The Unpolished Princess

Start:War Spur Shelter (AT mi 669.4). Stop: Peter’s Mountain Trailhead (AT mi 657). Today’s miles: 12.4 miles. Total AT mileage: 1542.1 miles.

Y’all. I was supposed to hike 23.8 miles today. Instead I hardly hiked 12 before deciding to bail and praying my new plan would work out..

I started off well. I got up at 6:50 and rushed to pack and eat breakfast. Soundscape and Moose were already gone by then. I had my pack on and was walking out of camp by 7:35. Not too bad. The day started with a climb, like it seems to everyday, but I felt good and seemed to be going a bit quicker than normal. It was steep, I warmed up fast. There weren’t really any views. Just deep in the trees and greenery.

I climbed for what felt like a lifetime, then the trail meandered on top of the mountain for awhile. It started off nice, but then became a rocky jungle gym. Nothing like up in Maine, but more like Pennsylvania. Loose rocks all over the place. They weren’t hard to maneuver, they just hurt my feet and my ego. They slowed me down and I found it very irritating.

I started the downhill and parts were steep and slick, but overall just the same situation with making my feet ache with each step. I think it’s probably more the shoes and me hyper-focusing on them, but you try to tell yourself to quit thinking about something when all you’re doing is hiking through the woods and have no real distractions.. ha. It didn’t work very well.

I made my way down and ended up eating lunch on a small rock in the sunshine. I ate fast and was hardly sitting for 15 minutes all said and done. I started walking through a beautiful area near a rushing creek with gorgeous trees and tons of leaves covering the forest floor. It truly was lovely. As I walked along, I checked my app sometime around 1:30. I still had 11 miles to go.. that’s roughly 5.5 hours with my pace. So, I was looking at a 7pm arrival and that’s with no breaks or slowing down on the big climb still ahead of me.

I checked the next road crossing and made the decision to bail. I didn’t have service, so I messaged a hostel in town with my Garmin Inreach (man that thing is handy as hell). I told them where I was, that I didn’t have service, and that I wanted to be picked up, stay tonight and tomorrow night, and slackpack the 20 mile section from this point to Pearisburg. They said “hold tight, I’m on my way.” I was giddy!

I don’t know what came over me, but I just did not want to have to rush up that mountain and then trample over a rock studded mountain top to get to camp by dark, and more than likely be a bit late.. only to wake up and hike 8 miles to town anyway. Today was going to be 23.8 miles followed by 8.6 miles tomorrow. Now it’s 12.4 miles today, and 20 miles tomorrow (but without all my gear). TomAto-TomaTo.

Doc Peppa picked me up pretty quickly. I was expecting it to take over an hour and she had me picked up and checking into the hostel by 2:30.. mind you, the texting took about 25 minutes to go through on the Garmin.. so all in all, this was quick! I ended up picking a private room with a full sized cushy bed. The bunks looked nice, but I wasn’t risking those mattresses. If I’m paying money, I want comfort! I dropped my stuff, dug out my wallet, and then.. shockingly.. walked a quarter mile to a Mexican restaurant. And now we’ve determined the cause of my bail out today-apparently I wanted real food! Hahaha!

So, I got to La Barranca and promptly ordered cheese dip, a margarita, 2 enchiladas, rice and beans.. oh, and a water. I am here to tell you I devoured everything on that table. I think the waiter was either in shock or highly impressed. I scraped the plate clean, I used the very last chip in the bowl to get the last eensy weensy bit of cheese dip left (again, I considered licking the bowl, but stopped myself). It was so good.

A little stuffed and with a visible pooch belly, I waddled myself down the street to the food lion to get my resupply for the few days after Pearisburg, and for lunch and snacks for tomorrow’s slack pack. Once all loaded down with groceries, I made my way back to the hostel. I put away and organized my food, got my slack pack ready for tomorrow, and then went to shower.

The bathhouse is separate from the trailer my private room is in.. but man, it’s nice! That hot water is even more appreciated now that it’s chilly outside. I scrubbed up and stayed under the hot water until my fingertips turned pruny. Back at the room, I laid out in bed and began typing this up.. and I’ve caught up with friends and my mom some. I also made sure to message Soundscape earlier so he wouldn’t be worried when I didn’t appear at camp. He and Moose pushed on and made it to the shelter after the campsite, for a 25.2 mile day. I would probably still be hiking right now if I was trying to get there!

It looks like I’m going to have to get over my want for sleeping in and make myself get up earlier and get the day started sooner to make my mileage before night fall. It just is what it is, and as much as I hate it.. I’ll hate falling behind and being required to still be hiking this trail come December even more. I had hopes that this trek would turn me into a morning person. It hasn’t. I don’t think it ever will.. so, I’ll just have to force it for now to meet my goals. Which is ok. Hiking in the morning is usually the most enjoyable, once I actually get over the irritation of being awake.

I leave out of here tomorrow at 7, so it looks like it’s already my bedtime. I think I’ll be sleeping good tonight! Sweet dreams, y’all!

Start: Niday Shelter (AT mi 687.8). Stop: War Spur Shelter (AT mi 669.4). Today’s miles: 18.4 miles. Total AT mileage: 1523.7 miles.

I set my alarm for 6, so I could get up and out early. It didn’t happen. I didnt get up until 6:50, mainly because I was warm and outside of my cocoon was cold, and I wanted no part in it.

Finally, I gave in and got moving. This cooler weather is not helping my disdain for waking up..
Overall I did sleep well, once I got warm. I packed and then walked over to the picnic table to eat my breakfast.. Soundscape kindly got my food bag down for me this morning. I didn’t take long to eat, mainly because I was cold.. I think I might have mom bring my mug with her when she comes to visit in a few weeks. Then again, I might just get a new one.. it looks like warm food and coffee is going to need to make a comeback. Not only for its warmth, but also for more calories.

I’m just not staying full out here this week.
The sun was shining and it was a start to another gorgeous, cool and breezy day. The sky was robins egg blue without a cloud in sight. I think I randomly smiled a lot more than I normally do, which is often, but today just seemed to keep a smile plastered on my face. The first part of the day included a climb in deep woods with no views. About 2 miles in, I had to detour to dig a hole.. such is life.

The top of the mountain was anticlimactic, except for a sign reading “Eastern Continental Divide.” It got rocky from there, with some sporadic views. The trail was very overgrown for a large part of the mileage on top of this mountain, and several times I had to pull out my app to figure out if I was even still on trail or if I had gotten side tracked some how.

The downhill was steep, but thankfully the valley between then mountains went through more fields and pastures. This area was my favorite of the day. Rolling hills, trees in the distance, the skinny path to follow.. I loved it! The sky was so blue and the sun felt so good, I was in heaven. When I came to the gate taking me back into the woods, I crossed paths with the Keffer Oak tree, the second largest tree on the Appalachian Trail! Pretty cool, especially with how much I love trees in general.

From the huge oak, the trail went past a road and then started climbing again. There was an area around Laurel Creek that required crossing the creek. After the recent storm, that baby is rushing! One crossing caused me to take pause, as I was worried my shoes wouldn’t grasp the steep rock on the other side and I’d slide back down into the water.. I managed it ok, and left with dry feet, but because of the almost 450 miles on these shoes, I went ahead and messaged mom when I got service and asked her to mail the new shoes to me. I can’t wait 3 more weeks with this pitiful tread.

From the creek area, the trail started to steeply climb up to Kelly Knob. It was so overgrown in areas that I didn’t even waste the time to go to the view point. But when I realized I had full service, I sat on a log in full sunshine for about 45 minutes uploading pictures and updating yesterday’s blog. I might not have time to do that tomorrow since I’ll be going a lot farther tomorrow.. actually, as I’m thinking on it, I better make myself get up earlier, too. But who knows,I may have to night hike tomorrow evening or just stop early. There’s only so much daylight these days.. and it’s only getting shorter. That’s a terrifying thought! Cold and dark does not sound fun.

Anyway. I finished slowly hiking to the shelter by 6:15pm. My feet were aching and the rocks had them pretty angry at me. While parts were pretty, it was mostly unremarkable, really. I still enjoyed myself though. I picked a spot for my tent, I’m right in between a couple I’ve never met, the praise team is their collective name.. and Soundscape. It kinda stinks we have to be this close, but it’s the only spots here. Also, Moose, a SOBO that was at the shelter last night is staying in this shelter, too.

After setting up home, Soundscape and I ate dinner at the picnic table with Moose. The couple had already eaten and were watching a show in their tent. I ended up eating fast and putting my food bag in the air to hurry up and get into my tent and into my quilt to warm up. I’m warmer than last night, but not by much. I prefer this, being cooler in general. It makes the hiking nicer and gets rid of the bugs.. and nothing sucks more than bugs-and trying to sleep all hot and sticky. This coolness just requires a warm up time.
Ok, that’s all I know for today. Clearly I’m less chatty when I’m cold.. sorry about that.

Goodnight, y’all.

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!