Tag: female hiker

Start: Annapolis Rocks Campground (1050.7). Stop: Raven Rock Shelter ( ATmi 1061.1) Today’s AT miles: 10.4 mi Total AT mileage: 36.1 mi

Y’all! I slept SO. GOOD. It started raining again around 5am, and I think I only woke up that one time.. I fell right back to sleep after I realized what the noise was. When I woke up at 7 and checked the radar, I went back to sleep until 8:30! Hahaha The radar showed 100% rain to 9 and then it went down to 50% at 10. At 8:30 I packed up the entirety of the inside of the tent after changing clothes and brushing my hair and teeth (I spit the toothpaste outside the tent and then covered it before leaving). At 9 I decided I’d goofed off enough, put on my rain gear and stepped out into the rain. Went to a privy nearby (still no #2, rude), got my food bag from the bear pole, made breakfast (biscuits and gravy), and then miraculously while I was eating the last few bites, the rain just up and quit. So, I quickly took down the tent, packed up my food bag, and put all the wetness into my pack, all the while praying I wrapped my dry clothes and sleep stuff well enough to not get drenched by accident.

Then, I was off. The clouds kept threatening rain all “morning” (the 2 whole hours of it I had left), and finally a little after 12 the sun popped out. It happened to be right when I was going up a steep incline, so I paused and took off my rain gear. Sunshine and plastic = sweaty! I kid you not, 4 minutes after I got my pack back on, I heard thunder in the distance. So, I picked up the pace. I can’t be stopping every 5 minutes for wardrobe changes. I passed a few people, none were headed in my direction, except for one-but he was already stopped for the day at the shelter I was passing.

I was going down a steep descent when I swear the temperature dropped by 10 degrees. Now I was almost shivering. I passed some trail maintenance volunteers (holy shit they’re incredible for what they do! I am so grateful to anyone who has ever done that job), and a lady goes, “aren’t you cold?” Obviously, I’m an idiot maam, is what I think.. what I say is, “oh yeah, I got hot earlier. I’ll put my jacket back on when I stop for lunch..” ha—which is exactly what I did about 10 minutes after I passed them LOL.
And thank goodness I did, bc it randomly starting hailing. Cool cool. It passed quickly though.

It sprinkled, threatened to downpour.. all in all it was still a gorgeous day. A lot of muddy ruts, steep inclines and declines, and even some rock scrambles (I may have slipped on my butt once.. whatever). Oh, also of note-I passed two privies today and then ended up digging a hole less than 2 miles from where I’m camping tonight. Where there’s ALSO a privy. At least the ground is soft for digging I guess (damn you petty bowel syndrome).

I made it to camp just after 5 (I was really slow going today for some reason), and laid out all my wet things while I went to get water. I set up my tent when I got back.. and filtered said water and ate dinner (beef stroganoff, delish). I met a few hikers at camp too. A man and his dog, Rain (of course I forget the man’s name), a lady and her dog (it was yippy so i don’t remember either of their names, 2 couples and another solo lady. One of the couples is Adam and Kay, they’re pretty awesome and we started the same day, we’ve just missed each other every day til now! The other couple showed me how to use the bear cables (SO MUCH better than that stupid pole, and Adam said the pole took him and another dude to get their bags up one last night, so I feel better).
Anyway, I’m exhausted and heading to sleep. I wonder what’s in store for tomorrow 🙂

Start: Trail of Hope Hostel (AT mi 1084.9). Stop: Birch Run Shelter (AT mi 1094.9). Today’s miles: 10 miles. Total AT mileage: 69.9 miles

I slept incredibly well in the little bunk room at the back of the church/hostel. I woke up around 8 fully expecting my new friends to be long gone (because they weren’t waiting on my package to arrive lol), but they were both still there! I sprung out of bed and darted up to the front of the building to check to see if my box came. When it wasn’t there, I checked the tracking and knew it would be sometime before 10am.

We all ate breakfast together (Lizard made us grits with cheese and some extra spices, super yummy), and while they started packing up, I worked on posting my blog from yesterday (it takes a while for the app to upload the pictures and whatnot). Before I even finished, I got an update on my phone that my special delivery was indeed dropped off.

I was like a kid on Christmas opening that thing! My warm sleeping bag, some Marino wool leggings to sleep in, some running mittens, batteries, TP, and some more mountain house meals and probars! Talk about a spoiled princess. I am definitely feeling the love from my family and couldn’t even begin to tell you how thankful I am for them.

I repacked my pack, packed up the box to return. While I was doing all this, Showtime made her exit and headed for the trail. Once I was mostly done, the preacher came to the church and was checking on us, making sure my stuff came and whatnot. I asked if he’d be willing to take me to the post office (if he had said he couldn’t I already had a list of shuttle numbers to try). He said sure and that he’d drop me off at the trailhead too (almost a mile the opposite direction from the hostel). Since he was feeling so generous and I wasn’t expecting to get a lift all the way to the trailhead, I ran to find Lizard to see if she wanted to come with, so she wouldn’t have to trek that road mile for no reason. Naturally, she agreed!
We went by the post office, Lizard ran into family dollar next door, and then preacher took us back by the hostel to grab some ramen for Lizard bc family dollar didn’t sell individual packs. Then he took us up to the trail so we could actually start our day. He was such a nice guy.

It seems like I say this everyday.. but the climb at the start of the day was a beast. I guess that’s one way to warm up your body first thing. It probably felt more difficult bc of the added weight from the food resupply and my new sleeping bag weighing more than my quilt did. That thing felt like a behemoth today. Plus I packed it in a hurry and didn’t Tetris everything in as smoothly as I’d have liked, so it was packed high instead of low and wide. It made for some discomfort with my neck since I couldn’t lean my head back. Whatever, it’ll get better.

We were greeted at the top of the hill by a gorgeous green tunnel. And then not much farther I almost poked my hiking pole into a huge black snake. I saw it just before I put the pole down, and then screamed and jumped so high I startled both the snake and Lizard, too. He was maybe 6 ft long and pretty thick.. those are Lizard’s estimates because he might as well could have been an anaconda in my eyes. Gi-frikin-normous! I scared him with my screaming that by the time I could breathe again and thought about getting a picture, he was long gone. Maybe next time I see one I won’t act like a 4 year old-but I doubt it. Haha

We crossed lots of different terrain, some pretty trail with rocks, some beautiful pines with their cushy needles under our feet, and a strange area that looked like a controlled burn or some other kind of clearing.

We ate lunch at a little cabin.. and then finally made it into camp around 4:30 ish. We met Red here, another flip flopper, and a couple we had been leap frogging with all day was already here, too, along with Showtime. We all hung out and ate dinner together. Some NOBO thru hikers made it into camp maybe 10-15 minutes after we ate. Pizza Cutter, Heater, and Day Hiker. They started the traditional route at the end of February and they’ll be passing the official half way mark tomorrow morning. Seeing how they met along the way makes me a little sad I don’t have the traditional trail family start most do, BUT I wouldn’t change a thing.. and I’m happy I’ve met Lizard along this journey so early. Even if we don’t end up staying together long, I really enjoy her company and she’s made my first week out here that much more enjoyable.

I’m all wrapped up in my toasty sleeping bag and wool leggings. Even with my first night of no service, I’m one happy camper. Also, I really hope I sent the “I’m ok” message out correctly on the Garmin InReach! I guess we’ll find out when I get some service again.

Start: Birch Run Shelter (AT mi 1094.9) Stop:Unnamed Campsite (AT mi 1107.6). Today’s miles: 12.7 miles. Total AT mileage: 82.6 miles

I woke up a little before 8am hearing the birds chirping and the folks around me quietly packing up. After laying there a bit, completely content in my warm sleeping bag, I figured I better get a move on or I’ll never make it to Pine Grove Furnace store.. the home of the half gallon challenge. While most thru hikers love this place for the challenge- which is to eat an entire half gallon of ice cream to celebrate hiking over halfway from GA to ME- I was dead set on getting a burger and fries and some kind of soda. It’s the little things that get me out of bed these days!
I packed up the inside of my tent, rearranging a few times. The bigger sleeping bag takes up more space and makes it a little difficult to get everything inside the pack AND keep it comfortable. But I managed!

I ate breakfast with Lizard, almost everyone else was out of camp by the time we were boiling our water.. lol.. maybe one day I’ll be an earlier riser. Maybe. Anyway-we ate, finished packing and I hit the trail just ahead of her, knowing she’d probably catch me sooner rather than later, and if not, I fully intended to wait for her at Pine Grove.
Today’s hike was beautiful, no seriously steep inclines or descents.. birds were everywhere and so were butterflies. I saw a few lizards scamper off into the leaves and I startled a deer when I rounded the corner where it was standing drinking water at a creek. I felt bad that the little buddy got so scared and didn’t get to finish drinking.

I stopped a couple times to rest, take off my jacket, drink my zip fizz.. shockingly the miles flew by so quick! I finally came into the area where Pine Grove is and got so excited! I purposefully held off on eating lunch, and it was pushing 1:40pm. I did just under 10 miles in 4 hours and 16 minutes.. maybe I am breaking in my trail legs!

I got to the outdoor seating area and saw everyone from last night! Showtime and the couple section hiking Pennsylvania were there, Day Hiker, Heater, and Pizza Cutter were still there, too. I thought surely I’d miss them by hours! Haha PizzaCutter looked absolutely awful, you could just see the nausea he was swimming in. He completed the half gallon challenge in under 20 minutes. Impressive!

Lizard got there not long after 2pm, and got her some food.. she inhaled that hiker burger so fast I think she should have been able to add her name to some challenge! Hahaha

We hung out awhile and then headed off into the woods again. We went just under 3 miles to a little unnamed campsite. We brought water with us so we don’t have to worry with finding a stream. It’s going to be a peaceful night, that I’m sure of 🙂