Category: Long Distance Trails

Start: Unnamed Campsite (AT mi 1235.5). Stop: Unnamed Campsite (AT mi 1248.6). Today’s miles: 13.1 miles. Total AT mileage: 223.9 miles

For the first, and more than likely not last time, I had to don my headlamp in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. I’ve gotten up before, but I’ve never had to walk “far” to pee.. but since hammock man was out in the open with no rain fly over him, I felt like I couldn’t just pop out and pee right in front of him. It was uneventful, but I still hated every second of the noise making I was creating.. the unzipping of my sleeping bag, tent, rain fly. I just felt like I was waking everyone up although I technically didn’t even hear anyone stir in their tents and hammocks.

I was able to fall back to sleep, until a few hours later when I was woken up by hammock man packing up to start hiking… at 3:30 am. I fell BACK to sleep and and was able to get some decent shut eye until I finally got up, a little after 7am. I was happy to see the rest of my tramily was just starting to wake up too, but no one was packed and hiking out yet.

We ate breakfast, excited about the day.. in under 11 miles we’d reach a restaurant on trail. They don’t open until 4pm, so we were all taking it slow with no rush. Which was nice, because we had a 2 1/2 mile climb to start the day.
We all started out at different times, I was second or third to leave, knowing good and well I’d be getting passed before we hit the summit of the climb.. which is exactly what happened. I was listening to my audiobook and inching forward when Towely and Lizard came up. We all briefly paused and drank some water, they carried on ahead of me and I hit play on my book.

Before too long, I got to an overlook where everyone was sitting for a quick snack. I did the same. Several people passed by. I was the last of our group to start out again and quite literally less than 10 minutes later I slipped on a rock and skinned my knee. It didn’t look too bad. The rocks were slick from either dew, a light drizzle that I missed, or they were sweating from all the humidity like me. Either way, the tread on my shoes stood no chance. I slipped and slid a good bit. Less than a few minutes after the first fall, I had a very ungracious second fall, this one skinned the same knee and drew blood. Freaking great. I was beyond flustered, but strangely proud of myself for not crying.. like it hurt, but not instant tears hurt, which let me know I had no excuse to not keep moving.

On and on it went. I slowly trudged, now not trusting myself to step on rocks and not slide. When I got to the next shelter for another snack and to refill my water, I was officially informed that the restaurant we were aiming for was closed today. Man we have some back luck on places being open on the days we pass them!
My spirits were low, almost feeling defeated while simultaneously knowing my feelings were just being dramatic as hell. I fell twice, sure, but I was fine. Nothing was broken. I have plenty of food so it’s not like the restaurant being closed was going to cause me to starve. I just needed to get over it and remember my why and be thankful that I’m here having this experience.

We all planned to go to the restaurant anyway because they have a water spigot. I was last to appear and everyone was stretched out in some grass. The place looked awesome! It was a true shame it was closed. We were sitting there and a man was watering the flowers on the property. I decided I’d ask him if he had any napkins in his car when I went to get water.. I was completely out of TP, and I had a major hole to dig brewing. I asked him, telling him it was for my knee (easier to explain wanting to clean a bloody knee than I’m an idiot and used all my TP up) and he said he’d go inside and get me some. To my surprise he handed me a little stack, so I can dig my whole AND clean my knee! This day is looking up!
While I was thrilled about napkins and water, Cholula asked him about beer laws here, and just like she had wanted, he offered to sell us some beer! He and his wife own the restaurant and because of covid they had to close another day of the week, they just aren’t generating the income necessary to be open more. We paid cash and hung out in the grass with our fresh ice cold beers, we being Cholula, Curmudgeon, Lizard, Towely, FarOut, HotSauce, and me. TownLegs was there, too, but she skipped out prior to beer offerings, wanting to get to camp before the rain.

As we sat there, enjoying our situation, we heard the thunder and watched the clouds roll in. So it really was going to storm today. Everyone quickly got their stuff together, trashed their trash in the restaurant dumpster and headed out. Curmy went ahead with intentions to quickly set up their tent before the rain, and Cholula hung back with me. Try as I might, I just can’t seem to hike faster than 2.5-2.7 miles per hour on decent terrain. I’m blaming the knee for that now! Hahaha

It started to rain but the canopy above us shielded us from the downpour if there ever really was one. When we were finally making decent time, I was finally staying with Cholula instead of 30 paces back.. I felt the rumble in my stomach. Seriously?! I have to go NOW? In a damn thunderstorm less than a mile and half from our destination? Jesus.

I yell ahead for Cholula to keep going, that I have to make a pit stop, and she says to just go by the trail, no ones coming in a storm.. I tell her to go ahead without me, it’s going to be more than a pee and I’ll have to get off to dig a hole. She goes, but slowly. I walk a few paces into the brush, thinking surely there won’t be any people in a storm, and this is a fine a spot as any.

I dig my hole, I do my business, and quite literally mid squat, a man and his dog appear on trail. I know for 100% fact that I’m not hidden by the short twigs or sparse trees. Awesome. I yell out a “sorry!” As he passes. He keeps walking and says back, “I was concerned at first but now I understand.” Uhhh.. cool buddy. Can you understand and walk at the same time a wee bit faster, my butt is in the air here! His dog starts to sniff my way, and I pray it doesn’t come over, another first. He tells it to come, and it does, and they pass out of site. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, this trail will humble you real quick!

Mortified but laughing I finish my business and quickly start walking again.. Cholula had waited for me around the corner, so she laughed when we met and I told her what the guy witnessed LOL and then we carried on the last mile and a half to camp. When we got to it, everyone had set their tents up and scouted out 2-3 places I could potentially put mine. Damn these folks are fantastic! The rain was mostly holding off, but we could tell it was coming.. HotSauce helped me clear out rocks from the area I decided on (by helped I mean he legit dug out some big ass rocks and I brushed away leaves, lol) and then Curmudgeon came over and helped me stake out my tent and get it standing.

I shoved my bag under the vestibule and got my food bag out. We all ate together and talked.. literally seconds after we had all finished eating and were cleaning things up, it started sprinkling again. We all pretty much decided to take that as a sign and make it an early night. Everyone headed back to their little homes and set up for sleep. It’ll be interesting to see how my new tent holds up in the wind and rain. I’m so grateful for Cholula and Curmy for finding me a temporary tarp to use as a ground cloth until mine comes in next week (they found it at a shelter yesterday, and it’s purple! My fav!).

The sun is technically still out, but laying here out of the rain has me so sleepy. I’m thinking I’ll turn in before I lose my will to sleep soundly, if that makes sense. We cross the Knife’s Edge tomorrow morning first thing. Pray it goes smoothly!

Start: Windsor Furnace Shelter (AT mi 1225.9). Stop: Unnamed Campsite (AT mi 1235.5) Today’s miles: 9.6 miles. Total AT mileage: 210.8 miles

I woke up today around 7am, fighting the urge to roll over again and go back to sleep. It was overcast and still kinda chilly.. perfect sleeping weather, but I had to pee. All hope of that happening disappeared.

By the time I visited the privy and got my food bag, everyone was starting to get out of their tents/hammocks. We ate breakfast together, packed up slowly, and then dispersed into the woods. An 8:50am start today, my latest (besides yesterday of course) in a while.

I started up my audiobook and started being transported back into another world entirely. I crossed rocks and smooth ground, creek beds and gravel roads. It was overall very easy moving terrain, but once again, my audiobook had me moving slowly, soaking in every word. I scrambled over some boulders, looked at the lookouts, and spoke to hikers crossing my path, but I was so engrossed in the book that when I crossed a creek bridge and heard a loud “PBS!” I wasn’t expecting it to be Curmudgeon and Cholula! I never even passed the sign for the shelter, so surely this isn’t where we’re camping?! But I looked down at my watch and I’d gone the right amount of miles. This was home for the night.

I stopped the book and it was a struggle for almost an hour to not put my headphone back in my right ear, but a book is a book and will be ready to play tomorrow. The time, conversations and moments with my new friends won’t last forever and I need to enjoy them while they’re here.

We soaked our feet in the creek, then discovered bones and fur from a small deer that’s been scavenged. As we were sitting on logs crossing the creek, FarOut, Hot Sauce, and Towely came strolling through and set up camp with us! Some other guy is literally in a hammock very close to my tent, so close in fact that I switched direction so my head isn’t as close to him as it would be laying the other way.. but that’s the way it is in smaller camps. There’s another 3 guys just down the way, too.

All of us ended up eating our dinners and then Lizard made an awesome fire. It did what good fires do and everyone ended up coming around it to chit chat and get to know each other. I laugh so much with this tramily and (Using Lizard’s term) extended tramily. It’s exciting to have such a good group of flip floppers, it’s also exciting when NOBOs camp with us and are friendly and tell us what we have to look forward to when we flop down to the sections they’ve already done. I’ve got a mental list of places to see, stay, and avoid. It’s both cool and sad, because they’re crushing 20-30 mile days, so unless they happen Zero a lot or something bad happens, our chances of meeting again are slim.

Tomorrow it’s supposed to rain starting in the afternoon.. as I type this I swear I hear rain drops hitting my tent, but they’ve already stopped. We’ve been so lucky to have only had rain that first week, but it looks like our luck is running low. There’s a section ahead called “knife’s edge” where all the rocks are jagged and known for stabbing feet no matter which way you try to traverse them. Everyone pulling big miles are trying to pass that section (14 miles ahead of us) before the rain comes in tomorrow.. we are planning a 13 mile day to just before and hoping the rain eases off for us to do that section the following day.

It is what it is. If you spend time stressing and trying to reroute your miles to not have to do something in the rain, I feel like I’ll never make it to the finish of this trail. If it rains while I slip and slide on rocks, I guess it rains. I’ll just pray that I don’t get seriously injured and no one else does either. As clumsy as I am, it’s a crapshoot if I’ll fall on dry trail. Hahahaha

As I lay here in my tent and hear all the people moving around, I think I’ll listen to my book until the sky is all the way dark, then put in my earplugs. Sweet dreams 🙂

Start: Port Clinton (AT mi 1220). Stop: Windsor Furnace Shelter (AT mi 1225.9). Today’s miles: 5.9 miles Total AT mileage: 201.2 miles

Today just felt.. easy. Not necessarily the terrain or anything, just that the day had a chill, easy vibe. I woke up at the hostel all cozy and comfy. I was the last to wake up, but the other two were super quiet. Seth was mouselike in his packing and Lizard was still laying in her bed. When I went to the bathroom, it almost seemed like there was a relief that I was awake and everyone could move about freely and get ready for the day. I won’t lie, I was tempted to curl back up in my blanket.. but there was no point really.. my brain just always wants 5 more minutes of sleep lol

By 7:30 Craig sent a message saying coffee was ready, so the 3 of us walked over to their front porch where they set up a nice table for 4 for us. We met his wife, Jody, and she cooked us breakfast. It was delicious! And so charming in every way! We had fresh fruit, an egg, sausage, and cheese bagel, orange juice and coffee and water. Seth had toast with jam with his fruit. We were entertained by their 14 year old yellow lab, Sugar, who was quite the cute old gal.. even in her little coughing fits.. and their cat came out to greet us, too.. although Lizard and Seth took more to him than I did.

Craig took Seth to the trail first, and then came back for the two of us.. which was nice because we had no rush to get ready and could stretch and just relax. We had no where to be until 1230 when the post office in town opens, so we were taking it easy.

Craig dropped us off at the hiker pavilion, where Curmudgeon, Cholula, NoFilter, Crinkles, Derby, and Randy were. It was a great little morning reunion! While half the gang went to Cabela’s on the free shuttle, our little tramily went to the barber shop down the street to hang out. Sounds weird, yes, BUT this place was awesome to us! They gave us free coffee and cookies, let us love on their “mascot” dog, and literally hang out with them while they would randomly cut hair. We sat in chairs and talked and charged devices, read Chinese astrology things and had a fantastic time. What else was there to do while waiting on the post office to open?

When it got close to opening time, we moseyed over to a candy shop, and spent more than we should have on a sugar high. Leaving there, we walked down the main road to get to the post office and passed FarOut, HotSauce, Towely, and someone else I can’t remember.. we all caught each other up on the last couple days, told all about cabela’s and Taco Bell.. man i hope they catch us tomorrow, I really enjoy all these people!

Finally, we make it to the post office. The guy behind the counter hands me my one box, and I’m thinking there’s NO WAY my tent is in that little box. YALL! My new tent packs SOOOOO TINY! Just seeing it’s littleness in the box made my heart so happy I decided to make the switch! I sent my old tent home, a whole 4 pounds, and now I have this new one that comes in UNDER 2 pounds with the stakes and bag and everything! I’m amazed!

We repack our new things, Curmy and Cholula head on to the trail while Lizard and I finished rearranging, then we followed soon after. We followed the river for a half mile before going though an underpass. The beams had someone’s handwriting absolutely everywhere. Craig told us about this, that it was the homeless man’s writing, like his manifesto. He passed away last year, and from reading some of his writing, it was quite clear he suffered from mental health issues. His words were very dark and paranoid, it made me wonder if he was traumatized early in life and that’s what triggered the delusions and psychosis, or if that was there all along, part of his genetic make up that would have showed itself with or without trauma? Fascinating to think about, but also so very heartbreaking that someone lived under a bridge and was plagued by the awful thoughts and feelings he was writing about.

Anyway, after the bridge the trail went steeply up and then continued up some switchbacks. Lizard quickly left me in her dust while I huffed and puffed my way up. Once I made it to the top, I decided to put on my audiobook. The day was chilly, especially compared to the last week of flat out hot, and it kept threatening rain.. although none really came. The woods felt dark and almost mystical. I became so transfixed into my audiobook (The Starless Sea, a very mystical book itself), and because of how the weather felt and the way the scenery looked, the words playing in my ears seemed to transport me into another world all together. The miles flew by, in my head. Luckily it was only a 6 mile day to camp (because we got such a late start), because I glanced at my watch and realized I was hardly walking 1.6 miles per hour! This book had me totally sucked in!

Once I got to camp, the others were setting up and chatting.. I got to set up my new tent! It’s not 100% perfect tonight, but it’s pretty darn close! It feels HUGE and so spacious! I’m so happy I made the switch!
We all ate dinner around an awesome fire Curmudgeon built and we chatted about any and everything. It’s funny how I set out to do this “alone” and I’ve rarely been alone and never once actually felt that way. There is such a sense of community with fellow hikers, and this tramily I’m in is a pretty sweet one. We know we won’t stick together every day, per se, but we all agree it’s nice to come together at the end of the day. I’m definitely the slowest hiker in our little group.. but I kinda like showing up after everyone else. It’s hard to explain, but I feel like I don’t miss anything this way. If something happened ahead of me, I’ll come across it.. it’s like I feel safe knowing where everyone is.

Anyway, I’m off to sleep in my new tent 😉 let’s all hope I staked it out correctly and the whole thing doesn’t fall on my head at 4 am.. hahaha