Category: Long Distance Trails

Day 14: Yellow Springs Campsite

Start: Peter’s Mountain Shelter (AT mi 1160.6). Stop: Yellow Springs Campsite (AT mi 1174). Today’s miles: 13.4 miles. Total AT mileage: 149 miles

Day 14


I woke up today around 5:30am-that seems to be when the sunlight starts to creep in through the shelter.. I definitely refused to get up though. I rolled the other way and waited, knowing I’d wait to hear the others start moving before I got up. They seem to be natural early risers.. so the fear of waking up at 10am was subdued. I finally got moving about an hour later. Packed up and ate breakfast, then hit the trail just before 8am.
Today was a hot one, mid 80s, and man did I sweat enough to prove it! There were some rocky areas, but overall the terrain wasn’t too difficult. Even typing that out sounds funny-because I was still hiking at a snails pace, but i enjoyed it, even the uphills.


I was able to zone out a bit by listening to an audiobook as I hiked. Some might say that it takes away from the experience to do that.. but I don’t think so. I was able to take in the scenery, hear the birds chirping from my left ear, and be apart of a murder mystery in my right ear. And with the headphones that actually plug in to my phone, there’s no power wasted to charge them, and I can easily pause the audiobook with the little button on the earpiece string, which I do every time I notice anyone coming or passing.. so I can exchange pleasantries and not be a jackass that doesn’t speak when spoken to. So far, it works for me!


The miles went by quickly in the beginning. Just after 11 I caught up to Cholula and Curmy at a beauty of a stream. They were eating a snack there so I decided to join, and I soaked (very short dips at a time because it was super cold) my sore feet in the water while I ate 🙂 it was phenomenal!


The rest of the hike seemed to drraaaaaaaag on. And on. And on. My feet started to get sore and I took some more ibuprofen but they just felt achy the rest of the day regardless of the medicine. I did share the trail with the cutest little animal. I’m not sure if he’s a ground hog, a very fat marmot, or a beaver without a beaver tail.. but he was cute all the same. I came up on him and he ran up trail.. and we did this little dance for almost 10 minutes. He’d run up trail, I’d get there, he’d see me, run up trail.. hahaha.. eventually i started recording him, while trying not to scare him and give him space (I’ll post the video to Facebook, and on the video I’m zoomed in a lot, so don’t think I’m that close).. he finally darted off trail for me to pass, but stood on a log and just stared at me, looking annoyed that I made him go into the brush!


At mile 10ish I passed the last water source before our planned campsite three miles ahead. I filtered my small water bottle immediately and drank a zip fizz (lots of electrolytes and some caffeine) to help me get through the next 3 miles, and then filled up my 2 2L CNOC bags to filter my water at camp.. with that 4L I have enough to drink at camp, cook dinner, cook breakfast (oatmeal and coffee at least) and then have at least 2L to hike out with tomorrow.


While I was sitting a moment, contemplating life knowing my pack now weighs 8 pounds more because of the water, Cholula and Curmy caught up to me and got water, too.. but they told me they had just seen a HUGE rattlesnake! Curmudgeon almost walked right into it with his hiking poles and ended up jumping only when he heard it hiss at him! They showed me a picture and holy Jesus that thing was enormous! God knew I didn’t need to see that thing today!
We we made it to the campsite area we were aiming for, we picked out spots for our tents and set them up.. not long afterwards, Towely came around and he saw the snake too! And got video! So very creepy. I prefer my marbeavhog over their animal siting ANY day!


After we ate dinner and were all cleaning up a bit, Hot Sauce and Farout came walking up. They are flip floppers as well, and know Towely (not sure if I mentioned them yesterday, but that’s when I met them, last night they stayed in their tent near the shelter). Once we all got to talking, I learned that they were the couple Kevin and I saw at the post office in Harper’s Ferry that looked upset sitting outside my very first day. Come to find out, that’s the day they started, too and their package arrived but the post office sent it back to their house, so they were stuck trying to figure out how to start the trail without the things they mailed to themselves. Small world this little hiking community is.


We searched what felt like the entire forest and eventually found a branch to hang our food bags from. This is the campsite that had a bear come through a couple nights ago (thanks to the app we all use out here, Guthook, we were able to know this ahead of time and prepare ourselves accordingly). I think all 6 of us are praying no bear decides to come through tonight, i definitely don’t want one sniffing around my tent!


Here’s to sweet, uninterrupted, no bear having dreams. Goodnight, y’all!

Day 15: Deer, Beaver Dams & Snakes, Oh My!

Start: Yellow Springs Campsite (AT mi 1174). Stop: Unnamed Tentsite (AT mi 1186). Today’s miles: 12 miles. Total AT mileage: 161 miles

Day 15


Today was simultaneously incredible and an ass kicking.


I woke up and got up around 7am, ate breakfast and packed up. Towely was heading out as I was getting up, Curmy and Cholula left as I was finishing breakfast and breaking down my tent, and I left as FarOut and Hot Sauce were finishing up their breakfast, around 8:20 or so. I really haven’t gotten any faster at packing up.. and I’m ok with that, as long as I’m leaving before 9-since it’s getting into the 80s now during the day.
I cruised right along this morning, finishing up the audiobook I started yesterday (the murder mystery), it had less than an hour left but I couldn’t keep my eyes open last night to finish it then. Once it ended, I just listened to the birds singing, taking in and appreciating this opportunity I’m currently living.


I was smiling and watching the river to my left when just ahead on trail a deer darted out of the trees and then stopped. I stopped and watched her, she was a beauty, and I didn’t want to scare her. I got a picture of her staring right back at the camera, and as if she knew I had gotten a good one, she pranced on across the trail and up into the woods out of site. This was my favorite moment of the day.


Sometime after 10 am, I got to a fork in the trail with a sign in the middle saying “cemetery” and an arrow pointing left. Luckily for me, the AT went right. Not much farther down I had to cross a beaver dam area, luckily there were mostly logs/thick branches to balance on, and if I went off of them it wouldn’t be but calf deep, but the water was disgusting and had a swampy look to it. I did my best to stay out of the water, although I do lack some grace, so I did choose one branch that dipped my feet into the water for a minute.. but it wasn’t bad.. it was just slow moving through there. Honestly I was expecting to see snakes slithering around everywhere, so while I was enjoying the strangeness of the scenery, my eyes were darting around like crazy and I was mentally preparing myself to not jump off into the water if I did in fact come across one. Happily, beaver dam stayed snake free for me!


Only 30-45 minutes later, I was crushing an uphill climb and down to my left beside my trekking pole was a huge ass black snake. While my heart leapt into my throat and I jumped sky high- BUT I didn’t scream.. these are baby steps here folks, I’m counting this as progress. I also managed to calm myself enough to turn around and take a picture of him-although not brave enough to get closer to see his head more clearly in the picture. Literally JUST looking at the photo freaks me out!


I crossed some bridges, both well made and not so much, I went through gorgeous green tunnels, and I took my shoes off and relaxed at a huge river. It was at the river that I caught up to Curmudgeon and Cholula. We all filled up on water here, to tote the almost 2 miles to where we planned on camping, because once again: no water near camp.


While us girls had our feet in the water, Curmudgeon goes, as calmly as ever, “is that a snake?” I jump out of the water, asking where..He’s pointing, we’re not seeing, and then boom: second snake siting of the day for me (their 4th today!)! I wasn’t quick enough to get a picture bc I left my phone at the waters edge when I jumped out, and the snake went in the same direction before disappearing from site along the bank upriver. This one was much smaller than the black snake, and colored like the rattlesnakes, but I don’t know for sure that this one had a rattle on it.. I don’t think it did. But I was also panicked, so who knows?


The trek to camp was all completely UP. At like a 70 degree angle. Honestly, it sucked. And the sites are kinda crappy. My tent barely fit at one spot, and there’s definitely rocks under me that I couldn’t dig out. And it’s on a slight angle, too. Cholula and Curmudgeon’s 3 man tent is set up across the way from me and pretty snug in a little alcove off trail. Towely and FarOut and Hotsauce got their tents up just down trail a little from us, and I think their set ups are a little worse off than ours, even more of a slope than mine.


A group of 7 NOBO hikers came through after all of us set up, and kinda seemed pissed that there isn’t really room for all of them to set up here. We were trying to figure out what we could move and rearrange so they’d fit, but they decided to keep going uphill and try to tent at the overlook about 3.5 miles farther. Another NOBO came through maybe an hour after them, but he just has a single man tent, so he was able to squeeze in comfortably between us. He’s probably the only one on mostly level ground! Haha


It’s almost 8pm now, and I have to tell ya, the second the sun decides to slightly dip from the sky, my eyes are trying to close! I’m all ready for bed and plan to be sleeping soundly here soon. With all of us tenting so close, I may pull out the earplugs just to make sure I stay asleep 🙂

Day 16: Pizza at 501

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

Day 16


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).