Category: Long Distance Trails

Start: Stealth Site by Stream (AT mi 1009.5). Stop: Top of Piney Ridge (AT mi 998.1). Today’s miles: 11.4 miles. Total AT mileage: 1195 miles

When I think back about today, all I can do is laugh. I woke up around 5:30am to Jerzy trying to get our food bags down. He had already told me he was getting up early, so I expected this. What I didn’t expect was the slew of curses coming from him and the branches shaking like crazy. Uh oh. Somehow, the food is stuck.

I get up with my headlamp on to try to help. Somehow the carabiner clipped into the rope a second time and it was stuck-that booger wasn’t going anywhere. We stared and pondered. I’m not too bright first thing in the morning, and as far as I could tell, this food wasn’t coming down anytime soon.. so my plan was to go back to bed-at least until the sun showed up. I told Jerzy we should look in our guthook app and see if there’s anyone nearby that could help-probably a bit later in the morning. He thought my idea was a good one, and decided he’d check the app too.

When I laid back down, I remembered my friend Kevin! He was going to hike some with me yesterday, like he did on my very first day on trail, but ended up having to get some stuff done with work and logistics because of the storm the day before.. if he was close enough to potentially hike yesterday, maybe he’s close enough to help today!

It was just after 6am and I messaged him. With screen shots and satellite he was able to figure out the closest road to me, which luckily was only a little over a half mile down a power line trail and then a split second on the AT down to our stream. We sent pictures and we video chatted so he could discern the best equipment to bring.. ladders, pole extenders, knives. He let me know that he’d have to go into work at 8 and get his employees out on their jobs, then he’d be able to head my way.

OH MY GOODNESS. Talk about being completely lucky.. what are the odds of having a friend that owns a painting company with ladders readily available and lives close-ish to where you accidentally get your food bag stuck.. for the first time since starting this thing!? Of all the places this could have went down, it was the absolute best for getting such quick help! I napped again until 8, then packed all my stuff and walked the power line trail to the road he’d be coming to- a tiny dirt road in a residential neighborhood with no trespassing signs.. haha welp.

Kevin appeared at exactly 9am with Chris for extra hands. I hugged them both and thanked them profusely, and we all got a good laugh at the silliness of my predicament. They carried a 12ft ladder, I carried 2 poles, and we made our way back to camp. Jerzy popped up from his nap when we arrived (I purposefully didn’t wake him when I left, he had said he didn’t sleep well, I was wondering if this was God letting him catch up on some).. and Kevin and Chris had our food down, without cutting Jerzy’s cord within less than 2 minutes, start to finish. Hahaha Good Lord.

We all walked back to their truck, me with the poles and the 3 of them trading out with the ladder toting duties. I think Kevin takes the cake as the ultimate trail angel! I mean, we all know I wouldn’t have starved, but damn I would have been pretty cranky if I had to hike out to a road and get food AND figure out how to get someone to come back and get our bags down.

Jerzy and I walked back, chatting about our gratefulness and how we definitely won’t be making it to our original planned destinations. He was hoping for a 13.8 mile shelter, I was hoping for 22 miles-if I had left at 6:30am I would have potentially made it.. haha. We happily ate our breakfasts, thankful for food and to be able to get our days started. Since I had already packed up everything but my food, I just had to put my bag in and I was ready to go. We said our goodbyes and I hit the trail at 10:30.

So. I only made it 11.4 miles today: BUT I got started late, I took an hour lunch, AND I went up and over 9-10 mountains (depending on how you count one of those, could be separate-could be one lumpy one) and up to the top of the 10-11th one to camp. They don’t call it a rollercoaster for nothing! Jerzy was calling them “PUDs” aka: a bunch of Pointless Ups and Downs.. haha-it’s frustrating to many because they’re aren’t any views. Like the campsite I’m at on top of a mountain: no view. At all. Lol

I however, strangely enough, enjoyed this day! The first uphill didn’t even register as going “up” for some reason. I was hiking along and the next thing I knew there was a ledge with about 10 people standing around. I snapped a pic and kept it moving. Down, up, repeat for hours. There were so many people out, too! I probably saw over 50 day hikers, a couple section hikers, a potential NOBO, and another SOBO flip flopper like me.

It was close to noon when I was coming downhill to a parking lot. A couple caught up to me and started asking about my backpack, when they realized I was thru hiking, I was offered a banana at their car in the lot! How sweet! Their names are SlimShady and CityBoy and they have aspirations of doing the trail, but they come and hike this section often since it’s close to home.

After chatting with them and eating my banana, I headed across a huge highway and right back uphill. There was another ledge type view of the city below, but there were so many people around that once I got a picture I kept going. Sometime close to or just after 1, I stopped at a stream to filter water and eat my lunch. I sat there for an hour, reading on my kindle app as I munched on chips.

At 2, I got back up and started going again. Sadly, I kept getting smacked in the face with spider webs. Clearly no one had been around this section for awhile. I passed the 1000 miles to Springer sign and did a little dance! I like that the trail is basically a count down now.. home will be mile Zero! Man, it feels so close yet so very far away.

As I made my way, I happily passed a few more people.. which only delighted me so much because since they were coming from the opposite direction, they cleared all the spider webs for me going forward! Thank GOD. I hate stuff touching my face, especially when every now and then it’s a spider itself or a bug trapped in the web. Yuck.

I filtered another 2 liters before heading up what ended up being my last climb of the day. I knew by getting the water I’d probably end up staying either way, but I started hitting chunks of trail with more webs again, and honestly it was just too damn annoying to continue. Plus it was already 5pm, and I just didn’t care to go another 2.4 miles to the next shelter, although the comments in the app made it sound very nice. We’ll see if I regret that when I pass it in the morning.

I set up my tent, hung my food line, and then changed my clothes. Not having camp shoes really blows a loose one, I hate putting those trail runners back on even for a second! But I’m making due. I think I’ll get a shuttle to Walmart when I get to Front Royal in the next 2 days. Anyway, I cooked and ate dinner, unpacked my stuff, and went to put my food bag in the air. It’s definitely not as high as yesterday’s.. my arm isn’t that good. The way I see it, it’s far enough away from me that if a bear does get it, he’ll be too busy over there to eat me over here. Haha

It’s almost 8pm, and I’m laid up in my tent listening to the bugs and crickets sing-and what I hope is fireworks in the distance. If it’s a mass murderer, they definitely have some bad aim. It is a little unsettling though, being alone on top of a wooded mountain and hearing booms but not being able to see anything in the sky from the trees blocking. Oh well, let’s hope my earplugs help me and my camo tent disguises me from creepies.. lol

Anyway, I think I’ll read a bit before bed tonight. It’s 26 miles to Front Royal and the town looks pretty cool, so I may try to do more miles tomorrow and have an easy day into town the following day to do laundry and buy new camp shoes and resupply. We’ll see. The sun is rising at 6:45 this days apparently, so I set my alarm for 6.. maybe I’ll actually get up and get a move on.
Goodnight y’all.

Start: Top of Piney Ridge (AT mi 998.1). Stop: Manassas Gap Shelter (AT mi 982.8). Today’s miles: 15.3 miles. Total AT mileage: 1210.3 miles

Well, before I finished reading for the night, I was blessed with spotting a huge, fat rat just outside my tent, under the vestibule. I scared it away with my headlamp and shaking the tent.. but he was a big guy and every couple hours came back by to check on me. I was scared I’d wake up with him already chewed into the tent and stuck with me inside while I screamed and jumped around all hunched over.. because as spacious as my tent is, it is still just a tent. That never happened, but I slept awful because of the idea already planted in my head. I only saw him once more but could swear I was hearing the same leaves ruffling several more times throughout the night. Gross.

Because of my fitful sleep, I ended up not getting up at 6, or 6:30.. I pushed it to 7 when I knew full and well I’d be able to see everything around me. I packed and got my food bag, everything still intact. I ate my breakfast slowly: now it’s consisting of granola and berry cereal sprinkled with a vanilla Carnation instant breakfast, then doused with water to make it dissolve, almost like milk. I like it pretty well, it keeps me full longer in the mornings, but it takes forever to eat it. That part may cause me to change it up again come resupply.

When I was just about ready to go, Jerzy passed by. He had camped just before the climb at the water source where I filled up. It was a beautiful area, but I skipped it because it didn’t have any sites that weren’t slanted. He sleeps in a hammock, so it didn’t phase him a bit. We ended up leap frogging each other all day, I find him very enjoyable to be around. He’s from New Jersey and has that certain way with words that just cracks me up.

The trail was absolutely pleasant today. There’s no other way to describe it really. The gentle curves meandered through forests of huge old trees, sunshine, and birds chirping. I was so lost in the feeling of how good it all felt that I didn’t even pay attention to the mileage or remember to take many pictures. There were lots of trail runners out and about, one guy I swear passed me like 3 times.. I’m still confused as to how, there must be a looped trail that connects somewhere.

I ate lunch sitting on a rock at a 3 way trail intersection. While sitting and eating, people would pass and ask me for directions for things I was clueless about.. “is it this way to the cabin?” “Do you know if this way takes you to the parking lot?” “How do you not know?” “Well where did you park your car?” OMG. People, let me eat my damn peanut butter and jelly tortilla in peace? Can’t you smell me? Sheesh. My reply of “my car is in Georgia, so if it’s not the AT, I don’t know anything about it..” got a very odd stare and no rebuttal, he just walked away.. alrighty then.

Once away from that intersection, the trail went over some pretty fields of overgrown wildflowers. It was so gorgeous and very calm on my feet. It went back into the woods, where I ran back into Jerzy, and while we were walking and talking he spotted a huge black snake! Ginormous! I jumped back like it was going to chase me or something.. and when I passed it (camera out) it had already slithered the rest of the way into the deep woods. I could hardly even make it out, which I was both thankful for and totally freaked out by. How many of those things are absolutely everywhere??

When I got to the shelter I was aiming for at 3:40, I decided I liked it enough to stay put. I scoped it out and set up my tent in the best, flattest spot. Then laid on the ground and listened to an audiobook. I probably should have pushed the extra 5 miles to the next shelter, but I felt like I deserved an easy day. Why not? I’ll be in town tomorrow night either way, and I can’t check in at the hotel until 3, which means I won’t ask for early check in before 12.. so I might as well have some mileage to knock out tomorrow or I’ll be sitting around bored and dirty, unable to relax.

I was going to just resupply quickly and pop back on trail, but I decided since I needed to go to Walmart for camp shoes, I’d make it worth the trip and get some other toiletry stuff too and stay in a hotel and do laundry. After tomorrow, I’ll be getting into Shenandoah National Park, which is apparently very nice. I can’t wait to see it! I’ll make an easy mile day tomorrow and then make an actual plan to try to really start knocking out some mileage afterwards. It’s too much to think about after hiking all day and then doing camp chores and all that, too. I don’t plan to zero for a bit, but those needs kind of pop up unexpectedly.

Anyway, I ate dinner with Jerzy and a guy doing a section hike. A couple came in a bit later but I didn’t get their names. I hung my food on a bear pole-on the very first attempt. I’m pretty proud of that lol. And now I’m sitting outside by my tent waiting to need to pee one more time before getting inside and getting comfortable. I think I’ll read awhile, then hopefully sleep much better than last night.

I’m reading Alicia Keys’ autobiography and I’m listening to the last book in the series by Jojo Moyes, Still me. I’m completely captivated by both books. I kind of think it’s hard for me to not enjoy any book. There’s something about knowing an effort was made to create it, and I so admire all of these authors and their passion to create these books for me to be transported to where ever they’ve decided I should go within their words. It’s magical. And I’m here to love all of them I can.

Anyway, now that I’ve confirmed I’m a complete weirdo and this is probably one of the many reasons I’m single, I think I’ll let you go for tonight.. mainly because Alicia is just now starting to tell me about writing “Girl On Fire” and well-I love that song and sing it quite often (horribly, obviously).. so, I need to be in the know as to how that anthem came about! Haha.. goodnight y’all!

Start: Manassas Gap Shelter (AT mi 982.8). Stop: Front Royal, Virginia (AT mi 972.1). Today’s miles: 10.7 miles Total AT mileage: 1221 miles

I had my watch alarm set for 6:30 and 7am.. I turned off the 6:30 one, but ended up getting up around 6:45.. as I was packing inside the tent, sprinkles were starting to pelt on the outside of it. Crap. No one wants to pack a wet tent! So I hurried as quickly as I could to get everything inside into the pack and then took down the tent and packed it too. I propped my umbrella over the pack while I went to get my food bag.

By the time I got back, the rain had stopped. I ate sitting on a log and then put my food bag in my pack, put on the rain cover, and officially got my day started. It was just after 7:30. Still 45 minutes to get up/pack/eat.

The rain came and went all day. Light sprinkles to full downpours. Luckily, the trail was a breeze. I had some uphills that were longer than most in the Rollercoaster, but honestly the grade was nice, the ground was soft, and I had not one single complaint.. even in the rain. I saw several deer and a rabbit. It feels like the wildlife is much more willing to be caught by the eye down here in Virginia.. the animals in Maine were elusive.

On the last stretch of downhill to a parking lot, there were several downed trees to maneuver through/over.. and otherwise it truly was uneventful. With 2 miles to go, I called a shuttle guy from my app, and he said he’d be there waiting for me at the parking lot. To my great joy, he AND his dog were waiting for me. I got to pet and cuddle a brindle colored pitty my whole 15 minute ride to the Hampton Inn in Front Royal, Virginia.

My hotel was chosen because of 2 things: it’s proximity to Walmart, and ability to cut half the room cost by paying with some points from my credit card. I’m officially fresh out of points, now, but they have helped me out tremendously on this trip. So, when I walked into the hotel at 12:20pm, the nice lady let me know that my room wasn’t ready. Cool. I asked if she could store my bag for me while I walked to Walmart, and she agreed. I felt real bad watching her pick the stinky thing up and tote it behind the counter, but she wouldn’t let me back there to put it away for her.

Another worker heard me talking with her and offered to drop me off at Walmart so I wouldn’t have to walk there in the rain. He was headed in that direction anyway! How lucky! So, we walked out together and I got in to his very nice Jeep Grand Cherokee and wondered if he regretted his offer. I was wet, a little muddy, and smelled like-well, hiker trash. He didn’t make any faces though, so, that was kind.

He dropped me off and I got started on my resupply. I replaced my knock off crocs, sad they didn’t have the same colorful ones. I got my food for the next few days (I plan to have 3 days of food, but to stop at the “waysides” or little stores in Shenandoah National Park to eat meals as I pass them-so maybe I won’t have get off trail to resupply for a bit longer this go around..), some hair ties since every last one of mine have broken, some peroxide to clean out my ears, and some muscle relief packets of epsom salt for a bath later.

Once checked out, I walked across the parking lot to a Mexican restaurant. I know now that it must look odd to walk into a restaurant to sit down to eat with 4 bags of groceries and whatnot. I know, because I got stares from just about every table. I was also still wet and muddy-but I wasn’t going to wait to get cleaned up and come back out into the rain. Priorities people.

I sat in a booth in the back and absolutely devoured my food. It was so full of flavor that I was shocked at how good it was. I had a margarita, chips and salsa and queso with jalapeños, and Texas fajitas. DE-LI-CIOUS. It was so good I had to stop my self from trying to eat absolutely all of it, because I’d be too stuffed to carry all my crap back to the hotel.. a mile away in the rain.. ha

It was on my way back that I thought about the weird little things that I’m suddenly grateful for. Like the fact that Virginia doesn’t have the no plastic bags rule. Toting 4 paper bags back would have been dreadful. And, I didn’t have to pay for said un-environmentally friendly plastic bags. I get why they’re bad and that I should use a reusable bag-but folks-I’m hiking here, not pulling up in my car with my reusable bags at my disposal.

Anywho-by the time I got back, my room was ready. It’s so comfortable! A king bed, a nice tub.. what every hiker dreams about. I showered, took a bath, rinsed off with cold water since the bath had me sweating (god baths are so strange.. but my legs do feel better, less sore), and then after laying around for about 30 minutes flipping through channels, I put on my rain pants and jacket and headed downstairs to do laundry. So exciting.

Now, I’m back in that bed, watching tv and relaxing. I’ll get up and pack my things to make the morning go smoother in a bit, but for now.. I’m just enjoying the pure bliss of doing nothing. Nothing is required of me, nothing has to be done or has a deadline-and y’all, it’s delightful. I even think I’ll sleep in and enjoy the breakfast they serve in the morning before heading out to the trail. Life is good. Sweet dreams, y’all