The Unpolished Princess

Start: Wise Shelter (AT mi 504.2). Stop: Lost Mountain Shelter (AT mi 486.7). Today’s miles: 17.5 miles. Total AT mileage: 1706.4 miles.

I ended up sleeping pretty well, considering sleeping in a shelter for the first time in awhile.. the first time since flipping southbound actually. I got up and made my breakfast before packing up. Finch was already up, and graciously got the food bags for everyone. Lizard was the last to start moving, but we were all up and mostly ready to go around 8. I left before the other 2, and then had to run back to get my pack cover I left. I sure suck at being an early bird.

I saw 2 ponies right outside of camp, I even pet the snout of one. Ballsy for me.. I really don’t trust animals this big to not nip at me. This one didn’t though, and after a few pets and pictures, I was off. The rain misted off and on as I climbed Mount Rogers. At one point it full on poured and I got chilly enough to actually put on my rain jacket. I knew toting it all this time would eventually come in handy.

The views at the top were beautiful, with the rain clouds passing one way and the sun shining through the clouds the other way. There were a few scattered ponies about here, too.. but not close enough to the trail to pet or get good pictures of. I did love how the rain water made the leaves seem to shimmer, like they had been sprinkled with glitter.. even the ones on the ground. I’m starting to think autumn might be turning into my favorite month. I’m just so fascinated with all the color. So much so that I keep having thoughts of wanting to paint the scenery I’m seeing, so the colors can be as vibrant as they are to my eye-although I’m no painter, so that’s a problem.

During some of the more pouring rain, I got to a shelter that Finch and Lizard had stopped at for reprieve. They had each passed me sometime during the climb. We ended up eating an early lunch to wait out some of the rain, hoping it would ease up. Luckily, it did. And then surprisingly it stopped completely. The trail was already turned into a river by this point though, so the shoes and socks were going to stay soaked no matter what.

Since I don’t do long breaks, mostly for fear of losing motivation, I set out before them. There was a long, ambling descent. There were fields and gorgeous views, miles and miles of colors in every direction.. pops of oranges and reds against bright green grass. When the trail went back into the woods, they even seemed prettier than before.. more vivid shades of greens with taller trees and bright yellow leaves.. moss and pine straw. I think the last few days here, in and around the Grayson Highlands has been the highlight of scenery for me. I’ll be honest, I’ve loved these views more than anything in the White Mountains.

There was a slow uphill that didn’t seem too difficult, followed by a long downhill before getting to the shelter we were aiming for. Lizard caught up to me in the last 20 or so minutes, so we hiked into camp together chatting the whole way. We decided to set up shop in the shelter, to avoid wet tents/hammocks in case it decided to rain again overnight. I prefer the tent, but I didn’t feel like setting up and being so far away from the shelter where they were going to be.

Finch came a long a little bit later and once he set up we all made and ate our dinner. Some section hikers came over to use the picnic table and we talked with them a bit before settling in for the night. We talked about the plan for the trail for the next few days, and our hopes to finish in Georgia together if it all works out with the extra zeros I have to take for Lauren’s bachelorette weekend. I think we’ve got it worked out pretty well.

I do have an end date in mind, but I don’t think I’m ready to put it out there just yet.. a lot can change with 487 miles left to go. These miles do seem to be flying by though, and I’m happy as hell about that. I’m ready to say I did it. I accomplished this huge goal that I set out to do.. it feels simultaneously so close and so very far away. Here’s to praying the rest goes as well as it has been going.. that we all finish, and we all stay healthy and injury free.

And with that, I think im heading to sleep. We get into Damascus tomorrow, and the day after that we finish the state of Virginia! It feels so incredibly unbelievable! Goodnight 🙂

Start: Lost Mountain Shelter (AT mi 486.7). Stop: Damascus, Virginia (AT mi 470.7). Today’s miles: 16 miles. Total AT mileage: 1722.4 miles.

It poured overnight, I was grateful for the shelter and the fact that I was completely dry.. and so were my belongings. Finch, Lizard, and I had the place to ourselves. When it came time to get up, I didn’t want to. I tossed and turned a lot of the night and I’m dealing with a stuffy nose.. which I’m blaming the frequent weather changes on.

I did, finally, get up and start packing. Once breakfast was eaten, packs were packed, and all three of us were ready, we headed out of camp close to 8:30. We ended up hiking together the whole day, something I haven’t done since-well-for a long time. I can’t exactly remember the last time I spent the whole day with other people and not just in passing!

We stopped at a cafe in the middle of nowhere on the Creeper Trail. The AT and the Creeper Trail cross paths and share a couple miles together in a few places.. it’s a bicycling trail along a beautiful creek. We all three made the choice to walk to Damascus on this trail instead of the AT, simply because of all the reviews saying this one was more scenic. It was definitely scenic AND had a cafe! It felt like a no brainer to me.

The cafe was technically closed, but the lady smoking the pork for the following day was there and she brewed us a pot of coffee, opened the bathrooms, and let us use the WiFi for a bit. It was then, sitting there sipping coffee, that Uncle Keith called to talk a bit. I talked until we were all ready to start hiking again, and then we said our goodbyes because I wouldn’t have service away from the WiFi.

We hiked along the smooth, flat Creeper Trail and played games after we ran out of things to talk about. Finch taught me a Lyrics game where one person sings the lyrics to a song, then picks a word from that song, then the other people have to come up with a song with that word in it and sing the lyrics to it.. and on and on.. it felt like we played for hours, but I doubt it. It did help the time pass though.. and it was so dang funny!

We made our way into Damascus, Virginia. The trail walks right through the middle of town. We stopped off into an open cafe the second we spotted it. I got a pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw on top-and it was by far the BEST sandwich I’ve had on trail! It put the others to shame. I literally don’t think I took a breath while eating it.

Once our bellies were full, we walked to Lady Di’s bed and breakfast. She had 3 twin beds for us and we graciously accepted. Once the tour was given we took showers, got laundry started, and unpacked. Then Lizard and I walked to the post office for her to get a package and then to the dollar general to grab snacks and stuff for a slack pack tomorrow. We also passed an outfitter.. they had a CNOC bag!! I definitely bought myself a new one, happy to throw the old holy one away!

We walked back to the B&B and crossed paths with Finch heading to the post office. We agreed to drop our stuff off and then return to the downtown area to eat dinner at the only restaurant open, The Old Mill. We made quick work of it all and were back downtown pretty fast. We sat on a patio overlooking the creek. It was gorgeous. There were twinkly lights and this looked like a great place for a date night or something. We were all in hiker loaner clothes, slightly out of place, but it wasn’t very busy so it’s not like anyone noticed-and we wouldn’t have cared if they did.

I had red wine with dinner, which was wild mushroom Bolognese. It wasn’t as good as I thought it would be, but it hit the spot all the same. I got chocolate cheesecake too.. and it made up for the lack of flavor with my entree. I shared it with Lizard, she seemed to enjoy it too. Her dinner was pecan crusted rainbow trout.. it was the whole fish. Head and all. Been there, done that with Andrea in Spain.. no thank you. She ate it like a champ. I was impressed, because I don’t think I could have eaten it.

Anyway, two other hikers ended up joining us at dinner. They showed up after we had already ordered.. RoundHouse and his friend who’s name I forget. I enjoyed the mixture of new friends with known friends. It really was a good time. Before we knew it, it was getting very close to hiker midnight and we all asked for our checks and got ready for the walk back.

And now here we are. Lights out in the bunkless bunk room.. typing the day up, getting ready to go to sleep. It’s a bit stuffy in here, even with the fan on. I have a feeling I won’t sleep well because of this, even though the mattress is nice and the linens are comfortable. I’ll be giving it my best shot either way. Goodnight y’all.

Start: Cross Mountain/TN 91 (AT mi 449.2). Stop: Damascus, Virginia (AT mi 470.7). Today’s miles: 21.5 miles. Total AT mileage: 1743.9 miles. States Completed: Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, West Virginia, Virginia

I slept poorly, but I’m blaming it on room temperature more than anything. Everything else was comfortable, but man-I like to sleep with it cool. Oh well. It can’t always be perfect. In a month or so when this thing is finished, I can have my room temperature be what ever I so choose. Ha.

We all got up, got packed and downstairs for breakfast by 7:30. Lady Di made quiche, homemade blueberry scones, sausage patties, potatoes, and smoothies. It was really good and just what I needed to fuel me for the morning. By 8:15, Lone Wolf was there to pick us up and drive us to the road crossing we planned to hike back from. Once we all loaded up in his SUV, he took us 30 minutes south of Damascus.

We started our slack pack at 8:45, in Tennessee, and hiked northbound through cow pastures. The rain that had been dumping all night and most of the morning had ceased by the time we really got going. I think the fields are some of my favorite scenery, I don’t know if it’s because I know there will probably be animals or if it’s because it’s so open that I can see farther, but I really like it.

Once out of the pastures, it was back into uneventful woods. They were slick and wet, with multiple ups and downs, but the colors weren’t as vibrant as they had been in the Grayson Highlands. Instead of intense reds and bright yellows, the leaves were more muted browns and dull oranges. Still pretty, but not exciting to report on. Although, really, I feel like all of this sounds repetitive and mundane for you readers. I’m shocked y’all are still around!

I did get to pass quite a few recent friends.. Zebra, Smash, and MashedPotato were the first people I saw, a bit spaced out from each other. I was happy Lizard was hiking with me each time we passed one of them, because I got to introduce her to them. No one else probably cared, but I had talked to them about trying to catch her, and I’ve told her stories about them.. Zebra told me about their plan to be at a certain hostel/brewery on Friday and that they’re doing karaoke there. I let her know that I definitely wouldn’t be that far by Friday, but since my mom is coming to visit, maybe she’d want to go to karaoke, too, and therefore be able to drive there (and probably Lizard and Finch, too, if they want to go). This suddenly got me very excited!

Lizard and I ate lunch at a shelter with some day hikers. I recently started eating cheese and hard salami on a bagel with spicy mustard. So far, I’m not sick of that yet. I wonder how long it’ll last. We talked with them while eating and answered all the typical questions about thruhiking. This area we’re slack packing is also an “aggressive bear” area.. 3 shelters in this stretch are technically closed, as well as the campsites between the shelters, because of recent aggressive bears coming to steal food. This was the main reason for wanting to slack pack through here, to make sure we’re safely out of this area before needing to camp. It just made sense. And the fact that northbound is mostly downhill compared to the mostly uphill of southbound through this section only helped solidify the choice to not carry a full pack out of Damascus.

I got ahead of Lizard after lunch. I passed PinePole and then Bones, too. Sometime around 3, I crossed the state line for Virginia and Tennessee. Since I was hiking northbound, I couldn’t claim to be done with Virginia until I hit the downtown Dollar General I got my drinks at yesterday. I was happy as hell when I did about an hour after crossing paths with that sign! I even went inside and bought a Gatorade to drink during the short walk back to Lady Di’s place.

Immediately after walking in the door, I grabbed what I needed and hopped in the shower. I used the other shower in the house, continuing my tradition of trying each shower in a hostel if I stay more than one night. I liked this one better than the one yesterday, although it didn’t have a window so it got hot in there. When I was clean, dressed and organized, I walked outside to sit on the porch. Lizard was already there!

When she went inside to shower, she ended up finding a dress in the loaner clothes. I said I wanted to wear a dress too, so we got to searching for another one.. and actually found one! So we both wore dresses to dinner, which I wished we would have done yesterday, too! Lol it would have felt nice to look semi presentable (I still had crocks on and the dress was ill fitting, Lizard’s looked adorable on her). Oh well.

I ended up walking to subway while she showered and then met Lizard and Finch at the diner in town once I had my lunch for tomorrow secured in my little day pack. It was a busy little restaurant. We sat outside at the sidewalk table. I ended up ordering the bbq platter, and was sadly underwhelmed by it.. but I ate it all anyway. This hiker hunger is no joke! I managed to eat all of the pulled pork, collards, corn, and baked beans! It’s going to be difficult to not eat like that when this is over.

The three of us walked back to the B&B together. I sat on the porch a little while, waiting for an appropriate time to get in bed. I didn’t want to lay down too early and be too awake.. we got 2 more roommates in our room tonight, so all 5 beds are taken. The room was hot and stuffy and the fan was over the window of the guy in the middle bed, and he had turned it off and was already asleep when I got up here. Dear God. It’s going to be a long night. More than just the stuffiness, I hate the quiet of the room.. no air circulating means hearing every little noise anyone or I make. Ugh.

Let’s pray this night goes by fast! One can only hope. Sweet dreams, y’all.