-7 more days out here and my battery pack will only last 4-5 of those days.

I’m going to stay in airplane mode through tomorrow regardless, and then play it by ear on day 3. I won’t even attempt to upload these blog posts until I’m sure I’ll have enough battery to summit Katahdin and get my ride to the hostel afterwards lol.. Imagine summiting a mountain like Katahdin, and having a dead phone and no pictures! It’s too mortifying for me to even consider letting that happen! Haha goodnight y’all! Time for that shut eye while listening to the water rush by.

Start: Thompson Brook (AT mi 2087.9). Stop: Stealth Site (AT mi 2100.4). Today’s miles: 12.5 miles. Total AT mileage: 1075.4 miles.

I can honestly say today did not go as planned. I knew it would be one of my most challenging days in the wilderness, I just didn’t expect it to be one of my most challenging days on trail. And honestly, I’m still a little confused as to why it was.

I slept so good that I didn’t get up until 6:35. I packed up and ate breakfast, putting me on trail just before 7:30. Within half a mile of camp, I knew there was a water crossing that would require getting my feet wet (it’s actually the same river I slept next to, the trail just goes beside it for half a mile before crossing to the other side).. so I stayed in my camp shoes until after the crossing. In Bar Harbor I had to trash my sandals and get a pair of knock off Crocs from Walmart. My sandals bit the dust.. the soles were smooth and the insides were falling apart.

I crossed with no issues. The highest the water got was to my knees, and I was grateful to still be dry. However, that didn’t last very long. The trail wound its way up and around and through the trees, relatively mild terrain. By 9 I was slap drenched through thanks to the humidity. But at least it wasn’t raining! Not that could tell by the way I looked! Lol

Just after 10am, I ran into TieDye! He was hiking SOBO and for a minute he had me believing he accidentally turned the wrong direction and knowing he was days ahead of me-I was worried! But then after a chuckle, he told me he had been slack packing with some other people because of the bad weather over the weekend. I wish I had done that. After catching up for a few minutes, and me thinking I’d be able to catch him tomorrow, we went our separate ways. It was only a few hours later when I realized he’d be getting started tomorrow where I’m supposed to be ending.. lol.. no way in the world I’d be catching him tomorrow!

I ate my lunch early, just after 11am at Long Pond Lean-To. I was annoyed that the heat and mugginess felt like it was suffocating me (in my own sweat at that), and I had only made it this far in the day. But, I was hungry and wanted to lay out my tent and my current clothes to dry. The tent dried within 15 minutes of being strung between 2 trees like a hammock.. my shirt and shorts on the other hand-were just as wet as they were when I took them off. Lovely.

I hung out until 12, hoping for some drying success and finally giving in. My legs were starting to get the heat rash bumps, so from then on, I hiked in my undies. My shirt is long, but really-I don’t care about modesty anymore.. if something makes me uncomfortable while hiking, I remove said thing. Period. Naturally, 10 minutes back on trail and heading up Barren Mountain- I run into 3 SOBO guys that all look to be in their early 20s. Awesome. Good thing I don’t care, am I right? Hahaha

I got to the Barren Ledges, a good 2 miles from the summit, and saw the sunny, rocky overlook and hightailed it over there. There were 3 older gentlemen there, too, all doing a section hike. I introduced myself, and as we were chatting, I took my shirt off, laid it out to dry, fished out my shorts from my pack, laid them out to dry, then plopped myself down next to my laundry and laid me out to dry. They said they had been up there doing the same thing-drying out, they just happened to leave their clothes on while doing it. I was pretending I was in a bikini on St. Lucia sipping a mai tai. Which, I think that’s where I’d like to spend my birthday this year-FYI. Lol

I was laying up there for awhile and watching these falcons fly back and forth.. I wouldn’t have known they were falcons if there wasn’t a sign a little ways back saying they were nesting. I counted 6 of them, and when one kept eyeing me, I decided to get up and get moving before they realized I was probably a very easy target! Haha

It was well after 1pm when I got moving again. And I still had 7.6 miles to go to meet my “bare minimum” goal. It would have me at 15 miles today and I’d be camping by a pond and get to wash off in the water. At this rate, I knew I wouldn’t be making it there much before 6pm but what else is there to do but keep walking, anyway? I was moving slow but felt strong and capable and I was in a good mood still.

Once I got to the top of Barren Mountain, that changed for me. The downhill was getting a little technical and was staying very slippery. I fell twice but hurt nothing but my pride. I was moving at a snails pace. This terrain was reminding me of the Whites, and I was not liking it at all. There was a boggy area attempting to soak my day and half new shoes. I started getting irritable. Then it was up Fourth Chairback Mountain. It was treacherous at times but manageable. I thought the summit would never appear..

When I looked at my phone at 5pm, I was just making it to the top of this mountain. I STILL had 2.8 miles to go to get to my bare minimum goal, which included going up and over Third Chairback Mountain! Sheesh! I knew I’d be getting to camp well after 6:30, probably closer to 7 if the terrain going down was anything like the previous mountain. And guess what? It was worse. Holy hell was it worse.

I was hardly getting anywhere when I slipped and busted my right knee. I’m not even sure how it happened, but I ended with my right leg tucked up under me, my body weight on the knee, my left leg out straight and still sliding, and both arms with trekking poles still in the ground stuck back behind me. And there was a rock drop off in front of me. I had to let go of the poles and get my arms back in front of me, one at a time.. awkward. Then get the pressure off my knee, which is now bleeding, while not letting my left leg/foot slide anymore. It was scary and very painful. When I finally was able to stand, I threw up. Just like that. Stand, tunnel vision, barf. Not how I saw this day going.

There was nothing I could do except try to keep moving. Tears in my eyes with each limpy step, I trudged forward on that awful descent. All of this took place within less than a quarter a mile from the summit! When I made it to the brief part of actual trail, I looked around and found a semi decent place to set my tent up. It’s basically all squishy moss and barren trees, and the ground is so soft it hardly holds my stakes in place-but ya know what? I was done. I wasn’t making it another 2.4 miles hurting like this with the sun going down. I only have half a liter of water, so I ate a pb&j for dinner with some chips (my normal lunch) and I’m happy that my stomach isn’t still upset. That barfy business had to have been the pain from putting pressure on that knee, because I feel fine now in that regard.

So. Dinner is done, camp is set up, and all that’s left to do is clean up my knee and find something to cover it (so the blood doesn’t stick to my leggings or my sleep stuff), and stress a little about tomorrow. Tomorrow was going to already be another tough day, and now it’ll be even more so with an extra mountain to go up and over since I didn’t get it done today. Greeaaaaat.

My food drop is coming the following morning, so I have to make it tomorrow to my planned place or I won’t have time to get to the food drop. If I’m not there, my food goes back with them. I think I’ll try to get up super early, so that way if my knee is giving me trouble I have more time to get to my destination.

Here’s to sleeping well and surviving tomorrow! It should be much easier terrain once I get through tomorrow.. maybe that, and food, will motivate me to push through! Sweet dreams, y’all.