Appalachian Trail 2021 – Page 56 – The Unpolished Princess

Day 9: Quality Inn

Start: Alec Kennedy Shelter (AT mi 1120.1). Stop: Quality Inn, Carlisle, PA (AT mi 1131.9) Today’s miles: 11.8 miles. Total AT mileage: 106.9 miles

So, I woke up a little before 8.. Lizard was already packed and making breakfast with Patron, Polka Dot, and Gandalf. I quickly got my stuff packed and joined them. They all agreed that my trail name should be PBS. They find the story behind it hilarious. So, bye bye Chipper, hello PBS! LOL

We all sporadically hit the trail between 8:30-9:30.. I was out just before Lizard and Polka Dot. Polka Dot came flying past me on an uphill within the first 15-20 minutes of me leaving. The girl is QUICK! I told her as much and she just yelled back, “I got three months on you, you’ll be this fast soon!”

The first 4 miles sailed by, and we were in Boiling Springs. This is the town Lizard and I planned to stop at today and then zero in tomorrow. But it was only 11am, and we realized we’re like 1.5 days from a much bigger town, which would probably be better to zero in because there’s more things to see and do.

We ate lunch at a little cafe (Cafe 101), and sat with the trio before they all headed out (since they got there way before we did). I had a sandwich called “the roast beef & blue” and it was THE BEST THING. The bun had horseradish on the bottom, lettuce, tomato, roast beef, caramelized onions, and topped with blue cheese crumbles. OMG. I also got a wild berry smoothie. Also, OMG. Hahaha

After eating, we ran into a little outdoor store, Lizard got herself a new set of insoles for her shoes. Then we started hiking out of town. We passed tons of farmlands, and walked up and down and all around them. It reminded me of some of the things I saw in Spain on the Camino de Santiago. Simply beautiful, the idea that all of what’s growing is because someone gets up and makes it happen. Maybe I was meant to be a farmer! It was an “easy” day as far as terrain goes, but my feet are beat. I finally hiked over 100 miles!

Patron was getting a motel room for the night in Carlisle and he offered to get 2 beds so we could stay with him if we didn’t want to try to push it 2 miles farther to a campsite with potentially sketchy water. We ended up accepting his incredibly kind offer (he refused to let either of us pay him), and now we’re stretching and getting ready for bed in a Quality Inn. We ate dinner next door at a little diner, which was also awesome, but had nothing on my sandwich at lunch.

We plan to wake up early and knock out a 14 mile day. If we’re feeling amazing, we may push it to 18 miles to get to the next town, but that feels unlikely for me with the soreness in these feet. If we do 14 tomorrow, we can then do a 4 mile day followed by a zero the following day. I think rain is in the forecast too, so it’ll be nice to have a dry bed if it does decide to rain 🙂

Sweet dreams! I’m ready to relax and rest this sore body of mine.

Day 8: Trail Magic

Start: Unnamed Campsite (AT mi 1107.6). Stop: Alec Kennedy Shelter (AT mi 1120.1) Today’s miles: 12.5 miles Total AT mileage: 95.1 miles

I woke up to the sound of birds chirping and then some other familiar buzzing noise. Flies. For whatever reason, 5-10 flies were buzzing around our campsite and irritating my peaceful sleep, which meant I might as well get up. It was almost 8am anyway, if I ever plan to leave camp before 9, I may need to set an alarm.. and so far I just can’t bring myself to do that.

I got up and got moving, slowly. Made some coffee and ate a protein bar, still completely stuffed from yesterday’s burger. Lizard ended up doing the same.. except she doesn’t drink coffee, so while I sipped mine, she did some yoga stretches on her sleeping pad. Maybe I need to start doing that in the mornings, too. But then I’d really never leave at a decent time!

Today was filled with ups and downs, rock scrambles and pine needles. While beautiful, with the sun out and shining, I’ll be honest.. it totally kicked my ass. The uphills were a struggle for catching my breath and for my quads, too.. but I enjoy that burn and struggle so much more than the careful slow step down the rocky declines.. on those I can catch my breath and cool down, but man it makes my right knee ache with each step.
I also took another tumble today, as well as one yesterday.. not sure if I mentioned that. I just randomly fall all the way to the ground with no obvious culprit besides lack of grace. I felt fine afterwards both times, but I’m sure my little slips to hug the earth aren’t helping my knee any.

However strenuous today was.. it was also pretty flipping awesome, because we got our first ever trail magic! A mom brought her 10 & 11 year old and their same aged cousin to hike into the trail some with trail magic! I got a coke and a cheese and jerky combo stick thing. So yummy! And she let us offload our trash! (It’s a big deal, we literally have to save all of our trash from food, snacks, wipes, everything until we pass a town or a state park with trash cans.)

When we got to camp, Adam and K were there! I thought for sure I’d never catch up to them! And Patron, Polka Dot, and Gandalf were already there, too. We briefly met them yesterday at the restaurant. They’re pretty funny, and none of them knew each other before starting either, they all just met within the last week! Patron is a huge Lord of the Rings fan, so he gave us each a ring (very nice one too, might I add), and said it’s to remind you to embrace your own journey (or something like that). Very cool. I put mine on my pack since my hands are swelling and then returning to normal with all the hiking.

We all cooked and ate our meals together.. we told our dinner mates about my falls, saying we may have to change my trail name to Tumble. Then I learned what Brown Blazing is! So; for the hike, we follow the “white blazes” that mark the entire Appalachian trail. Blue blazes mean a side trail, like the shelters or some other trail that intersects. Lizard told me today that pink blazing is when you speed up or slow down to be able to hike with a crush, I told her yellow blazing is when you “taxi” ahead to meet your friends to stay at their pace.. BROWN blazing is when you have to dig poop holes instead of going in the privies! YALL! I’m a brown blazer! Maybe my trail name should be BB. Hahahaha! Because of this convo, I told them about my Petty Bowel Syndrome, they said I should be named that, and PBS for short.. and when people ask why, instead of explaining just say, “I’m very knowledgeable.” LMAO!

Well, my food is in a bear box and I am all toasty warm laying in my tent in my most prized possession: the sleeping bag. It’s not nearly as cold as it was at the beginning of the week, but I’m keeping this baby with me for the foreseeable future. It just makes me happy.

Tomorrow, Lizard and I plan to do a nearo (nearly zero miles), and go to a hostel in Boiling Springs. We were considering also taking a zero (no AT miles hiked for the day) after that, but the town is small and the reviews of the area aren’t great. We’ll play it by ear, but if we don’t zero there, we’ll have big days the following 2 days, and then be able to zero in the bigger town of Duncannon. We shall see what happens! I’m excited for an easier day either way.. and so are my legs!

Day 7: Pine Grove Furnace

Start: Birch Run Shelter (AT mi 1094.9) Stop:Unnamed Campsite (AT mi 1107.6). Today’s miles: 12.7 miles. Total AT mileage: 82.6 miles

I woke up a little before 8am hearing the birds chirping and the folks around me quietly packing up. After laying there a bit, completely content in my warm sleeping bag, I figured I better get a move on or I’ll never make it to Pine Grove Furnace store.. the home of the half gallon challenge. While most thru hikers love this place for the challenge- which is to eat an entire half gallon of ice cream to celebrate hiking over halfway from GA to ME- I was dead set on getting a burger and fries and some kind of soda. It’s the little things that get me out of bed these days!
I packed up the inside of my tent, rearranging a few times. The bigger sleeping bag takes up more space and makes it a little difficult to get everything inside the pack AND keep it comfortable. But I managed!

I ate breakfast with Lizard, almost everyone else was out of camp by the time we were boiling our water.. lol.. maybe one day I’ll be an earlier riser. Maybe. Anyway-we ate, finished packing and I hit the trail just ahead of her, knowing she’d probably catch me sooner rather than later, and if not, I fully intended to wait for her at Pine Grove.
Today’s hike was beautiful, no seriously steep inclines or descents.. birds were everywhere and so were butterflies. I saw a few lizards scamper off into the leaves and I startled a deer when I rounded the corner where it was standing drinking water at a creek. I felt bad that the little buddy got so scared and didn’t get to finish drinking.

I stopped a couple times to rest, take off my jacket, drink my zip fizz.. shockingly the miles flew by so quick! I finally came into the area where Pine Grove is and got so excited! I purposefully held off on eating lunch, and it was pushing 1:40pm. I did just under 10 miles in 4 hours and 16 minutes.. maybe I am breaking in my trail legs!

I got to the outdoor seating area and saw everyone from last night! Showtime and the couple section hiking Pennsylvania were there, Day Hiker, Heater, and Pizza Cutter were still there, too. I thought surely I’d miss them by hours! Haha PizzaCutter looked absolutely awful, you could just see the nausea he was swimming in. He completed the half gallon challenge in under 20 minutes. Impressive!

Lizard got there not long after 2pm, and got her some food.. she inhaled that hiker burger so fast I think she should have been able to add her name to some challenge! Hahaha

We hung out awhile and then headed off into the woods again. We went just under 3 miles to a little unnamed campsite. We brought water with us so we don’t have to worry with finding a stream. It’s going to be a peaceful night, that I’m sure of 🙂