Category: Appalachian Trail 2021

Start: Delaware Water Gap (AT mi 1296.1). Stop: Unnamed Campsite (AT mi 1308.2). Today’s miles: 12.1 miles. Total AT mileage: 283.5 miles. States Completed:Maryland, Pennsylvania

I woke up in my quaint little room, on the most comfortable of beds to date, wrapped in my down covers.. at 5:50am. I refused to get up. I snuggled down into the covers and put a pillow over my head and promptly fell back to sleep. Until 6 something, and then 7 something.. this little refusal to get up dance continued until almost 9am. Fine. I’ll get up now.

I took the hottest shower I could stand, loving every second of it. I packed my pack for the day, filled my water bottles up, and then walked down to the bakery to get some breakfast. I told myself not to do the egg and cheese sandwich, to try something new. I didn’t. And I’m so glad! It was the best one yet! Haha god I love breakfast a whole lot for someone who hates waking up.

HotSauce and FarOut were there when I got there, so that’s always nice. Seeing trail friends in town makes me think of how little kids act when they see their school friends outside of school.. all super excited even though you know you’ll see them the next day, too. Ha. FarOut went to the post office while HotSauce ordered their food. She came back with all the goodies sent from home. I hung out there a little after I finished eating, just enjoying the company. It seemed like the hiker place to be because that’s really all that came and went. Folks I knew, folks they knew, folks we just met for the first time.. all with the same goals. Walk to Maine (and then for us FlipFloppers, go back to the middle and hike back to Georgia).

I went up to my room and laid in the comfy bed until 10:45.. I didn’t sleep anymore, but I refused to give up the comforts of that room a second sooner than I had to. Once I needed to check out, I put all my stuff on the porch of the inn and headed down to the post office. My shoes I ordered said “Out For Delivery” on the tracking. I was hoping and praying the lady would magically be like, “oh! They got here a little bit ago and I just haven’t updated the tracking yet!” That didn’t happen. She was overwhelmed, being the only worker there and having every hiker plus normal resident coming to her for packages. She did locate the other things I sent myself, like my watch band, since the little bolt thing fell out of my current one, and the ground tarp for my new tent (that 100% looks like a piece of Saran Wrap). She could see the concern on my face about the shoes, so she told me that I could bounce them ahead for free once they arrive. As in-call her tomorrow afternoon once we all know they’re somewhere in her building, and then she will send them ahead for me to pick up in a week or so down trail. So that’s my plan. No new shoes today. Bummer.

Curmudgeon and Cholula were at the post office too. They got all of their goodies and were in the process of sending a box ahead. I left them to that and walked back to the inn to my stuff. Packed in my new stuff, threw away the purple tarp Cholula commandeered for me, and then walked down to the little parking area where Lizard and Hannah were. I had Lizards poles from the other night at the hostel. We said our hi’s and bye’s and nice to meet you’s (me and Hannah lol) and then I sat down to stretch while they headed off to do the last of the things they had to do before Hannah left. I bet it’s even harder to say goodbye after such a short but good few days together.

I waited until almost noon and then started walking. Lizard would be a bit later starting I assumed, and Curmudgeon and Cholula would catch me within the hour, certainly. Less than a mile later: I CROSSED INTO NEW JERSEY!!! We are officially done with Rocksylvania! It was a total mood lifter. There’s definitely rocks in New Jersey, but you know what? They aren’t Pennsylvania rocks anymore, so I was happy as hell! The trail went through a gorgeous state park. Lots of creeks, ponds and lakes, and such beautiful views. And it was warm and just all around awesome.

I was witness to my first bear spotting while on trail. As in, I saw the people scrambling and yelling “bear!!” But I couldn’t see it. I was up on the ridge and they were down by the water. Talk about a disappointment! I did see lots of other wildlife today though. Two snakes, lots of frogs, a deer, a turkey, lots of squirrels and a few dogs (they were attached to humans).

My shin started killing me after 5 miles. Limping and close to tears at times. I was the last of our group to get to the Mohican Outdoor Center, but not by much. There, I ate an ice cream and chips, drank a soda, and ordered a sandwich to-go to eat for dinner when I got to camp. Mind you, I just resupplied and have a ton of heavy damn food-and I ate none of it today lol. When in Rome. We ran into TownLegs and DoubleDecker there and they congratulated me on my 20 mile day-they were the ones in the shelter talking about doing just that, but then got off trail to a motel at Wind Gap instead. That day really was miserably wet and cold. I told them that Lizard did it too, so they congratulated her as well. It felt kind of nice to have a NOBO call me a badass, I won’t lie.

FarOut and HotSauce left the Mohican Outdoor Center first and headed north just at a mile or so to set up camp. The 4 of us followed soon after. The spot they picked (they all decided on it earlier today, to go past the MOC, because we’d have to pay to sleep in our tents there) is perfect and on an overlook. When we got there, Derby and FeatherFoot were already there too! We all thought they’d have gone a lot farther today. It was a welcomed surprise.

So, tonight there’s 4 tents and 2 hammocks. The sun should rise right in front of the overlook and my tent is pointed directly at it. I’m pretty excited! I think this might be my favorite site so far, even if there was a snake beside where I set up my tent. These snakes are going to end up giving me a heart attack. I’m getting semi better around them, but I still freak out when I first see them.

Also, a man came down to talk to HotSauce, he spotted a mama bear and her 2 Cubs just down the way. We definitely did (mostly) proper bear hangs for our food bags tonight. Hopefully in a campsite so full they won’t come near us, and if they eat my food-there’s the deli a mile back lol
I think I’ll do some reading while I continue stretching my shin. Then it’s off to sleep 🙂

Start: Unnamed Campsite (AT mi 1308.2). Stop: Brink Road Shelter (AT mi 1321). Today’s miles: 12.8 miles Total AT mileage: 296.3 miles

Our campsite was indeed perfect for watching the sunrise. I saw the light and hot pink come up sometime before 5:15am. I saw a little more after 5:30.. I rolled the other way and slept til 7am.
I finally got up and went to get my food bag, which took an embarrassing long time. I couldn’t get the stick to break free.. Ugh. Mornings. Also of note, I slept next to the snake all night and he was still there this morning. He stretched out towards the sun, super close to my tent stakes, so FeatherFoot gently nudged him with his trekking pole to get him to scoot into the tree more, and then he went ahead and pulled out my last 2 stakes for me, so I wouldn’t have to get so close to the snake. Lol

Everyone ate their breakfasts and left out at different times: first Derby, then Cholula and Curmudgeon, followed by FeatherFoot. I left after I got my leg taped up. FarOut gave me some KT tape and I watched a video of how to tape it up correctly. It made such a difference, but man my shin still hurts. Shin Splints are awful.

Less than half a mile out of camp I heard rustling and branches breaking. I slowed down thinking I was coming up on on of the other 4 popping a squat. As I listen and I’m about to yell out to them, I see a big black bear’s head up on the hill by the rocks. He was there just long enough for us to make eye contact with each other, for me to reach for my phone to take a video, and then poof-before I could open it to the right screen, he was gone. Just like that. Even still, I’m excited as hell I got my first bear siting! I was super jealous yesterday of everyone else getting to see them. It makes no sense whatsoever, I’m calm when coming across a bear outweighing me and could easily hurt or kill me.. I scream when I see little snakes that I could literally toss away in a second.

There were lots of great views and I did see another snake on trail. It was overcast, but breezy and I really enjoyed it, except when after 5 or so miles my shin slowed my pace down to 1.5 miles per hour. It was excruciating.

I finally made it to the shelter we were all aiming for a sometime around 3:45-4ish. Everyone was here except Lizard, FarOut, and HotSauce. Even Towely was here! This was my first time seeing him for a few days. The others must have enjoyed this day and taken lots of breaks too, because they definitely all hike faster than me lol

They were all here shortly after me, we ate dinner (yes, at 4:30-5pm lol) and did our camp chores.. I’m so tired that I keep yawning like crazy. T Bird got here and helped me with another stretch for my shin splints. We did that for while and then set up our stuff in the shelter. FeatherFoot, Derby, Curmudgeon, Cholula, TBird, me and some new guy are all smooshed in here. It was better when there were less of us. Hahahaha pray for us.

Start: Brink Road Shelter (AT mi 1321). Stop: Rutherford Shelter (AT mi 1336.1). Today’s miles: 15.1 miles Total AT mileage: 311.4 miles

Welp. Last night was fun. Right after I finished writing the last post, the “dude in the middle” of the shelter ended up getting up and setting up his tent: because HoneyBadger and his friend Ghost appeared, checked out the shelter, and decided they plus 2 more were coming on in, too. Hahaha uhhhh-alrighty then.

So, guy in the middle left (because HoneyBadger said he’d just sleep under the bench FeatherFoot was sleeping on already), and then Ghost decided after their other friends showed up that he’d set up his tent (because he’s tall and the shelter then had 9 of us in there and on the “porch” sandwiched together in different directions.
It was tight, and they apparently didn’t come back to bed until almost 10.. I wouldn’t know because after I laughed a whole lot (watching these guys unpack and set up and smoosh in and basically take over the shelter and knowing every single soul already in the shelter was having a WTF IS HAPPENING?!!? moment) I put my earplugs in and passed out.

Sometime before 4am I woke up, to a flat pad (again-I thought I fixed the problem. I clearly didn’t), and needing to pee. T Bird got up at 4:30 and so I got up with her-she was making very little noise, but still noise, so that way I wasn’t the only one annoying everyone while I tried to find TP, and couldn’t, and just went outside to pee anyway. I was real close to having an accident while standing in the shelter lol, I don’t think my pretending to be sleeping companions would have appreciated me much!

I went back to sleep, rolled over and woke up face to face with Showtime (HoneyBadger’s friend, not the showtime we met at the beginning of our hike), very close.. like I could feel his breath.. so, I made more racket and moved the other way. On the flat pad. Dear God what is going on? Whyyyyy?

I got up at 7am. Everyone in the shelter was asleep and some snoring.. so, I grabbed some of my stuff and just went to the picnic table. I went to the privy, came back and made breakfast, all while BCM chatted me up. Luckily for me, HotSauce was already up too, so more of the conversation turned to him. He’s much nicer in the mornings than I am. FarOut appears to have my demeanor in the mornings, us “slow to warm up” people.. like, I like everyone here.. but there’s no reason to start talking yet lol (although this morning we got a good giggle over our ridiculous sleeping situation).

We all started walking randomly. The day had the threat of rain and storms all day long.. and was so dang muggy. It faintly sprinkled for like 30 seconds at one point, and I’ll be honest- it would have just felt better if the sky just fell out and cooled it all down.

I passed a little town less than 4 miles from where we started.. the 2 restaurants right there at the intersection of the trail were closed but I could see a gas station, so I headed towards it. A Gatorade and some Combos sounded like the perfect remedy to cool down my overly sweaty self. I got there-it’s not a gas station. It was just a tire shop with gas pumps. I was quite close to having a meltdown on the side of the road. Instead, I hung my head, turned around, and walked back to the trail.

I had lunch at the little spot where another shelter trail meets the AT. I saw a big group of tourists go down to the shelter, so I didn’t want to head that way, too. Cholula and Curmudgeon were at the Little Rock spot when I got to it. We chatted, they headed on their way, I sat and ate, then did some more stretching for my shin. I didn’t want to admit it that early on, but it really wasn’t hurting as bad today as it had been the last 2 days. I didn’t want to jinx it though.

As I was getting close to done, Lizard appeared and I stayed to chat with her while she ate her lunch. We got on the topic of shoes. I forgot to mention yesterday that Amazon ended up cancelling my order and refunding the cost of my shoes. I could have screamed I was so upset. Lizard ordered herself new shoes today, a different brand than I’ve worn.. we compared insoles and I ordered me a pair too, but to my house. I’m going to get mom to ship them and some other goodies to me via the post office so that they won’t get turned away again. Who knows when I’ll actually get to wear new shoes?! Lol i wasn’t expecting it to be this difficult.

Derby came from the shelter and all three of us hiked together for a few minutes-because then Derby got way ahead, and then Lizard got way ahead.. haha so it goes. I met back up with them shortly after, and then with HotSauce and FarOut. We started off again, and the same thing happened again, just not as fast.. or I was able to keep up with them longer. Until I couldn’t.

I made to the shelter, after being stampead-ed by a group of deer, I guess I startled them. The shelter is older and decent, but the area itself is pretty. And mostly flat. FarOut, HotSauce, Cholula, and Curmudgeon all put their tents up (2 tents for 2 couples, I worded that weird). Lizard, Derby and I are going to shelter it again because of the rain coming in and staying all day tomorrow, although to be fair the weather said that yesterday too, and it just started to sprinkle after dinner, so who knows.

We’re all set up, it’s getting chillier than it was during the day, and I’m happy to be getting curled up in my sleeping bag. The sun isn’t quite down yet, so I’m praying like crazy that no group of dudes show up and try to squeeze in here LMAO.
Goodnight y’all