The Unpolished Princess

Start: Middle Creek Campground (AT mi 758.5). Stop: Wilson Creek Shelter (AT mi 741.5) Today’s miles: 17 miles. Total AT mileage: 1451.6 miles

I got up around 645 and headed to the bath house.. the cabin didn’t have running water or anything. So, I headed there to handle my bathroom business, change clothes, brush my teeth. All the guys were already awake and mostly packed. One had already taken a shower!
I came back and was all packed by 7:15. I took my stuff over by the general store area to sit and hangout until they opened at 8 for breakfast. Butterfingers did the same. We had good service there, so I updated the blog and chatted.

Everyone else made their way over closer to 8.
8am on the nose we walked in and set to ordering our breakfasts. I got biscuits and gravy with 2 fried eggs. I feel like they should call it “biscuit” and gravy, because it was just one split in half. If I had known that, I would have gotten 2 orders, happily, because this meal didn’t fill me up like I had wanted it to. I won’t complain though, it tasted good.

We ate and promptly loaded into one of the worker’s trucks. She drove us back to the trailhead much sooner than we had expected, the way it was said yesterday. We were thrilled! We got started on the trail at 8:45, and it was already getting hot. The first 5 miles of the day would be a slow climb upwards, just not as continuously steep as The Priest was.

I was pouring sweat before 9am, literally just dripping! I was last in our group of 6 though, so I endured not one single spider web. I was ecstatic! I followed behind Blueberry and we talked about all kinds of things, life, running, family. It was such a welcomed distraction from the climb. It also had me thinking about Grant, an avid runner I met several years ago when I joined my dear friend Alice on my first ever relay race.

He told a story on social media recently about inadvertently encouraging a man to run his first ever marathon.. he didn’t even realize he had made an impact on this man while chatting with him during a volunteer project (they were both volunteering) last year. This year when volunteering again the men were all talking and it came out that this guy ran his first ever marathon because of Grant’s incredible accomplishments with ultra running. He originally didn’t even recognize one of the guys he was talking to WAS Grant himself!

It really resonated with me, because I relate so much.. I tend to downplay the things I’ve done, places I’ve seen, accomplishments I’ve made-and it’s a weird sense of not wanting to look like I’m bragging, or like I think I’m better than someone or a know it all on the subject.. I tend to shrink myself to not “take up too much space.” And this was exactly what Grant was saying to NOT do in his post, because you never know if the person listening is the one that needs to hear of those stories and accomplishments to get inspired to start creating their own.

All that to say, too, that I also hope by following this blog you get a sense of adventure and also see and feel the importance of finding and creating your own adventure or journey.. ya know? I pray I find the courage to be bold and proud of my accomplishments-and still not in a boastful bragging way, but in a “if I can have the courage to do and try and learn this-so can you.”

Anywho- back to the trail.. once we made it to the top of the mountain, I followed behind Blueberry a bit longer.. but once I didn’t want to keep his pace anymore, I gently asked to pass him and then put in my earbud. It was podcast time! I resumed where I left off on the podcast named “Serial.” It’s so dang good! Also, I’m all ears for other recommendations, too. (Side note: when I get done with this thing, I’m happy I have some new outlets to crochet to, audiobooks and podcasts.. haha).

The trail winded downhill for a bit, then it would hit the Blue Ridge Parkway, cross over and go up a little bit before coming down and doing the same thing all over again. It was easy, rolling hills all the way to the shelter. There were several of the road crossings.. at one, I ate my lunch, at the next one there were TONS of people parked along the lookout, looking for hawks! One lady gave me some water, which I was very grateful for because finding water today has been terrible. The streams are dry or very tiny trickles that take way too long to fill up at. I sat in the grass with Butterfingers, Soundscape, and BookWorm, soaking in the beauty of the day, the luck of the water.

The next road crossing only had a few people, one guy gave me a soda and I stood chatting a while with him. Then a girl drove up and offered us apples! Her name is Giggles and she was a NOBO hiker this year and summited the day after these guys did! So awesome! I didn’t take an apple though, I don’t like biting into hard things like apples with my four front teeth being crowns. Lol the last thing I need is to have a crown pop off while I’m hiking.

I carried on while some stayed and chatted. Butterfingers and TwoHats got to the shelter a while before I did. They already had their tents up when I got there around 4. I set mine up and then made the trek to get water. It took forever! I had to make a little leaf funnel to get the water to trickle into my bag.. my bag that still has holes in it so I have to do a liter at a time, filter it, then restart the process. Man it sucks. The Amazon app is still out of stock. Booooo.

By the time I got back, Soundscape and BookWorm appeared and started setting up their stuff. A couple thats on day one of their section hike is here, too. We all ended up sitting at the picnic table, eating dinner and swapping stories. Blueberry appeared around 6pm and got his hammock set up before trudging off to get water. I was hoping my leaf funnel stayed in place to make it a little easier for him.

A bit more talking and a small campfire built by the day one folks later, we all retired to our tents. It’s almost 830 now. Two dudes appeared a little bit ago and are setting their stuff up in the dark. I’m interested to know their story and to see if I know them, but I’m not interested enough to get up to find out.

Tomorrow will be 11 miles into Daleville. I already booked my hotel, and I know it’s ridiculous, but I’m happy about it! It’s supposed to rain Tuesday and Wednesday apparently, with Wednesday being worse.. so Butterfingers and I may see if we can arrange a slack pack on Tuesday and then zero on Wednesday.. I need that zero and I need it in a nice, clean hotel with a room all to myself. So, I think this will be the perfect time and place. Sadly, Tuesday would be when I’d do Tinker Cliff and McAffee Knob, 2 of the 3 triple crown hikes. Everyone talks about these places and the views from them-so if it’s raining I’m going to be annoyed, but also it would make sense, it does tend to rain on the perfect views for me.. minus Katahdin thank the Lord.
Anyway, we’ll make a definite plan tomorrow when we get to town, we booked the same hotel.

I’m excited about the idea of the BBQ and Mexican restaurants in town! More excited than I should be, I think.. since I haven’t really been eating much trail food this week anyway. Oh well.. you only live once, I might as well enjoy as much of it as I can! And with that, I’m off to sleep, to dream of chips and queso. Hmmmm.

Sweet dreams, y’all!

Start: Thunder Hill (AT mi 772.2). Stop: Middle Creek Campground (AT mi 758.5). Today’s miles: 13.7 miles. Total AT mileage: 1434.6 miles

I slept so much better last night. I think it was the combination of the lack of sleep from the last few nights mixed with the beer I had with dinner. I was grateful! However, I wasn’t thrilled about a 06:07 “Miss Courtney, breakfast is ready” wake up notice. Lord have mercy it was hard to not be snappy. Lauren would have laughed had she been present. I sounded like a broody teenager, I couldn’t help it.

I ate blueberry pancakes, the best I’ve had so far.. and you know that’s the truth if I was cranky as hell while eating them. After eating, I packed up real quick and got ready to go. Jerzy and Satellite were slackpacking today and sharing the shuttle with me. We all three got our stuff together and left just before 7am.

I was dropped off on the Blue Ridge Parkway road crossing by Thunder Hill, just like yesterday, but today I headed south. I was practically right at the summit of Apple Orchard Mountain, well, a whole 0.3 miles from it. Jerzy and Satellite were getting dropped off a bit farther south and coming back northbound, so we knew we’d be passing each other soon.

The trail was misty, like yesterday, except less damp feeling. The clouds seemed to lift quickly and then the heat kicked in. I passed the guys within the first couple miles, and then two other hikers going my direction appeared. We ended up leap frogging with each other the rest of the day. Their names are BookWorm and TwoHats.

I started listening to a podcast, a new thing for me.. and, naturally, I got sucked in. So I walked and listened and enjoyed the surroundings. Luckily TwoHats was ahead of me and knocking out all of the spider webs. At 10 I stopped to eat half of my sandwich brought from town. I was hungry! Sadly, they messed up my order, so my sub was cheese, lettuce, mushrooms, and onions. I hate onions. I ended up picking those all off and eating the sandwich anyway, but it sucked. Very disappointing.

While I was eating, I was passed by ButterFingers who remembered me from The Whites when Andrea was with me. We chatted a bit, I felt bad I couldn’t remember him, but then he carried on and I finished eating. A couple hours later, I ran into all three guys at a shelter on trail. We all ate lunch. Butterfingers and I talked about The Whites, and then I finally remembered him when he mentioned his girlfriend, Clementine! We all leap frogged each other the day it poured on us and Andrea and I did 15 miles to Ethan Pond Shelter! They were there when we had to climb down the waterfall because it was “part of the trail.” Hahaha, we also ran into them in town when we got breakfast a couple days later! Small world.

We carried on, Butterfingers passed me early, then so did TwoHats. And then on top of a mountain with no name, I caught them both as they were taking a breather and checking their phones because they had service. I kept going, I was listening to the podcast and needed to know what was going on. On the downhill, at a road crossing, I stopped when I saw a water cache. Hmmm. Interesting. I still had over half a liter, but I checked my app to see if I would be needing more before getting to the shelter in 3.4 miles. I decided I didn’t, so I didn’t take any so that it would be available to anyone else coming.

When I looked for the white blaze to figure out which way the trail went, I saw a sign. All I could see from where I was, was “Ice cream. Milkshakes. Bacon Cheeseburgers.” There was more, but while I was slowly walking towards it, deciding if I had time to go to this magical place, since it was only 2pm.. Butterfingers appeared. He came over to read the sign, too. We look it up on the app and realize you have to get shuttled to this campground that has all of these goodies.

Then, we realized THIS is the campground BookWorm and TwoHats, along with the their other 2 friends I haven’t met yet, were heading to!
The 2 showed up within minutes. They tell us their shuttle was on the way to get them! We decide to stay and see if we can bum a ride, too..And then while waiting, we both decided that we’d stay at the campground tonight! Why not!?

We were less than 4 miles from the “goal” shelter, we’d have gotten there by 4 at the latest and just sat around with the bugs for hours. This was way more fun! Tomorrow could be 17 or 20 miles, but with either of those, the following day would still put me in Daleville on time, so who cares?! This is way more fun!

We all piled into the truck that came for us, and then when we were “checking in” decided last minute to split the 6 person cabin instead of all individually getting campsites. Works for me! I got a soda and some candy, paid my portion of the cabin, and then once everyone was settled, we checked out our digs for the night. Our digs with AC. Hell. Yes. The guys all went to shower and do laundry, I’m sitting at the pool. I swam a bit, but the water is cold enough to not be able to stay in too awful long. But it is enjoyable!

I stayed at the pool for a couple of hours, I swam with Blueberry and Soundscape for a bit of that.They’re the other 2 hikers that know TwoHats and BookWorm. Some time later, I decided to take a shower and get dinner. A huge storm cloud was rolling in, I didn’t want to test my luck. I put my clothes in the cabin and grabbed my stuff to go shower. The guys were going to do laundry and agreed to let me throw my undies and sports bra in the dryer with their clothes (this is what I swam in).

I ate a bacon cheeseburger and some fries. It was absolutely delish! We hung out in the little arcade room while laundry was going, before finally heading back to the cabin around 7. The campground was hosting karaoke by the pool, and I’ve never heard so many people butcher some early 2000 pop/rock songs! Haha it was hysterical at first, and then, when we were trying to sleep and could still hear the godawful singing, eh, no longer funny.

Here’s to hoping we all fall asleep soon. I’ve got a 17 mile day tomorrow, and it’ll be a “late” start. They don’t serve breakfast until 8am and then it’s a guess for them as to when they’ll have time to shuttle us back to the trail. Hmmm. They didn’t mention that when they brought us in here! Oh well. Nothing to do about it now but hope we get started at a decent time! Goodnight y’all!

Start: Thunder Hill (AT mi 772.2). Stop: Glasgow, Virginia (AT mi 787.2). Today’s miles: 15 miles. Total AT mileage: 1420.9 miles

I slept something awful. I tossed and turned and itched.. I was hot on the flat mattress. Sheesh. Either way, I got up at 6:30 and got ready. Charlie had breakfast (French toast, yum) ready for me by 7. LongWalker drove me up to the Thunder Hill area and let me out on the Blue Ridge Parkway, at the AT crossing. I headed north on the trail.

It was misty and damp. It must have rained up here in the mountains, but it wasn’t raining now. It was just slick in some places. I past a couple places that would have had incredibly beautiful views, if I wasn’t still in the clouds. I didn’t mind though. The damp had the greenery shining, giving it a mystical vibe. I loved it! The spider webs were out in full force, but I put on my bug net and walked. Knowing I was getting picked up at the end of the day kept my irritation at bay pretty well.

The trail was almost all downhill all day. But not the knee jarring, oh my God kill me now, downhill. It was gently sloped, almost unnoticeably so. I stopped at a rock at noon to eat the sub I got last night. When I checked my app, I had already gone 9 miles (since 8:30), and still had 6 to go. I messaged Charlie and told him I though I would get to the James River Bridge by 3pm at the latest. I was assuming I’d be a little early, like maybe 2:45, but I didn’t want anyone sitting there waiting on me and me end up being late.

I ended up walking across the bridge at 2:05! Almost an hour earlier than expected! Whoa. But, LongWalker was already there, fishing at the river. I sat on the banks with him for a bit. We were waiting for one more hiker, coming from the other direction. When he showed up, Satellite, we packed in the car and headed back to the hostel.

When we arrived, Jerzy was there!! He got to the hostel this morning! As I was chatting with him, Thorny and Popeye, the guys that stayed at the shelter on top of the Priest, came out to say hi!! They’re here tonight too! I was so happy! Seeing so many familiar faces! I chatted with Jerzy while those two showered (they were there before me), and then they came out to let me know they were done with the bathroom.

I quickly showered, so Satellite could get in. I started my laundry, suddenly very happy with the Gain I bought yesterday. Afterwards, I sat outside with everyone. Satellite joined us after his shower. We hung out, talked, enjoyed each other’s company. A hiker appeared from the road. His name is LongShot and he’s doing a yo-yo! He started in Georgia, made it to Maine, and then turned around to hike back to Georgia! Incredible or insane, or both!

We all ordered dinner, I got baked ziti that came with a side salad and garlic bread. Y’all, I ate every single bite. I’m going to have to watch myself when I’m no longer burning 6000 calories a day. Lol. As if that weren’t enough, Charlie made peach cobbler for everyone! I ate all of that, too. I’m shocked I’ve even lost a pound (per this scale here I’m down from 194 pounds to 160). I’ll take it!

Sitting outside talking, most of these men are veterans. Popeye was in the Vietnam war, like my favorite Aunt’s daddy, Kennith. Listening to him talk got me a bit emotional, wishing I had Kennith here, too, and to get one of his hugs. I love that man so much, and his hugs used to let you know how much he loved you, too. They were the best. Because of that war and the agent orange they used, Kennith passed away several years ago due to heart failure. I think of him often, and I miss him terribly.

Anyway, Jerzy and Satellite were talking about their draft numbers for that war. They didn’t end up getting drafted, but Popeye said he volunteered. Charlie was in the navy. LongWalker, LongShot, and Thorny were all in the army. I was surrounded by some pretty amazing guys. Hearing their stories and listening to their explanations for how things happened and how different the world is now made for a night I won’t soon forget.

I talked quite a lot with Satellite, too. He is a retired lawyer and is finishing his AT hike this year, after 3 years of hiking on and off. His story is a pretty inspirational one. It’s people like these guys that make me truly appreciate every moment I’m given, not just on trail, but in life in general. We swapped some book recommendations that I’m excited about. He’s an avid reader.

Not much after 8pm, I was in my bunk and asleep. I passed out with the light still on! I’m writing this the next day, because I couldn’t even be bothered to stay awake long enough to type it out! I guess the lack of sleep finally caught up. I hope y’all slept well, too!