The Unpolished Princess

Start: Bear Garden Hostel (AT mi 558.5). Stop: Campsite on Glade Mountain (AT mi 536.5). Today’s miles: 22 miles. Total AT mileage: 1656.6 miles.

My bunk wasn’t the softest mattress in the world. Actually, it really sucked. But I made due, and every time I rolled over I was scared I was waking up LongShot in the bunk under me-I imagined him feeling like he was on a small boat at sea, that thing felt rickety and moving didn’t help.

I got up at 6:45, LongShot was the only other person awake.. thankfully the man made coffee and shared with me. He claims my moving didn’t wake him, but I think he’s lying.. neither one of us apparently slept well. Oh well, easier to get a move on then. I quickly packed up, once I tiptoed around Sunshine to grab my stuff from the living room. I attempted to be quiet while packing-LongShot just went for it.. haha. Whoops. A few minutes later, in slow increments, Sunshine was up, then MashedPotato, then Smash. Zebra was the only one I didn’t say bye to this morning. Good for her for being able to get some good sleep!

I had a microwaveable breakfast sandwich with my coffee and then promptly started the short road walk back to the hostel’s bunkhouse. Bert was there, LongShot and I paid her for our stays and all of our food and goodies. When we went in to settle up, to my complete surprise, Cactus and Bones were there!! They did big miles yesterday to catch up, and got to the bunk house late. I wish we would have had service down at the cabin so we would have known! I’d have walked up there to see them last night!

I said my byes and hit the trail at 8:10. Yikes. So much for early.. Lord. But thankfully, the trail this morning made for my favorite day of hiking in Virginia! I saw so many deer leaping away from me (these deer are used to being hunted, unlike the deer in the Shenandoah National Park.. these deer do not sit still for pictures, sadly for me), I saw a bunny that did let me get a picture, I saw cows in the distance, farm after farm, pasture after pasture.. it was stunning! The trail would weave through a pasture then out through a gate, then into the woods with the leaves showering the trail with all the different shades of autumn. Man. I was loving it.

I didn’t see a bear, but I’m certain I heard one crashing about down below the ridge I was walking up. I tried to search for him (knowing he’d be way below and probably a safe distance to spot him and get a picture), but had no luck. LongShot passed me in one of the fields and told me about a bear he saw yesterday.. that he literally woke the bear up from a nap on the side of the trail! He said the bear woke up a little dazed and looked around, then lazily sauntered off away from him, though never actually seeing LongShot-just hearing him.. because he was behind a tree. How cool!

There was some wooded climbing involved today-but as always in the great state of Virginia, climbing here just means hiking uphill, not the physically hand over hand climbing of New Hampshire and Maine. Every single time I go to mentally complain about a “climb” here, I cut myself off mid thought and remember the challenges of those crazy states I’ve already conquered. Surprisingly, that turns into motivation and I truck up those mountains with a new lease on life. It also helped that today was cooler than it has been, so even though I was doused in sweat, head to toe, the wind was refreshing and the air was crisp. I was happy.

After a long downhill, and hours of not seeing a soul besides LongShot when he passed me and an older gentleman having a rest break sitting practically in the middle of the trail (I asked if he was ok, he said he was sitting to check his phone.. uh, okie dokie.. lol), I came to an intersection along a highway. Like a legit highway with exits and tractor trailers barreling by. When I went to turn left onto the road to go under the overpass, Bones caught up to me! That girl is fast, and she’s with the Army Warrior Expedition! I swear, I’m forever impressed with the people I get to meet. Everyone has different stories, and I find every single one so damn fascinating.

We walked to the corner together, one side had a gas station and a Mexican restaurant, the other had a restaurant that just said “home cooking, BBQ, Open!” So, she waited at the Mexican place for Cactus to catch up, I went to BBQ. And man I’m happy I did! I got a pulled pork sandwich with Coleslaw on top, smoked Mac and cheese, and a baked potato loaded with sour cream and cheese. I asked for baked beans but they didn’t have any. The owner also gave me his own special “sweet water” to drink, it’s a combo of fresh squeezed lemons and oranges with local honey. It was delicious!

I ate my food like a lunatic, barely coming up for air. They checked on me a couple times, the owner and his wife, and every time I had a slap full mouth of food and couldn’t speak. They got a kick out of that! Once I finished, I loaded up my pack on my back and headed down the road. I was thankful when the trail went back into the woods away from all the cars and trucks. It wasn’t busy per say-but it was too much compared to the emptiness in the woods.

The trail went by more grassy fields, but slowly continued up a mountain instead of through the fields themselves. Which was totally fine by me, because there were switchbacks. When I made it to the shelter, half way up the mountain, I was grateful I had decided to push forward. It was very dark and dank there already, with the sun on the other side of the mountain, and there were rocks absolutely everywhere. I’d have had to sleep in the shelter more than likely, because there wasn’t much to call a campsite. I did fill up 3 liters of water here though, from a pipe sticking out of the stream.. luckily it was still flowing pretty well, so it didn’t take too long.

Once I filtered 2 liters and packed the third (in the new liter bag I got back in Daleville), I continued uphill. The rocks were starting to get on my nerves, but I had also already hiked over 18 miles at this point, so my feet were sore. Speaking of feet-I’m loving the cushion in my new shoes! They’re almost perfectly broken in too! At the top of the mountain, I could hardly make out the sign saying this was the summit of Glade Mountain, elevation 4—something. The trail went across the top through some grassy areas with trees all around, but not so dense that I couldn’t see the sun shining through. It was gorgeous.

I almost stopped to camp at the first site I saw, because it really was beautiful up there, but when I looked at the app, I realized I’d be pushing my luck getting to town at a decent hour (and to watch Hannah’s band play). So, I pushed on. I went down hill a while, then back up a steep rocky section, then back downhill.. it was somewhere between this valley and the start of the next incline that I spotted the next campsite. It sucked. It was already dark here, the little spot was right on the trail basically. So, that answered that question-onward!

As I climbed what was hopefully my last climb of the day, I was praying the next campsite area was a nice one, so I wouldn’t regret skipping the first one I came across. I was walking up on a ridge line with the sun cascading down through the trees ahead of me when I spotted the site, just before 6pm. It was down a little makeshift trail to the left in an almost grassy area. The sites were flat and it was beautiful! I was thrilled! I quickly set my tent up, unpacked, threw my bear line, and then sat down to decide what to eat for dinner.

At the time, I wasn’t hungry in the slightest. The idea of instant mashed potatoes had me wanting to gag, and since I was still mostly full from lunch, I just ate a honey bun instead of cooking dinner. I drank a good bit of water with electrolytes.. and then hung my food bag. I walked back over to my tent and then changed into my warm clothes.. used the bathroom, and got inside my tent. I’ve literally gotten out twice to pee now, thanks electrolytes, and my stomach just made its first protest about skipping dinner. Ugh.

I’m too tired to walk over there in the dark to fish down my food-so it’ll have to wait until breakfast.. which is kind of a good thing! Maybe I’ll get hungry enough to actually get my butt up earlier so I can leave earlier and catch a ride to town to meet Lizard! Ha, we’ll see.

For now, it looks like I’ll have to go pee again and then snuggle up in my quilt to get some shut eye. Sweet dreams, y’all.

Start:Campsite on Glade Mountain (AT mi 536.5). Stop: Dickey Gap (AT mi 520.2). Today’s miles: 16.3 miles. Total AT mileage: 1672.9 miles.

I woke up around 7 and got my food bag to eat breakfast in my tent. It seemed even sweeter today, for some reason, to eat my hot oatmeal and sip my coffee all cuddled into my quilt. It wasn’t particularly cold, but it didn’t matter.. I was taking in the ease of it all.

I packed and managed to get ready by 8:05.. late by 5 minutes, but I wasn’t too worried. I was on a mission to get to Dickey Gap by a decent time today, no matter what! My goal was to be in town, clean, resupplied, and full bellied by the time Hannah’s show started. Not to mention the absolute delight of knowing I’d be meeting up with Lizard and Finch in just a few hours!

The sun was coming up through the trees, it was just so serene. I was on the ridge so I could watch the colors of the sky change as the sun rose, but couldn’t capture it on camera with the trees blocking the overall view. As I continued downhill off the mountain, it got darker, almost like the sun hadn’t come up at all. The walking was easy though. Two miles in, I passed the Mount Rogers Visitor Center. It was closed because of the weekend. I followed the trail to the shelter I would have gotten to last night if I had made my miles the day before yesterday, but as nice as it was, I was happy I camped where I did last night and that I shared the cabin with the others the night before. It worked out like it should have.

At the shelter, I passed MashedPotato! I stopped to chat a minute with him.. I was shocked he was ahead of me since I ever saw anyone pass me yesterday, but he told me of a blue blaze they made when getting their resupply, so that made sense. The others had already left for the day, so there was a small possibility of meeting them again if they stopped for lunch or something, but it was unlikely. We said our byes and I kept moving.

At some point I had a pretty decent climb with a view of Pine Valley off in the distance (I only know that from the sign that said so..). It was pretty enough, I paused to snap a picture. From there it was quick downhill trail, smooth and perfect for making up some quick mileage. I eventually went through a field with cows and had to dodge cow patties for a bit before getting back into woods.

I stopped for lunch and water at a shelter around 12:30, but I was irritated because I had been making great timing and had I kept going I’d have made it to the road crossing by 2, and now it would be 2:30. I knew I had to fuel my body to make it there, but I’m so sick of peanut butter tortillas now that one more just seemed like it would be the end of me. I ate it anyway. When I was packing back up MashedPotato appeared to eat his lunch! I lingered chatting with him until close to 1pm and then decided it was time to truck it up the last climb of the day and get down the mountain to the road crossing. I was ready to be with my friends!

The last climb wasn’t bad at all. My app made it look so much more dramatic than it was. I finished the last 4 miles to the road crossing by 2:30 and quickly set to work trying to hitchhike to town. I didn’t have service to call a shuttle, and while I could have used my Garmin Inreach to text, it some times takes a while for things to go through. I decided just to try hitching for about 20-30 minutes, and if I had no luck, then try the texting thing. The 7th or 8th car stopped for me! It had been less than 10 minutes!

Cheri (pronounced like Shurree. Sorry for misspelling here) and John picked me up and drove me the whole 25-30 minutes to the Red Roof Inn in Marion! We talked the whole way, about all types of things. I really believe we meet who we’re intended to meet. This sweet couple was so completely kind to me and I enjoyed being with them. When they dropped me off they even made sure I was at the right motel before driving off! Sometimes the kindness of strangers really does blow my mind, especially with how cruel people can be these days. It’s refreshing to meet genuinely good people.

I all but ran to the motel room and Lizard let me in! We hugged and chatted a bit before I unpacked and got in the shower. Once I was all clean we caught up some more and Finch returned from his resupply, so we caught up, too! Man, I’ve really missed these folks so much! It was getting close to 4, so I left my reunion to walk down to Walmart and resupply myself. I text them when I was done so they could meet me at the Mexican restaurant between Walmart and the motel.

We ended up eating an early dinner on the patio, margaritas included. I was having such a good time! I was in such high spirits! When it was close to 6pm, we hurried to pay the tab so we could get back to the hotel’s WiFi so Lizard could pull up the livestream of Hannah’s band on her phone. Sadly, our tv wasn’t able to stream it for us, so we watched on Lizard’s phone as Hannah and her band mates jammed out. Hannah plays the bass guitar and it was awesome to see her (and her band mates too, really) completely in her element. It was also ridiculously cute to see the way Lizard watched her, too. She definitely has found her person.

After Hannah’s band finished, I packed up some stuff and organized as best I could, and then the three of us watched some tv.. we channel surfed awhile before landing on HBO and enjoying “She’s All That.” It was such a good day! Eventually we all retreated to our separate beds and are close to shutting the lights off to get some sleep. Tomorrow we have a shuttle arranged to take us back to the trailhead at 8am. I’m thrilled it isn’t 7! Here’s to “sleeping in!” Ha! Goodnight y’all!

Start: Dickey Gap (AT mi 520.2). Stop: Wise Shelter (AT mi 504.2). Today’s miles: 16 miles. Total AT mileage: 1688.9 miles.

We all woke up just after 7 and we could all tell none of us really wanted to start moving.. but, when a ride is showing up at 8, you kinda have to get a move on. Amazingly we were all 3 packed and ready, breakfast eaten by the time Jimmy, the shuttle driver, appeared at exactly 8! I was impressed with us, if no one else was.

Jimmy’s van has hikers names written all over it, along with advertising for the pizza place and the Mexican place in Marion, Virginia. He said they give him free food for free advertisement. Smart man. He drove us plus 2 other hikers to our destinations. We got out and started moving around 8:40-ish. Not too shabby.

The trail started off downhill in a calm meandering way, and pretty much maintained that level of smooth for a majority of the day, though the downhill definitely didn’t last. It was nice to hike with Finch and Lizard in the morning. We talked and walked for a couple hours before separating out a bit when someone would pause for layer changes or to stop at a privy.

At a beautiful creek crossing, I stopped to get water and to wait for them to catch back up to me (since I didn’t need to change my clothes or potty yet I got ahead). Bones ended up passing me so we talked a bit.. she was going farther than us today, so she didn’t talk long before needing to carry on. A couple minutes later, Finch appeared and we found a spot to sit and eat lunch knowing Lizard had to be close by. Once we sat and started pulling stuff out, she was there. So we got to enjoy lunch together with a few section hikers waiting to be picked up.

Because I have gotten so used to short breaks to make longer mileage days, I headed out the second I was done. I knew they wouldn’t be too far behind me either way, and I wanted to listen to my audiobook. I started the climb up Pine Mountain expecting it to be brutal. It was 5k elevation after all.. but honestly, it was less strenuous than the climbs Lizard and I did earlier this morning before splitting up. I was amazed at how quickly I managed to get up there!

Then, I walked through a gate that made me feel like I had just walked through a time portal into another world all together! The top of that mountain was absolutely stunning! The leaves had all changed colors, an explosion of brilliant oranges, yellows, reds. I took picture after picture because it was just so captivating. Then, a few miles later, I passed through some fencing that took me into a field with wild ponies and long horned cows, regular looking cows, and all their baby calves. I would say “steer” but I don’t think that’s the right term. I would take the time to google this, but I don’t have service.. so-maybe I will before posting this. Hmmm. Maybe I’m too tired to really care.. haha

I waited for Lizard to catch me so we could explore these big animals together. It makes me feel better that someone else shares my distrust of animals like these.. I mean, I like them, but I also think one would kick, bite, or charge me over a look.. sooooo.. you know, I’m a little uneasy with huge herds of these massive things around. She and I took pictures and had decided to wait for Finch. Shortly after deciding that, the wind picked up and storm clouds were rolling through, so we changed our minds and headed towards the shelter that was 3 miles away to attempt to beat the impending rain.

As we walked the colors just seem to erupt across the open ridge line. I told Lizard it felt like walking into a Thomas Kincaid puzzle. It was truly a magical experience for me. We also passed a few more cows and ponies in the distance. I stopped every 4 feet to take pictures. Within a half mile of the shelter, the sky dropped on us. We managed to get our water at a creek and then sought cover from the shelter moments later.

There was a little girl and her dad already there, eating dinner. It was a little before 5pm, so we didn’t start setting up or anything yet.. we just chatted with them a bit. They decided after eating they were going to continue on a few miles farther-maybe all the way back to their car to avoid a wet tent.

A bit later, Finch appeared and then a not long after him another hiker showed up, too. The 4 of us are in the shelter tonight, grateful for the cover, because the rain has ebbed and flowed all evening, only increasing as the day progresses into the darkness. We ate dinner together after setting up our stuff in the shelter. I’m happy it’s a nice one, as I haven’t been using them at all. As much as I love David’s tent, I didn’t want to test it out in this mess.

The shelter’s roof is metal, so it’s a nice sound to fall asleep to.. the pitter patter of rain. But it’s also worrisome that it’s not going to let up at all and this will be the future for us tomorrow. We knew it was going to rain, but there’s something to be said about starting in rain and it raining all day versus it starting to rain later in the day. I don’t know why, but the latter sounds way less miserable to me. Now that it’s cooler (we’re all a bit cold in here tonight waiting on our body heat to warm our sleeping bags and insulate us), rain can equal danger if you don’t play it safely.

As of now, it’s looking like we’ll be hiking just over 17 miles in this rain tomorrow, obscuring our views from Mount Rogers and probably of more ponies, too as we really get into the good parts of the Grayson Highlands. Oh well. We’ll get it done some how some way.. and then the following day will be a 16 mile day into Damascus for a hot shower and warm bed. As much as I love this trail, I don’t love the rain.. I pray tomorrow passes quickly and the crap weather passes, too.

It’s just after 8pm and it looks like everyone else is either already asleep or close to it. I’m just praying I don’t have to pee again, because I do not want to get soaked! Goodnight y’all!