Category: Long Distance Trails

Start: Sandy Spring (AT mi 1210.5). Stop: Port Clinton/Shuttle to Rock ‘n Sole Hostel (AT mi 1220). Today’s miles: 9.5 miles. Total AT mileage: 195.3 miles

What a day, what a day.
I got up at 6:45 this morning and started packing up. For a first, I was too hot already to drink a cup of coffee, so instead I drank a ZipFizz and ate a cliff bar. It actually held me over quite well, so I may end up switching up my routine for this instead of breaking out the JetBoil to “cook” breakfast every morning. Another perk: I was on the trail by 7:40, so it helped speed up my morning process.. and it would have been faster still if I had actually filtered all my water yesterday instead of being lazy and going to bed, lol!

Cholula and Curmudgeon left a good 15-20 minutes before me, and stayed ahead of me all day. I knew they didn’t want to waste money on a hostel for tonight, because the only one available was a bit pricey, and curmudgeon’s birthday is coming up so they already had plans on getting a private room in the next town. I texted Lizard the second I got service to see if she wanted to get the hostel with me, and about yelled with happiness when she texted back yes! Hahaha it’s so funny how you get excited about the silliest of things. I knew I wanted to charge my anker battery pack, shower, and get some laundry done.. but I didn’t want to pay the shuttle fees alone, because it would have put me out over $100 for one night in a bunk bed, but since she wanted to, too, I’d have good company AND save some money!

Because of the excitement knowing I’d be showering and feeling clean soon, PLUS the excitement of getting into town today, getting a free shuttle to Cabela’s, AND Taco Bell.. I was on cloud nine trampling over those Pennsylvania rocks. I had not one care. I was slightly limping, and occasionally cursing when my foot would slide the wrong way on one rock to be stabbed by another.. but I was happy as hell!

The trail seemed to have more patches of “smooth straight aways” aka: 5-10 steps before a sole and soul crushing rock would pierce through the bottom of my shoe, and slightly less “every step is a rock hop.” It made for a quicker day for me than previous days, and I was able to get down to the outskirts of town (where Lizard, Cholula and Curmudgeon were all sitting at a picnic table) by 12:30 ish. With easier terrain I’d have been faster, but such is life. The Cabela’s free shuttle doesn’t come until after 1pm.. so it felt like I was right on time. And just before I made it to them, the trail has a very very steep downhill.. almost a bit of sliding involved (dear Lord thank you for not letting it rain lately, or that thing would have been plain awful). On my tap tap tap—- sliiiiideee— tap tap tap—- sliiiiiidee down, a snake also decided to slide downhill! It literally swept past my feet, rolling, ended up on its back, belly up in front of me-I’m full on terrified screaming, and trying to stop so I don’t slide into it- and then it pops over onto its belly and slithers over some. I managed a full stop and had enough time to work on some deep breathing while it was still too in the trail to move past it. I get my camera out and get some pictures as it’s finally going off trail-and just as quickly as he came barrel rolling out with me-he was gone completely from view! SOOO crazy!

We get to the hikers pavilion in town, where hikers can camp for free, to wait for the shuttle to Cabela’s. While we’re waiting, Curmy noticed 2 snakes on a rock in the stream. I take a picture of them.. they’re kind of far, so I couldn’t see colorings well.. but right as I turn on the video, one slides to the middle, one goes up to the same spot, and then one of them jumps off the rock into the water and starts swimming! I captured it all! (I’ll upload it to FB) While I was still in shock, horror, and slightly mesmerized, another, smaller looking snake came swimming fast as ever down stream too! Too quick to get a picture of him.. he reminded me of walking on those moving walkways in airports.. you feel like you’re zooming. Lol, I know, I’m weird.

Anyway, we got to Cabela’s, found some stuff we needed, and realized how much I must stink to the nicely dressed and cleanly washed folks in there shopping. I almost felt embarrassed, and then Lizard was like, “No, we’re hikers, we earned this.” Damn right we did. We’ve been working hard as hell. And my shower is coming soon!

After we shopped, we hung out at the picnic tables in front of Cabela’s like true hiker trash. Our phones were charging, and we door dashed Taco Bell to us so we wouldn’t have to walk to it. We smashed an ungodly amount of Taco Bell, so much so that as I’m typing this at 10:15pm (way past hiker midnight by the way), I’m still not hungry.

Craig, from Rock ‘n Sole hostel picked Lizard and I up from Cabela’s a few minutes after the shuttle took Curmy and Cholula back to the pavilion campsites. He even swung us by Walmart so we could quickly grab a few things we couldn’t get from Cabela’s. He’s an incredibly nice guy, and the hostel he runs with his wife is absolutely awesome. It’s on their property, has 6 bunks and a little kitchenette. His wife is going to make us breakfast in the morning, and I don’t care what it is-I know I’ll love it!

We showered, they’re doing our laundry, and we all hung out by a campfire for awhile and chatted.. Seth is another flip flopper we met here, and has fun to get to know a little bit-as much as you can in an evening anyway.
I’m all tucked in my nice comfy bed, and can barely hold my eyes open. Sweet dreams, y’all.

Start: 501 Shelter (AT mi 1196.1). Stop: Sandy Spring (AT mi 1210.5) Today’s miles: 14.4 miles. Total AT mileage: 185.8 miles

I have to fight my grumpiness in the mornings when I stay in shelters.. because I’m naturally grumpy when I wake up, and more so when I can hear other people moving around and getting ready. It’s a blessing and a curse, like, I’m happy I hear them, otherwise I’d sleep til 10, but I also love sleeping, and would like to get some better sleep than I have been, for sure.

Either way, I was awake, packed, and walking by 7:30 this morning. We fully walked into Rocksylvania if we were ever confused about when the rocks “start.” The balls of my feet were super tender this morning. I was concerned for another blister, up around where the ball meets the toes, but the skin was so tough I thought maybe not.. until about 2.5 miles into hiking over 18 billion rocks. One step and I felt a rip and then pop. It was definitely a blister. It has definitely now popped under pressure. It definitely hurt like hell.

While I was limping along, babying that foot by trying to not put pressure towards my toes, I hit a weeble wobble rock and started to roll my ankle! Luckily I was able to bear my weight on my trekking poles and hop off of the foot all together. If not, I’m assuming I would have rolled it completely and hit the ground. My thru hike could have ended! It’s still sore now, but no worse than the throb of the blister, and it’s hardly even swollen with no bruising I can see. I’ll call it a near miss and a huge win.

I limped along slowly for the rest of the morning.. with the pain either slowly easing off or my brain finally ignoring it. We all ended up refilling water around mile 5, and then went on a hunt for the “swimming hole” the caretaker of the shelter we stayed at told us about. Lizard made it there first. She seems to get as excited about jumping in water as I do!

Once everyone got there (except NoFilter, we were all wondering where she got off to), Lizard and I went to the top of a hill where the big rope swing was. I helped pull the rope in and then recorded her swing in! It was awesome! I was too chicken to go off the rope, lack of upper body strength and all, so I walked back around to where this wall was creating the dam or pool. Another hiker jumped off the little swing by the wall, and then I cannon balled in from the wall! That water was SOOOO cold! Like teeth chattering cold! And while it was freezing, it was also numbing all my ailments. Win win.

Cholula and I recorded Derby jump in and then Randy off the long one. Lizard jumped back in, and then we all hung out and laughed and tried to dry out. It was an incredible morning. We stayed for probably an hour or hour and a half. After everyone else got moving again, Lizard and I ate our lunch while drying a bit more before starting back out. Crinkles, Randy, Derby, and NoFilter all got a hostel for the night, so they were getting picked up only 3 miles from where we were. Cholula didn’t want to undo her wrapped ankle, so she didn’t swim, Curmudgeon washed his shirt out so he was cooled off, but mostly dry.. they hiked on while we waited it out.

We all leapfrogged each other for the rest of the afternoon, and decided to camp down by the stream near the shelter we were aiming for. Lizard hasn’t shown up yet, so I assume she decided to stay either at or closer to the shelter, unless she just kept going.. the girl definitely has her trail legs!

We filtered our water here, and Curmy built us a fire to try to eliminate some of the bugs.. it helped tremendously! We ate dinner and then escaped to our tents because of the influx of bugs once the fire was out. Oh, but Cholula and I each were able to get our food bags on a tall branch we originally aimed at only as a joke.. after she nailed it on the second try, I gave my rope a go for my bag.. I took 4-5 tries, but eventually got it!

This trail life is getting equally easier and harder at the same time. Sometimes the terrain throws you for a loop, but then you come across a swimming hole that makes you so happy it overshadows all of the pain and irritation of the day. Pretty amazing how perspective works sometimes.

Start: Unnamed Tentsite (AT mi 1186). Stop: 501 Shelter (AT mi 1196.1) Today’s miles: 10.1 miles. Total AT mileage: 171.1 miles

I got started a little late this morning, 8:45 before I hit the trail. While I was eating breakfast we saw 5 or more hikers pass our site. Once I got going up that god awful uphill, I felt like I was smooth cruising-until I looked at my watch and saw I was barely maintaining 2 miles per hour. Oh well, every step still moves me closer to my goal.
When the grade leveled out, the rocks showed up. I think I’ve now entered “Rocksylvania” or at least the start of it. Pennsylvania is known as the “worst” state on the AT simply because of the rocks-so it’s been nicknamed “Rocksylvania” and “Painsylvania” LOL

These rocks are of all sizes, and you’d think the big ones would be easier to navigate but they all equally suck. All I can think to explain is that it’s like that Ninja Warrior show on TV and the rocks are like the weeble wobbly things you jump to, the second you step on it, it moves, and everything continues to teeter totter with each move you make. And, the smaller rocks are called ankle turners, because, well, they’ll turn your ankles real quick.

I met up with the group that I watched pass me when I was eating breakfast. They were all stopped at an outlook.. I stopped to see it too, and we introduced ourselves. There was Lady Bird and Lindsey, both flip flopping from Virginia. Then there was Spring, Morning Dove, & Landfill-all from Springer. They asked where I was headed today.. I tell them.. Then they return with the greatest news EVER: Pizza can be delivered to the shelter we’re all hiking to!! OH HELL YEAH! Bring on the rocks, because I’m making it to pizza!

They all end up passing me on the rocks, and maybe 30 ish minutes later I come across Curmudgeon and Cholula. She re-twisted her bad ankle! She looks a whole lot better than she feels, I could tell her foot was hurting her, but damn she has a poker face.

I press on after talking with them and telling them about pizza, I think that lifted her spirits some too. Not too long afterwards, I came back across the group that told me about the pizza. I mentioned Cholula’s ankle and Spring AND Lady Bird both started digging through their packs! As Cholula turned the corner, they had her an ace wrap and some coban to wrap it with! Such incredibly kind people. While we were all hanging out there, Morning Dove mentions that someone just text her that there’s trail magic up ahead!

So I push on, knowing it’s like 2.2 miles to trail magic.. Lizard texts me that she’ll wait for me at the trail magic because she’s already there! This day just keeps getting better! She went into the town at the road that the trail magic is on to resupply, so she’s staying at the same shelter, too! We’re about to have one hell of a pizza party!

Which is exactly what happened! All of us ended up hanging out for awhile with Slick, the trail angel that set up a cooler with cold Gatorade’s and other drinks, tons of snacks and bananas, plus chairs for us to all sit around in. He was one cool guy. He even let people charge their phones.
We passed a couple beautiful overlooks, then got to the shelter. Derby, No Filter, Crinkles, & Randy were already there. So it was those 4, me, Lizard, Curmudgeon, Cholula, Waterfall (a guy we met at the magic), Morning Dove, Landfill, LadyBird, Lindsey, Spring, plus lots of other folks I haven’t met. It was a good evening! We all ended up ordering pizza and sitting out at the picnic tables. After we ate, they started a fire.. and we all hung out and laughed a whole lot. Let’s just say there’s a reason No Filter is named No Filter, and it has nothing to do with water.

Now, we’re all winding down. It’s 840pm and we’re all in our bunks (the 8 of us in the shelter)Or tucked into tents and hammocks. It’s funny how you literally only plan to stay awake with the sun and not a second longer once it leaves. I know the next few days will be rough on my feet, being in Rocksylvania now, but we only have 100 more miles of Pennsylvania left, and then states will start to feel like they’re flying by (so they tell me).