Category: Long Distance Trails

Start: VA Route 311 (AT mi 710.5). Stop: Daleville, Virginia (AT mi 730.3). Today’s miles: 19.8 miles. Total AT mileage: 1482.6 miles

I got up at 6:15 and quickly got ready. I bought frozen egg and cheese burritos from Kroger yesterday, so I ate one of those before heading downstairs. It was 10 minutes to 7, so I ran over to the gas station to grab new water bottles. I forgot to mention the disaster the other day when we stayed at the campground.. when we were filling up our water bottles from the hose out front, the lady came out to say THATS the hose people put in their RVs poop tank to clean it out.. barf.

She had let me come in to the kitchen and scrub the hell out of my water bottles, but because they didn’t sell liter bottles, I had to make due. When I got to Daleville, I promptly trashed them! So.. I needed new ones. Sadly, this gas station didn’t sell liters either, but I knew the one across the street did. I just got 2 small ones for today and made a mental note to go to the other one before Thursday.

When I walked back to the motel, Homer, our shuttle driver had just pulled in. Butterfingers and I hopped in the car and we were off at 7am exactly. Talk about promptness. It’s something I really appreciate these days. He dropped us off at a trailhead on VA 311. It was damp and misty. Our awesome views would most definitely be hidden today. Such is life.

I started out before Butterfingers, but he quickly caught me and passed me by. This is his first slack pack, other than Mount Katahdin, and because of it-he practically flew down the trail. I never saw him again until later that evening when I was walking to dinner.. haha

The trail was wet and muddy but still enjoyable. There were climbs up to McAfee Knob and Tinker Cliffs.. but they weren’t very difficult at all. The trail really does feel like a trick sometimes, because you see the elevation profile, you know you’re supposed to be climbing, but it doesn’t feel like the hard heart pumping climbing you’ve learned to expect.. I’ve literally stopped mid trail to pull up the map to make sure I didn’t accidentally get turned in the opposite direction because of a climb feeling too easy.

McAfee Knob is an incredible, iconic spot on the AT. From the perfect position, it looks like you’re out on a steep, sharp ledge, standing with Mufasa as he shows Simba all of their kingdom. It’s STUNNING. If you don’t want to simply google pictures from strangers, look at FarOut and Sauce’s blog, wanderinggs.Wordpress.com and see their epic photo without filters. It’s awe-inspiring in every way.

Naturally, for my sweet, sweet luck, this gorgeous view was socked in with clouds and I couldn’t see a damn thing. I expected as much, looking at the weather, but it was still disheartening at first. I made the best of it, up there alone on a cliff side. I propped my phone up against my day pack and pushed the record button.. then walked around to the ledge and took my goofy time making different poses. I came back to the phone and snapped screen shots of the video for the pictures I liked. So, while maybe not epic or iconic, it was still a fun morning in the rain and part of my journey. I laughed and giggled by myself while making the video, so those memories will outshine the disappointment of lacking incredible views.

I put my day pack back on, thrilled at its waterproof-ness.. and kept walking. I passed a few people I didn’t recognize, and I also passed the group of SOBO hikers I met briefly while they slack packed the other day. No one was really chatty, because as each hour ticked by, the rain picked up. At some point, I pulled out my umbrella because I was sick of wiping my face. My mood never shifted negative though. I really think knowing the hotel was waiting on me had a big part in that. There would be no setting up a tent in the rain, or waiting out the downpours from inside the tent.. I was going to shower and do laundry and everything I own will be clean, and I’ll sleep in that comfy bed.

Tinker Cliffs would have probably been just as stunning as McAfee Knob, but I didn’t see anything other than the white clouds all around. I didn’t stay and play like before, I just kept trucking along. Because of the rain, I didn’t stop to eat lunch and get off my feet, although I did pass a ton of shelters, so I could have. I would just put my day pack on backwards, open it up under the umbrella, and slide out a slice of pizza and eat while walking. I brought 4 slices and ended up eating them all throughout the day. This tells you many things, but the most important one is this: the trail was easily walkable enough that I could maneuver my gear and eat food and drink my drinks while holding an umbrella in the rain. Hahaha. Where even am I?

Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t like it was all smooth walking paths, there were some rocky spots that caused me to take some caution with my steps. But I never fell. Not once. I’m still in shock over that, actually. I made it to the highway by 3:40pm. I walked into the other gas station and got my bigger water bottles, then headed straight to the Super 8 to shower.

The hot water felt amazing. I stood under the shower head long enough for the water to slowly start to lose its heat. Then I finished up, dried off, got dressed, and headed to do laundry. As I was sitting there with the washer going, Jerzy appeared! He had his clothes (along with Blueberry, Soundscape, TwoHats and Bookworm’s clothes, too) in the dryer! We caught up over the last couple days and then planned to meet for dinner at 6 with the other guys.

I got my clothes in the dryer, and decided to stay in the room, working on the blog, so I wouldn’t forget about the clothes when I went to dinner. It was already close to 5:30 at this point. Sitting there, typing away, the door opens. I look up and it’s Cactus! OMG! I knew she was close by, since other hikers had mentioned hiking or camping with her, but I was thrilled to see her! Not only is she just a cool person in general, she’s also the reason I got to hike that 10 miles to the Birches the day before we all summited Mount Katahdin. Her kindness literally made for my most exciting 24 hours. I’m forever grateful to her.

We hugged and caught up on life since Katahdin. It seems everyone has the same feelings of loneliness during that first week or two going south. We went from it being rare to not camp with a ton of people, and them being mostly people you already knew, to literally not even seeing other hikers all day or night. It looks like now we’re starting to catch others (or more accurately, they’re catching me lol) and the groups of thru hikers are finally coming together.

I invited Cactus to dinner, and minutes after she left to to shower, I took my dry clothes to my room and walked across the street to Panchos. It’s dangerous having such good food so close! TwoHats and Soundscape were already there with Josh Sutton, the dad of LittleMan, the 5 year old that completed the AT this year-the youngest thru hiker! Shortly after my arrival, Jerzy appeared, and then BookWorm appeared with two of his friends (former thru hikers themselves). All of us chatted, shared our Katahdin stories and other hiking moments-like my getting turned away at the Madison Hut in the White Mountains.

Not long after we ordered, Cactus showed up! She got a chair and joined in on the fun. Blueberry and Josh’s friend (he’s filming footage for a documentary about the Sutton family and their tramily while on the AT, Blueberry is part of their tramily..) appeared too! We had quite the group of folks! And it was so nice to laugh and chat and just enjoy the people around me. It’s pretty incredible that the trail manages to bring all of these people together.

After dinner, I headed back and got in bed. I hung out and watched tv until now.. writing this up and trying to keep my eyes open! It’s hard to believe I used to work night shift, since I struggle to stay up after 10pm now. Haha. I plan to zero tomorrow.. and the fact that it’s still pouring down rain as I write this confirms my and everyone else’s) decision. I’m very thrilled about it! It’s my first zero since the rainy zero day in Harper’s Ferry.. that’s 20 days of straight hiking!

Here’s to sleeping in! Goodnight y’all!

I didn’t do a whole lot of anything today-not for the lack of offers. I was supposed to get up to go to breakfast with everyone at Cracker Barrel at 8am.. I turned off that alarm and slept until 8:40 ish.. and I don’t regret it!

Jerzy called and offered to bring me back breakfast. Naturally that took no convincing on my part. He brought me a loaded hashbrown casserole, with bacon and eggs on top, plus a side of biscuits and gravy! I delightfully ate it in bed! Jerzy wouldn’t let me pay him for it either. I swear, these hikers sure make for good friends. We take care of each other.

I watched some tv, but mostly worked out a rough outline of the next few weeks of trail. Which isn’t easy to do in the slightest and one day could literally blow the entire plan up.. BUT my mom wants to drive up to see me on a weekend. I was hoping for the first weekend in October, so she could bring my warmer gear and new shoes, but she said she couldn’t leave work early that Friday and asked if she could come the next Friday instead.. so that meant figuring out 3 weeks worth of mileage to be able to pick a location. Which, she realizes I may not make it there or I may go past there, she’ll just have to come get me at a random road crossing before going to the town I picked.

Either way, work or not, I’m happy I know I get to see her soon, and the logistics of it will be what it will be.. but the location should be nice! I’ll (hopefully) be coming through the area around Watauga Lake in northern Tennessee. I picked a marina by the trail (sort of) and now I just have to get there, and pray my shoes last that long. I guess if they don’t she can ship the shoes to me before then. So far, so good.

Cactus invited me to go with her and a friend to downtown Roanoke.. they were going to check out the city and a brewery. As much as I wanted to go and yearned for the companionship, I declined and spent my day Horizontal in bed. My legs were sore. More specifically my left knee.. I’m not sure if it’s because I practically ran yesterday, if it’s all just catching back up to me-the 20 days with no rest, or the fact that I didn’t take any ibuprofen today.. but I had no energy and I was babying my joints.

I ate some hibachi delivered by DoorDash, I immediately wished it was the hibachi by my house, because this lacked flavor, but I ate it anyway, and I rested, relaxed, and watched tv. At some point (after declining to join) Jerzy brought me some Poptarts that he had extra from his resupply. He had to be thinking “dear god this girl is a lazy mess” because I still hadn’t even brushed my hair since his last visit! Ha! I was taking my zero duties very seriously and not doing a single productive thing!

I talked with mom a few times, I talked with Lauren, too. Eventually I showered and packed up my gear. And then I watched HGTV until now, 9pm. It’s technically still on, but once I write this out I’m going to get some sleep. It did pour down rain today, pretty much all day, so each time I looked out the window I was happy with my choice to zero. It’s been a good one. And just what I needed.

I think that’s all I got! Goodnight!

Start: VA Route 311 (AT mi 710.5). Stop: Niday Shelter (AT mi 687.8). Today’s miles: 22.7 miles. Total AT mileage: 1505.3 miles.

What a difference a huge storm and a cold front make! As I’m typing this, I’m huddled under my quilt, shivering a little, with cold hands. The low is supposed to get to 48 degrees tonight.. I’m sure my body heat will have warmed up this sleeping quilt by then, but man, what a difference!

I got up at 6:15 and got ready. Although I wasn’t thrilled about the 7am departure time, I knew it would pay off in the long run and allow me to make decent mileage today. We got on trail before 7:30.. it was sunny and cool outside, breezy and honestly just perfection. There were no bugs (besides a few bees), all the guys were ahead the majority of the day, so I didn’t have any spider webs either. I was loving it!

There were some pastures first thing this morning, and they were slick with mud and water soaked grass, I did a little sliding around. The scenery was beautiful though. Once back in the woods, the trail started like it has been, calm meandering. At some point during the climb to Dragon’s Tooth, it became rocky and required a little bit of handwork to climb up and over some boulders-but after New Hampshire and Maine, they didn’t even register as difficult. Just a brief slow down.

When I got to the top where a side trail takes you to Dragon’s Tooth, I sat and ate lunch. Half way through, BookWorm appeared and I was so confused because I had been behind him. Apparently he took a bathroom detour. He started making his lunch when Soundscape came over from the side trail. He said the walk was worth it and everyone else (Butterfingers and TwoHats) was down there. I packed my stuff up but left my pack and headed that way. BookWorm left everything but his lunch and came, too.

It was pretty neat seeing the jagged rock stick out of the ground like that, but I had seen better views otherwise back where I ate my lunch. We stood around and talked a bit before all heading back. I let them all get ahead of me, I don’t like feeling rushed. Besides Soundscape (now a good 30 minutes ahead), the rest of the guys were headed to a shelter at 13 miles total for the day, so only like 3-4 miles from where we were. I was planning to go just over 20.

The rocky and sharp rocks continued on the downhill. My feet were aching. I passed the sign to the shelter just before 2pm and was happy I had already decided I was going to push farther than that. I had a climb with switchbacks for a good 4-6 miles. The top of the mountain was gorgeous and grassy and almost like walking through a meadow. There was a memorial for Audie Murphy, a veteran that died in a plane crash somewhere on that mountain.. it was beautiful.

There were also several benches around up there, too. I wasn’t expecting that! Ha. It was near a bench that I caught up with Soundscape. He was planning on going to the next shelter, I was planning on stopping 2 ish miles before that at a creek crossing with flat campsites. We walked and talked, him in the lead. Eventually, I talked myself into going to the shelter with him. The first campsite we passed was already in the dark because of where it was in this valley. The next few were near a road crossing. So, what the hell. Better safe than sorry.. I pushed on and followed him.

We got to the shelter at 6:30pm.. it was a rush to find a tent spot (4 other hikers are here tonight, one might be a thruhiker but the other 3 aren’t), unpack, get water, eat dinner, and hang our food before it got too dark. We ended up putting the food up in the dark anyway though. It was nice that everything else was already done! I quickly got in my tent and started the process of getting warm. I’m actually still shivering now, and it’s been close to 30 minutes.. I’m sure it won’t be much longer before I’m nice and toasty though.

This will be a good test to see if I want my warmer sleeping bag back.. and it’s extra pound of weight, and the extra space it takes up. So many decisions! Speaking of decisions, because of the extra 2 miles today, I can stop 2 miles short tomorrow and still be on time, or push forward and do another 22 mile day and make the following day shorter. Either way, none of this will get me to Pearisburg any earlier, so it’s not like it’s really rewarding to push that hard.

Ok, I’m too cold to keep typing. Goodnight y’all! Sweet dreams! I sure am glad fall is here 🙂 I promise!