Got up before 5, packed the last minute items, said goodbye to Mom, and then Dad drove me to the airport. Luckily, the effects of the sequester on air traffic ended Sunday, and the day of flight went smoothly. I made it into Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta just before 2:00 local time. Made a pit stop at a Qdoba for a trio of tacos en route to the baggage claim. Atlanta definately lived up to its billing as the busiest airport in the U.S. – the Delta terminal was packed even though it’s just a regular travel day. I emerged from the airport train at the baggage claim and my pack was already on the belt. Literally less than 100 yards from the baggage carousel was the Atlanta MARTA (train) station. I got my pass, and boarded an already waiting train for North Springs. THe train ride was about 50 minutes, and an almost straight shot North, out of Atlanta.

At North Springs I met Josh from The Hiker Hostel, we drove about another hour North toward the start of the AT. On the way up, his suburban rolled over the 200,000 mile mark. We stopped at Little Caesar’s where I picked up one last pre-trail pizza. Of course, everything along the way was completely GREEN! Coming to the east coast and seeing the endless trees is always amazing after living in the Arizona desert. It was a completely overcast and damp day, and it looks like the start of the trail is going to be very wet. Josh reports they are forecasting multiple inches of rain tomorrow night. Perfect way to start the trail!

I have a bunk here at the Hiker Hostel for the night, looks like theres a couple other people staying here, but they aren’t thru-hikers. Apparently I may even be the last thru-hiker of the season starting out from here. I saw several others on whiteblaze that are starting this week though, so there should be a few other people dreaming of Katahdin out on the trail.

I think it was about a mile down from the top of springer mountain when it finally hit me that I was actually on the Appalachian trail headed for Maine. It was raining this morning when I awoke at the Hiker Hostel and enjoyed a marvelous breakfast of french toast, scrambled eggs and oatmeal. Josh from the hostel gave me, and 3 ladies a ride to the start of the trail, it took about 45 minutes, most of it up a switchback laden logging road. The temperature reading inside the SUV continued to drop from 49 degrees at the start of the drive to 42 at the parking lot. It was hard to believe this was actually the beginning, the weather was nasty, and it was basically like “Ok here you are at the AT, Springer is that way, Maine is that way, goodluck!” The other passengers from the Hiker Hostel headed straight north without going backwards to the official start, about one mile South along the AT. Of course, even though I wasn’t doing the approach trail I was going to start from the beginning so I headed South. The trail was rocky and wet. I saw a couple of people along the way but there was no one at the top when I arrived. I stayed a few minutes to take some pictures – about all that was visible thanks to the fog was the plaque on a rock marking the start of the trail. A misty rain was being blown sideways by the wind, and I was ready to turn around and head north.

The wind was blowing fiercely as well but I was enjoying it in the beginning. 15 miles of hiking later I feel quite different. I think id be alright with sunshine the rest of the way. The last 7 miles seemed quite long, and I was very happy to finally see the sign pointing to the shelter. Looks like the rain will continue tomorrow.

The wind was howling all night as I tried to sleep, and I was laying in the top bunk of the shelter, about 3 feet under the metal covered roof. I had earplugs but the rain continued all night and was still easily heard. Im not sure exactly how much sleep I got but it ended up being enough. However much it was, it came sporadically. I woke up to face the prospect of putting on wet clothes and another day of rain. I made oatmeal for breakfast, i had this bag of “maple” oatmeal, that while unopened, had been emitting strong maple smells. When i ate it though it tasted as plain as water.

I was packed and on the trail by 8:45, and looking to do another 15+ miles. The closest shelter was over 12 miles away but was in an area where you need a bear canister to camp. Neel Gap 3 miles farther not only didnt require a bear canister but had an outfitter with bunks, hot showers, and hot food. My knee had started hurting yesterday about 1/2 way thru the day, and it hurt again today, but the hot shower alone made it worth the effort. There was one steep climb today – Blood Mountain – actually coming down was worse than the climb. Most of the downhill was on sheer rock, slicked with rain and streams of water flowing down the mountain. Hoping that my knee gets better quickly… It has never even bothered me before, and now it starts hurting as soon as I start the AT.

Had dinner here at neels gap mountain crossing hostel. Pirate made a massive amount of spagetti for the five hikers staying the night. I have never eaten so much pasta at once. Hard to decide if the spagetti or hot shower was more welcome after 2 days and 31 rain soaked miles.

A nice quiet night indoors at the Mountain Crossing bunk house. Woke up at 6:30 and had a breakfast consisting of multiple varieties of danishes & pastries. A couple of the guys I stayed with left early in an attempt to do a 20 mile day. My knee felt better in the morning, but I was not going to try for 20 miles, instead I hung around Mountain Crossing until their store opened at 8:30 and I could buy some ibuprofen. I departed Neel Gap at 8:34 with a plan of doing 11.5 miles to Low Gap shelter. I finally made it sometime around 4:30.

While it stayed completely overcast and foggy all day there was no more rain, which made things much more comfortable. The trail was still muddy, and the rocks were slick, but the trail wasn’t flooded. Three full hiking days and I’ve yet to see the sun, the moon, or the stars. Right out of Neel Gap was the first of several big climbs of the day, and my knee started hurting within the first mile. Before long I had another ache, this one on the leg opposite the knee, right where the foot bends as it meets the leg. It feels really tight and stiff. Might have started because of walking awkwardly on the knee. There was a lot of up and down hills today, it was a pretty rough day. I met up with Dancer about 5 miles in, he’s just retired, has his truck along the trail and is doing a piece of the trail at a time, until he feels like going home. So, with my sore knee and foot, I was walking the same pace as a 61 year old with a 45 pound pack. We made it to Low Gap though. Tomorrow looks like a relatively flat 9 miles to a road where I can get into an actual town, I think I’ll be ready for my first 0 day.

There’s a bunch of people here at Low Gap. The hi lights include Kitch who is doing a week or so on the trail and sharing his Moonshine, Liz who is attempting a thru-hike, and an ultra-thru hiker who is going from Florida into Canada and beyond.

It was a pretty long night at Low Gap shelter, we ended up with 6 hikers including me in the shelter and about another 10 camping in the shelter area. Kitch and Dancer who were also in the shelter snored loudly throughout the night. I have earplugs with me but unfortunately I had them in a stuff sack with some stuff that goes in the bear bag and it was hanging up aways away from the shelter. By the time I realized it was dark, I was warm in my sleeping bag, and the rain had started again. I havent had a night yet where I’ve slept soundly through the night – no matter what I do with my arms and hands in a sleeping bag they never feel comfortable. Even though I don’t feel like I sleep well I haven’t been tired during the day at all.

I was the probably the last one out of a sleeping bag and the first one packed. My knee felt a bit better but still had lingering soreness, the top of my ankle was still tight, but I was ready to do the 9+ miles to get to Unicoi Gap and enjoy a trip to town.

Even though it rained all night the sun finally appeared shortly after hitting the trail around 8:30. The first several miles today consisted of relatively flat terrain and with the sun out for the first time the pace was quick even gimping along on sore legs. I stopped occasionally to massage the ankle which helped more than Ibuprofen. I was ahead of most of the dozen or so others coming out of Low Gap until about 7 miles in when the trail was going uphill over treacherous rocky terrain. At the top of that mountain was a stream and another shelter. I think everyone that started the day at Low Gap ended up here around 2, refilled water bottles and had snacks/lunch. Several of the section hikers planned on spending the night, but all the thru-hikers were going the extra 2+ miles to Unicoi Gap. We ended up with 7 thru-hikers and Kitch getting a shuttle into Helen, GA. Helen is a small tourist town, it looks like a German villiage. We went to The Hay Loft for dinner where I demolished mozzarella sticks and a hamburger. Going to spend the day here at the Helendorf Inn tomorrow to try to heal and get back to full strength. The climbs are feeling easier every day and I can’t wait to try them injury free.

After some internet research, Im pretty confident giving myself a diagnosis of tibialis anterior tendonitis.

Sleeping on a real bed after four days on the trail was a very welcome comfort. Easily the most restful night yet. I began my first zero day with a breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, hash browns, and biscuits & gravy. I ended up walking a bit more than I would like by going around town, first to the dollar store for resupply and then on an adventure to find the “outfitter.” I was considering looking at replacing my trail runners with boots already but after walking about a mile the outfitter turned out to be nothing more than a fishing shop. One of the fishermen was good enough to provide a ride back to the inn.

Kirin, Liz, and Lets Party headed back to the trail around noon. Captain Slow, Shakes, Kitch, DJ and I were all staying another night before tackling what looks to be the toughest day on the Georgia, AT – 2 steep mountains before the first shelter 6 miles out of Unicoi Gap. I got a fresh supply of Vitamin-i (ibuprofen) at the dollar store as well as some bengay and ace bandages. On our way into town yesterday our shuttle driver Karen told us about a country grocery store, but she warned of high prices and un-hiker-friendly selection. We decided to stop by anyway, and I discovered the real reason for Karen’s advice: the produce guy at the store gives hikers free rides back to the trail! Turns out the store was awesome too, all wooden shelves, very rustic with great stuff like whole dried peaches and freshly made raspberry strudel and cinnamon rolls.

After the trek around town I spent most of the day laying in bed with my foot smeared with icy-hot cream, wrapped, and elevated on a stack of bath towels. By the evening it was feeling much better; still a bit sore but less swollen, and I could walk almost pain free. I went across the street to Wendy’s for a Baconator and vanilla frosty. The girl taking orders provided the heaviest dosage of Southern dialect I’ve experienced in person. In a span of about thirty seconds I heard a half dozen ‘yall’s and a “He musta dun takin’ it.” The food was great – Too bad you can’t have juicy bacon burgers, milkshakes, and be out in the woods at the same time! After a couple days hanging out with this group I’m ready for some alone time. Might have to skip the next shelter and bust out the tent in the next night or two.

Spending a whole day off was rejuvenating. I awoke to find my foot feeling better and I was ready to get back on the trail. First I went to the post office to send home a few small items, sunglasses, a paper journal, and a cool map of the Georgia AT found in a hiker box at the hotel. I thought I might not be able to use the phone to do the journal all the time so I brought a backup but now it doesnt seem necessary. Kitch, DJ, and I got a ride back to the trail from the guy at Bettys Country Store and started tackling the first climb shortly after 11:30.

The sun was out in full force today, the forecast high was 81 degrees. Quite a change from the first few days of cold rain. I made short work of the first mountain barely needing to stop at all on one of the longest, steepest climbs yet. It was right back down into Indian Grave Gap and then another similar climb up to Trey Mountain. This one took a bit longer mostly because it was now the hottest part of the day. There was some decent views of the densely forested neighboring mountains and valleys from both of these peaks. I had the option of staying at the shelter just a ways down from the top of Trey, but I thought my feet were still doing OK and I wanted to get ahead of the group so I kept going and ended up at a campsite not shown on the guidebook. It’s right on the trail at a sign that reads “Swag of the Blueridge.” Turns out that while the tendonitis in the right foot seems to be dissipating, it’s happening (to a smaller degree) in the left foot now. Even with all the injury issues and the off day, I’m about 62 miles in after 6 days and only about 7 miles behind the original goal for day 6. Tonight will be my first night sleeping on the trail without a roof over my head. Also, I had to hang my own bear bag. The Georgia-North Carolina border is just over 15 miles away and I am looking forward to the psychological boost of conquering the first of 14 states. They say that this northern Georgia piece of the AT is one of the top 5 most difficult stretches of the entire trail, if I make it out after a week of feet that hurt to bend and an aching knee I should be in good shape the rest of the way.

Had a pretty good night for my first time camping on the trail. It was pretty nice not having the commotion of a shelter. The foot tendons were feeling pretty bad when I pulled into camp last night, but they felt a bit better again this morning, especially the right one. About halfway through the day I came to a side trail with a sign “vista.” I think a lot of thru-hikers blow right by stuff like this, but with the lack of good views so far I decided to have a look. It turned out to be the best view yet, and there was a nice campsite to rest for a few minutes and put my feet up. I also met a group of hikers just out for a day trek here, they were pleased to meet a thru-hiker, and they gave me a chocolate-chip cookie from Subway.

After the zero day in Helen I had been planning on pushing 4 or 5 days and not going into town again until Franklin, but at some point this morning I was looking at my options in the guidebook and I saw that one of the Hotels in Hiawassee had a hot tub – it sounded like a wonderful opportunity to continue to heal up. I decided to make it a short day, about 6.5 miles, and head into town again. Going into town this often can certainly get expensive, and the Holiday Inn Express was not the cheapest option in town, so I decided to save some money by hitch hiking into town. Not something I’d want to try anywhere, but everyone says people along the trail are great. It was a long downhill into Dick’s Creek Gap, I got there, sat down for a few minutes to make sure I wanted to go to town, then went up the road, waited for the first car and put my thumb up. It only took one. Of course I already forgot his name, but the guy that gave me a ride was a one-time electric company worker who was now a preacher. He was pleased that he had made the switch from a company man to a Jesus man and now only had God telling him what to do. Good guy who, on the 11 mile ride into Hiawassee, told me about the time he spent working with the park service in the region and some of the other people he’s given rides to since he moved into the area.

I got my room at the Holiday Inn, and immediately started icing and elevating my feet. After an hour of resting I went over to a nearby Huddle House for dinner – pretty awesome to be able to order mozzarella sticks, a giant hamburger, and soda with no regrets. I came back and spent some time in the pool and spa. Amazingly refreshing and did good for the tendons/muscles. I’m spending the rest of the evening just relaxing, watched most of The Wrath of Khan on ScyFy, found a real computer here at the hotel to fix up the blog and type on a real keyboard, and probably going to check out some NBA playoffs. Looks like there might be a bit of rain again tomorrow; the goal is to do about 10 miles to a shelter, another 11 the next day, and 15 miles to the next town, Franklin, NC the day after.

I went to bed last night with both feet wrapped, and laying on a stack of pillows. That combined with the hot tub treatment really paid off. I woke up and could tell right away I was feeling better than I had probably since day 1. I took advantage of the AYCE breakfast at the Holliday Inn, checked out, and got a ride back to Dick’s Creek Gap. I actually started off with both feet still wrapped with an ace bandage but I paused to take them off after only a mile or two. Getting moving again only made them feel even better. There was still some lingering soreness and stiffness but I felt like I was flying compared to the last four days of hiking.

I don’t recall ever producing as much sweat in one day as I did today. Ended up doing 11.8 miles and over 4500 feet of total elevation gain – the sun was out but the humidity was high. An uphill focussed day was actually good for the feet too, there’s less bending at the ankle joint going uphill than there is coming down. About eight miles in, i came to a significant milestone – the Georgia / North Carolina border. One state down, 13 to go. I had been excited to get past Northern Georgia since it’s touted as one of the hardest sections, but the first two miles of North Carolina was some of the toughest climbing yet. It wasn’t as rocky and rugged as earlier sections but it was quite steep. The afternoon brought darkening skies portending of rain, and the shelter was a couple of miles down the trail. I picked up the pace, still mostly pain free, hoping to get there and stay dry. I didn’t quite make it, the rain started coming down about a mile from the shelter. I was also worried that it would be full since it’s a Saturday evening, and I had talked to about 20 people who were going to be staying at the previous Plumorchard Gap Shelter. My fears were unfounded, however. I arrived at Muskrat Creek Shelter to find only one person. Tori showed up in a couple of minutes, and DJ eventually made it as well, so we ended up with four of us. We’re hoping the forecasts are correct and this will be last rain for several days. Tomorrow should be an easier but slightly longer day.

Today was hands down the best day yet. The sun was out before I started hiking and quickly dried out the dampness left in my shirt from last evening. I was able to crank out 12 miles between 9:30 and 5. The terrain is definitely much more hospitable than it was in Georgia. There was only one real mountain to climb today and it was a gradual ascent up a wide switchbacking route, quite unlike the rolling up and down narrows of the previous week. The tendonitis is almost completely gone, the knee is nearly back to full strength as well, I feel a little tweak in it when I step on a loose rock but that’s about all. The biggest pain today was from stepping on so many roots. I think they’re from beach trees; in many sections its impossible to take a step without part of your foot landing on a root. They’re hard as rocks and always irregularly shaped. I was able to cruise right along though, the discomfort from roots was minor compared to the injuries of the previous week.

The shelter tonight is pretty quiet, and its supposed to get near freezing tonight. Getting to a town is probably the best feeling so far, but getting to camp and putting on my down jacket and wool hat has to be a close second. I remember researching gear and some people recommending against a down jacket. I’d have to say that’s crazy. So light, so warm! I sleep with it on, down jacket inside down sleeping bag, not even a chill. Easily my favorite piece of gear! Tomorrow will be a long, almost 16 mile day, but again only one real mountain, and the town of Franklin with restaurants, showers, and beds awaits at the end.

It got down around freezing as predicted and the wind was ripping through the valley as well. There wasn’t much going on at the shelter last night and I knew I had a big day coming up so I was in the sleeping bag around 8:00, while it was still quite light out. I continued reading The Simarillion on my Kindle as it grew dark. I got to sleep on e it got dark and slept pretty well. It was probably right around freezing when I woke up around 7. Very hard to get up and get going when it’s that cold outside and so warm inside the sleeping bag, I laid about a while, but nothing warms you up like getting moving, so I forced myself to crawl out of the bag. I slept in my hiking clothes so I just put on shoes and started packing. I even skipped cooking any hot food (oatmeal) because I didn’t want to stand around waiting for icy water to boil. I went for my remaining trio of oatmeal apple cream pies, but they were almost frozen too so I ate one, put the others in my pocket and set out on the trail right at 8.

The shelter was in a valley, hidden from the morning sun and the first couple of miles were shaded as well. I wore socks as gloves to keep my hands warm until I came up out of the gap. The first six miles were smooth and once I was warmed up I started making good time. I stopped somewhere along the way to eat the now body-heat warmed oatmeal pies. The big climb of the day began about five miles in. You know you’re in for a serious mountain you’re presented with a “bypass trail” option! It seems like North Carolina has fewer ups and downs, but the ups and downs are bigger and more sustained. This one was Albert Mountain, and after about 3/4 mile of rough rocky ascent along a narrow trail with a steep falloff to the right, the final 1/4 mile seemed like it was straight up. It kind of alternated between boulders, ramp, and stairs, but all were steep. The view from the top was easily the best yet on the AT. There’s a fire-tower right on the summit granting a vantage point high above the trees. Nothing but green mountains and valleys in a 360 degree arc.

After Albert I still had ten miles to cover to get to Winding Stair Gap and head into Franklin. It was a pretty uneventful afternoon, I didn’t pass or get passed by any other Northbound hikers, and saw only two other people. I spent a good amount of time considering whether or not I should take a zero day again already. On one hand a day off would hopefully wipe out the last remnants of these injuries and there’s a nice outfitter so I could upgrade some gear. I want at least one more compression sack, and maybe crocs that i can wear with socks, but they’d have to be pink – everyone thinks they’re awesome! On the other hand, I can only afford three zero days per month, and that’s assuming Katahdin stays open as late as possible and there’s no early snow. I’m leaning toward a zero now, and continuing to make up time over the long haul.

There were a couple minor climbs toward the end of the day, the last mountain felt so much longer than it actually was. When i started going downhill I started hoping to see the road or a hear a car every time I rounded a bend in the trail. Finally, there was a sign for Winding Stair Gap, but of course there was still almost 1/3 mile between the sign and the road. I made it down around 4:30, so that was 15.9 miles from Carter Gap in 8.5 hours. All I’d had to eat was three oatmeal cream pies and half a (big) bag of peanut M&Ms. I did’t know if i was going to call for a shuttle or hitchhike again, but I got super lucky because as i sat down to figure it out, three hikers emerged from the AT on the other side of the road. Two of them were just passing through but one of them owned one of the two cars at the gap and was heading to Franklin. He offered to give me a ride, and we were off. I’m staying at the Microtel Inn & Suites, and went to dinner at a Pizza Hut right next door. Had a salad and six slices of a large pan pepperoni lovers. Saw the local news while i was eating; the weather guy’s calling for another night of freezing temperatures – glad I’ll be inside for this one.

Oh, almost forgot to mention another milestone today – over the 100 mile mark! 109.8 miles down, about 2075 to go!

Not much to write about today. Went ahead with the plan to take another zero day here in town. Mostly just relaxed at the hotel continuing to rest and rehab the lingering soreness in foot and knee. I don’t think that my shoes had anything to do with the early injuries, everything was just overuse and breaking into the new terrain, but I was interested in trying out boots, especially after stepping on so many roots the last few days. Three Eagles Outfitters turned out to be just about 100 yards up the hill from where I’m staying, I tried on some boots and ended up with a pair of Oboz boots – I really like the feel of the thicker sole and added ankle support. I added a pair of freeze dried meals and a new fuel canister and I got 10% off for being a thru-hiker.

Thru-hiking clearly has its benefits (discounts, easy hitchhiking) but for me, starting this late in the season, has some drawbacks. Several of the shuttle services used by thru-hikers in these early parts of the trail only seem to operate in March and April. I called the two free services in the guidebook looking for a ride back to Winding Stair Gap tomorrow and both were a no go. Looks like Three Eagles may be able to supply the wheels though, I’m going to stop by there in the morning to inquire and if nothing else hitchhike again. I’m looking forward to the next several resupply points being right along the trail, don’t like worrying about rides back and forth.

Anyway it was a boring day, I should be super close to 100% after another nights rest. Ready to get back out there.

I ended up getting a pretty late start out of Franklin; wasn’t back on the trail until between 12 and 12:30, but the plan was to only do 11 miles or so. I was going to look for a ride out to Winding Stair around 10, but as I was checking out of the inn I met two other hikers and we decided to ride together to reduce the fare. One of the guys had not eaten yet so we planned on meeting back at the hotel just after 11 and getting a shuttle. I used the time to make one last stop by the pharmacy to pick up a knee support. The knee was still pretty stiff at night so i figured it couldn’t hurt to have along. Larry the taxi guy was a little late arriving at the hotel but he eventually showed up and delivered us to the trail.

It was a warm day – over 80 – and cloudless, I set out with new boots and my knee wrapped. Took a few minutes to get used to the bulkier and heavier shoes, but I think I made the right call. It was fantastic to be walking normally again and not limping along with half my weight on my trekking poles. I ran into DJ again, as usual passing him during the day, but ending up at the same place at night. I think this is also the third time I’ve passed Tory rather quickly on a long uphill section, but she hikes long into the evening and ends up ahead by sunset.

There was a shelter about 4 miles into the hike, and I got there about 80 minutes after starting. It was hard to believe how fast I was moving, especially since most of it was uphill. There was a second long climb later in the day – up to Wayah Bald and another lookout tower. More green, but this one provided a glimpse into the future – the Smoky’s to the northwest. Just a couple days and a couple big climbs away from entering the park, and what is sure to be one of the best parts of the trail. I spent about half an hour at the watch tower before meandering the last mile of the day downhill to the shelter. Last time I was in a shelter it was about 34 degrees and windy, tonight its a much more comfortable 65 degrees and we’re facing west and the setting sun.

I had an awesome entry all typed up on notepad, probably 500 words on this phone with my thumbs, then I hit select all and accidently hit paste instead of copy. It’s 10:30 which these days is past my bedtime so I’ll redo it tomorrow.

I was getting low on water and it was impossible to tell how much farther until the next shelter, spring, or the end of the day at Nantahala Outdoor Center. I was somewhere in the middle of what I’ve heard is the biggest climb down and up on the AT south of New England. It was about 4 miles and a 2300 foot descent over varying terrain and no landmarks along the way to mark progress by. Id already done about 12 miles before starting the big downhill and the bottoms of my feet were worn out. After thinking I must be close for 30 minutes or so I finally heard a car engine through the trees. I made it the rest of the way down the mountain, arriving at NOC around 6 after starting the day at 8:30 and doing a total of over 5500 feet downhill. The biggest day yet. I got a bunk, but was disappointed to find the bunkhouse was basically half a mile away and up more steep hills. Even the shower is located down a steep dirt path, I ended up going there towel around my neck, trekking poles in hand, wearing only running shorts and pink flip flops!

This NOC place is basically a bunch of bunkhouses and cabins with an assortment of outdoor activities – water rafting, tubing, ziplines, etc. Of course they have restaurants, I went to the River’s End for dinner. Amazing tater-tots, ice cold root-beer, ham turkey BLT sandwich for dinner. And, since I’d been craving something cold, a Cool Jewel for dessert – ice cream coated in granola/oatmeal drenched with chocolate and caramel.

Of course the long downhill of today is mirrored by an even longer climb back up the other side tomorrow. I was lucky enough to get a bunkroom with me and three empty bunks, so i should sleep well. Probably going to linger around here tomorrow and only do the 6 miles straight up, out of the valley, and to the first shelter tomorrow.

Hard to believe it’s been two weeks on the trail. I’m exactly 144 miles from Springer Mountain. Today begin with a lazy morning around the NOC, I stayed in my bag a while then finally got everything packed and headed down the hill to the restaurant just before checkout time, 10 am. After a breakfast burrito, I met DJ again and we stayed around the river for a while, got a small resupply at the general store, and checked out the outfitter. I decided to buy an inflatable camp pillow. I think of part of not sleeping well in shelters has been due to using a compression bag filled with clothes as a pillow – it kind of works but isn’t comfortable. You’d think after a long day of hiking it wouldn’t much matter what kind of pillow you had, but it just isn’t the case for me. Anyway, the one I got weighs 3 oz, and I’m laying on now typing this and it’s quite comfortable.

DJ and I were heading back up the hill to where the trail leaves the other side of NOC around 12:30 when I realized it was now lunch time and we had one last chance for real food, so we were forced to stop for a BBQ sandwich before beginning the climb. It was uphill immediately, and uphill continuously. Most of it was not exceptionally steep, just unrelenting. There was one section though, named and marked on the map – The Jump Up – it wasn’t one big step of course, rather a challengingly steep 0.2 miles or so. We finally reached the top of the mountain and knew the shelter was only a mile away and that the climbing was done. The bottoms of my feet, well mostly just the right one, were still sore so I was stopping periodically to rest and take the weight off it. Everything feels good for a mile or so after a nice break, but after log stretches of no rest it feels like walking with a marble duct taped right on the ball of your foot.

We made to the shelter, a total of only 6.9 miles, and some hikers already had a fire going. It’s a nice large shelter with a loft and theres even windows on the upper level. Someone has even made it appear as though there’s electricity by drilling a socket cover into the shelter and using a sharpie to draw the three pronged outlet onto the wood. Ran into Shakes and Captain Slow here again as well who I last saw back in Helen. Shakes got an injured knee checked out at an urgent care and they skipped about one days hiking but are back and still looking to make it all the way.

Also today i asked DI what kind of podcasts he was listening to while hiking, and he said educational stuff, which gave me an idea. I was thinking how cool it would be if you were to do an AT thru-hike and learn a language via audio at the same time. As I told DJ, “imagine getting back and telling people, ‘yea, I just hiked 2,185 miles from Georgia to Maine, and now I speak French, Bonjour.’” Don’t think it’ll happen but it sounds wicked.

It started raining again sometime during the night and when morning came it felt like the day would be reminiscent of day one back at Springer. A couple guys were even talking about doing a zero day at the shelter. No matter how wet it is though, I’ll save my zero days for towns where theres real food and real beds. I got moving shortly after 9 unsure how far i wanted to get today. Fontana Dam was about 21 miles from the shelter and I had the option of doing 15 today and a quick 6 tomorrow, or a more balanced 9 and 12.

The rain stopped just as I was leaving the shelter and within a mile I had to stop to take off the rain jacket. I ran into John around that point, I’d met him once before at Muskrat Creek. We hiked together for a few miles, he’s section hiking at least halfway through the Smokies, although tonight it sounds like he’s been talked into doing the full 70 miles through the park. Most of the day was easy going but eventually I arrived at another named section of trail, this one was Jacob’s Ladder and it felt both longer and steeper than yesterday’s Jump Up. Luckily, the shelter was not far beyond the top, and I got in early – just before 3:00.

Turns out Matt, who initially was going to take a zero, was the only one to pass me and he was already at the shelter. I was second and we had the sleeping spots along the sides of the shelter staked out. With cloudy skies and lingering threat of afternoon rain we knew the shelters would fill quickly. It’s a small shelter and sure enough it filled quickly. There was maybe one spot left when a group of six came down the hill but after some discussion they decided to continue southbound to the highway crossing where they could get a ride. So, the afternoon went by hanging out with Matt and John, as well as Sam and Jess who are also trying to make it to Maine. We traded stories about the first two weeks on the trail and looked ahead to tomorrow’s hike. Everyone’s planning on making it into Fontana where I’ll be getting a room at the inn to get everything in order before starting the Smokies on Monday. Going to need to resupply, do laundry, and have a couple real meals.

It was a packed shelter and just as on the previous night the rain began during the evening and stopped just before the day’s hike began. Matt and I both started out around 8:30 hoping to make it a quick 12 miles down the mountain and into the hotel at Fontana. It stayed foggy for the entire morning and into the afternoon meaning another day of non-evaporating sweat. The mostly downhill day was broken up by one solid mile long climb around the halfway point. I made use of my Ipod for the first time in several days and the music noticeably quickened my pace. Jon had left the shelter about at hour before us and we finally caught up to him about two miles before Fontana. Pretty good pace and mileage for being 61! While he fog began to lift it was replaced by the sound of thunder rolling in the distance. We managed to avoid the rain, but the weather still had a big impact on our day…

Matt and I had decided to split the cost of a room at the Fontana inn/resort and we were both ready for real food. The resort shuttle picked us up at the trail for three bucks and we were at the room by 2:30. We each had had a shower and were planning on ordering pizza when the lights flickered twice and power went out. The hotel initially told us that they expected power to be back sometime between 6:30 and 7:30, the pizza place was scheduled to close at 7. We also needed to do laundry and resupply at the general store. The plan was to head down the 1/4 mile to the shops around 6:30, buy with cash what we needed at the general store, hope the power came back, do laundry and order pizza. The power never came online. I got my resupply, and thankfully we found out that back at the lodge they were serving BBQ sandwiches with potato chips, on the house. We got back up there, and the first thing we asked the waitress was if there was anyway to get a second plate, even if it meant paying. There was, we paid five dollars for a second helping. It was good, but not as good or as filling as a pizza would have been. It was the first thing I’d had to eat since my meager 500 calorie breakfast at 8 am.

I got some good use out my headlamp going through the lodge tonight. I think its safe to say I’ve used it more tonight in here than the first two weeks of trail combined. It’s 9:30 and still no power. Going to have to plug in the phone and hope power comes back sometime while I sleep. Still have to do laundry before checking out the dam and heading up into the Smokies tomorrow.

Today should have been the beginning of the Smokies but it quickly evolved into an unintended zero day around Fontana Village. The power that was supposed to be back on between 6:30 and 7:30 yesterday was still not on when I woke up this morning. The original plan of getting back on the trail was based on the idea of having at least one awesome meal and getting clean, dry clothes. With the power still out it looked like that would be impossible and since there was no reliable ETA on the power I was still going to start hiking. Matt had to pick up a mail drop from the pos office which didn’t open until 11:30 – we were going to leave right after that, but while he was there the power came back on. The lodge had just put out a third free meal before the power came back, this time all you can eat bbq sandwiches. So now we had food and we could so laundry, but it was going to be nearly 2 before that was done and then we would be starting a big climb in the warm afternoon sun.

Sometime around the power coming back up we also found DJ, Sam, and Jess hanging around the lodge. They had spent the night at the nearby shelter and had already decided on taking a zero day at the village pool. I guess I should mention what this Fontana Village place is – its basically just a big resort/campground place. Theres the hotel style lodge and accompanying restaurant, then theres a general store, post office, ice cream shop, and laundromat. There are a bunch of cabins, a frisbee golf course, and a pool. All of this is located about a mile from Fontana Dam, the largest dam east of the Mississippi. The AT traverses the top of the dam itself. Anyway, the five of us ended up relaxing at the pool for most of the day. It was actually a pool and a lazy river section with tubes! Around 7 we got a shuttle from there back down to the Fontana Dam shelter on the trail and checked out the dam itself. Sadly after today i can no longer say I’ve hiked every mile of the trail. There’s a 1 mile piece between where the shuttle picked us up yesterday and where we got dropped off for the shelter today. That segment is actually under maintenance and being rerouted anyway so I have a good excuse.

I wasn’t expecting a 13.8 mile long, 4600 foot climb day to be very fun, but it turned out to be fantastic. The day began near the shores of Fontana Lake and almost immediately after crossing the dam itself the sign for Great Smoky Mountains National Park was in sight. I deposited my thru-hiker permit in the box and began the three mile climb up into the Smoky’s – what looks to be the hardest part of the entire 70 miles through the park. Less than half a mile from the permit dropbox I already stopped to catch my breath. The timing was right though because I saw a trio of black bear cubs climbing a tree about 40 yards off the trail. They were well up into the tree and ascending rapidly. There was no sign of the mother bear, but some hikers later on said they had seen her as well.

At the top of the initial long climb was another fire-tower, this one was the tallest yet, and the view was unmatched. Full 360 degree views including parts of GSMNP as well as back toward Fontana Lake. I could see the dam that i had walked across just a couple of hours earlier, now it was miles away and far below. The rest of the day felt like a normal day of hiking, but it ended up being the biggest day of climbing yet. The bottom of my right foot still gets a bit sore with high mileage, even after another zero day but it seems like I can go farther each day before I get any discomfort. For the third day of hiking in a row Matt and I arrived at a shelter just minutes before rain fell from an afternoon thunderstorm. The shelters are nicer here in the Smokies – there’s generally a fireplace (even though fires are discouraged) room for at least 12 and they all have bear cables. Several new people around today. Sam and Jess were planning on only going to the first shelter about 10 miles in and DJ is skipping the Smokies entirely. There’s one guy here complaining about having to pay $20 to hike and sleep in a national park for 7 days while carrying around an Ipad 4 in his pack. He’s actually not said much that isn’t complaining about something and apparently the federal government is always to blame. Surprisingly he hasn’t mentioned Obama by name.

It’s shortly after 7 and the thunderstorm seems to be moving on. With people saying the Smokies are one of the hardest sections of the trail, and everyone out here agreeing that today’s climb up from the dam is the hardest part of the Smokies I’m feeling pretty good about the rest of the trail. I’m hoping to get some rest tonight now that I’m back in the cool mountain air. Last night at Fontana was uncomfortably warm and humid. Tomorrow will be continuing the climb higher into the Smokies, but at a more gradual pace.

I think I forgot to mention yesterday that I entered the third state of the trail – Tennessee. For most of GSMNP the trail crisscrosses the Ten/NC border before reentering NC. There’s now less than 2000 miles to go until Katahdin!

I’ve stayed at shelters almost every day so far, but here in the park you have no other choice so they really dictate how far you hike. Today it was about 14.5 miles, and the climbing continued. No more bears today but getting up higher in elevation made for amazing scenery. There’s more grass and most of trail is lined with tiny purple flowers. The one good lookout point, Rocky Top, came a few miles into the day but there was still some lingering fog. The cumulative effects of two consecutive big climbing days began to take their toll in the afternoon. Around that same time the afternoon thunderstorms began rolling in again. I ended up only getting some sprinkles before getting to the shelter, but the wind made for a refreshing afternoon climb. I did hear what sounded like several wild turkeys very near the trail but after stopping to get the camera ready they were moving away and I never saw them. Mostly it was a long uneventful day of walking and seeing lots of trees.

Doing 14+ miles meant seeing John for the last time, but I was ready to be far away from the rest of the crowd at last night’s shelter. The younger thru hikers were the only ones to make to Silers Bald – Matt is here again, as is Westin. There’s also a pretty cool group of four college guys from Chicago doing a six day trip in the park.

At 6643 feet Clingman’s Dome is the highest point on the AT and the third highest peak east of the Mississippi – I reached the top of the observation deck on the summit shortly after 11 am. It was a relatively easy climb up from Silers Bald, most of the work was already done the previous two days. The sun had not yet managed to penetrate the clouds and fog of the night so the views were limited but still impressive. Walking the miles immediately before and after the peak were spectacular as well, like being on a movie set for Lord of the Rings or Avatar – everything covered in dense moss, condensation reflecting the light, and a cool breeze.

After Clingman’s the rest of the 12 mile day was mostly downhill with only two short climbs. Matt and I made it to Newfound Gap by 3:00 and were heading into Gatlinburg for the usual town routine and hopefully to see Star Trek. It was supposed to be pretty easy to hitch a ride, but there were already people trying not having any success. Luckily someone overheard us discussing shuttle options and offered us a free ride. He already had a shuttle coming to take him and his son part of the way back to where his car was parked, then hed drive us the rest of the way. We had to wait an hour or so for his shuttle, but it was free and we made it to town. There had been lots of talk on the trail about Gatlinburg, “the gateway to the smokies” everyone either loved it or hated it. It didn’t take long to see why it was so infamous. It’s the biggest tourist town I’ve ever seen. There’s countless hotels, restaurants, candy stores, old tyme photo shops, a Ripleys Believe It or Not, a Ripleys Aquarium, a wam museum, etc, etc. All that and no movie theatre. We got a hotel room, had dinner #1 at Five Guys – Double bacon cheeseburger with fries and Barqs red cream soda – then decided to take the trolley over to the neighboring town to see Star Trek. It turned out it took two trolley transfers and three trolleys to get to Pigeon Ford.

Pigeon Ford is even more touristy and more trashy than Gatlinburg. The first section was miles of nothing but cheap hotels and cheap restaurants and the next part was miles of cheap restaurants mingled with things like gokarts, minigolf, ferris wheels, bumper cars, and more old tyme photo shops. When we got on the last trolly I told the driver to let us know at the stop near the theatre. a couple of stops later I noticed it across the street and asked if that was it, he said yes but he had planned on waiting until he was on the other side of the street 30 minutes later to tell us. We were already 20 minutes late, but we got off there, got across the road, and found out that it was sold out. There was about four other movies worth watching but none of them started until after 10. We found a place to get a real pizza for dinner #2 before doing the epic trolly journey back to Gatlinburg. So it ended up being a three hour adventure for a pizza. On the ride back through the rows of cheap motels an automated trolly message played, “We hope you are enjoying our beautiful surroundings.” Quite different than being on the trail a few hours earlier.

The adventure of trying to see a movie last night made for a busy morning today. I needed to resupply on food, meaning a stop by the general store for breakfast and normal food then across the street to the NOC Gatlinburg store for freezedried meals. These Mountainhouse dinners are amazing – part of it is being ready for any hot food at the end of the day, but they taste almost like restaurant food. With shopping done, Matt and I left the hotel and began trying to get a ride back to the trail. These towns are supposed to be trail friendly but getting to and from them has not been easy. It was about noon and we still had to find a ride, dive 15 miles, then hike 15.5 miles. After a couple non-productive phone calls we ended up at the Grand Prix Motel which caters to hikers (read: looks like a shack) the guy there said he could get us a ride for $35 – it was basically the only option and we split the cost. While we were waiting there were some other people calling themselves hikers sharing their thoughts with us. They did have the forecast calling for 31 degree temperatures to tonight in the park, and they were telling us that someone died at Tricorner Knob Shelter of hypothermia this January. They seemed to not realize that 31 degrees was a lot warmer than it would have been in January and that I actually had clothes other than shorts and teeshirt in my pack.

The taxi came and we were back to Newfound Gap and heading out at 12:40. Just as I was starting someone donated an almost full large bag of M&Ms, they’re always worth the weight. It was extremely windy today and cool, many of the people I saw on the trail were wearing winter jackets, I was hiking with running shorts, microfiber shirt, and wool hat. It’s amazing how warm you stay as long as you keep moving. If I stopped at all in the shade or in the wind it was chilly, hiking was fine though. Much of the trail today was high up along the ridgeline and there were several places with great views. With the late start and big mileage to cover I tried to hike quickly, and ended up making good time, getting to the shelter about 7.

When I arrived I saw someone I had not seen since Helen and hadn’t expected to see again. Let’s Party (the 5000 mile girl) was here, minus the dog since they aren’t allowes in the park. I had been a bit worried about a crowded shelter due to the start of memorial day weekend, but there was plenty of room and I think everyone here is a thru hiker. It is quite cold already tonight, I added long underwear top and bottom and the down jacket to the hiking clothes. Someone managed to get a fire going in the fireplace, but I’m not looking forward to getting up tomorrow. I have no idea how people start a thru-hike in February or early March!

18.4 miles today – Smoked the smokies. It was long day, this morning seems like a long time ago. The night was cold as predicted but I think it was the best night’s sleep I’ve had at a shelter. Had my pillow inside my sleeping bag and it was zipped up and drawn up tight so there was just enough space for my eyes nose and mouth to have fresh air. The morning came and I got moving quickly, as usual the first one on the trail. It warmed up quickly and the wind from yesterday was completely gone.

Today was down, down, down – I think it was about 6500 feet total downhill. By far the most in a day so far and the longest distance day by almost two miles. Going down takes a big toll on the feet, and the best part of the day was coming to a stream crossing just after exiting GSMNP at around 16 miles. I took my boots and socks off and plunged my feet into the icy water. It felt fantastic at the time and it made walking the last two miles much easier.

The big day was designed in order to reach the Standing Bear Hostel. It’s quite a place. It’s basically a collection of wooden cabins run by a guy called Rocket. There’s several private cabins but they were all gone since its Memorial Day weekend so I got a bunk in the bunkhouse. Rocket has one little cabin as the camp kitchen where theres a microwave, stove, and pizza oven. What makes the place unique is the “store”‘cabin where Rocket has all kinds of hiker food, both to cook here and for resupply. Everything is marked with a price and you simply take what you need, and write down each item and the price on the outside of an envelope. You add a line for the bunk cost of $15, and at the end of your stay put cash in the envelope, drop it off and go. There had been some talk on the AT forums online urging people to avoid the place mostly because of Rocket. He seems alright, mostly good guy, but he’s rarely seen without a beer and cigarette in hand. He’s probably not the kind of guy you want to piss off, but he’s been fine tonight.

That reminds me I’ve been meaning to mention how many people on the trail smoke. It’s pretty amazing that people trying to wall over mountains for 2100 miles do it while smoking. Besides all the usual health stuff it seems to take up a lot of time and money for people who are often saying they don’t have enough of either.

With the Smokies done the ups and downs should start leveling off, if only slightly. Other than tired feet I felt great after 18 miles today and I’m looking forward to seeing whats possible on ‘easier’ sections of the trail.

Another 15+ mile day bringing the total to 255.9 miles. Had a nice morning at Standing Bear, went up to the supply room and grabbed a pair of Jimmy Dean Sausage muffin sandwiches for the microwave and a matching pair of Yoohoos to drink. The chocolate milk was great, hadn’t realized how much I missed that.

Hiking began with the usual long climb up from the bottom of a gap. The forest felt especially lush and dense in many places today and the weather was perfect. There was sun, but the forest was so thick the trail was almost always completely shaded. The air temperature was probably in the 60s and usually accompanied by some wind. The day was mostly climbing but usually at just the right slope where I can keep going nonstop.

Most days of climbing return rewarding views and todays reward was Max Patch. A completely treeless bald just shy of a mile in elevation, Max provided some great views of the countryside including the Smokies I just left behind. Although spectacular, it was made a little less special by the parking lot and power lines a couple hundred yards down the west side. Clingman’s Dome felt the same way – the best views are the ones that can only be earned by a nice hike. Still, it was very tempting to stay on Max Patch until sunset to see the sunset and take some pics. The shelter was only about a mile farther, but the plan for tomorrow is an 18 mile day from the shelter into Hot Springs, NC. I decided not to make a long day even longer, and went along to the shelter to get my boots off and make dinner. With only 11.7% of the trail done, there will be many more opportunities for sunrises and sunsets.

Tonight at the shelter its just me, Matt, and Jupiter. The smallest crowd at a shelter yet, and the best. I met Jupiter back at Tricorner Knob, and he’s been the only one to keep up with me and Matt. Jupiter’s just out of the army, he was in the 82nd Airborne and loved jumping out of planes. It’s really nice to have just two others to share the shelter with and no one snores. I’m actually setting the alarm for tomorrow to get an extra early start on the 18 miles into Hot Springs. Time for some zzzzz….

It was pretty nice to get started early for such a long day. I was out of the shelter by 7:30, an hour earlier than usual. Jupiter left at almost the same time, and Matt was not far behind – everyone was eager to get into town. Hot Springs has a reputation as a great trail town with excellent hostels and after the Smokies we were ready for a nice town.

It was one of those totally uneventful days of endless trees. No views to speak of, no animals, just walking. The ecology is changing though, I’m not sure if it’s because I’m getting farther north or just lower in elevation. The miles flew by in the morning, the first few were almost entirely flat, then after a couple mile long climbs there was a long four or five mile downhill. My feet were feeling better than yesterday and this downhill was some of the smoothest trail anywhere so far. No rocks, no roots, no steps, no bumps – just smooth dirt trail switchbacking down the mountain. It made for some very quick miles.

I’ve been following the 15mi/day guide that I posted more rigorously than I expected. It became clear very early on that whoever made it put a lot of thought into it and created an excellent plan. Elevation and terrain both seem to be taken into account; some days are meant to be challenging but they have all been quite possible, even while dealing with injuries and sore feet. I’m sure that if I hadn’t been following the guide I would have stopped early on several days and be well behind my current progress. Looking at today’s 18.0 miles seemed daunting on paper with the few decent climbs and long downhills, but after actually walking it getting in 18 miles makes sense.

It was still a lot of miles though, especially coming at the end of three days of 15,18,15; and my feet paid the price toward the end. I may have mentioned it before but one of the best things about Hot Springs is that it sits directly on the trail. Main Street IS the AT. It’s a small town, only about 600 people but famous among the AT community. I finally got down the last hill into town about 3:00. The last mile felt long as it paralleled the road and the sounds of civilization poured out accompanied by glimpses of houses through the trees. Once on Main Street, my destination was very close – Elmer’s Sunnybank Inn. Really more of a hostel than an inn, the building is a national historic place and was built in 1840. It was originally a farm house and today resembles a smaller version of what I think of as a plantation house. It sounds like what really sets Elmer’s apart are the meals. Normally they do dinner and breakfast, but there was some kind of special Memorial Day gathering instead of hiker dinner this evening. I do know that dinner preparation was well under way when I arrived at 3, and not served until 7. Apparently it was thai food, and the kitchen looked like a five star restaurant. All the meals are “gourmet organic vegetarian”‘utilizing vegetables from their own garden. So it all ends up being a room to myself in a historic building and a handmade gourmet breakfast all for $26. Must be why everyone likes Hot Springs.

Kirin and Liz are here tonight too – I think that’s the last of the people from back at Helen that have been ahead of me. Most of them said when they left that they thought I’d catch up once my feet were better, but I didn’t think it would be so soon. This was the last big mileage day for a while though. I think I’m going to resist the strong urge to take yet another zero day here and keep pushing onwards, albeit at a bit slower pace for now.

Ahhhhh, it was inevitable I suppose – another zero day already. I really didn’t want to, but Elmer’s is amazing and rejuvenating the feet can’t hurt. Every time I think about a zero day or take a zero day I rationalize it by saying, “I’ll make up the miles in Virginia.” Hopefully the long middle section between the start of VA and the White Mountains is as easy as it looks.

Breakfast at Elmer’s lived up to expectations. We had scrambled eggs, biscuits and gravy, and grits – all hand made from scratch by Elmer and his two man crew, all of whom are former thru-hikers. Everything was full of pepper and delicious, especially the gravy which ended up going on everything. Elmer hiked the trail back in 1976 before it was popular. Back then there weren’t really hostels, a lot of the trail went near farms and he simply met the farmers and stayed with them. Maybe 500 people hiked the trail in a year back then, today it’s more like 5,000. The two man crew are also both thru-hikers who ended up back near the trail after hiking.

I spent some time today slightly revamping my pack. With the Smokies behind me and June approaching I started to unload a bit of the cold weather clothing I have. I wore the convertible pants full length for the first two days in the rain and not since, first using them as shorts and now preferring running shorts. I’m also getting rid of one of two long sleeve shirts, a pair of boxers, a couple extra carabiners, and I got a new bag for my food supply. The one I had been using had a simple draw cord closure that left a small hole at the top – when hung on bear cables rain could fall into it. Some good improvements and some good weight reduction!

I spent some time looking online for information on my latest foot issues, pretty much what I expected. Metatarsalagia caused by overuse, often associated with a change in biomechanics. The boots I got in Franklin seemed nice in the store and for the first day or so, but they are probably just a bit loose and I developed a blister on the bottom of my right heel. The blister changed the way my foot hit the ground, I started landing harder on the ball of my foot and its stayed sore since then. The original blister long since callused but a new one came just slightly below he first one repeating the process. I should have stuck with what I had instead of changing things up. Mom’s sent my Salomon’s in the mail drop for Erwin, TN which is about four days away, but at this point I didn’t want to wait so I went looking for shoes here in Hot Springs. The outfitter only carries almost exclusively HiTec brand shoes, and the two I tried one didn’t seem to compare to standard brands. I ended up ordering a pair of super cushiony trail runners online from REI and having them sent to Erwin as well, so now when I get there I’ll have the old trail runners and the new softer ones. Can always send the new ones right back to REI. So with that I’m really eager to make it to Erwin – change the shoes, and I have my warm weather sleeping bag there as well which is about 12 ounces lighter and 1/3 the size of what I carry now. Going to be nice and light for the summer months.

Dinner at Elmer’s was ready a few minutes early so one of the guys came upstairs to get us before the bell. I made the mistake of not bringing my camera. If breakfast was a deal at $6 I feel like a thief after dinner for $10. It began with soup, all vegetables, mostly cauliflower, and shockingly delicious. Next came salad – lettuce, sprouts, a few carrots and tomatoes with Elmer’s house dressing that tasted slightly like peanut butter. The main course was a Chinese/Mongolian dish with white rice and a brown sauce loaded with more vegies – brocolli, mushrooms, water chestnuts, green beans, etc. Finally there was key lime pie served with hot peppermint tea. I don’t think I ever thought a meat free meal could be that good. The whole thing is completely family style, sit around the table meal time. Elmer even provides topics of conversation with questions like, “if you could have been a fly on the wall to witness any single event in history where would you be?” (I went with Apollo 11 landing on the moon) We started talking about Elmer’s cooking and someone asked if there was tofu in the asian dish. He said there wasn’t, paused for a second, and said, “but for those who were here for breakfast – those eggs were half tofu.” Everyone was stunned, the eggs had been amazing, none of us would ever have even guessed there was anything besides real eggs. Beyond the food, there’s no question this is the best place yet on the trail and I don’t know what could top it. Every other place has been either a hotel or a “hostel” with a bunkhouse – Elmer’s is so much more. There’s newsletter Elmer publishes periodically, the most recent one includes a letter from a previous thru hiker that describes it better than I can:

“First of all: Thank You! I cannot express to you deeply enough my grattitude to you and your staff at Sunnybank! What you do is truly amazing and after hiking the entire trail I can appreciate it even more. You do not simply provide a bed and a shower for hikers (which you know is amazing in and of itself), you provide a true sense of home for people who do not have one, at least not in the traditional sense. You make people feel welcome in your home, you feed them a delicious home-cooked meal, and engage them in wonderful conversation; you give people a space to connect, to laugh or think or play music, to relax and read a good book, or watch a movie with friends. You give hikers that thing that many of us miss so dearly while being on the trail: a home. Thank you so much! Never stop doing what you do and always know how important it is.

• Smiley and Blackfoot”

I was thinking how amazing it is to find Elmer’s Sunnybank Inn as the next stop along the trail right after Standing Bear. They are so proximate in mileage and so disparate in characteristics. Standing bear has Rocket – smoking, drinking, and making making money hand over fist as he sells frozen pizzas and hamburgers and space in the bunkhouse. Sunnybank has Elmer, one time Duke professor of eastern religions, spending four to six hours a day in the kitchen crafting gourmet vegetarian meals and charging nothing beyond what he needs to stay open. Polar opposites, both unique, and both completely a part of the Appalachian Trail experience.

So I guess this was indeed the place for one more zero day. It looks like my journal entries on zero days continue to be longer than on hiking days. The trail is usually just a lot of time alone, walking through the woods, an endless sea of trees. There doesn’t end up being much to write about out there, but the towns and hostels are all different, always new experiences.

Elmer started the day with fresh waffles served with strawberry puree and sugarcane syrup. Meals at Sunnybank take quite a while, everyone is at the table talking long after eating is done. I had done all my packing the night before so when breakfast did finish I was ready to get rolling. The trail out of Hot Springs goes along a small river for about 3/4 mile the turns and begins climbing back into the mountains. The sun and humidity were at work creating an uncomfortably hot and sweaty day. The first big hill was actually the worst; later in the day the wind picked up and I got back to higher elevation.

The whole day was only 11 miles but it felt much longer. Coming off a zero day means being well rested but it also means not being in hiking mode. In addition this is the longest stretch yet between resupplies so the pack was quite heavy with enough food for dinner tonight, three full trail days, and breakfast for the day heading into Erwin. There was one decent view today, another lookout tower, this one on Rich Mountain. A neighboring cell tower interrupted the landscape but there was a large hawk flying nearby.

Strider (formerly Matt) and Jupiter had both, separately planned on going beyond Spring Creek today. It wasn’t long up the first hill before Strider changed his mind, and by the 11 mile mark Jupiter was done for the day to. Once again the 15 mile/day guide was spot on. It looked like it was going to be the three of us again at the shelter, but a new face showed up late. Crank arrived and told us he started at Springer on May 12. Everyone along the trail who I’ve told I started May 4th has said something like, “wow you’re flying” and Crank is almost 33% faster than that. I think he’s he first person I’ve met that started after me though.

More sun, more heat, more mountains tomorrow.

There’s now 300.3 miles of trail between me and Springer mountain. Hard to believe it’s been almost a month already, the days go by pretty quick. The daily routine of wake up, pack, hike, unpack, eat, sleep has become ordinary; the 15+ mile days less intimidating.

Firescald Knob was the featured climb of today’s 15.7 miles. In addition to the cool name, Firescald provided views of something I hadn’t seen before from the AT – flat land. The trail is still following the NC/TN border so looking west from the ridge the Tennessee Valley was visible a few miles down the mountainsides. Lots of farms stretched out across the valley floor, a far cry from the tree covered mountains dominating every other AT biew to date. The terrain coming down from the ridge was rocky, more like climbing boulders than walking trail in places. A few rocks were big enough that I had to take off the trekking poles and kind of slide down. Those extra treacherous sections have been pretty small and relatively infrequent. It transitioned back to normal terrain shortly and the mile before Jerry Cabin was probably the smoothest, flattest mile yet.

I think I’m going to be changing my trail name from Raven to Rylu. I’ve been hearing for most of the trail that there is another Raven. This other Raven is just a few days ahead, and a girl about 25, from Germany. It would be one thing if someone else weeks ahead was Raven, but some of the northbound hikers have met her, and most of southbounders have, so the most common response I get when I say I’m Raven is, “there’s another Raven, and she’s hotter” No one can come up with anything better for me, so Rylu it will be. Doesn’t really mean anything in particular, just a name I created so hopefully no one else has this one. Hopefully I’ll be able to update the blog graphics at some point.

Even with relatively long, almost 16 mile days there is a lot of extra daylight to spare. I’m so accustomed to Arizona’s lack of daylight savings time that I’m still getting used to having good daylight past 8 and no darkness until after 9. Still three weeks until the summer solstice too. I took an extra long break at lunch today in the middle of the big climb, about 45 minutes, and still finished the day by 5 o’clock. My feet felt better at the end of the day than they have in a long time. The zero day at Hot Springs, low miles yesterday, and long midday rest all seem to have helped.

The first climb of the day came immediately out of camp – Big Butt Mountain. I realized after talking about Firescald Knob that I haven’t mentioned too many places by name. There are certainly a lot of unique names along the AT. Another memorable one was Chunky Gal Trail somewhere back near Georgia. Big Butt was pretty average and lacked any kind of views. Coming down from there the trail joined up to a gravel road for a mile and a half making for some quick walking. After a small hill there was about three miles of relatively flat, smooth ground – I flew through that part moving about as quick as I have the whole trail. The last big section of the day was a three mile long climb to Frozen Knob. Basically, the day began at about 4200 feet and ended at about 4200 feet, but dipped down to 2900 feet. One big day of PUD (pointless up and downs).

Near the end of the day, back in the lush high-elevation vegetation the trail was almost thick with butterflies. Blue and black, they would stay in the same general area even as I passed through, flying in groups of two or three straight up then returning downward. Other than the butterflies there wasn’t much to see again today. I saw only one southbound hiker today in almost 15 miles. At Hogback theres a total of four people, myself, Strider, Sir Stooge, and an older guy camping a ways away. Feet still feeling better than they have, but I’m still looking forward to Erwin. Still two more days to get there, luckily the foodbag and backpack are getting lighter every day.

I’m finally tenting again tonight, the same group of four from Hogback all ended up here at Whistling Gap. The 15mi plan showed a short 10 mile day today and then a 17 mile day full of downhill tomorrow. Even with a slow, lazy 9:30 start and taking my time the 10 miles to Bald Mountain Shelter was done by 2:30. Strider was there and ready to spend the night but I was pretty set on knocking off three miles and one of the big downhill sections today in order to get into Erwin earlier. He packed up and came along to the campsite where we found Sir Stooge and Rusty already set up. Very glad I got those miles done tonight – 13.5 into town sounds a lot nicer and leaves more time for eating and shopping than a 16.5.

There were some pretty neat places today, most notably Big Bald. It took some climbing to get to but at 5500 feet was worth the effort. The view didn’t quite compare to Max Patch a few days ago but it was similar. It was easily the longest stretch of trail yet outside the shadow of the forest. My favorite view was actually looking back at Big Bald once the trail started down the other side. Half the mountain was all grass and half had trees, wooden beams dotted the mountain, sticking up with white blazes to mark the AT.

I’m definitely getting the hang of the food supply. The once heavy food bag from Hot Springs seems like it will be almost perfectly empty after tomorrow morning, probably one pack of Ramen left. Town food is much more exciting but here’s a sample of stuff from my bag from Hot Springs: A bag of sandwich rounds, 2 small cans of shredded chicken, pepperoni, peanut butter, a mountain house dinner, 3 ramens, about 5 peanut butter crackers, gummi bears, gummi worms, a box of nutrigrain bars, a couple Snickers and Almond Joys, and several oatmeal cream pies. I’m probably forgetting something too. I did really like making pepperoni sandwiches with the rounds, and I started using little packets of drink flavoring for the Nalgene bottle. Nice to have something other than regular water from time to time – fresh mountain spring water is pretty good though.

Going to try to get into Erwin pretty early tomorrow. It’s one of the bigger towns yet and there’s a Mexican food place. It’s been 30 days since I’ve had anything Mexican, even chips and salsa. Even though Elmer’s vegetarian cuisine was delicious I’m very ready for three meals in a row of regular restaurant eating!

One month complete! 341.5 miles, 15.6%. 26 hiking days, 4 zero days. Of course, it was a wet and rainy day just like day one was a month ago. It started raining around midnight but stopped for most of the night. When I woke up and popped my head out of the tent around 6:45 Sir Stooge and Rusty were already gone. I tried to take advantage of the current lack of rain, packed quickly, ate quickly, and started off. Strider seemed to still be asleep.

I had been thinking about how I kind of missed Georgia, at least the weather – cooler temperatures, with more clouds and fog. Today provided all of that and it was pretty refreshing. The rain started about halfway through the 14 mile descent into Erwin. It started slowly and gradually picked up, eventually becoming an all out downpour just as I reached town. I was completely soaked, it was too warm for a rain jacket, but it felt amazing after days of hot, humid hiking. I came across two turtles along the wet trails, black with orange lines in their shells and good sized – about the size of two clinched fists. There was a spot on the way into town with good views of the river, valley, and town below; low clouds lingered in the mountains.

As usual I had pretty bad luck in town. The one hostel that’s actually on the trail only had space in the bunkhouse again, cabins were full; and it’s Sunday so most of the things in town are closed. They did provide us a shuttle to a nearby Wal-Mart with neighboring Mexican restaurant. Talked about it yesterday, and it turned out to be the only option tonight. Sir Stooge, Jupiter, Strider and I all at there and got a few things at Wal-Mart including a pint of Ben and Jerry’s each for dessert and some Krispy Kremes for breakfast.

I got my first maildrop from home here at Uncle Johny’s Hostel – lots of awesome jerky, chex mix, smaller & lighter sleeping bag, etc. I have three pairs of shoes here to tonight, and after trying out the ones I ordered from REI, I was instantly in love. Feels like walking on pillows after the boots and each foot is about a pound and a half lighter. I had started getting another new blister low on the outside of my left heel, it was making it hard to step heel first again in the boots. In the new shoes I could stand with my full weight on that heel alone and felt fine. Hopefully after a month I’m finally set on shoes, especially looking at the next few days. The plan is to do 17 miles tomorrow and 15.6 the next, both with over 5000 feet of climbing. May be the toughest two day combo yet but after that the trail levels off significantly.

Wooooo! New shoes! 17 miles, ups, downs, I was going faster than ever, and for the first time on a 14+ day I felt like i could easily keep going. Still slightly sore feet, but what I was having before was more than just soreness, the ball of foot and big toe would be kind of numb, after 17 miles in these guys there’s none of that. What had looked to be a difficult day went by quickly, I think I felt like Barry Bonds stepping up to the plate and taking a home-run swing at the first pitch right after removing all the bat weights – each foot was probably a pound and a half lighter and I actually had some cushion. They’re La Sportiva Wildcats, almost seems closer to a road running shoe than a trail shoe, just with extra traction on the sole.

The great day went beyond the shoes though. The landscape changed rapidly and frequently today beginning at under 1500 feet and reaching over 5100. What began as the standard appalachian forest changed instantly to what seemed like a much drier section of mostly shrub like plants as soon as I crossed Indian Grave Gap. The ground was sandy, and the trees were scarce in that section, but as I climbed out of the gap the regular forest returned. The big finale for the day was Unaka mountain, a 1.5 mile climb gaining 1066 feet, and summit at 5180. It was a surprisingly smooth climb capped off by a dense grove of spruce trees on the summit. There was basically nothing else up there other than the bed of fallen brown pine needles, bright green moss coating the roots and lower part of the trunks and the tall spruces. It all amounted to a unique place, and the most interesting place I’ve seen on the trail. The pictures taken with the phone don’t come to capturing it – the trail disappeared in the pine needles, instead the frequency of white blazes jumped dramatically in order to navigate through.

Cherry Gap is a few miles down the other side of Unaka, Strider and I are here with an older section hiker who grew up right in this area. He seems like he’s done a good bit of the trail, he said he’s been hiking since ’88 or something. That didn’t stop us from getting a kick out of his bear bagging method. He tied his food hanging bout an inch from a fallen tree leaning at an angle on another tree – seems like anything that is interested can use the downed tree as a ramp and get to the food. Still it’s much better company than what would have been at the first shelter of the day. We stopped to rest there and found a couple guys who are apparently basically living there for now. One was an older guy – fat, long hair, loose cotton shirt, who said he’d been in prison; the other college aged, but dropped out of school to “hike the trail” which seemed to mean live at this one shelter and get high. Easily the strangest people yet, and the first time I would have found somewhere else to camp if that had been my destination. There were a couple others from the hostel that I didn’t really care to see again and these couple of 16+ mile days of big mountains will likely see to that. I will miss Jupiter and Sir Stooge who both had to get off the trail temporarily – Jupiter for a wedding and Sir Stooge to go meet some friends or something.

Also, there’s an owl hooting somewhere in the woods tonight!

The three of us at Cherry Gap were all in sleeping bags ready to sleep, it was after 9 and the last light was fading when someone new showed up at the shelter. I didn’t find out until morning but he goes by High King. The first thing he did was light a cigarette, then spent easily 30 minutes messing around outside with his headlamp on before finally going to bed. Luckily, those are the type that are easy to leave quickly behind, he was only planning on about six miles today.

I had that covered by about 11, the first part of a big day. The first 12 miles were pretty standard, multiple small ups and downs, but the last 4.5 was the big climb up to the Roan Highlands. It was long but mostly reasonably graded, the exception being the final mile to the summit. The climb was made more enjoyable by some of the best forest scenery yet. Dense green all around, at higher elevation the spruce forest reemerged. The Roan Shelter is in the spruce area, and it is the highest shelter on the AT and the last place before New Hampshire over 6000 feet. The shelter is rather upscale, complete with a fourth wall, windows that close, a second story loft and a door. The company tonight is a church group, a couple teenagers, a college age guy, some parents. They have the loft, Strider and I are downstairs. The church group had a fire going which is nice as it’s pretty cold this high up.

Feels amazing to have knocked off back to back 5000+ foot climbs and be almost to Virginia. 32 days in and the next day that looks like it will be as tough as these two is close to 500 miles away. Even these days didn’t seem too bad, especially without those boots! Strider and I are looking forward to catching up to DJ again and meeting Raven. I got a text from DJ and apparently he met her, told her that I had been going by Raven. At the same shelter where I had lunch had turned on my phone to see DJs message I checked the logbook and Raven signed it, “the real and only Raven.” We figure we’ll catch them in a few more days, haven’t seen anyone else doing 16+ miles/day through this section.

Some people say that the Roan Highlands are the most spectacular part of the entire Appalachian Trail; I still have about 1800 miles before I can say that, but today surpassed everything between Springer and here. Grassy balds filled the landscape and the trail traversed several of them on its way North. The first was Round Bald, then came Jane Bald providing a look back at Roan High through the morning mist. The fog that had been lingering began to dissipate while I was on Jane Bald and more distant hills became visible that moments ago were barely noticeable as outlines through the clouds. It felt like one of the coolest places yet, but it was just a foreshadowing of the next several miles. There was one more bald, Grassy Ridge, before the trail temporarily reentered the forest. I stopped for lunch at one of the shelters in this woody section, dining on one peanut butter covered bagel and a second filled with copious amounts of pepperoni.

Shortly after lunch the trail remerged from the woods at the base of Little Hump Mountain. Another sea of grass blowing in the breeze all the way to the summit a mile and a half farther along the trail. By now it was afternoon, and the day was mostly sunny along the trail, but clouds were visible all around, some white and puffy, others ominously dark and drenching a neighboring peak in rain. With the temperature in the low 60′s the weather and the backdrop were perfect. On the way down Little Hump the trail once again entered the woods but only briefly, the real prize of the day could be seen from the other end of the forest path – Hump Mountain. Immediately upon exiting the woods I could not only see the mountain, but the entire path of the AT ascending up the side. It’s the first time I’ve really been able to see where I’m going ahead of time, and the mountain and landscape were magnificent. Coming out of the woods right there and seeing that mountain made it clearer than ever that hiking the AT was completely amazing. The climb to the top was interrupted only by frequent stops to take pictures, sadly I was too slow drawing the camera when a wild turkey walked across the trail on the way up the bald and then flew away. More views back across the Roan Highlands awaited at the summit, grassy balds, forest covered mountains, distant thunderstorms, grass rolling sideways in the wind.

From there I had a long climb down from the highlands to US Highway 19, where there’s The Mountain Harbor Hostel 0.3 miles west, near the town of Roan Mountain. In case the day wasn’t awesome enough with relatively small total climbing, awesome weather, and great views, it also marked the end of my time in North Carolina. Two states down!

Had an awesome dinner at a local wood fired place, now tonight at the hostel we have another trail winner. Got a guy probably about 60, who says he’s a nurse discussing politics and giving out “medical advice.” Strider came in nursing a sore calf, and the guy offered him some kind of bengay type cream, which is all good, but then kept saying, “man I hope its not your ACL, you’ll be done for.” Strider told him it was his calf not his knee, but the guy continued with talk about knee ligaments. Right now he’s telling another guy he worked at the hospital where Obama claims to have been born as a trauma nurse and he personally had access to all their medical records, and that he “checked the ledger” and Obama wasn’t born there! “Guess that guy from New York was right, what was his name?” Neither one could come up with Donald Trump. Quite a day. I wish I could pull all dozens of pictures from my real camera for today, this will have to do for now.

Elmer’s dinner has yet to be beaten, but his breakfast has been surpassed. Mary of the Mountain Harbor prepared an amazing array of dishes – tomato pie, eggs, crispy bacon, cinnamon roles, a fruit salad, puffs with eggs and ham, and most delicious of all french toast. The french toast was made with real french bread crispped on the outside to a golden brown, still soft on the inside, and served with an amazing sauce combining real maple syrup, diced pecans, and a hint of butter. Great way to finish off a good stay at Mountain Harbor.

Yesterday featured mountain balds, today it was streams and waterfalls. It was super nice to not have a huge mountain or two in the middle of the day – there was a small hill to start the day and another just before Moreland Gap but in between was the smoothest sailing yet. I think there were three decent waterfalls today, the largest was Jones Falls, 0.2 miles down a blue blazes side trail. Not too far after Jones I came around a bend in the trail and saw two deer on the trail about 30 yards ahead, they heard me coming and bolted into the woods. The trail was soft and often muddy from last night’s rain and there was a stretch of almost a mile with clearly visible deer tracks imprinted into the AT.

Just incase walking on flat terrain wasn’t magical enough, I came across a nice wooden bench sitting right on the side of the trail overlooking the only vista of the day. There are usually plenty of fallen trees or rocks to sit down on, but a real bench was magnificent. I chilled there for about 15 minutes before continuing. More magic was in store just ahead, my first actual trail magic in fact. The trail led down along a creek, and sitting on the hand rail of the little wooden bridge was a cold Coor’s Light. There was a sign for a hostel near the trail along the creek, so it looks like they were trying to entice hikers with a little refreshment. It was too early in the day for a hostel, but cold drinks are always good.

It started raining tonight after getting into Moreland Gap. Strider is here as usual, and we have Pockets with us tonight. Not sure if I’ve mentioned him before, but he is a cool guy we met back at the Sunnyside Inn in Hot Springs. Another of the recently retired hiker sort, but this guy can move. He did 20 miles in a day up the hardest parts of the climb into Roan Highlands. Until now I haven’t seen him much on the trail, but Strider and I have hung out with him in towns and at the hostels.

It ended up being the longest mileage day yet, 18.9. Also hit the 400 mile mark, now 410.5 at day’s end.

The rain that started yesterday evening continued through the night and into the morning. It’s always a little extra challenging to become fully awake and get out of the cozy sleeping bag on days like today with gray skies and drizzle.What made it okay, though, was knowing that because we had decided to go above and beyond the 15/day plan yesterday in order to make it to the shelter because of the weather, we had an easy day today. It was only six miles to the road that led to the next hostel near the town of Hampton, TN. I had even called ahead this time to reserve a cabin.

The six miles were easy miles too. The light rain continued during the hike, it was actually refreshing, and knowing that at the end of the day there’s going to be a washer and more importantly a drier available makes it completely tolerable. Getting rained on hiking is pretty cool, starting the next day with still soggy clothes isn’t. It felt like I was walking through a rain forest today, the plants at the lower elevation are thick and bright green and dripping with water, the trail muddy. The six miles flew by and before I knew it I was at the road Black Bear Hostel 1/2 a mile west. I had barely started on that 1/2 mile when a pickup truck stopped and offered an unsolicited ride up to the place. I got in back and was there in seconds instead of minutes.

Strider was already there, as was Pockets. Pockets had told us he was planning on doing another big day, but he said that because of the rain the thought of staying at a cabin was too good to pass up. I unloaded my gear and got a couple of cold sodas. The rain stopped shortly after I arrived and the sun even came out for a while. All three of us ended up spending most of the day playing a game of RISK on the porch of one of the cabins. Our playing was only interrupted by the shuttle into the town where we stopped at the general store for resupply and McDonalds (there wasn’t much choice) for dinner. We brought it all back to Black Bear, devoured it, and tried to finish our game of RISK, but after six plus hours there was still no winner.

Pockets talked Strider and I into slackpacking tomorrow. For 10 bucks each we get to leave all of our gear (except the essentials – water bottle, camera, cliff bar) here for the day. Then we hike 15 miles over the last significant mountain before Virginia, telephone back here, and they deliver our packs back to us along the trail. Pretty exciting to think about how amazing it is going to feel walking the trail without a 26-30 pound backpack! It’s raining again tonight, but it’s supposed to clear up by tomorrow. Should be a good day for my first slackpack!

Ahhhhhh slackpacking! Could be the best ten dollars I’ve spent. Hiking without the pack was incredible, it felt odd at first, like a part of me was missing, but everything was so much easier. The first part of the day was down from the road to Hampton to Laurle Falls, and a nice stretch of trail along the river. For a few feet the trail became part of the cliff wall right along the river, just inches from the water. Most importantly, we got to do Pond Mountain pack free. All I was carrying for the 3.5 mile climb and most of the day was my camera and a 20 ounce gatorade bottle, and a cliff bar, even left the trekking poles with the pack. Strider, Pockets, and I all regrouped near the stream on top of the mountain to have ‘lunch’ (cliff bar) and refill on water. Just a ways down from there we saw a guy running up the hill – nearly at the top of his 3 mile+ climb, and not even out of breath. A little while later he passed us as he was going back downhill, I was kind of inspired, and thought I’d take advantage of my lack of pack and give it a try. A couple weeks ago I was gingerly stepping down every rock step, and even a week ago many steps were painful, now i started running downhill. It was a blast, I was surprised how it was almost easier to avoid stepping on rocks and roots running downhill at full speed than it was when walking. Maybe someday I’ll try it uphill too…

We eventually made it to Wilbur Dam Road, Strider was the first one there and called back to Black Bear to have them deliver the packs. About 30 minutes later, we had to face the agonizing reality that it was time to put on a 30 pound pack again and climb the last 4.7 miles to Vandeventer. The first few minutes readjusting to the pack were brutal, five hours without it and I wondered how I had made it up and down so many mountains with it on. Luckily it didn’t take too long to return to backpacking form. Even though it was the hottest part of the day, the last few miles went by quickly.

The shelter tonight is an old one, but in pretty good shape. I was built back in 1961, and it has a decent view back to Watuaga Lake which we hiked near earlier in the day. Neat day – slackpacking is a definite win and I’ll be ready to do i again anytime, the sun being out and staying dry all day was a nice plus too. Only two days from Virginia now!

Today was 14.7 easy, uneventful miles. Someone mentioned that this section of trail leading into Damascus is called the Damascus Highway, and it sure felt like it after today. I started around 10 and was done for the day about 3, so about 20 minutes per mile.

I spotted a pair of deer on the trail just about 0.1 mile before the shelter where I stopped for lunch. This time they stopped and looked for a while before running off, but it was still difficult to get a photo. A couple hours later I found three more deer, this time just a couple hundred yards before where the trail crosses TN 91. These three were off the trail a ways and stayed around quite a while after they detected me. On the other side of the road the trail crossed through a farm for about a mile, for one stretch I was walking just a couple dozen yards from a herd of cattle grazing in the field with no fence separating us. Other than the deer and the cows there wasn’t much to see today. Had another afternoon rainstorm, but I had made it the shelter just minutes before it started coming down. Mostly the same crowd as last night, me, Strider, Pockets, and a new addition of Nomad. It’s the last night we’ll see Pockets – he’s heading back home to Florida from Damascus. Nomad started on April 24th at Springer but was off the trail for 12 days. He said the first month was kind of a trial run to see if he was going to do the whole thing. He decided to go for it so he had to go back home, quit his job, take care of some other stuff, then get back on.

This sounds strange but until last night I hadn’t actually counted how many days there were until the October 15 deadline for Katahdin. I’d kind of just been figuring based on five months plus a few days. Turns out that October 15th would be trail day #166. So I probably have slightly more time than I thought. The 15 mile/day plan takes 148 hiking days, so I’m feeling better about the four early zero days. Over 21% complete and entering Virginia tomorrow.

Another record setting day distance wise and the biggest mental milestone yet – the Tennessee/Virginia border. It’s kind of the unofficial 1/4 mark because Harper’s Ferry in WV is the half way point and Virginia is about 1/4 of the whole trail length. The next time I enter a new state I will be balf way to Katahdin. t felt amazing to get to that sign about 16 miles into the day. Of course I was up early since it’s a town day, on the trail about 7:15. It rained steadily all night it seemed like, it was coming down every time i woke up which was fairly frequently, and it was still raining when I woke up. By the time I was packed though it had mostly stopped. I waited as long as I could then quickly switched into my damp hiking shirt and set off. Pockets was not far behind, Strider and Nomad were still asleep.

The early mornings on town days are really nice for hiking, I kind of wish I had the motivation to get up earlier more often. It’s much cooler in the morning, the forest is wet and glistening in the morning light. Today it meant finishing 19 miles before 2:30, many other days it could mean doing a big climb before the afternoon heat or getting to camp before an evening thunderstorm. I saw yet another deer today, but much more exciting was seemingly getting attacked by a partridge. I was walking along, listening to my Ipod at the time, when out of no where the brown chicken like bird sprang squaking out of the underbrush right next to the trail and ran right at me full speed. It was just feet in front of me then did a 180 and bolted down the trail in front of me. Pockets was just mentioning the partridge last night at the shelter, telling us how they will try to distract would be predators away from their nests and young.

I got to tell him about my encounter before the day was over as we were leapfrogging each other throughout the 19 miles into town. Pockets says he can only keep up with me and Strider by starting early, but he hikes just as fast as I do, and can go longer without resting as far as I can tell. One of the strongest hikers out here, and unmatched for anyone over 40 that I’ve seen. Strider and I had some good days with him since Hot Springs, and today pockets capped it off by letting us resupply out of his car that he had parked here in Damascus. He had all his 1/2 used maildrops from his section hike – a total of 6 Mountain House dinners, oatmeal cups, drink mixes, breakfast bars, all kinds of stuff for the five days between here and Atkins. Much appreciated, Pockets! Thanks!

Staying at Dave’s Place, a hostel in town, tonight. A bit different than most hostels so far in that I have a room to myself, but it’s still just a bunk with a foam mattress pad. (No sheets etc, gotta use sleeping bag). Still good to be indoors where clothes actually get fully dry and there’s a hot shower nearby. Damascus is a neat town, another true trail town in that the AT goes right down Main Street. This is where Trail Days is hosted each year, a big hiker get together in May to celebrate the AT. It was just a few weeks ago and this year during the parade a former thru-hiker had a heart attack while driving a truck and plowed into the crowd hitting about 50 people, many currently hiking the trail. Had lunch and dinner at the Blue Blaze Cafe – Chicken Parmesan for lunch and a cajun burger with blue cheese for dinner. While Strider and I were eating dinner DJ showed up, we finally caught him thanks to his zero day here in town. Its actually been three weeks since we saw him, but it feels like much less. Time flies out here now that I’m in the hiking routine. Sadly Raven didn’t take a zero as well, but DJ says she was planning on only doing about 8 miles, so that puts us 1/2 day behind. Now rumor has it that there is another Strider on the trail only a few days ahead…

It’s been two full weeks since the last zero day all the way back in Hot Springs and still going strong. With so many of the town stops featuring hostels with only bunkrooms (only a small upgrade from the trail) I’m planning on waiting to take the next zero somewhere with a real hotel. So while Damascus didn’t really tempt me with a zero it was a nice little trail town. Two things it had in abundance were churches and bike shops. When I was on the way through the far side of town and back to the trail I found out why there were so many bikes: theres another major trail running through Damascus, the Virginia Creeper trail. I don’t know how long it is, but its a nice bicycle path, all gravel and dirt, but smoothly graded. Twice during the day the AT actually joined with the Creeper for a few tenths of a mile. The first merging was temporary, the result of a washed out bridge on the AT and resulting detour. The second was longer and a permanent part of the AT.

The first day in Virginia was uneventful; mostly a prelude to the Grayson Highlands section that begins tomorrow. There were a couple good climbs today, two of which many AT hikers skip by staying on the Creeper trail for 10 miles instead of going up and down the mountains the AT takes you over. As usual I found the most beautiful parts of the forest today to be the higher elevation ones. Towards the end of the day there was lots of flowing water along the trail, rocks and logs were covered in thick moss, the canopy and undergrowth were dense; even though the sun was out the trail was very dark.

There were quite a few perfect camp spots in the immediate vicinity of the shelter tonight and quite a few hikers at the shelter so I’m tenting. There was still room left inside, but I’m starting to like the idea of tenting more often for a little more privacy and quiet. There’s a group of three middle aged guys here section hiking and they are absolutely loaded with stories about their previous trips and apparently like nothing better than sharing them endlessly. They’ve been doing random hikes all along the east coast for 20 years, and they had some good stories, such as when someone they were with had chaffed legs and mistakenly rubbed hand sanitizer all over the raw skin. They’ve been at it for almost three hours now though.

Before I left Damascus I made another change in my gear/pack – I got rid of my water bladder and hose and replaced it with a second Nalgene bottle. I had been carrying to much water, often not refilling at all during the day even though I’d pass six to ten or more water sources. Also, when the bladder did need filling It requires almost totally unloading the backpack to access it, and it was hard to tell how much water was left until it was empty. Now I can carry two liters, down from four, but it’s all outside my pack. No hose means I have to stop to drink, but there’s something nice about gulping down huge mouthfuls out of a wide bottle anyway. Many former thru-hikers online said they made the same move during their hike, I always thought that having a hose would be irreplaceable even after reading their comments, but now bottles seem like the way to go. One day down, don’t regret it yet.

Setting up a tent at the shelter was pretty sweet, especially since it didn’t rain during the night. Distant thunder did wake me up pretty early though but I’m liking early mornings more and more. The three section hikers had a fire going, but I was ready to hit the trail.

It turns out that today didn’t actually include any of Grayson Highlands State Park, but it was still an another amazing day. The big climb came early, three miles up to Whitetop Mountain. It was still overcast and the air was cool but by the halfway point I was as soaked in sweat as i have been yet. Nothing evaporated at all, it seemed like 95% humidity. It was pretty clear why it’s called Whitetop when I came out of the woods onto the bald summit – I was walking in a cloud. On balds and above tree lines the white blazes marking the trail appear on rocks and signposts rather than trees and are usually more frequent. Usually I’ve been able to see the next five blazes or so on a bald, in this cloud I couldn’t see one beyond twenty feet. The blazes weren’t needed though, the trail itself was always clear on the ground. A fierce wind was whipping across the summit as well, combined with the soaking wet clothes I felt cool but surprisingly refreshed.

After the descent from Whitetop and a small lunch it was time for Mount Rogers, the highest peak in Virginia. It was actually a shorter and easier climb than Whitetop thanks to a higher starting elevation. About 3/4 of the way up through the wooded mountainside the trail came near to the open fields and there were wild ponies both in the forest and out grazing in the field. Several had young ones with them too. They were all completely calm, one was particularly eager to lick any piece of sweaty gear or body part. She would even follow me around trying to lick as I tried to visit the other ponies. When I finally decided to keep going down the trail I thought she was going to follow all the way to camp.

From that spot it was probably less than two miles to the Mount Rogers summit trail. The AT doesn’t actually go to the summit, and multiple sources had said that the summit wasn’t worth it due to complete lack of view. It was still early in the day, and the summit trail was only half a mile so I decided to climb it. Even if there’s no view I’ve still climbed Mount Rogers and been to the highest spot in Virginia now. I stashed my pack and poles behind a tree a little ways behind the T trail junction, grabbed my camera, and took off. People were right about the lack of view – the summit is a pile of rocks in the middle of a spruce forest – but it only took about 25 minutes so I’d say it was worth it. Thomas Knobb was just a couple tenths down the AT when I got my pack back on and the best view of the day is probably right here behind the shelter looking out across a valley and to distant mountains. It was only about 12.5 miles today so I got in early and had most of the afternoon to relax. The sun came out making the view even better and all my stuff is actually going to be dry tonight.

It was about as windy all night long at Thomas Knob as it was on the summit of Whitetop. There was no rain, but I woke up a couple times during the night during strong gusts. I was awake pretty early, but it was difficult to get out of the sleeping bag, it looked and felt cooler than it really was, and it was going to be a short 11 mile day so I had time to spare. I ended up starting around 8:30 and with my rain jacket on to break the wind. It was still overcast but it was warm enough that once I started moving the jacket didn’t last long.

Less than a mile down the trail there was another group of ponies where the forest gave way to open meadows. There were at least a dozen in the area, more young ones, some even smaller than yesterday. Just up the trail from the ponies there was a very short side trail to a rock outcropping with amazing views across Jefferson National Forest. Climbing up on the rocks to get the best views meant standing fully exposed to the still raging wind. Clouds were rolling rapidly across the sun, the whole valley would fall in and out of shadow several times a minute. I waited quite a while hoping someone else from the shelter would show up to get some pictures. Nomad did show up before long, it was hard to stand up straight and remain steady in the wind long enough for a picture. From that point it was about two miles of rocky downhill to the entrance to Grayson Highlands State Park.

The trail only goes through Grayson for about three miles, but they were a good three miles. Most of the area is a kind of mountain meadow, fields of grass but rocky, with stands of trees doting the landscape. I stopped at Wise Shelter for lunch and discovered that that spot is 500.0 miles from Springer! After lunch the clouds that had been floating rapidly along all day began to darken, it looked like more afternoon rain was coming. There was only one small mountain to climb at the end of the day, I think today was the easiest overall day yet. Short, mostly flat and downhill – good combination to take it slow and enjoy the scenery. At the top of the last climb I passed through a fence stile into another grassy area and there was a here of cattle grazing nearby. Some of them were actually on the trail, and they were the long horn variety. The one with the longest horns was all black, right in the middle of the trail, and looking right at me. It was kind of unnerving, but I took a few pictures and then they moved off the trail. The skies continued to darken as I made my way down to Old Orchard, I eventually got a couple sprinkles on me before arriving, but once again I avoided the afternoon downpour.

Spent a while at the shelter listening to Elliot and Lauren debate whether or not they would be using a tent or sleeping in the shelter tonight. Elliot really wanted to stay in the shelter because everything outside was soaked, his girlfriend Lauren though is really worried about mice. Mice eating food, mice getting in her backpack, mice running over her hand, all terrifying. For a while they were considering setting up the tent sans-poles in the shelter as a compromise, but it looks like they are going down to a camp site nearby now. Strider had met them way back in Georgia and had told me he was trying to catch up to them, I can see why – some of the best people I’ve met so far. They are both from Maine, but Elliot just finished at Georgia Tech, and Lauren had been down in Atlanta as well, so the trail is a long walk home for them.

Another easy day in an easy week. Had plenty of time to sleep in but I’m getting more accustomed to and fond of starting early, even on short days. The sky was blue, and for the first time in a while there were no exposed ridges or mountain balds to visit. The first five miles included the biggest uphill piece of the day (about 2 miles) but with the air was cool lower humidity I barely broke a sweat. Five miles in was the first shelter of the day, I could hardly believe it had already been five miles. It was only 11 and the day was almost half over. I collected water from a nearby stream and continued on. The dual Nalgene bottles are working great – I’m probably staying better hydrated and I know I’m carrying several pounds less water.

The final destination for the day on the 15mile plan was a campsite about 13 miles from the visitor center for the Jefferson National Forest. There’s a shelter only a few miles farther but Strider and I have learned to trust the guide. First of all it’s really nice to have this first week in Virginia be all low mileage, relatively easy days. There were a lot of tough miles in the first three states and this is a sort of break in the action before upping the miles again. Second, the choice of campsite was spot on. The place is tucked away down a little valley where an old shelter used to be. There were still blue blazes down the 0.2 miles from the AT but the trail was clearly seldom used. Strider and I both were here about 2 and we took advantage of the spare time to try something Strider had been wanting to do for a while – make a fire. As a general rule of thumb thru-hikers don’t make fires, no one wants to carry firestarters and no one wants to walk around looking for wood after a day of walking. It was mostly Striders project at first, he had been talking about making one for quite a while, so I figured he knew what he was doing but he wasn’t having much luck. Eventually I went to help, mostly deciding that he needed to stop using leaves, none were really totally dry, and that he needed to start with much smaller twigs. It took a few extra sheets of paper but we got something started finally around 4:30 and kept it going until after 9.

The night was cool but I slept well in the tent, it was kind of strange how quiet it was last night – there was no rain, no wind, and no one tossing turning or snoring nearby. I made the usual 8:30 departure time, the start of another pretty short and relaxed day. The day’s destination was either Partnership Shelter or Marion, VA. The shelter is right by the Jefferson National Forest visitor center, is complete with showers and there’s even a phone at the vistor center where you can order pizza delivery. The guide book though listed a 50c bus ride into town, and with the only resupply option close to the trail in the next town being a Shell gas station, we were leaning toward going into town. The only problem was the guide book also warned that lodging in Marion may be problematic on this particular weekend due to a Nascar event. Without cell service in the forest we planned on figuring it all out at the visitor center.

The miles flew by today. After 42 days, I’m really feeling near 100% for the first time. The big toe on my right foot is slightly numb when I wake up each morning but it goes away when I start walking, and other than that my legs and feet feel great. Ever since I got the new shoes in Erwin I feel like I’ve been slowly retraining myself to go faster, stronger etc. After walking hurt for so many days I was accustomed to taking every step extra slow and with extra caution. Now I’m back to the point where I can go a little quicker and not worry so much about every step.

IT was about 2.5 miles from the campsite to Trimpi Shelter, but I didn’t even stop there because it was so early in the day. I had had a honey bun and a nutrigrain bar for breakfast, the last of my food, save a Snicker’s I had tucked away for a last snack; but I found an unexpected surprise not far past the shelter. Just before a little forest road I came across a healthy dose of trail magic provided by a children’s group from a nearby Baptist Church. There were several lawn chairs set up in a small clearing along with a cooler full of sodas and cold milk, a huge wooden chest filled with snacks of all kinds – crackers, drink mixes, cereal, cliff bars, etc. There were some bible quotes painted on the chest, aand on the outside it said, “Enjoy, Pray it forward.” Inside the chest there was a logbook and it encouraged hikers to sign and say where they were from. I signed it and read some of the other entries. It was pretty shocking how many people left anti-religious messages – anything from “thanks for the food, but this doesn’t make be believe in god” to a picture of a bacteria evolving into a human and a big, all caps “EVOLUTION.” I’ll always be the first person to argue for science and reason and against religion, but I couldn’t believe how many people felt like the place to make their case was along the AT where people had gone to a lot of trouble to provide free food and cold drinks. I took a few minutes there relaxing, enjoying the cold soda, before moving on – had to be at the visitor center by 2 in order to call for the last bus of the day at 2:30.

I made it the visitor center (a total of 12.7 miles) much earlier than expected, about 1:00. It turns out that the bus to town doesn’t operate on weekends though. More bad luck with towns. The shelter right by the visitor center did look quite nice, but the problem with shelters near roads is that they tend to be inhabited by crazy people. This one was no exception. In the 30 seconds in took to walk by it I saw a man and a woman missing her middle top five or six teeth, they warned me to watch out for the no-see-ums at night, I might get eaten alive; and that there was a “two night limit, the ranger was just here.” Pretty sure I’m not planning on spending two nights at any shelter along the AT ever, much less with those two. I hung out outside the visitor center waiting for Strider. He usually finishes the day before me, even when he starts later, but today he didn’t show up until 2. We decided to hitch a ride to Marion. They had all kinds of good restaurants, pretty cheap hotels, a WalMart and a real grocery store.

We had dinner at another fake Mexican restaurant. My chicken taco and quessadilla had more peppers in them than chicken. They still had decent chips and salsa, and my carnitas was okay so I got filled up. Hit up the WalMart for a big resupply. Tomorrow is one more short day and right into another “town,” Atkins, VA. There’s an inn and a gas station right on the trail but town is a few miles away so I resupplied today for the big five day stretch (1 day out of town, 5 full days, 1 day into town) between Atkins and Pearisburg. Leaving Pearisburg is going to be another 5 day resupply – the two longest resupply stretches until the final week of the trail in Maine!

Got back to the trail in a pretty timely fashion for an out of town day. The hotel in Marion wasn’t exactly on the road back to the trail so Strider and I got a taxi. It turned out to be the cheapest shuttle yet at only 16 bucks. It wasn’t fun carrying five days worth of food on a day that I wasn’t actually going to be eating any of it, but it turned out to be a good call. There’s nothing but a cheap motel and a pair of gas stations here at Atkins. There’s more to the town a few miles away I think, but this is a kind of fringe section near the AT and the interstate, so it’s more of a truckstop here than the town.

I was thinking the other day how I’ve been out here for over a month and nothing scary has happened yet. In reading and researching the trail before I left there were always stories of bears in camp, walking on mountain ridges during thunderstorms, etc. Today I had my first nerve wracking experience! I was near the top of Glade Mountain when I heard something moving quickly through the bush along the trail, a first it sounded really similar to when then partridge charged me a few days ago. Thankfully I took a couple of steps before stopping and turning around to see a massive rattlesnake coiled along the edge of the trail. I’m not sure how it moved from the brush to the trail so quickly, it sounded like it had legs and jumped onto the trail. Rattling started immediately and I stayed about ten feet away while I went for my camera. I stayed a couple minutes watching and photographing, the rattling continued uninterrupted the entire time – it didn’t move at all, just rattled and stared at me. I finally kept going, scanning the trail in front me rather intently for the next several miles. On the way down the other side of the mountain I saw a second snake, but this one was just a plain thin black snake.

I came to a shelter midway down Glade Mountain and found a note from Strider on the table, “Raven and all the others were just here, they are going to be at the Barn if you hurry.” The Barn was a restaurant in Atkins that we had been looking forward to – the guidebook said they had a one pound burger. It turned out I met up with Raven and “all the others” (DJ, Lauren, Elliot) before the Barn. They had all stopped at an old one room school house on the trail. When I got there Raven and Lauren had gone to the nearby old house/museum for a tour. Strider, DJ, Elliot and I hung out at the school house watching my video of the rattlesnake and waiting for the ladies.

When they were finally done I got to meet the “real Raven” – she is definitely as quiet as I had heard, even more than me, and has a strong German accent. We all hiked the last couple miles down into Atkins together and found the Barn was closed early and our only food option was gas station pizza. Strider and I are spending the night here, he has to pickup a mail drop at the post office. The others went on to a campsite a few miles farther, but I’m sure we will all meet up again soon. It was just two days ago that Elliot and Lauren did 25 miles and I did less then 12, and already we were at the same place again. Add to that that after weeks of following Raven we finally catch her after almost a week of all sub 13 mile days. There’s also another pair of guys here at the motel I met at Lost Mountain shelter. They were talking about doing multiple 26+ mile days. It looks like they did a couple of them, and are now injured taking zero days in town. Still haven’t found a reason to deviate from the 15mile a day plan.

Let’s start with the most entertaining part of the day – arriving at the shelter to find a kid with crutches who is asking people if they know what a stress fracture is because he thinks be might have one. The crutches are propped up against the wall and he’s boasting of his plans to do 25 miles tomorrow. In addition, he is planning on “sending home my cooking system and getting really lightweight because it’s all extra ounces on my feet.” Easily the most ridiculously stupid stuff I’ve heard on the trail. This is one of the guys I mentioned yesterday who we saw just outside Damascus planning on 26 mile days, seems to have worked out well. More people showed up a few minutes later and there was even more talk of sending home ridiculous items like the rain cover for one guys pack, someone asked “have you ever had it in the rain without the cover?” of course he hadn’t. The guy even said he thought the water might soak through the pack, but he was goig to get rid of the cover anyway. Pretty easy to see why there’s a 70% failure rate for thru-hiking once you see the people doing it.

With that out of the way, I slept really well last night considering it was a cheap motel bed. Two nights in a row in a real bed of any kind sure beats the sleeping bag and mat. The restaurant that should have had the one pound burger was open for breakfast so I had some real food. Strider needed his mail drop so he had to get a taxi, I went along for the ride and we eventually ended up back on the trail just before noon. It was back to being hot humid and really sweaty hiking weather. The trail alternated between being in the woods and going through open grasslands. There were a couple of stretches just over a mile long that cut through private property – a rarity for the AT.

Right before a steep mile long climb I came upon a couple of coolers sitting along the trail, looked like more trail magic, especially when I got closer and a sign on top said, “TRAIL MAGIC SODA.” There was one big problem though – the coolers were empty. The only thing worse than not finding any trail magic is finding used up trail magic! Still, I made it up the hill and into camp. The water source was a bit sketchy here tonight – the spring was barely flowing and I bad to scoop water up from the pool rather than letting it flow directly into the bottles. People still talking about dumb stuff – MUST start camping more!

What was a nice clear evening last night turned into a rainy night, rainy morning, and very wet 19.0 miles. It’s quite interesting how different people are affected by the weather on the trail. For me it doesn’t really matter if it’s sunny, sprinkling, windy, or pouring rain – I know I’m still going to end up at the same place – the only difference will be whether or not my backpack has a cover on it while I walk. For other people the mere prospect of rain means doing dramatically fewer miles or even considering a zero day. There’s a brother and sister duo I’ve ran into a few times and the girl is always complaining about rain, either that it might rain soon or that she’s still got wet clothes from last time.

In any case today was rainy from start to finish. I was the first one out of Knot Maul and before long I ran into Lauren, Elliot, DJ, and Raven again, they were still packing up at a creekside campsite. I kept moving and began the big climb up Birk’s Garden to Chestnut Knob. The mountain started off rather steep for the first mile then gradually got easier as the trail emerged from the forest into more grassy fields. Even in the fields it kept climbing eventually reaching a nice fully enclosed shelter at the top. We had quite the gathering for lunch there – everyone from Knot Maul (except crutches) and everyone from the campsite showed up within about 15 minutes. So that was the most people I’ve seen in one place at once on the trail.

From Chestnut Knob there was about six miles of very rocky ridgeline hiking. Everything was wet and slippery making for some pretty slow going. At the end of the ridge there was a gravel road and more trail magic! Piglet was there to meet her husband who was thru-hiking. She picks him up at the end of every day so he can hike without a pack and brings some magic for everyone else. Got a couple chocolate chip cookies and some fresh fruit before moving on. I couldn’t stop for long because there was a pretty big race for the shelter – with so many people heading for the same spot and no one wanting to pitch a tent in the rain – space was at a premium. When I did make it to Jenkins around 5 there were two people already asleep – a mother and her 13 year old son. More of us started arriving, and and when the mother first woke up she said they were staying the night here. After a few minutes she seemed fairly annoyed by people talking and cooking and they started packing up to head off and camp somewhere. I guess she thought no one would show up to a shelter on a rainy day.

Feeling pretty good for the end of a 19 mile day. The only time my feet hurt is when I stand on them for the first time each morning. As soon as I get in shoes and take a few steps I’m fine. I had been having some issues with my left shoulder where my pack strap came over but I’ve figured that out too. I had been having a kind of accumulating discomfort – the longer I wore the pack the worse it got, but if I stopped even for about five minutes it would go away entirely for a few miles. I figured out that if I just leave the sternum strap unbuckled the straps stay wider and I can go all day no problem.

Got woken up pretty early for the second day in a row by the trio of Sleepwalker, Poptarts, and Argo talking loudly in shelter as soon as they wakeup. Should be the last day of that because they are planning on big 20 mile plus days. After those three left it was a pretty lazy morning, I actually made some hot apple cider and Strider and I stayed around until about ten hanging out with DJ, Lauren, and Elliot.

The miles flew by today, every time I came to a landmark on the map I couldn’t believe I was already that far. It was warm and sunny and it wasn’t even a particularly flat day so I guess what made it go so quick was the thought of pizza delivery 12 miles in. The AT crosses US 52 and the town of Bland, VA just a couple miles away has a pizza place that delivers to the trail. Strider hikes a bit faster than I do so the pizza was already on its way when I arrived. I had a whole pizza and a liter of pepsi meaning that I was stuffed and we had another 2 miles to hike. About a mile of that was straight up a mountain. Luckily, It was pretty early still so we just sat in the shade relaxing and digesting. I had been trying to get an opportunity to find some geocaches while on the trail, and here along the road was the first time that there was both 3g service and a cache nearby. It didn’t take long to find, but sadly there was nothing cool inside.’

After the geocache we walked down the road and under interstate 77 to where the trail reenters the woods. Just as we were about to go into the trees we saw the car from yesterdays trail magic. Punkin had said she would be doing more magic before Pearisburg because she picked up her husband every night. I think she was just scouting out spots to start him back tomorrow, but we waved and she stopped. I told her that Strider was the one that missed the trail magic yesterday because he walked past her just before she set up. She pulled out two cold one liter cans of Arizona half and half (iced tea/lemonade) for us. She had more food too but we were still gorged on pizza. From there we finally made it up the one mile climb and into Helvey’s Mill shelter. I made another fire tonight, definitely have the hang of that now. Miranda and her brother Landon are the only other ones here tonight, if it’s not raining they actually talk about stuff besides their hatred of being wet and are pretty cool.

I walked the first ten miles today in two and a half hours. Nothing was sore, my feet didn’t hurt, my shoulder didn’t get tired, I was listening to music, it was overcast but dry 65 degree air, and smooth trail. Pretty much the best 10 miles yet and they put me at the first shelter of the day for lunch and just shy of 600 total. The only bother was an overabundance of spider webs hanging across the trail – this wasn’t the first day getting sticky silk strands draped across my forehead and arms but it was one of the worst. With the trail being so smooth and either flat or gently graded I spent a good part of those ten miles swinging my trekking poles up high in front of me to knock down webs. Mostly there’s just one strand hanging across the trail, but occasionally there’s a full blown web right in the trail. Of course all this is really only an issue for the first person walking a particular stretch of trail each morning.

Strider didn’t catch up until the shelter for lunch today, we took a nice hour long break before braving the now sunny skies and afternoon heat. The last eight miles seemed to drag on, but once again I encountered Punkin doing her trail magic. Today she showcased an odd bit of magic – a giant costco size bag of pure kale and a bottle of caesar dressing. I guess it’s something you can’t really get much of on the trail, but it’s not exactly standard trail magic fare. I did eat a bowl of it while relaxing on one of her chairs. We made it to Dismal Falls shortly after that and the first thing to do there was go swimming. Super cold water but quite refreshing after an 18 mile day. Miranda and Landon weren’t too far behind us and they grabbed a camp site nearby ours. They came down to hang out at our camp spot and we made another fire even with a lack of much wood larger than big sticks. We were winding down and throwing the last of our sticks and twigs on the fire around 9 just as it was getting dark when I thought I heard people approaching. I thought it was Miranda coming back from her campsite, but it turned out to be DJ, Lauren, and Elliot just finishing their hike. Apparently they started late, stopped for a long lunch, and ended up doing 20 miles. Lauren saw our fire, and made us all quite happy by announcing that they had fixings for smores leftover from their trip to some kind of campsite/hostel last night. We scrounged around for a few more sticks to keep up the fire and roasted the marsh-mellows. Yum!

Some of the most mentally agonizing parts of a thru-hike are walking side trails that don’t count toward the 2,185 to Katahdin. Plenty of the shelters, water sources, hostels, and scenic overlooks are either a ways down roads or blue blazed side trails. Usually they’re short but lately there’s been some longer ones. A couple days ago Jenkins Shelter was 0.3 miles off the trail and it’s water source was another 0.3 beyond that. The dismal falls campsite last night was also at least a quarter mile off the trail. So that’s how today started – a short walk back to the main trail after packing up camp.

I was pretty low energy this morning even though it was kind of a town day (into a hostel) and the terrain wasn’t challenging. I guess it was because I was up later than usual with the smores. I stopped at Wapiti Shelter for short break and an almond M&M snack which gave me a good boost for the approaching climb. I saw several more deer, a couple even stayed still for a little while but they were a good ways off in the forest. After the big climb the trail stayed up on a ridge the rest of the way to Woods Road; from there it was a half mile off trail again to Woods Hole Hostel. The place is awesome and normally offers home cooked meals made with the help of the guests, yoga, and massages, but per usual luck was not on my side. Learning from past experience and knowing that this place was an AT favorite I had called ahead to reserve an actual room (with a real bed rather the bunkhouse) from Atkins. I got the room and the bed (perhaps the most comfortable so far) but Neville and Michael who run the hostel are out of town for a wedding. Steven, a hospitality intern, is running the show while they are away; but that still means no meals or other extras. Neville did make some bread before she left today, and Steven makes smoothies, and there’s going to be pumpkin bread and coffee for breakfast. Still a great place to be but I’m sure it’s at its best with Neville and Michael here.

Bread and cheese wasn’t enough for hiker appetite to Strider, Elliot, Lauren, and I split the cost of a shuttle into Pearisburg and had dinner at another Mexican restaurant. Wasn’t long ago I was craving Mexican, now I’ve seen enough cheap, fake, bad Mexican to last the whole trip. Fun group though, and we all seem to be on a very similar pace which is great. Tomorrow is going to be an early morning and a short quick hike along the last of the ridge and town to Pearisburg. It’s going to be Saturday and the post office is only open from 10 until noon and I have to pickup a package, so the plan is 0.5 miles back to the trail, 10.6 along the AT and about 0.5 to the post office before noon.

The Woods Hole beds were amazing, it was brutal having to get up before 7 am even though it was only a ten mile day. If it had been a weekday where the Pearisburg post office was open past noon I would have slept in. The pumpkin bread was fantastic and I had three cups of coffee to get some energy for the trail. Coffee is another thing I’m starting to like out here, I guess everything tastes better on the AT.

The hike was a breeze, mostly along the ridgeline again until the descent into town the last few miles. I made it to the post office about 11:30 and I wasn’t the only one picking up a package. Raven was already there, and Strider and DJ made it from Woods Hole by noon as well. The four of us sorted through our mail while waiting for Lauren and Elliot, now officially Bergie and Rambler (they kept changing trail names) to make to town. When they did arrive we all went to a Chinese restaurant with an all you can eat buffet for lunch. Most of the rest of the afternoon I got to hear Bergie and Rambler debate their itinerary plans. Strider and I were set on spending the night here and taking advantage of another slackpack opportunity tomorrow. Rambler wanted to join us, both for the slackpacking and so he could watch game five of the Stanley Cup. Bergie was dead set on hiking on five miles tonight and camping. It seemed like she had won out, but they stayed around planning out the whole week and eventually it was almost 7:30 and they decided just to stay in town. DJ and Raven had already left for the campsite so the four of us left in Pearisburg went back to the same Mexican restaurant as last night to watch the game. (The hotel TV doesnt have NBC – theres HBO, but no NBC). We played a bunch of pool and saw the Blackhawks take game five. After that it’s late, and i’m tired with another early wake up tomorrow so that’s all for tonight.

The Woods Hole beds were amazing, it was brutal having to get up before 7 am even though it was only a ten mile day. If it had been a weekday where the Pearisburg post office was open past noon I would have slept in. The pumpkin bread was fantastic and I had three cups of coffee to get some energy for the trail. Coffee is another thing I’m starting to like out here, I guess everything tastes better on the AT.

The hike was a breeze, mostly along the ridgeline again until the descent into town the last few miles. I made it to the post office about 11:30 and I wasn’t the only one picking up a package. Raven was already there, and Strider and DJ made it from Woods Hole by noon as well. The four of us sorted through our mail while waiting for Lauren and Elliot, now officially Bergie and Rambler (they kept changing trail names) to make to town. When they did arrive we all went to a Chinese restaurant with an all you can eat buffet for lunch. Most of the rest of the afternoon I got to hear Bergie and Rambler debate their itinerary plans. Strider and I were set on spending the night here and taking advantage of another slackpack opportunity tomorrow. Rambler wanted to join us, both for the slackpacking and so he could watch game five of the Stanley Cup. Bergie was dead set on hiking on five miles tonight and camping. It seemed like she had won out, but they stayed around planning out the whole week and eventually it was almost 7:30 and they decided just to stay in town. DJ and Raven had already left for the campsite so the four of us left in Pearisburg went back to the same Mexican restaurant as last night to watch the game. (The hotel TV doesnt have NBC – theres HBO, but no NBC). We played a bunch of pool and saw the Blackhawks take game five. After that it’s late, and i’m tired with another early wake up tomorrow so that’s all for tonight.

I think I slept for close to 12 hours last night and needed every minute of it. The long night helped immensely, I was still a bit tired throughout the day but the small sickness of yesterday seemed to be completely gone. It was about 10:30 before I was on the zipline back across the stream and it was already plenty warm. There’s no doubt summer is here.

It was another day with one decent climb, a bunch of pretty flat ridgeline, and a final downhill into camp. There was a shelter near the top of the first climb where I stopped to rest, it was only about three miles into the day, but provided a much needed break. Up on the ridge I saw a young fawn all by itself. It had been standing still just feet from the trail as I approached but I didn’t notice it until I half tripped on a rock and it took off. So I’ve seen a lot of deer now and the one rattlesnake. Still no more bears since the three cubs in the Smoky’s. Plenty of other people have seen bears lately, some multiple times.

Lauren and Elliot are going beyond this shelter tonight, they have to be somewhere by Wednesday morning to meet family coming to visit. DJ and Raven are somewhere behind, so tonight it’s me, Strider, a couple older southbound section hikers (more smokers), and Katie Wilderness who I first met a few days ago at Woods Hole. It rained for about 15 minutes after dinner and I finishes reading The Fellowship of The Ring, and started The Two Towers. I thought I had read them at one point, but now it feels like maybe I just saw the movies too many times and never actually read the books. Either way it’s a great trail read.

Slept in a pretty good while this morning. Didn’t sleep well though. It was pretty warm and one of the Sobos was snoring most of the night. It was about 10:30 before I left but the plan was to only do 12.5 miles. It wasn’t long before I hit the longest climb of the day, about 2.5 miles, pretty rocky in places, and featuring a hundred yard section through overhanging stinging nettle plants. At the top was Kelly Knob – one of the few decent views since leaving the Grayson Highlands area. Wilderness was already there so we were able to exchange pictures and then we hiked down to the first shelter for lunch. Strider was there and had made up his mind to do an extra 6 miles to the next shelter. For good reason though, turns out shelter at 12 miles was 0.4 miles off the trail and down a hill. So instead of a nice easy day and being half done we were now 1/3 of the way through a long hot day.

After lunch we caught up with Lauren and Elliot who had camped about five miles beyond War Spur. All five of us ended up at the Keiffer Oak for a break and a photo op. Keiffer is the largest oak tree in the southern part of the AT, over 30 feet around and 300 years old, surpassed by only one other tree in New York. After the tree came the most wicked climb in a few weeks – only a mile or so but super steep. Most of the rest of the way was the extra six miles we decided to do, and it turned out to be a slow going section of large rocky ridgeline. It rained for about five minutes again, just enough to make you stop to put on a pack cover. Mostly though it was just hot and humid.

Usually we all do the hike your own hike thing and everyone just meets up again at shelters or landmarks during breaks but this afternoon Lauren, Elliot, Strider, and I stuck together. We were coming down the hill and we kept expecting to come to a stream the guidebook said was 1.1 miles before the shelter. For a while we heard running water then the trail veered back upwards and away. It seemed like the miles were taking forever and we knew there would still be 1.1 to go after we finally came to a stream. Before we saw any stream though we made it to Niday. The stream had been all dried up and probably quite small, so I didn’t even notice crossing it. I think it was the latest I’ve ever finished a day. Usually after getting to camp and cooking dinner its before six, today it was about 8:30. With the extra miles today I can afford a late start again tomorrow for an easy 10 mile day. No deviations tomorrow!

Before leaving the shelter today we looked at the guidebook and saw that there was a bench sitting right at the top of Brushy Mountain, the one big hill for the day. When I finally made it to the top the bench was magnificent of course, but on the way up it was torturous looking for a bench around every switchback. Usually it’s pretty easy to tell when you’re near the top of a mountain – blue sky instead of more trees and some kind of change in terrain. On Brushy Mountain though it felt like I could see the sky in front of me at every turn, and since the first half of the climb was less steep it felt like I had walked farther than I really had. The top of the mountain and the bench were only 4.3 miles into the day, but I felt like taking a nap.

Strider was there ahead of me, Wilderness was along in a few minutes and we had a good break before walking a whole 0.8 miles to the Audi Murphy monument. I had already been to his grave in Arlington but even so I wasn’t sure why there was a monument for him on a Virginia mountain. Turns out he died in a plane crash near this spot and was buried in Arlington. We didn’t stay long though, at the bench we were commenting on how blue the sky was and now thunder cracked loudly and the sky was wholly gray. Within minutes it started pouring and we were on the way to Pickle Branch five miles away. For a while I was pretty high up on the ridge during the storm but the thunder and lightning had mostly passed.

Pickle Branch is a ways off the trail, but it has to be because it’s the last water source for about nine miles. Because it’s off the trail though it’s lightly used, even today with the rain – only one person here besides me, Strider, and Wilderness – another cool older section hiker called Seeker. Actually he had another better term for himself that applies to everyone here besides me, ‘LASHer’ for Long Ass Section Hiker.

Wow what a day. 700 mile mark. The Dragon’s tooth, and perhaps the most iconic spot on the whole trail – McAfee Knob.

I was walking through blue blazes on the way back to the AT by 8:45 already knowing it was going to be a long day. 17.5 miles planned and lots of hilly ground to cover. Objective number one was the Dragon’s Tooth. Wasn’t quite sure what it was but it sounded cool and the book showed a parking lot and a local trail just for that so it had to be cool. The morning weather was fantastic – overcast, cool, and breezy. More rocky trail was the only thing slowing me down. The Tooth was just over four miles in, and it turned out to be pretty much what you’d imagine: a large triangular rock formation jutting out from the side of the ridge. I was able to climb almost to the very point of it, the tip was just a bit too narrow for comfort especially with the wind picking up. Got there just in time to even go that far because rain started falling and the boulders grew slippery.

Slippery rock turned out to be a bad thing today. The mile and a half coming down from Dragon’s Tooth was by far the most technical terrain yet. I threw my poles down several feet of rock in multiple spots needing my hands free to grab onto the boulders. In some spots there were a couple rungs of metal footholds bolted to the rocks as there was no other path.

Strider, Wilderness, and I all made it down to the road about the same time. We were sitting on a wet log about to pull out the food bags for lunch when Wilderness pointed out that Catawba Grocery (pizza,hamburgers, snacks) was only 0.4 miles down the road. Walking an extra 0.8 for real food is always worth it. I ended up eating too much again, gotta figure out a way to not eat a whole pizza when there’s hiking left to do. With a stomach full of food I still had climb up a couple hills and walk several miles of a sun-bathed ridgeline. It took a few hours to digest the food enough to feel comfortable again. After the ridge I was finally getting close to the McAfee Knob climb. This is one of those places that defines the trail. It’s impossible to look at AT websites and not see pictures of McAfee. The only pictures more iconic than looking out over McAfee are the ones of people collapsing onto the sign atop Katahdin as the entire journey ends. It was hot, I was thirsty, but still the climb up wasn’t as steep or as hard as it looked like on the maps. Maybe it was because of the adrenaline and anticipation of such a cool place but the trail flew by. The knob was every bit what I thought it would be, and it was made even more spectacular by partly cloudy skies and broken late afternoon sunlight illuminating the rocks and the valley. Lots and lots of photographs. Some of the landscape, some with me, some with the whole gang, some sitting, some jumping, all with McAfee jutting out over the green below.

The shelter was only a mile downhill from the knob so we were considering staying for sunset. It had been a long day though, and we wanted to relax and sit and eat in peace and out of the wind. We went down to the shelter around 7:15 and were shocked to find it empty. Campbell was the only place with water nearby and so close to McAfee, I thought it would be crowded, happily I was very wrong. Fireflies came out in abundance as it got dark and I’m trying to get some sleep; big plans tomorrow!

Didn’t end up with much sleep at all even though it felt a few degrees cooler than it had the last few nights. Mostly I think I was anticipating the morning ahead; I had set the alarm for 5:23am so that I could the mile back (uphill) to McAfee in time for a 6:02 sunrise. When my watch finally went off I considered ignoring it and going back to sleep. “I’m just out here to walk and get to Maine,” I thought – lack of sleep and going backwards on the trail don’t help achieve that goal, but I suspected this would be one of the few places worth the extra effort, so I got up, made instant coffee, grabbed my camera and headlamp, and started back up to the knob.

I probably could have walked without the headlamp but it made the path much brighter in the early morning light. I made good time without a pack and was back on the McAfee rocks minutes before 6. There’s no camping allowed up there but I found a pair of rule-breakers hammocking near the knob and their food bag hung off the rock cliff. They didn’t stir the entire time I was up there.

At first the view was unspectacular as low clouds obscured the first rays of light, but just minutes after the official sunrise time the sun rose above the clouds. Unquestionably the most awesome sight on the trail so far. I took a bunch of pictures, including some with me in them using my mini tripod. I had to full on sprint across the rocks to get back to the knob after pushing the shutter on a ten second delay located on the neighboring rock outcropping. No one else was there to see the sunrise at McAfee Knob on this morning. Strider had said he would most likely go the night before but didn’t take long to go back to sleep at 5:23; Wilderness was a maybe last night but just woke up long enough to murmur, “have fun” this morning. Within 20 minutes the golden light of sunrise had passed and the day had begun. I went back down to Campbell and started packing up.

This was the longest stretch between towns yet, and I was completely ready for a shower and food and a bed. Being already up for the sunrise made for an early start for the walk into Daleville. There were some surprisingly steep hills early on but they were short and led to another scenic spot – Tinker Cliffs. For about half a mile the trail parallels a fairly high rock cliff, similar to what McAfee Knob looks like. It kind of zigzags back and forth getting as near as a couple feet from the edge or as far as a few dozen yards. The whole half mile though overlooks the valley below and the towns beyond. After the cliffs all I could think about was getting to town, a though amplified by the increasing heat throughout the early afternoon. Near town the trail levels out and I started hearing the sounds of the city early on. A train went by, car engines roared; audibly it seemed like I was already in town, but it seemed like forever before I got there.

Staying at a Howard Johnson Express and it’s probably the best hotel deal so far. $50 a night hiker rate for a solid room, pool, wifi, hot breakfast, cable w/ HBO etc. Looks like the decision to hold out until here to take a zero day paid off. Totally ready to not do any walking tomorrow!

Slept in. Hotel breakfast. They served frozen biscuits and told Wilderness to microwave it. Shop at Kroger. Wendy’s for lunch. Cross under interstate to get to Cracker Barrel for dinner – chicken fried chicken. Got a cloth frisbee for a trail toy, tried it out at hotel pool. Nice not hiking. Late thunderstorm. More sleep. Mostly a zero day for writing too. Got a few pics off the real camera from McAfee:

Slept in until 9, so I missed the hotel breakfast, but it didn’t matter; I had Krispy Kremes again from a fundraiser outside Kroger. The hotel room even had a microwave. Yum! Amazing how nice a couple nights in a real bed in an air conditioned room feels. I both didn’t want to leave and was eager to start hiking again. Leaving town is rough, but within a couple of miles I’m always looking forward to sleeping outside again.

The trail North of Daleville was completely different than the South side. The jagged rockiness was replaced by shaded trails of nicely graded mud and dirt. Started on the trail at 10 and made it to the second shelter for lunch around 1:30. Since this is finally a less than five day resupply and there was a real grocery store I was able to carry some good food stuffs. Specifically, I had a block of cheese, an apple, and an an avocado. One of my go to lunches has been “pizza” consisting of some kind of bread or tortilla with pepperoni. Today I made “pizza” with Italian flat bread, Boar’s head pepperoni, jack cheese, and sliced avocado. My best creation yet. Avocado is going to be a definite repeat buy.

After lunch the trail met up with the Blue Ridge Parkway which it paralleled the rest of the afternoon, crossing the road at a couple scenic overlooks. The trail was gaining elevation almost all day but it stayed smooth and gradual. I felt great after the day off, especially after lunch when I started listening to my ipod. Knocked off 18.5 miles today, the first of several 18-20 mile days this week, and I still felt strong at the end of the day.

I woke up to rainy weather and since I actually had 3g I checked the forecast on my phone. Weather Channel called for rain until 8, then a 0% chance of precipitation until the evening. I laid around a while, then made oatmeal and hot chocolate then started packing. Just as I hoped the rain stopped minutes before I was ready to go.

It stayed cloudy for all but a few moments today, but the humidity was over 70% the temperature was still warm and there were several big hills. Stopped for lunch at Bryant Ridge Shelter 13.4 miles in and was surprised to find a bunch of new faces – people who have been ahead of me – didn’t expect to catch new people right after taking a zero day. After lunch came the first of four huge looking climbs between Daleville and the start of Shenandoah National Park next week. Turned out to be not nearly as bad as it looked on the maps. It is incredible how just a few degrees difference in grade can change the difficulty of a climb. This one was long but full of switchbacks and in the shade of tall trees, nonetheless I was completely drenched in sweat by the end.

Cornelius Creek is just about a half mile down from the top of Floyd Mountain and Strider and I have the place to ourselves. There are quite a few bees around though, but they don’t seem interested in stinging. It’s cloudy and cool, most likely another night of showers is on the way.

Today was one of the thru-hike defining days. We ended up not being alone at the shelter last night – Hotshot showed up after I wrote my journal. She’s a PCT veteran and doing about 25 a day here on the AT. Her name comes from working as a hot shot firefighter out west, mostly in Caliornia. We had just heard about the 19 firefighters who died in Arizona so she was trying to get in touch with some old friends. We all left the shelter around 8:30 hoping that the rain would stay at bay for another day.

Instead, it was the wettest day yet, and I walked 19.9 miles. At first it was sprinkling but it quickly turned to a full on downpour. Normally the best thing to do in the rain is to just keep walking, moving keeps me warm, but today I got to the first shelter and there was already a huge gathering under the roof. Hotshot was there, Strider was there, Lauren and Elliot were there with Lauren’s mom who is visiting for a few days, and there were a few other new faces. Actually it was well timed, what seemed like the worst of the downpour passed and I was moving again in about 30 minutes. Light rain continued and the next five miles were quite enjoyable, cool and downhill. At the halfway point I bumped into another bit of trail magic. Another slackpack support vehicle, this one carrying cold mountain dews. Strider, Hotshot, and I were all there within five minutes of each other; we sat on a wet long enjoying the soda.

It wasn’t long after starting the last 10 miles that the downpour began with renewed fury. Before long the trail was more of a flowing stream than a trail. Shoes were soaked, socks were soaked, clothes were soaked, nothing mattered; I just kept splashing my way forward, probably walking even faster than normal. It was both annoying to be so wet, and completely refreshing being covered in rain water instead of sweat.

The final rendezvous point of the day for our trio from Cornelius was Matt’s Creek Shelter. The place was just feet from the creek and the water was roaring as it carried all the rain water downstream. The trail actually crossed the creek, and I had to walk across thigh deep water. It was only about 10 feet across but it was much more serious than any other water crossing so far. The rain slowed up a bit, Strider and I went onward pushing the last two miles to the road into Glasgow; Hotshot was cooking dinner then going on to the next shelter. The last mile of the day featured the James River and the longest foot traffic only bridge on the AT. We made it into the small town of Glasgow via a hitch – the wind from riding in the back of a truck felt amazing – and got a hot meal and resupply. Unfortunately there’s no hotel, we’re staying at a town shelter, pretty much like a trail shelter just at a town park. It’s still raining, with more on the way for tomorrow. I kind of want to just take another zero and not hike another 20 rain soaked miles

Another monster day; this is the week where you earn the right to climb Katahdin. Haven’t seen the sun in three days, spent the night in the Glasgow town shelter (no motels) that was nearly flooded, sleeping bag is damp, rain again all day, 20 miles and over 5000 feet uphill. When I started this morning I didn’t know how I was going to do 20 miles, my left foot had another blister in the recurring spot that makes me forefoot strike and the trail was about to go straight up.

It wasn’t long into the climb that I decided to collapse the trekking poles and throw them onto my pack. My hands were getting rubbed raw from so many hours of holding onto soaking wet grips. I went at a slow pace up the mountain but made steady progress. The blister thing is weird because once I walk a few miles it doesn’t really hurt to step heel first, but unless I consciously force my foot to land that way every step it reverts back to landing flatfooted for a day or two. I was still going slowly up along the ridge until I decided to go for a dose of ibuprofen. Seems like months since I’ve needed any but it worked wonders today. I was able to walk correctly and faster, then I had a nice lunch of peanut-butter tortillas and felt almost as good as new for a while. At the shelter for lunch we also saw in the log book that Wilderness had been in earlier for lunch so we were looking forward to seeing her again at Brown Mountain Creek.

While this stretch of middle Virginia has some big climbs and long days the forest has been spectacular since leaving Daleville. Even at the lower elevations everything is verdant green with moss covered logs and dense trees. With the massive amount of rain yesterday and steady sprinkling today the forest is even more alive with water. Every stream is brimming with water, every hillside cascade is running, every leaf is glistening, and every creek is roaring.

Before leaving Glasgow this morning another thru-hiker asked me, “what will you do if you get a couple miles past the first shelter and it starts pouring?” “I’ll keep walking man, it’s just water.” I replied. This was one of the few things that actually kept him quiet for more than 10 seconds. It never did pour today, but I got plenty wet and somehow I felt better during the last two miles than the first two. The soreness where the blister was has gone down and now I’m finally dry again in the shelter. The long 20 miles put me right at the base of an even fiercer looking mountain to climb first thing tomorrow. Gonna take it easy on the Fourth though – only 15 and change miles!

Slept well last night. One of the best nights of sleep in a shelter actually. On one hand I really didn’t want to start moving today because the big mean looking climb was basically right outside the shelter; on the other hand it was nice and cool in the morning but not actually raining – perfect uphill weather. As usual it turned out to be easier than it looked on the maps. Rain started midway up and then came and went frequently for several hours. The best part about the long climbs is getting to walk along the high elevation ridges and enjoying the cooler air. Today featured a mixture of grassy balds and lush woodland.

Around 2:00 the sun finally forced its way through the clouds for the first time in days. Within minutes I came upon a spot where the AT crosses a forest service road and Wilderness was already sitting down in the middle of the road enjoying the rays. It didn’t take much convincing for me to sit down and do the same; we ate lunch there too. A couple southbounders came through as well checking their maps before heading onward. We managed to stay dry the rest of the way to the shelter, and the forecast for tomorrow is much improved – only 30% chance of rain or less for most of the day.

Just the Rylu/Strider/Wilderness trio at camp again tonight for the Fourth of July. No fireworks, and unfortunately everything is totally soaked so no fire either. It was nice to get in early; 15 miles seemed like a really short day after so many long ones lately. The big event tonight was Wilderness becoming very patriotic and standing on the firering right in front of the shelter and singing four all American songs for us – most notably the Star Spangled Banner. Even have it all on video; watch out YouTube!

Today I encountered The Priest. Not a man but a mountain. An uninterrupted 3000 foot descent on rock strewn trail. Of course The Priest came seven miles into the day and all that awaited at the bottom was a mirror image climb straight back up the next mountain. By the end of the day I’d done 20.6 miles, the longest day with a pack yet; climbed 5500 feet, the most until Vermont; and done 6600 feet downhill, more than any other day on the trail. My backpack broke coming down the Priest, the adjustable torso height things tore through the hard plastic back support. Luckily the smaller size settings are intact and it’s functional until I can replace it. I slipped and fell on some rocks two separate times today after only one fall in the first 800 miles. It was basically the most difficult and worst day yet, but I feel great at the end of it. Totally ready for a smooth day into town tomorrow and then it’s off to Shenandoah National Park!

There were some good views today too. Even before The Priest, up on the ridge, there was Spy Rock on a little side trail. It took a bit of boulder scrambling to get up to the view but it was worth the trip. The climb back up the other side was in Three Ridges Wilderness and had several decent overlooks higher up the climb. The rain finally stopped today making for a pleasant morning and slightly warm afternoon. The first half of Three Ridges was fairly exposed to the sun before later reentering the dense forest. For a while it looked like a thunderstorm would roll through in the afternoon; the top of the tallest of the ridges was shrouded within a cloud and I could hear thunder in the distance. Even though it was a long ways away the thunder quickened my pace and gave me some extra adrenaline to make it to the top and then finish the last three miles into camp. Met a couple of people out hiking for the weekend here at the shelter but they moved on after eating so its another night with just Wilderness and Strider. Alarm set for 6:45 tomorrow, another 21 mile day and we have to get there in time to enjoy town and the hotel!

Ah town days. Amazing how easy it is to wake up and start walking heading into town and how hard it is every other day. Every time I woke up during the night I just wished it was already light outside so I could get up! Finally just past 7 I was on the trail, Wilderness and Strider not far behind. The first several miles flew by like few miles have so far. The weather was perfect, the trail was smooth and we were eager to get to Waynesboro.

We found some more trail magic pretty early on in the form of semi-cold sodas in a cooler near one of the places the trail crosses the Blueridge Parkway. From there the the trail got a bit rocky and there was one moderate climb. Saw another rattlesnake today, nowhere near the size of the one back near Atkins, this one moved quickly off the trail. The day warmed up quickly but the trail stayed friendly and we all ended up making great time and got to the road into town sometime after 3. We had heard Waynesboro was hiker friendly and it didn’t take long to experience it first hand. We were just seconds off the trail just kind of sitting around a parking lot near the trailhead when someone stopped got out of a car and asked if any of us were thruhikers. I said I was and he gave me a freshly made Starbucks iced coffee.

As we were getting our stuff together and getting ready to find a ride into town, I heard someone call, “Rylu!” from a passing car. Turned out it was Jupiter, back from the days in the Smokies, who had to get off the trail at Erwin. He had been to a wedding, a funeral, and flipflop hiked parts of Pennsylvania; but now he was starting Shenandoah. His parents were with him giving him a ride and after Jupiter set off, they gave the three of us a ride into Waynesboro. Looks like he’s going to be at the same shelter as we will tomorrow night.

We stopped by the outfitter; they replaced the broken plastic piece in my pack no questions asked and no charge. I think it had been cracked a while, a fully intact frame felt nice. From there it was straight to the Green Leaf Grill for an early dinner. I had herb crusted mahi mahi, which was delicious although not totally filling. We all went to the hotel, did some laundry, then Strider and I ended up going back for a second meal at the Green Leaf. This time I scored an amazing burger complete with gouda cheese, bacon, fried egg and bbq sauce. Not only one of the best meals on the trail but one of the best burgers ever!

So the laundry thing was a little side adventure. This town has two main roads. The laundromat is on the same one as he hotel, about 1/2 mile away. There’s supposed to be a bridge over this stream but the bridge was being rebuilt and only the metal frame was up. Somehow we decided to walk across the framework bridge holding onto the cable rather than go around the long way. It wasn’t really high, the beam was wide, and with the cable to hold onto it would be hard to fall, but it still seemed a bit unnerving.

Wilderness, Strider, and I got some hotel breakfast, a small resupply at CVS and then a ride back to the trail from Greg who runs the Waynesboro town website and sits on the planning board. He was one of about 20 “trail angels” offering free rides for hikers. Very nice hiker town. It was 11 by the time we were on the trail though, but it was time for Shenandoah National Park.

Shenandoah. The name sounds magical to me and it’s been one of the places I’ve been looking forward to the most even since I started planning for the AT. It always looked amazing, and it has a reputation for being an easy section of the trail, and it means I’m almost halfway to Katahdin. At first it seemed a bit disappointing though: upon entering the park from the south I encountered a couple big transmission towers early on and there weren’t any good views all day. Add to that the fact that the trail seems to not stray more than a few hundred yards from Skyline Drive and the trail starts to lose its’ wilderness feeling. I know the next few days I’ll appreciate being near the road more when I get to buy food and drink at the park waysides.

The hike itself wasn’t too bad, another big 20 mile day and probably 80% of it was uphill, but nothing was challenging or steep. Even more so than usual it was incredible how quickly the landscape changed in the park today. I felt like I saw ten different forests; some areas were dry with thin vegetation, some had pine trees, some were covered in the bright green ferns, some parts felt like a rain forest – all in 20 miles of trail. It was a warm day so I was pretty excited when an afternoon thunderstorm materialized overhead. It didn’t last long but the rain was cold and refreshing. There’s no doubt my pace quickened dramatically thanks to disappearance of the sun’s direct heat.

After a few days of basically being alone at shelters there is a packed house tonight – about 10 people inside and several tenting. There was a ridge runner around as we were eating talking about bears in the area, and about 15 minutes later I was the first one to spot a bear walking near a spring about 30 yards from the shelter. He didn’t seem remotely interested in the crowd or the shelter, just kept moving through the area. So that makes it two total bear sightings, both on the first day of a national park.

That also makes it three days in a row of 20+ miles and seven of the last eight days over 18 – ready for a break.

With so many people at the shelter there’s always someone awake early, today was no different. I was on the top bunk and I had everything packed up before I got down. Had a quick breakfast of mostly chewy granola bars, then took off. It wasn’t long before I got to the summit of Blackrock Mountain, the AT actually just skirts the summit, but a little boulder scrambling and I got to the very top. Wilderness, and Jupiter were right behind me, and we all sat on the boulders for a while enjoying the early morning sun. Strider came along shortly and eventually made it up the rocks to join us after he fell and smacked his hip and side of his face on a rock.

After we had our fill of relaxing on the mountain we took off for the main attraction of the day – food at the first park wayside. I made a quick stop at the campstore along the way where I got a couple snacks to add to my foodbag. There was only about a mile between the store and the trail to the wayside, but I caught up to Wilderness in that section and got to hike the last 1/2 mile of her 400+ mile section with her, and got a nice picture of a Katahdin summit pose at the trail marker. Of course even though the AT crosses Skyline Drive several times a day we had to go 0.5 miles down a steep side trail to get to the wayside. We ended up getting there around 11 and everyone ordered pretty much the same thing – cheeseburger and fries. The burger was pretty bad, but the fries came as a huge serving and were hot, crispy, and delicious. The best part was the double scoop of blackberry ice cream for desert. We all lingered around outside under the shade of a big tree letting the food digest. We stayed until we finally had to say goodbye to Wilderness who was heading home for a wedding and real life. Only 16 days since Strider and I met her at Woods Hole, and probably about half of that camping together but they’ve been some good days. Camp doesn’t feel the same tonight.

After lunch and a long rest I only had to make it about five miles to Pinefield Hut. The climb back up to the actual AT was the most difficult half mile of the day. The AT continued its smooth Shenandoah stroll, and the darkening of the afternoon sky repeated itself. The rain today was much shorter and softer than yesterday, more of a shower than a storm. Let’s Party showed up at the shelter tonight, one of my oldest acquaintances on the trail, going all the way back to early the first week. She has skipped about a week of trail now though in order to hike this SNP section with a friend.

Today was more like what I envisioned when I thought about Shenandoah. 20.6 mile day, over 4500 feet, but I barely broke a sweat, and my feet barely touched rock all day. Really getting on a roll with the early morning starts which is awesome – on the trail by 7:30 makes for some comfortably cool miles.

Overcast skies kept the temperature under control all day, but nothing other than 20 miles of zoned-out hiking nothing happened today. Strider, Jupiter, and I are the only ones at Bearfence tonight. Just two days ago there were 15+ people at the hut, but other than us three they either did 20+ miles on both days, or they did the less than 14 miles each day to the closest shelter. So we’re kind of in the middle of two mini-bubbles now. I guess the most exciting part of the day was hitting up another campstore late in the day. This one had a microwave and a microwavable calzone and cold drinks as well as stuff for breakfast tomorrow. Passed the 900 mile mark this morning, looking forward to 1k and the unnoficial halfway point at Harper’s Ferry.

Another night where mostly clear skies at dusk gave way to a gray rainy morning. Hard to get moving on a day like today but there was little need to. Only had about 11 miles of walking planned with a midday stop at another wayside for lunch. Once I was fully awake the rain stopped and the morning was beautiful. The seven miles to the wayside were painless and quick; there was one stretch almost two miles long of very gentle downhill where the trail was completely smooth and rock-free. Probably the most perfect two miles so far. Made such good time I even made it to the wayside before Strider. The food looked better than the last wayside but I still opted for a turkey wrap rather than another cheeseburger. It was tasty but not terribly filling so I complemented it with a side of onion rings and some snacks from the camp store.

After lunch at the wayside we sat around outside for about an hour then walked a whole mile of the AT and came to the park lodge where we decided to eat again! Yes, it’s impossible to pass up real food on the trail, even if it costs a little bit of money. Today might be one of the few days I’ve eaten more calories than I’ve burned. From the lodge it was just over 3 miles to the shelter, and I was the first one there at 6:20. This will actually be the third night in SNP that we’ve been at the shelter with someone of a bit of AT fame. Skywalker is here, he’s about 7 feet tall and has apparently written a book each about his experiences on the AT and the PCT. Pretty cool guy with a lot of trail stories, will have to check out his books sometime.

Strider decided to head off on a night hike past night after stopping in at Rock Springs. People at the shelter were predicting thunderstorms within the hour and rain all day today, but he insisted on getting in some miles after dark. It was supposed to be 10 miles to the next shelter for him, but after I hit the trail at 7 am sharp I came along Strider’s tent about four miles in. You’re not supposed to camp within a certain distance of the trail, any buildings, and any roads within SNP – it looked like somehow Strider had hit all three at once, he was about 20 yards off the AT and right near the road to the main lodge and within a stone’s throw of the lodge water tank. Lucky for him I was there before a ranger!

We headed about 0.2 miles from his campsite to the lodge for an awesome breakfast buffet. It had been a while since I had a solid breakfast with bacon and eggs and stuff. I had all that, and then I made an awesome bowl of oatmeal topped with scoops of brown sugar, bunches of strawberries, blueberries, yogurt, and maple syrup. Gonna have to get out of SNP to get away from all these restaurants every day. From the lodge it was about 10 miles down to the road into Luray, all under another day of gray skies and cool air. Pretty much the third July day in a row of comfortable hiking under sun free and rain free skies – a marvelous thing. Had a small bit of trail magic, and an offer for more in a couple of weeks. First a guy hiking the trail SoBo shared a couple doughnuts and then I met an older couple from Port Clinton, PA who help maintain the AT. It didn’t take long for him to mention their local Cabela’s and he was eager to give me his number so he could take me there for a buffalo burger when I got to town.

Jupiter’s leg has been hurting, it sounds like the tendonitis I had early on, and he’s going to be heading home from here in Luray. He lives near Harper’s Ferry, the next AT town and was getting off there anyway, so this will cut it just a few days shorter. Strider and I met him at the road and got a ride into town where we are all staying at a Best Western. We got lunch at a locally owned pizza place right next door. Quite a find, amazing pizza, so far only bested by the wood fired pie back in Roan Mountain. So good we went back again for dinner! This time I had a veal parmagiana sub to top off a huge day of calories.

Also picked up a sweet mail drop with some good meals, my next pair of shoes, some new socks, a platypus water filter (becoming necessary in the lower elevations and proximity to big population centers ahead) and an ipod full of fresh tunes. Enjoy how my pack evolves a bit every couple of weeks, by Maine it is going to be perfectly refined!

OH LOOK ANOTHER HOTEL COMPUTER WITH AN SDHC CARD SLOT – ENJOY!

Made a couple stops around town this morning before heading back into the park. First to the post office to send home the old pair of shoes and some other odds and ends. Then to The Gathering Grounds, a coffee shop/cafe where I had a bagel-bacon-egg-cheese sandwich and an amazing cup of hot chai. Finally the outfitter where I got a fresh copy of the AWOL guidebook. Got everything packed up and eventually got a ride from a local trail angel. Before heading off Strider and I said farewell to Jupiter who had his ride back home.

Starting a hike at noon coming out of town feels so much different than starting from a shelter at 7 or 8. Always seems to take longer to get into a solid groove even though I sleep about five times better in town. The first several hours were cool and there was fog and a steady mist falling. Large drops fell frequently from the trees where the mist accumulated on the leaves. Eventually the mist evolves into a heavier rain but only for a few minutes, and then it dissipated entirely. Other than the continued gray skies and rainy weather it was another uneventful 14 miles.

An odd assortment of folks at the shelter though. There’s a guy who has taken a vow of silence while on the AT. At first glance I thought he seemed to be just here for the day – I hoped so anyway because he’s carrying about 10 different books and enough fuel for a month. When I arrived he had his stuff strewn across half the shelter. Later a mother/son duo showed up, shes probably at least 60 and he’s about 15. Absurdly, they are carrying and using umbrellas while thru-hiking the AT. She says they try to do 26+ mile days so that they can finish in time for him to be back in school, but Strider and I met them briefly several weeks ago, and here we are unfortunately at the same spot again.

Was eager to leave behind the crowd at the shelter last night but it seems to tonight’s bunch is even weirder. The vow of silence guy is back, found out his name is Packrat. Not sure how he’s here; he left the shelter last night as it got dark and I didn’t see him all day, then he showed up late today. We also have a southbound fellow from Cleveland who apparently walked along the highway from there, across Pennsylvania to the AT and now south. Destination: Damascus, Virginia in order to work at some kind of whole earth farm. He’s carrying a school backpack and wearing something akin to skate shoes. He seems particularly interested in Packrat’s vow of silence and is trying to query him regarding “eastern religion” only to get nondescript gestures in reply. The only thing that could make for a more ridiculous collection of people would be for the umbrella packing mom/son to make an appearance. So, strange crowd. The shelter is sweet though. Spacious, with a full on covered picnic area, patio with chairs, and there was even supposed to be a solar powered shower, but it’s not working.

Today brought about an end to my time in SNP, the last several miles were particularly flat and particularly smooth. Strider said he met a couple heading south who had just finished that stretch and they were excited to find the AT was so easy and were now considering a thru-hike! “Was the whole trail like this?” they asked…

Even after the park boundary it was still a pretty easy day. The sun made an appearance for the first time in several days and time flew by as I listed to the audiobook 11/22/63 by Stephen King. Now that I’m feeling good and injury free and pretty much consistently starting the day well before 8:00 I’m strongly considering increasing the mileage. The Rylu plan has been the AWOL 15 mile a day plan, but he also has an 18 mile a day plan. There’s some really long days in the 18 plan but for several hundred miles the terrain is extremely flat (although rocky) compared to the first thousand miles. By adding an average of 3 miles a day I could be done a full two weeks earlier, although I’d probably switch back to the 15 for the more difficult White Mountains and Maine sections. Another big plus would be carrying less food since I would be getting to towns more frequently.

It’s been less than 12 hours but I can barely remember anything about the hike today before lunch time – it was that boring. Looking back at the guide I can recall passing under I-66 and having a little bit of a climb up from there. Mostly though, this part of Virginia is unexciting. Much of the forest here is covered in dense shrubbery and vines; it’s like walking through a tunnel with walls of plants. The best part of the day came moments after I was thinking about how nice a change of scenery would be. Virginia’s Sky Meadows State Park provided a fleeting glimmer of beauty reminiscent of Roan or Grayson. Huge grassy swaths of meadow bathed in sunlight sprawled out along the trail sprinkled only sparingly with towering trees. The trail was smooth and either gently downhill or flat throughout the whole park. Unfortunately it was a tiny section of the day, before I knew it I was crossing over another highway and back into the standard Virginia landscape.

Had another trail magic encounter though, and a very favorable one at that. A week or two ago Wilderness said the perfect trail magic would be ice cold gatorade at the top of a climb. Well, that’s exactly what I found today, and it was accompanied by fresh bananas and snickers bars. Everything was in a little cooler near Signal Knob, not far from where I stopped for lunch. Cold drink up on a hill during a hot and humid day definitely hit the spot.

We seem to have escaped the crew from last night’s shelter. For the first time there’s more sobos than nobos in fact. They’re all just section hiking though, this section between Harper’s Ferry and Waynesboro (through SNP) is quite a popular section. I think it will be thinning out quite a bit after Harper’s Ferry – less section hikers, and quite a few nobos are planning on flipflopping or yellowblazing so they will be heading north to get back on the trail.

Blistering heat, over 90 degrees. Humid. The Roller Coaster – a series of tightly packed ascents and descents spanning 13.5 miles – almost 5000 feet up, 5000 feet down. Oh and of course, rocky almost the entire way. Pretty wicked day. I was stopping to drink water or just cool down at the top of pretty much every peak on the coaster. It was one of the few days where pretty much all I wanted to do was be done with walking for the day as soon as possible, but there’s no choice except to keep going. I was just glad to find water everywhere there was supposed to be water.

The day’s saving grace was that it came with a pair of huge milestones. First came the 1000 mileage marker. Unbelievable. Georgia seems both an eternity ago, and like it two weeks ago. I remember being excited to finish the first 100 miles, now I’ve done 1000. Only about 1.5 miles later I finally put an end to Virginia as I climbed the last hill on the Roller Coaster. There were still four miles to go after the Coaster, but they were mostly flat and rock free. Destination: Blackburn AT Center, a free hostel-ish plash run by the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club. It’s got a bunk house but I’m staying on the enclosed patio of the main house where the caretakers stay. A couple of the Sobos at the last few shelters had stayed here and told us that while food is never advertised as part of the free stay, they had gotten home cooked spaghetti dinner. Apparently tonight was one of the night’s the caretakers take off from cooking. Did get some watermelon and a sprite right when I got here, both of which tasted amazing.

Harper’s Ferry, situated at the meeting of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers, famous for the Civil War armory raid, and the unofficial halfway point on the way to Katahdin. 2185 / 2 isn’t exactly 1019, but Harpers marks the end of Virginia, the end of the entire South, and the transition into the North. It wasn’t easy getting here, particularly these last few days.

The heat is stifling. I left Blackburn today before 7:00 am, and I was glad I did, it was warm even that early. Mercifully, the climbing was minimal and I was able to make it through the rock fields and across the Shenandoah River before noon. There were no water sources along the 12 mile route and when I stopped by the Appalachian Trail Conference headquarters I was overjoyed to find 32 oz gatorades in the fridge, and the fridge was set COLD. It was the best gatorade yet, and I’ve had quite a few gatorades out here. After the drink and a little cooling off I had my picture taken for their “official” thru-hiker log book. I was number 1066 for this year.

Stepping back outside was wickedly hot, I was so glad to be in town and not out hiking. I headed to the historic downtown section and got a hamburger and a root-beer float at a little coffee shop style restaurant before checking in at the Town’s Inn. Not a cheap place by hiker standards but no where in Harpers with actual beds is. Hostels are good when they are out along the trail away from town, but sleeping in a real bed is what gives me enough energy for the next three or four days. This place seems worth it, especially given its location right next to the outfitter and all the town restaurants. The only thing lacking in the town is a food resupply, the Inn has a small store but small selection and high price was the norm. There’s some good opportunities for restaurants along the trail the next few days though so I didn’t need much.

The weather forecast looks abysmal for the next four days. 95 degrees and 60% humidity is not a fun combination. I have in my mind to take 3 zero days in a row somewhere fun, and there’s a $12 train into Washington DC from here. So very tempting. Would even give Elliot and Lauren the chance to make up most of the 70 miles they are behind. It’s supposed to be back down to the low 80s in a few days, but something tells me this won’t be the last heat wave. Gonna hold out on taking m vacation until I’m farther North. Tonight I’ll settle for a bed and some AC, tomorrow I’ll brave the heat.

Just kidding, I woke up and really didn’t want to hike in this weather. Headed to DC for a little getaway. Even more than the physical aspect, I think a few days off will be good mentally.

The Amtrak train apparently comes at it’s own convenience along the route to DC. It was scheduled for 10:30 but it’s notoriously late, sometimes hours late. Today it came around noon. I do believe this is my first time riding an Amtrak train. Pretty comfortable, a smooth ride, and quick for the distance I was going. I had a small jolt of culture shock when I climbed up the steps from the train platform and into Union Station, Washington DC. SO many people, and none of them hikers, and probably very very few of them with any knowledge of the AT. Basically everyone you meet along the trail, whether they are other hikers, or shopkeepers, or waiters, or other townspeople are living in a town that regularly sees hikers so they are at least familiar with the trail. Here were hundreds and hundreds of people just going about their lives in the big city. Of course, being in the city has benefits too. The Union Station food court had more restaurant choices than I’d seen in a long, long time. Of course, you can’t go wrong with a good burger, so I went to Johnny Rocket’s.

Of course all the hotels near the capital were a bit pricier than I had in mind, so I looked for something out in the suburbs a bit. I knew I wanted to stop by an REI, and there was one in College Park, Maryland out on the metro red line. There were several hotels nearby and I figured the area around the U of Maryland would have anything else I needed in terms of food and possibly a movie theatre. I headed out on the metro, and within minutes I was on foot covering the last 1/2 mile to REI. I got some advice on adjusting my pack to help with my sore shoulder and got some new stuff sacks (one to replace a lost one that my cook pot was in, and one for my food to replace one that a rodent had chewed a hole in). I got a haircut from a barbershop right next door to REI and walked another 1/2 mile to a Holiday Inn. Walked in and cranked the AC down to 65, turned on the TV, took a shower, and just lay down on the bed. Glorious.

I spent most all of today completely relaxing in my hotel room. I started the day with a short walking trip to the nearby IHOP for some strawberry banana pancakes and then to the grocery store across the street to buy food for the rest of the day and tomorrow morning, as well as trail food for the next leg of the journey back on the trail. I was back to my 65 degree room by noon though and I stayed there the rest of the day. I had been planning on going to see a movie but HBO had a good lineup, better than anything at the theatre right now it looked to me, so I stayed and watched Battleship, then Forest Gump, then TED. Battleship was surprisingly good in true summer movie style; Forest Gump is a classic of course, and fitting for mid thru hike viewing; movies like TED usually aren’t my thing but it was well written and made me laugh a bit. Just a sweet day of air conditioning, an awesome bed, good food, and real television. Already missing the trail though, it’s nice to recharge, but eager to get back at it.

I knew I wanted to do something in DC that you can only do in DC to make the trip worthwhile. I could have sat in a hotel room anywhere. I’ve been to DC a few times but I don’t think you can ever see everything, and there’s plenty worth seeing more than once. I took the metro back down near the National Mall and went to the Newseum. I had seen it the last time I was here, but we didn’t go in. Apparently it’s one of the most popular museums in Washington, it has better reviews on Tripadvisor than any of the Smithsonians. I dunno if I thought it lived up to that hype, but it was a neat place. They have some special exhibits – one featuring John F. Kennedy, and one on 9/11, but the best parts for me were the big collection of old newspaper headlines and the display of every Pulitzer winning photograph since 1962. I’d seen several of them, stuff like Elian Gonzales, the starving child with the vulture, but there were so many more great photographs that I hadn’t seen. After I was done there, I walked a mile or more down to visit Abraham Lincoln before heading back to the metro and making it back to Union Station.

I wasn’t quite sure where I was going to stay, I thought about trying to walk a whole 10 miles to a shelter before dark but water was scarce in that stretch and I kind of wanted to keep it close to a zero day. I ended up walking maybe a mile to the neighboring town of Knoxville, MD where there’s a hostel called “Harpers Ferry Hostel.” Turned out the to be the best lodging bang for the buck of the trip so far. It’s not a normal hostel in that it’s run by an international organization rather than one or two people. The bunk room is air conditioned, the bunks are actual mattresses complete with sheets and a pillow, there’s a full kitchen, ice, and create your own all you can eat pancake breakfast – all for $20. Landon and Miranda showed up a while after I got here and Lauren and Elliot are at Harpers Ferry tonight as well so quite a few people I know caught up to me while I was in DC. Looks like maybe one more day of ridiculous temperatures, but the heat wave is breaking. Time to start part two – the North.

I woke up at the hostel to find a big bowl of pancake batter sitting right next to the stove. It was actually pretty fun to get to do the cooking myself, even if it was just pancakes. It took me a while to get motivated to make the return to the trail but once I did I felt great. The first three miles was along a canal path and absolutely flat, a nice break in period after three days off. There was a short climb and a decent overlook from Weaverton Cliffs before resuming a generally level course the rest of the day.

There’s a lot of talk about how rocky the trail gets in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Today I covered a good chunk of Maryland and yes there were some rocks, but nothing worse than anywhere else on the AT. There were several miles of pretty smooth trails and some of the rocky parts were mostly rocks that were smooth and flat and easily stepped on. Even on the rougher sections my feet felt amazing, the time off seems to have done a lot of good for now and hopefully the effects will be long lasting. I had lunch at a little state park picnic area and met some section hikers who were originally from Arizona and currently living in Baltimore, as well as a girl who just this year had done the Springer to Harpers Ferry section earlier in the season. Her whole family was there and I got to finish off their left over fruit salad which was quite delicious on a hot day. Actually the weather wasn’t all that bad. I don’t know if it’s less humid, more shade, or a few degrees cooler than those last two days I hikes but it sure felt like a world of difference. Maybe I just feel fresh after the time off. Tonight might be interesting though, I’m camping at a nice campground but there’s a thunderstorm rolling in. Could be a wet night and wet morning.

Another 19 miles of Maryland and still the rocks have been way overhyped. Sure there are some stretches of rocky stuff, even a few tenths of a mile of nothing but boulders in one or two places, but there’s plenty of Shenandoah-esque terrain as well.

Last night was a bit too warm for comfort as many of these July nights have been. I don’t really sleep comfortably until well past midnight when it’s cooled off a bit more and I’m extra tired. The power of sleep continues to amaze me; seven hours of dozing in and out of rest can sustain a 19 or 20 mile hike fairly easily. After just a couple of those miles today I had my best bear encounter yet. While not an adult this one was significantly larger than the cubs from the Smokies. I spotted him ahead and off to the right of the trail and he moved steadily across the trail in front of me and then off into the woods. It was right near a road and a state park containing the first ever monument honoring George Washington.

There were a couple of overlooks today but nothing spectacular, nothing close to old lookout towers of Georgia and North Carolina, or the balds of Tennessee. The shelter tonight is quite something though. It feels brand new, partly because it’s only 3 years old and partly because it was just cleaned thoroughly this week by the PATC caretaker. It’s a two story shelter and the woodwork looks like something you’d want in your home. I was the first one here and I knew Landon and Miranda would be along. Before they got here though a couple of southbounders showed up, more of the somewhat unsavory SoBo type, tattoos, smoking, etc, but they turned out to not as bad as they looked – keeping mostly to themselves once Landon and Miranda got here. Packrat is back in action too, still carrying his library of books and not talking. Tomorrow is hopefully going to be the longest day yet, time to rest!

25.4 miles destroyed. Crushed the old longest day record by at least three miles. About five miles into the day I crossed the Mason Dixon Line, leaving behind Maryland and entering Pennsylvania.

I was up pretty early in anticipation of the big day, but I guess I’m up early most days now. Coming down from Raven Rocks was, as the name suggests, quite rocky. These were the large boulder variety where there’s never even a glimmer of the earth below, it’s 100% stone. Here it was like that coming down off a mountain with a decent grade. At the bottom things smoothed out and it was smooth sailing the rest of the way to the state border and PenMar park. So far the parks are the defining feature of this section. Since entering Maryland there has been an awesome park or picnic area every 5 to 10 miles along the trail. PenMar had tons of picnic tables, a playground, restrooms, water etc. I took a short break there and pressed on, the day was only 20% over.

There was another park for lunch around the 12 mile mark, this one was mostly just grassy fields dotted with picnic tables, but there was a city water supply, the last water source for the next 10 miles. As I ate lunch the sky started to darken and it looked like rain was threatening. I started the second half and sure enough it started sprinkling. It was getting warm and I was kind of hoping for a nice downpour to cool off in, but light rain is all that I got. Even that was short lived, within minutes the shower ended and was rapidly replaced by the heat of the direct sun. Of course I was in the middle of what was probably the longest uphill of the day when the sun made its appearance.

While the three day break helped toughen up my feet immensely my shoulder still gets sore regularly. The best thing I can do is to stop for a short pack-off break as soon as I feel discomfort rather than letting pain build up. Just a couple minutes rest yields several miles of comfort. The final big stop of the day came at Caledonia State Park, a sprawling collection of picnic grounds accompanied by a stream, a pool, and most importantly, a snack bar. A basket of chicken strips and french fries never tasted so good as it did today 23 miles into the day. It was slightly overpriced but I made up for that by using about 1/2 the bottle of bbq sauce that they provided. As I started up the trail at the North end of the park there was a sign warning that it was “highest difficulty” and really that was pretty accurate, at least for the first 1/2 mile or so. It was pretty much straight up, and either stone stairsteps or loose rocks. I would have liked to see a stray tourist start up that trail by mistake.

I had heard a lot of good things about Quarry Gap shelter, and apparently so had other people. The actual shelter holds 8, but there’s probably about 30 people here total. Most of that is one big group of girl-scouts, but there’s some section hikers and some other thru-hikers – Lady and Eli. Landon and Miranda were planning on making it here as well but doesn’t look like they will make it.

Today I walked 17 miles, ate a hamburger, six chicken nuggets, french fries, two mountain dews, then consumed a half gallon of ice cream in 39 minutes for dessert, then walked another 7.5 miles. Not to mention the official halfway – I’m now closer to Katahdin than I am to Springer. Crazy!

Last night was awful, rainy and hot and crowded. It felt like I barely slept. I know my sleeping bag was wet with sweat and totally unpleasant. The temperature doesnt really drop from the daytime highs until well after midnight, and that’s about the only time I can actually sleep. Even late I still didn’t sleep well, and I was the first one up out of the 30 or so at or near the shelter. I even cooked a hot breakfast and was still on the trail at 6:30 am. I think today was the first day that I didn’t know as I set out where I would be sleeping at the end of the day. That’s mostly because the Ironmaster Hostel in the state park is closed on Tuesday for some unknown reason, and of course I was fated to hit it on a Tuesday.

Most of the first 17 miles was on top of Pennsylvanias South Mountain; it was long, but almost flat. The worst part was the amount of bugs. They got noticeably worse as soon as I hit PA but they were particularly troublesome while walking the ridge today. At the bottom was Pine Grove Furnace State Park, home of the half-gallon challenge. Oh yea, somewhere along the ridge was the official halfway point for 2013, marked by a ring of rocks and a 1/2 symbol. Anyway, at first I thought I would spend the night at the park so I was going to save the half-gallon of icecream for evening. I started with a regular meal, and less than an hour later decided to just go for the icecream now. Apparently there’s actually a decent number of thru-hikers that don’t succeed with the challenge, I managed to get thru it, but it took a bit longer than average. You have to buy a 1.5 quart, then a pint to get the full half gallon, I went with raspberry for the big one and a chocolate pint. Ice cream isnt my favorite food, but it was cold and refreshing after 17 miles. Almost 2500 calories right there!

I decided to keep going since I’d had a nice multi hour rest, and so that I could have a nice short day into the town of Boiling Springs tomorrow. Very ready for an aircondirioned 65 degree room and a good nights sleep. The last 7.5 was pretty rocky, but somehow I felt great even with a stomach full of icecream. Already more comfortable than last night since I have a nice tent site and its a few degrees cooler.

It wasn’t really much cooler and I still didn’t sleep well. All my stuff was smelling particularly bad and it was hot inside the tent. The best use for a sleeping bag is as a blanket, but even that feels too hot because it just kind of sticks to skin. I was sure glad I was only going to be doing 12 miles into town.

The weather this morning was ideal walking weather though. I think I actually felt a cool breeze for the first time in weeks, and the air was drier too. There was a kind of mini-roller coaster toward the end of the day with about four ups and downs. The first hill features “the rock maze” a nice 1/2 mile or so peak with boulder formations requiring walking through, over, between, and around. Kind of neat, but still more rocks. It’s a good thing those three days off really allowed my feet to heal and toughen up, Rocksylvania does give them a beating.

The last 1.5 miles today was down from the mountains and into Pennsylvania farm country. This stretch preceding Boiling Springs was nothing but corn fields – the trail paralleled the edge of several of them, taking right angle turns North or East at the corners until arriving in town. All the while the sun was out, it wasn’t even noon yet, the air was probably about 70 degrees, and puffy white clouds dotted the sky. One of the nicest days in quite a while.

Town was nice too, I had a good bleu cheese burger at the Boiling Springs Tavern, then went up the road to the Allenberry Resort and Playhouse. The rooms are normally over $100 but there’s a hiker deal – $40 a night. Even met Munchies Matt between lunch and here and although he doesnt usually do hotels, we decided to split a room – he liked the sound of a pool/spa. Oddly he’s still sleeping on his sleeping pad on the floor of the room instead of the bed. Apparently there was a bad experience with bed bugs in Waynesboro. I just sat around most of the afternoon planning the coming days, debating whether I should keep up the big mileage or kind of revert back to the 15/day plan. I think at least for now I’m going to slow down slightly and do a few easy days.

I think one of the favorite thru-hiker pastimes is to look ahead in the guidebook – sometimes far ahead – to look for especially easy or particularly difficult sections. Today I covered most of page 108, one of the most eagerly anticipated pages of all. I remember being back in the Smokies, or maybe earlier and we would say, “whoa look at that page, it’s like all flat!” And flat it was, flat and mostly rock free, and sunny, and slightly breezy, and a comfortably cool 70 degrees. In a word, perfection. Essentially it was a continuation of what began South of Boiling Springs yesterday – Pennsylvania farmland. Today’s 13 miles was largely along farm fields, I’d head north along the edge of one field, then turn east along another, maybe enter a wooded area for a quarter mile then come to another field. To top things off I made use of some good advice and fashioned some extra padding to use where my shoulder gets sore. All it was for now was a sock folded in half and placed under the strap but it seems to have helped. The trail being all flat helped too I think but I only stopped once or twice during the entire 14 mile day.

There was a quick mile climb at the end of the farmlands and for a while it looked like I might have the shelter to myself. Then Duckfart showed up. Yep that’s what he uses for a trail name, but it’s just some old local guy up doing one night. He talks quite a bit too, eventually I just started listening to music. It’s gonna be sweet having a totally dry sleeping bag tonight, this is the first day in a long time that it’s not raining or super hot, humid, and sweaty. There are supposedly porcupines nearby though. They are known for carrying away hikers’ shoes in their quest to acquire salt, so you have to hang shoes (and anything else sweaty) off the ground at night.

Miles to Katahdin: 1041.4

A short and easy day into town today with weather similar to yesterday. It actually felt cool in the morning even though it’s July and the trail is only around 1000 feet elevation. I walked the 11 miles into town with Landon and Miranda; we got in around 2 and had lunch at The Doyle Hotel. The Doyle is a kind of landmark on the AT, it’s the only hotel/hostel in town and sits right on the trail, however there have been lots of stories lately about how good the food is and how BAD the rooms are. The owners were great, Vicki was the bartender/waitress and her husband was the chef – they were both awesome and very welcoming of hikers. I would have stayed there but Landon and Miranda had a family friend in town who they were planning on staying with and they convinced him to let me stay there as well. The house is also right on the trail and on the shore of the Susquehanna River and it’s home to Tinman a former thru-hiker.

We went to dinner at an all you can eat Chinese buffet, and I was able to resupply at the grocery store in town. I forgot to start the official countdown the other day at the halfway point – as of today I’ve done 1144.5 miles and there’s 1041.4 miles to go. My feet feel ridiculously good after the last few days even though I’ve started to see and feel the rocks of Pennsylvania.

It was nice having a day out of town that didn’t include big mileage – Landon, Miranda, and I didn’t leave Duncannon until after 2pm. Pretty sure that’s the latest I’ve started hiking so far. The morning began with about a mile long backtrack into the main part of town to have breakfast. We ate at a little local diner and there was something on the menu none of us had heard of before – Texas pancakes. We all thought we knew what we were getting but we asked the waitress what Texas pancakes were and after we found out all three of us included them in our order. What a Texas pancake is is a big slice of Texas Toast dipped in pancake batter, then dipped in egg (like French toast) then fried. They were amazing. Perhaps the second best breakfast so far topped only by Mary’s French Toast etc. back in Roan Mountain. After breakfast we lingered around town taking care of stuff like laundry, mailing things home, etc and then eventually made it back to Tinman’s place to grab our packs and head out across the river and back into the woods.

Of course not long after we were underway the rain started back up. We had seen a few days of blue sky but the gray is back and looks like it will be for a while. I guess the rocks of Pennsylvania took a while to get going but now they are present in full force, and they are even more fun when wet. They still haven’t seemed to bother me as much as most people though. My problems lie elsewhere, the new frame for my backpack that I only got a few hundred miles ago has already cracked in much the same way the original one had. And all the cracks are on the side where my shoulder gets sore so it looks like I will be looking into switching to a new pack pretty quickly. As usual the actual hiking in the rain was pretty fun and refreshing, the lingering dampness of clothes and gear is not as pleasant.

To Katahdin: 1009.4

A long, uneventful day. After this my three longest days have all come during the past week. The rain stopped before leaving the shelter this morning and hasn’t returned all day. We were the last ones to leave the shelter, it was still not terribly late, maybe between 8:30 and 9, and it didn’t take long to pass everyone who left before us – they were all weekenders. Most of the day was what has become typical Pennsylvania trail – a path littered with medium size rocks – no boulder fields but also no stretches of smoothness.

Hiking with Landon and Miranda seems to be working well right now. We knew we were on pretty much the same pace, they started just four days after I did, and we all walk at basically the same pace, and right now we both take breaks pretty often. For me it’s to take the pack off, for Miranda it’s blistering feet and sore legs. We probably stopped six or seven times over 23 miles, and the breaks really add up time wise. We didn’t arrive at the campsite until 7:30, and it had looked like it was going to be later until we flew across the last five miles in 90 minutes. The big motivation there was bugs. Swarms of bugs, mostly some kind of small flies, seemingly unaffected by the application of 100% pure DEET all over my head. Mercifully they don’t really bite, but they love to hover all around, sometimes going into eyes, nose, ears, or mouth. We came down off the ridge a ways and the swarms dissipated, we were able to setup camp and cook and eat in peace.

Also today the frame on my pack, the new frame I just got in Waynesboro continued to crack and fall apart. Both times the cracks have been on the left side, where my shoulder hurts, and I realized that the first frame may have even started to break before I left for the AT. I ordered a new pack, a Gregory, that weighs a bit more but that is loved for it’s durability and great suspension by almost every reviewer on REI and Amazon. Right now four out of the five slots where the shoulder strap attaches to the frame are totally gone on mine, hopefully the last one holds up the 36 or so miles into Port Clinton.

To Katahdin: 991.0

Less than 1,000 miles to go! One more day until new pack, really excited and hoping that it fixes my shoulder issues. Today was more PA rocks, awesome weather, and a few snakes – both rattlesnakes and copperheads.

Not much excitement today other than seeing the snakes. Still hiking and camping with Landon and Miranda. Kinda nice camping back to back nights and at sites away from the shelters, a good break from weird people, snoring, etc. One of the shelters we passed late in the afternoon is right near a road and a couple local restaurants usually deliver to it, we were going to get a pizza to split for a midhike snack, but apparently neither restaurant was open. The family restaurant is closed on Mondays and the pizza place voice mail gave hours indicating they should be open but no one ever answered. A crushing blow to be planning on hot pizza and then be forces to hike on empty handed!

Katahdin: 972.2

The nights are somehow already getting cooler and cooler. I thought when I took my three days in DC that I’d only be escaping one heat wave and that there would be more 90+ degree days ahead, but so far that hasn’t happened. I actually came out of my tent this morning with my jacket and wool hat on. By the time I’d had breakfast and packed though, the weather was perfect.

I went for an immediate dose of music and coupled with a few cups of coffee and some smooth trails the first six miles flew by. Landon and Miranda caught up around there and after a snack break we were off again; everyone was pretty much hiking alone today doing their own thing though. I was still high energy, pack light, and eager to get to Port Clinton to pick up my new backpack at the post office – I was absolutely flying through the middle stretch, probably close to 4mph even with a few rocks. It got rocky though pretty soon, they’re never far away in PA, and the swarming insects returned as well. The last 1/2 mile or so into town was one of the steepest downhills so far on the trail, but short and over before I knew it. Port Clinton is a tiny town, but the AT goes right through it and the post office was just yards off the trail. I picked up my package and since I knew I was well ahead of Landon and Miranda I went up the street to a local candy store (about the only store of any kind in town) and bought a gatorade, and all the cold Barqs rootbeer in the cooler (four cans). I took all my loot back down to where the AT enters town and started transferring gear to my new pack while waiting for the rest of the team. They were both pretty excited by cold rootbeer waiting for them when they arrived; Miranda even said she had been thinking how nice it would be if I had cold drinks waiting earlier in the day. I made one last trip to the PO to send home my old pack, then we walked about 0.3 miles along the trail to another road crossing where we were eventually able to get a ride east into Hamburg where there’s a Cabela’s, a Walmart, and every fast food restaurant imaginable. We hit up all three, and finally made our way to the Microtel next door to Cabela’s.

To Katahdin: 972.2

Rather than continue writing out “Landon and Miranda and I” I am going to start using THF to represent our little group. It stands for Team Hustle and Flow, which is a kind of group trail name they’ve been using for most of the trail, and which I now seem to be a part of. So with that, THF started the day intending to make it over to the neighboring town of Pottsville, PA home to America’s oldest beer brewery, the Yeungling Brewery. They have free tours, and apparently it’s Mirandas favorite beer and she has been looking forward to this place the whole trail. We started with a large helping of Microtel continental breakfast, then utilized a free shuttle at Cabela’s to get back to Port Clinton. They couldn’t go farther than that though so we hitchhiked from there into Pottsville. It was the busiest road I’ve tried to get a ride on and it took the longest but we got one and made it to the brewery about 15 minutes before the tour.

The tour was short but fairly interesting. We got to see the caves where they fermented the beer before modern technology and the wall that the US government built to barricade the caves during prohibition. We saw the canning factory line and the distribution ports and got some decent pictures of it all. After that we were starving and on our way to a pizza/italian place while discussing how we would get a ride back to the trail when we stumbled upon one of the nicest people we’ve met and the best trail magic so far although we didn’t know it at the time.

It was actually right outside the restaurant, this guy sees us with our packs, asks if were hiking the trail – yep – asks how we’re getting back – dont know – and offers us a ride. We sound interested but we are starving and want to eat! He gives Landon his phone number and says he’ll be up the street a ways at his place, call him when we’re done. We order food – way too much, even for thru-hikers – I got a “small” stromboli just for me, but it turned out to be basically a 16 inch pizza with 3/4 inches of meat stacked on it folded in half. Massive. Delicious.

Finally we called this guy Jon and he said to meet him six blocks up the hill, he’d be outside reading the paper, waiting for his sister to finish using their vehicle. We got there and he said it might be a little bit of a wait, but that we were welcome to spend the night in what is a kind of upstairs apartment. The building is several stories high but used to be all one house, now this guy and his two sisters have it kind of separated into three apartments. We had only been planning on five miles out of town, and after a bit of deliberation we decided that we could still be into the next town on schedule and this offer was too good to pass up. It was basically “make yourself at home” – showers, laundry, sleep on the sofas, watch a movie, have whatever’s in the fridge, all free for all three of us. Oh and he would still drive us back to the trail in the morning. Quite a treat, and worthy of many thanks. We ended up spending most of the evening watching the movie 9/11 and enjoying the house. A surprise zero day, but a pretty cool one, and five miles is pretty much zero anyway.

Started the morning with a trip to the Sage Coffee Shop in Pottsville. Enjoyed a nice breakfast of eggs, french toast, bacon, and a yogurt parfait. Jon met us at there and waited for us to finish and then gave us a ride all the way back to the Hamburg trailhead. What an amazing bit of luck to meet him and spend a day in Pottsville.

Wet weather had moved in overnight and we started off in a steady drizzle. I’ve always said I enjoyed hiking in the rain but the rocks of PA becoming slippery is not as fun. There was a decent part of the trail today that didn’t include rocks, but the vast majority did and made for some slow going. Toward the end of the day Miranda slipped on a wet boulder and her foot slid and became temporarily wedged between a couple of rocks; she got loose but fell in the process. No serious injuries fortunately.

We were going for a 22 mile day, and the slow going over wet rocks combined with a semi late start from town made for a long day. We were still walking well into the evening, barely making it to the shelter before we would have had to bring out headlamps. And that’s when the day got interesting! No one else was at the shelter so we were pretty happy about that, but within moments we heard someone coming toward us, but not from the path from the AT – someone was coming up a path from the spring. He called out, “Hey there at the shelter, we come in peace!” I said something back like, “ok good” and he repeated his original call. By now we could tell that the we he spoke of was a dog he had with him. He came closer and it was a man, maybe 60, carrying a large hunting rifle. At least there was no way he was planning on staying at the shelter, he had no other gear. He came over and told us he lived nearby and went down to clean out the spring. I’m all for people helping out like that but it was very strange for him to do it at dusk with a dog and a large gun. He left shortly though, and we slept well, just THF in the shelter.

Today I spent a lot of time getting water. In the morning I went down to the spring our late night visitor said he cleaned and found it not really flowing at all. I was able to get about four liters of water to fill my platypus and I carried it back up the 0.3 miles or so to the shelter. About 10 miles into the day I needed water again from a shelter and this time the shelter listed three springs – down a hill and more reliable as you go farther down. The first one was fairly close, but dry. The second was probably 0.2 mikes farther but dry, the third one was maybe another 0.3 miles and through mostly overgrown trail but thankfully fully flowing and ice cold.

Other than the epic water quests the most exciting part of the day was some nice trail magic. We found a box full of all the fixings for PBJ sandwiches: real bread, decent peanut butter and some good jelly. There were some other random stuff like Little Debbie cakes as well, and about a dozen jugs of drinking water. I borrowed Miranda’s spoon to use for making a sandwich and it turns out I accidentally left it in the box. Good thing we’re close to an outfitter so I can buy a new spoon and also replace my trekking poles – the latest piece of gear to fail. I was so tired of the left pole shrinking a bit as I walked that I left them in the trash bag at the trail magic.

We still had a decent ways to go after the trail magic but eventually made it to the shelter. For a while it looked like it might be just us again, but Eli and Rachel showed up pretty late in the evening. We all gathered a bit of wood and Eli tried to start a fire but had no success, most of the wood was still damp from yesterdays rain.

What a day. The defining day of pennsylvania for sure. The first mile of the day was downhill from the shelter to Lehigh Gap where the trail crosses a few roads and another river. Things got interesting really quickly after that. The guidebook warns of a rocky and steep trail and just a couple steps down someone grafittied on a rock, “Stop, Turn Back Now!” By the time the climb was over though we all agreed it was one of the best parts of the whole trail so far.

This section wasn’t just rocky, it was only rocks, and in this case rocks means large boulders. Large boulders the whole way up the side of a mountain, and while we were climbing a steady drizzle that had begun the night before continued falling. Every step was a big one, often times hands were required as well – I was really glad I wasn’t carrying my trekking poles at the time. As we got higher and higher the view behind us got better and better. We were looking back at the valley below, the river, and the ridge on the other side that we had been on yesterday. By this point on the trail a climb like this was actually pretty easy – slippery rocks slow you down enough that you can’t really get out of breath or tired.

We got up on the ridge and enjoyed some nice trails for a while. There was a nice break from any kind of rocks, and even some raspberry and blackberry bushes. Soon the regular kind of rocky trails were back though, the kind with pointy rocks sticking up out of the mud. We stopped for lunch shortly after it stopped raining but most everything was still wet and while not walking I felt cooler than I’ve felt anytime in months, and it was around noon in early august.

It took quite a while, but we eventually made it into Wind Gap, PA. We set up camp in a fenced in lawn area attached to a local restaurant, The Beerstein. They let hikers camp for free and of course we went there to have dinner. It was pretty nice being able to walk back and forth between a restaurant table and “home” in less than 20 seconds. As usual we ate disgusting amounts of food and had an awesome time.

Needed a break from writing every day so this one is gonna be guest written by Miranda! (Pretending she’s me)…

We had many laughs today. A shorter hike to reward ourselves for our incredible efforts lately. The sun was shining, temperature was cool, and everyone was feeling good. Jokes were told, stories were shared, impressions were done. Some fun hiking. During a challenging downhill, our final decent into town, two older gentleman stopped us to ask about our status and expected completion date. One in particular was so excited to hear about our adventure, he said he was honored just to be in our presence. It was an honor to hear that. Strolled into Delaware water gap and settled in to a church hostel, then straight to the outfitter where i found my new poles! They are orange and i love them! I also bought miranda a new orange spoon to replace the one i donated/lost in a trail magic box. She was quite pleased with the replacement. After stuffing ourselves at a local diner, we indulged in a town luxury and saw Grown Ups 2 at the mall theater. Incredibly dumb and shallow, but also pretty hilarious. Quite a busy day. Ready for a great night’s sleep.

One more day off blog writing for Rylu. Miranda pretending to be me again:

Good riddance Pennsylvania! At least New Jersey offered us a nice, scenic hike in exchange for enduring the unrelenting miles of rocks. Most of the hike was along a river or the ridge line. We found a peach tree on top of a mountain and managed to pick a ripe one to share. Wild fruit is the best! Hiked 22 miles and stopped frequently for photos. Miranda sabotaged some of them though…..competing photographers. I tried to catch a giant frog after he let me photograph him, but i was too slow. The weather has been amazing; clear, blue skies with a nice breeze. THF has been tearing it up with high mile days! Definitely ready to take it easy for a bit though. All my new gear is working out great. Shoulder is feeling a whole lot better and my new poles make me feel empowered! Like i can conquer more mountains! We celebrated our long day with hot chocolate and marshmallows. The cooler nights make it the perfect treat.

It got pretty cold this morning again, and pretty nice again throughout the day. We had another long day through New Jersey covering 22 miles of rocky trail. We stopped about six miles in for coffee and a breakfast sandwich at Joe to Go and met perhaps the least friendly proprietor on the trail. I don’t think it was because he didn’t like hikers, he didn’t seem very talkative or cordial in general. Three of us walked into the little shop and he stood up and watched us without offering any greeting. Still he made a good sausage/egg/cheese sandwich.

It was a long day, not much eventful happened. More miles, a little closer to Katahdin. Hopefully getting near the end of the PA & New Jersey rocks. There’s been a couple of watchtowers again, something that’s been missing pretty much since the end of the Smokeys. These ones are nice and stable and tall, but there’s always a lot of man made stuff nearby, especially power lines obstructing the view.

To Katahdin: 833.3

We got an early start out of the shelter this morning, we were all eager to get into town and actually have a few hours to relax. The last few days have not had much downtime at the end of the day. Even the last few stops in towns have been pretty much nonstop going between food, resupply, etc. Just two days ago we started New Jersey, today we entered New York. We crossed back and forth across the border several times throughout the day, once again ending the day in New Jersey, but for the last time. Sometime around 10 am we went in for a quick visit to Unionville, NY – Miranda was picking up new socks at the post office and we stopped in at the general store where we were treated to another day of freshly grilled breakfast sandwiches and coffee.

The rocks started to decrease in frequency today, they were still there in places, but there were several awesome miles of rock free trails. In their place the hills and bigger climbs started to return. There were some really nice sections of trail today though, boardwalks in places where the trail followed the path of a stream, or through a swampy field of cattails. Toward the end of the day there was an especially nice one, probably about a mile long and six feet wide. The cloudy skies created a kind of eerie atmosphere but the scenery was spectacular. We also spent a couple of miles walking around a good portion of something called the Wallkill Preserve. It was all flat and wrapped around huge grassy fields with ponds in the middle. Lots of geese and several smaller birds were flying about and landing in the water.

We made into Vernon, had dinner at Burger King and made it to the local church hostel. Starting to become a fan of these. There’s not a real bed, but that’s become less of an issue. Instead they’re really cheap – usually just a small donation is requested – and there’s a shower, laundry, a TV to watch a movie, a computer, etc. We got a couple days worth of food at the grocery store and then came back to the hostel to watch “The Other Guys” with Will Ferrel and Mark Wahlburg.

Enjoyed a breakfast of Dunkin Doughnuts and iced coffee at the church hostel before getting a ride back to the trail from Uncle Buck.

We thought we were going to be in the clear as far as the rocks are concerned after finishing up New Jersey, but that turned out to not be the case. We wrapped up NJ after a few miles and then started on New York. Instead of the rocky trails New York so far has featured a lot of huge side-of-the-mountain type rocks. Rocks several yards long and often with little traction and requiring big steps to navigate. There were quite a few places where we had to ascend or descend up treacherous rock faces and of course later in the day it started raining making things slippery.

Miranda was already nursing a bummed leg going into the day and ended up falling three times today. She’s said that she hates showing any weakness around other hikers, but I’m not sure how doing 17 miles through this terrain, over these rocks, while injured, is showing any weakness. Somehow after smacking each knee on rock and barely being able to use her wrist after one fall she manages to laugh it off, make jokes, get to the shelter where we find there’s no water and sing, “I’m So Happy.”

So it was quite a day. I’d been wondering if there would be a day where there wasn’t water available at the shelter, turned out to be today. Luckily I had decided to carry up a couple bottles of rootbeer so I had that to drink, but couldn’t cook what I had planned to have for dinner. Made due with other stuff like bagels, peanut butter, and candy, There’s a water source less than two miles North so it should turn out Ok tomorrow.

It was still unpleasant weather when we awoke this morning, and we still didn’t have much water. We collected a bit of rain water and set out. I still wasn’t even thirsty having drunk plenty before the shelter the day before. There was water in just a few miles along the trail and were were able to stock up there. The rain was continuing and Miranda’s leg wasn’t doing well. We had planned on doing 20 miles today but I could tell early on that was unlikely to actually happen. We kind of needed to do the mileage though in order to be in position to hike the last 10 miles into town before the Fort Montgomery post office closed at noon on Saturday.

About five miles into the day after more wet rocks, more steep ups and downs, and more nasty trail we found a box of trail magic just after a road. It looked like it had only water, but it was clear water instead of the brownish iron-containing water from the streams around here. Then we found another smaller box inside with business cards, “Thru-Hikers – Need a place to stay? A shower? A hot meal? A bed? Call John and Susan” and each of their cell numbers. We had a discussion about what to do – Miranda definitely didn’t want to do 20 miles with leg trouble, but Landon and I needed to get to the post office (his name was on their mail drop). Landon always wants to do as many miles as possible regardless, and I was ready for a real bed as usual. I said we should call John and Susan and eventually that’s what we decided on. Of course neither one answered, even after several tries. I left a message on Linda’s voicemail and we waited at the water cooler trail magic for about an hour and a half having lunch and hoping forma call back. Still no reply. We had to start hiking somewhere. Of course as soon as we did, my phone rang; it was Susan She was amazing from the start. She said they usually pick up hikers later in the day, but rather than wait there we could hike five miles and John would pick us up at NY 17.

We walked the five miles but it took most of the afternoon. The rain stopped but the rocks were still wet, and they were the big flat slippery kind. The last 1/2 mile was called something like “Agony of Despair” as the trail plunged downward toward the road, all on rock. We got there all in one piece though, and called for our ride. Just moments before John showed up it started to pour rain. We had seen the clouds coming for a while and when it got to us it was one of those moments where you hear rain but you’re not getting wet, you look across the street and see it raining, and then two seconds later it’s finally raining on you too. I snatched out my rain cover and pack cover, but even those don’t do too much in that kind of rain. Luckily John showed up in moments driving a pickup with an enclosed bed and extended cab. Throw the gear in back, climb in and we’re off.

Their house was amazing, two stories, tucked away down a little drive way off the main road. We kept our wet stuff in the garage, we got to do laundry, shower, sleep in real beds, all the good stuff. They even ordered Chinese for dinner for all of us and served it with their own wine, then pulled out three different kinds of ice cream for dessert. After dinner we got to take over the living room and huge flat screen TV where we watched Taken 2. The trail magic just keeps getting better. Rumor was most of the stuff like this happened in the South, but it seems like Northern Hospitality is alive and well.

So nice sleeping in an actual bed at a real house. Even better than a hotel room, no question. John made French Toast for breakfast and supplied 100% real maple syrup to go with it. Delicious. After we ate he gave us a ride about 15 miles to the Fort Montgomery post office so we could get our boxes and then drove us back to NY where he had picked us up last night. Combined with all that he and Susan did last night, and all without asking for or expecting any payment, their generosity was incredible.

The weather had turned, there was hardly a cloud in the sky when we started hiking. We were entering Harriman State Park and the scenery was spectacular. It’s definitely starting to feel farther North. Trees in the park were spaced out quite a bit, and the forest floor was covered in grass. Rocks decreased in quantity and climbs were a bit more relaxed than the last few days.

With a lack of shelters and well places camp sites and scarce water we were only planning on about 10 miles today, but that gave us the opportunity to spend a few minutes swimming at the lake. The water was a bit cool, but very refreshing after hiking. Being a Saturday the place was packed with non hiker types. After the swim we hit up the vending machines nearby for an icecream bar and cold drinks. With that leisurely break complete we walked the last few miles to the shelter and found one of the dirtiest shelters so far. I’m sure it sees a lot of use from people up for just a day or two from the city, so it’s hard to keep clean. Luckily there was plenty of room outside to camp and it was perfect weather for it. Closed out a relaxing day with another nice treat – Miranda and I watched Moonrise Kingdom on my phone, possibly laughing too loud at times as other people tried to sleep, but it was still over by 10:15.

To Katahdin: 780.1

We (THF) tried to sleep in a bit today, but really it’s hard to sleep in out here. Instead we just took a long time getting ready. It was one of the coolest mornings since Georgia – I was glad I had my long-johns from my mail drop yesterday. Just a few miles into the day we came to a road with a mileage sign: New York City 43 Miles. We had a big steep climb up from that highway but were rewarded with a couple views of that iconic skyline.

Of course being so close to nyc means being close to civilization and a lot of people. The main view of the skyline came from the area near a watchtower in the state park. Unfortunately today was Sunday and the crowds were out in full force. We stopped for lunch near the tower though and spent most of it people watching and lamenting our inevitable return to society, now just about two months away. The tower itself was locked but there was still a good overlook where the city skyline was visible far in the distance. A unique perspective, not like what’s seen in pictures – here every building was just a gray shape, but distinct buildings were still visible – Freedom Tower stood out above Manhattan.

Next up on an action packed day was a trip to the Bear Mountain Recreation Area. We climbed down from the tower passing all kinds of tourists and day hikers along the way, eventually arriving at the park. It felt like Disneyland. There was a lake with paddle-boats, and probably a thousand people spread out around it on picnic tables, grass, playgrounds, lawn chairs, walls, and whatever else they could sit on. The trail ran right through it all, there was even a blaze on a wooden beam that enclosed the playground. I think we all felt a bit out of place, but that didn’t stop me from hitting up the snack bar. I had awesome timing too; they were out of fries for the chicken finger basket so instead of 3 chicken strips and fries they gave me 6 strips!

After devouring that afternoon snack we followed the trail away from the lake and into the zoo! Yep the AT goes right through a zoo. It’s a small one, free to enter, but the bear cage holds the distinction of being the lowest elevation point on the whole trail. The far side of the zoo was right near the bridge leading us across the great Hudson River. We faced another brutally steep climb on the other side, and now the afternoon sun was out in full force. The abrupt ups and downs of NY can really wear you out.

After the zoo we thought we were away from civilization for a while, but there turned out to be one more amazing location today. Just about one mile before our final destination we came upon a road and there was a shell station right there along the trail. It was listed in the guidebook but we hadn’t looked closely and weren’t expecting it. It wasn’t an ordinary Shell station though, this one was equipped with a 24 hour deli serving Boar’s Head meats and cheeses. I had an Everroast Chicken cheesesteak and we divvied up a six pack of beer. I bought a few more items to throw in my food back and we set out to try to so the last mile before it got dark.

Darkness was closing in but we made it. I’m here camping but I’m still not quite sure what the Graymoor Spiritual Life Center is. Some sort of monastery it seems, but the part were at is right next to a baseball field. They have a shelter like structure with benches and tables set up and hikers camp nearby. Nice place to stay considering the trail shelters are few and far between on this section of the trail.

This stretch of trail near NYC is starting to spoil us again; a bit like all the campstores and waysides in Shenandoah did. There was another state park today and the AT had a side trail connecting to another lake, this one with a short order grill and ice-cream. It was pretty late in the day though, we arrived at the grill just minutes after 4 to the grill part closed. At first I was disappointed, but after having one of each of three flavors of Blue Bunny frozen fruit bars I was pretty glad I had been forced to go with the frozen stuff.

The miles between the lake and the shelter went by quickly. The terrain was smooth and since this was another shelter where a pizza place delivered we spent some time discussing what to order. We had it all picked out, ready to call as soon as we got there, but when we did arrive we soon found out that the restaurant was closes because it was Monday. Really seems like I have bad luck with anything that’s only open six out of seven days.

Actually the most eventful part of the day was finally getting to read the poem that Miranda had been brainstorming most of the day. She finished it up and showed it to me while I was cooking my pizza-substitute dinner of Mexican Rice and Chicken. About all I can say about the poem is that it’s a fine work of art and top secret. As it got dark all three of THF piled in my tent to watch the first half of The Molly Maguires. Someone had mentioned that the town Pottsville we were in a few days ago is where the hangings shown in the movie take place. I had already seen it, but Landon and Miranda were interested and seemed to enjoy the movie.

We left the shelter as the rain was beginning yet again. It wasn’t more than a sprinkle yet one of the other hikers turned around to come back to the shelter minutes after leaving. We left early and hiked quickly attempting to get to Native Landscapes before 5:00. It’s basically a garden nursery that’s right along the trail and listed as a place that allows camping and sells some small snacks and drinks.

We ended up making it there pretty much right at 5:00. They were closing up and the woman told us where they allowed camping and let us buy a couple drinks before she left. We checked out the “campsites” and they were basically non existent. It was a narrow strip of mud, uneven and too wet. There were no trees even suitable for Landon or Miranda’s hammocks. We tried to call a nearby hotel but they were booked. We decided to go eat and decide what to do. Just up the road was Tony’s Deli, an awesome place that felt like a real NYC deli. We all had great sandwiches and decided to go back to Native Landscapes. They had a little gazebo in the section where they actually kept plants, we decided to use it like a shelter and just put sleeping bags in the gazebo. We set up but quickly realized one big problem – there were swarms of mosquitos. We ended up having to setup my tent inside the gazebo and all three of us slept in my two person tent. That wasn’t even the worst part though. This place was about 30 yards from a railroad on one side and 30 yards from a semi-busy road on the other. The railroad was run by the NYC metro and there were two-car trains running by what seemed like every 20 to 30 minutes.

Wow! New England! New York was another pretty quick state, although rugged, and now we’re onto Connecticut. It’s not even mid August and the weather feels like Autumn. There was a crispness to the air all day even though the sky was clear and sunny.

It was a pretty long day for a town day but we made good time. Arriving at Kent we were greeted by what was clearly an upscale New England town. Most of the half mile road walk into town was along Kent School, perhaps a boarding school? Either way all the campus looked incredible.

After our bad experience last night and limited choices in town we decided to stay at Fife N Drum. Their rooms were pretty reasonable, probably mostly because it wasn’t the weekend. The best part was that we decided to treat ourselves to dinner at their restaurant instead of going elsewhere in town. It was a nice white-table cloth place, but they had pub food as well. I decided to enjoy a house-special filet mignon au poivre flambe. One of the best steaks I’ve ever had. We were all super tired from the bad night last night and were passing out shortly after dinner was over.

Spent way too long in town this morning. We had to do shopping/resupply, have breakfast, pack, and get back to the trail to do 17+ miles. First stop was the IGA grocery store, then back to the hotel to break down all the excess packaging, pack the food, and pack our bags. That part took the longest, after that we went down Main Street to a Giffords restaurant/cafe for food. We lingered there quite a while too, I don’t think anyone felt like leaving town while still recovering from the night at Native Landscapes.

Even once we started walking it was pretty slow going. Starting around noon means missing out on the best part of the day for hiking. There were some decent climbs again as well. We saw a lot of other hikers today – both NoBo and SoBo. We’ve been kind of catching up to a lot of NoBo at the same time as were running into the first SoBos. Today we kept hearing how many other thru-hikers were near us on the trail.

Eventually we started to realize we would probably not be making it to the shelter before dark. There wasn’t much else in the way of camping options though, so we were going to be at Pine Swamp even if it meant hiking a bit with headlamps on. I’d done a bit of semi night hiking, like going back for sunrise at McAffee, but we ended up needing lights for 20 to 30 minutes of walking. Of course after hearing about how many other hikers there were we arrived at 8:45 to find a totally empty shelter.

Just a few tenths of a mile away from the 1500 mile mark tonight. It is so incredible to look at a map now and think I’ve walked from Georgia all the way here to Connecticut. Already the nights are getting cold even though the days are still warm. Last night felt like it was probably about 40 degrees.

Today started out with a few quick ups and downs and then a pretty long road walk across a river and back into the woods. We were on our into Salisbury today, although not to spend the night this time. Miranda had a mail drop to pick up, we were going to get dinner too, and then walk three more miles to a shelter. Salisbury turned out to be another upscale New England town, probably a bit more touristy than Kent. We had dinner at the grocery store deli – they made good sandwiches and ok pizza. One of the interesting things about Salisbury was that there was a water spigot for hikers to use on the way out of town, but it was right in the middle of the cemetery. We filled up there and continued the last 3.7 miles, almost all uphill, to Riga shelter.

There were a couple of views today, one on he way up to the shelter, the other is actually at the shelter. It was pretty late again on the way into camp and if the first overlook had been facing West we would have had quite a sunset. The shelter faces east though, might have a good look at a sunrise tomorrow.

We were awake at first light today by the other people staying around the shelter getting ready for sunrise. It was still 15 minutes away but the horizon was bright orange and already beautiful. Connecticut sprawled out below us, entirely shrouded beneath the early morning fog. Soon the sun was actually visible and started burning away the mist. It would have been a pretty good day to sleep in other than the sunrise though – right now I feel like I could have gone for that option.

We crossed into Massachusetts today, ten states complete! Only MA, VT, NH, and ME to go! There were three solid climbs today. Bear mountain was first and mostly just technically challenging on the downhill side. The descent was steep and rocky. Next was a longer more gradual climb up Mt. Race, and the third and steepest was up Mt. Everett. That third climb was all rocky, no switchbacks, and hot. Some day hikers had said the top was “amazing” but it was the kind of view we see on a daily basis. There were plenty of other day hikers, section hikers, and weekenders out on this part of the AT. I would lose track of the days of the week entirely out here it not for the greatly increased trail population on weekends.

Massachusetts has been pretty scenic so far. The crystal clear water sources are reappearing, the forest is changing, it definitely feels like we’re getting farther North now.

We spent a lot of time the last few days trying to figure out where to stay tonight. There were no well located shelters or campsites; we has originally planned on a hotel or hostel in town, but they were all either full or very expensive rates for the weekend tourist season. Totally by chance we ran into Uncle Buck at Route 7, our old acquaintance from the hostel in Vernon. He knew of a park near town where we could camp and he even drove us into town to stop at Subway before taking us to camp. Another nice bit of good luck and help from trail angels!

We were up pretty early at our makeshift campsite by the town lake, packing up and getting ready for a ride back to the trail from Uncle Buck who had slept there in his car overnight. We made a pitstop at Dunkin Donuts on the way where we grabbed some interesting items like peach coffee for Landon and a raspberry white chocolate muffin for Miranda.

The actual hike was all a blur today. No views, a few average climbs, uneventful landscape. The campsite we were going to proved to be extremely popular though, there were 17 people and a dog by Landon’s count. Amazing because it wasn’t even a shelter, just camping, but it had good water and a privy. We met some new people, hung out around the fire for a while, and then watched another movie on my phone.

Even though I think I slept pretty well last night I was feeling pretty worn out most of the day today. Even so the first third of the day went by quickly and then we stopped for lunch. I ate a bit too much in one meal in an attempt to use up some food before town and that combined with just being tired made the middle part of the day drag on. Right after lunch of course was the longest climb, but we were rewarded at the top by a nice encounter with a porcupine. He was right in the trail as we approached and when he saw or heard us he started running away from us down the trail. Eventually he turned and started climbing a tree while making some whining/squeeling noises.

We’re starting to see the transition to New England forest and trail. The woods feel older and more dense. The trail is often covered with roots, and the weather continues to be cooler. As evidenced by the number of people at last nights campsite we’ve also been catching up to more early starters. A lot of the people we meet now started their thru-hike in April or even March. Of course that means they’re the ones spending multiple days in town, not hiking at all in the rain, or taking long breaks in the middle of it all. It seems like almost everyone has skipped big sections of the trail. None of the three of us have skipped more than a mile so it doesn’t make sense to us that people set out to do something like this and then skip so much of it.

Anyway, we got to October Mountain to find only one other person tonight (none of the other 14 people managed 18.6 miles). He already had a fire going and even let us use the last of his marshmallows for roasting. Nice relaxing evening by the fire.

Long fun day today… We started off with a stop at the home of the infamous “cookie lady” just two miles down the hill from October Mountain. Actually when we arrived we met her husband Roy and their dog Rufus first. Roy and Marilyn give out free homemade cookies to all hikers stopping by their home and blueberry farm just off the trail. They also sell cold lemonade and coke. We sat out on one of their picnic tables enjoying the snack and the beautiful morning. It’s been several days without rain now, no doubt this is the longest stretch of dry weather I’ve seen on the whole trail.

After the cookie lady we covered the 12 miles into the town of Dalton as quickly as possible so we could have time to do town chores and then continue past to the next shelter. The first stop in Dalton was an icecream shop on the way into town where I had a grape float. The main goal was to do laundry though, we all changed into our rain gear in order to wash everything else. It gets a bit uncomfortable wearing a full rain outfit when it’s warm and sunny. I did some shopping at the general store while the laundry was going, and when it was done we had pizza for an early dinner before trying to head out of town.

I say trying because the trail was poorly marked and we missed a turn at first; we went maybe 1/3 of a mile before figuring it out and going back. With all the stuff we did in town it took a bit longer than we planned so we ended up getting in some more night hiking. This was a bit more enjoyable than the last night hike because the trail wasn’t as rocky and I had fresh batteries and a fully functioning headlamp.

Today started with a quick descent into the town of Chesire. Along the way was a pretty good view from The Cobbles – we could see down into Chesire and across to the mountains we would be going up later in the day, most notably the tallest peak in Massachusetts – Mt Graylock. I guess the most eventful part of the morning though was being stung by a couple angry wasps. Apparently we walked on or near a nest right along the trail and my right leg paid the price of two stings.

We made it into Chesire by lunchtime and stopped at a tiny little icecream shop that also served sub sandwiches called Diane’s Twist. It wasn’t the best meal but it was right on the trail so it was quick and easy. After lunch we started up the longest climb we’ve seen for a while, several weeks at least, and possibly the longest since Virginia. The weather was clear as it has been lately, but a bit warm for such a big uphill.

The summit was worth it though, right on the top of Mount Graylock there’s Bascom Lodge. They have some regular hotel style rooms but also several bunkhouses. We ended up with one room (10 bunks) to ourselves. We arrived in time to listen to a bit of their live music and relax a while before dinner, and also walk around to check out the views.

This was as close to a zero as we’re planning on having, at least for a while. Only six miles, almost all downhill, and then a stay at a bed and breakfast in Williamstown.

It began with a nice breakfast at Bascom Lodge – I had an omelette with all kinds of stuff in it (bacon, ham, spinach, tomato, etc) and with it came an endless supply of warm, fresh out of the oven blueberry muffins. Those were really the best part, I think I ate at least four and then snagged two more on the way out to eat later. We were ready to shortly after breakfast and booked it down the mountain as quickly as possible.

The first stop in town, before getting a ride to the B&B was the Stop & Shop grocery store for resupply. I stuck with most of the usual go to stuff this time – tortillas and pepperoni for lunch, pasta sides for dinner, bars and pastry type stuff for breakfast, and various candy for snacks. Once shopping was done we got a ride to River Bend Farm and found a very cool looking house. The place is a historic 1770 colonial farmhouse and the hosts were very friendly and glad to have hikers staying there. The biggest event of the afternoon was that I shaved my beard. Kind of weird to do it now I guess this close to Katahdin, but I never really became a fan of having one and was ready for a change. The reaction I got from Landon and Miranda (mostly Miranda) was priceless. Definitely don’t look like a thru-hiker any more!

Once everyone had cleaned up we walked back down into town to explore the shops and get some milkshakes at the ice cream shop. Landon is especially big on milkshakes, he tries to get at least one in every town and has yet to repeat a flavor on the AT (about 21 and counting). I think we all ended up buying at least one thing at the outfitter as well, and then we went back to River Bend Farm. I was met there by the one person I had been planning on meeting on the trail – a long time friend originally from World of Warcraft online. We’ve been gaming together for probably six years, talked on skype etc, but never met; turned out he lived close enough to the trail to drive over from New York state to meet for dinner. The four of us went to a local restaurant just up the road and spent a couple hours hanging out and eating seafood.

River Bend Farm turned out to be as good as expected. The whole place felt cozy and the beds were comfortable. Breakfast was granola cereal, muffins, toast, some really good jellies, yogurt, and berries. We met a couple folks from New Zealand who had also spent the night. We took our time getting ready, we only had 14 miles planned today and nothing too extreme for terrain. Around 10 we got a ride back to the trail.

One decent climb and four miles later we were in Vermont. Feels absurd to be this far North. I think I’m starting to feel like the end is coming and I don’t want it to be over. So far the AT has been everything I hoped for and recently more than I ever dreamed of. The fellow at breakfast from New Zealand asked a great question that I don’t usually hear, “what’s been the most surprising thing about the trail?” he wondered. I didn’t have a good answer at the time, but I thought about it today while hiking. The most surprising thing has been the people I’ve met and the friends I’ve made. I started out thinking I’d be hiking alone most of the time, meeting some interesting people, maybe making a few friends, but not really getting close to anyone. I’d researched all the gear, read all about the mental challenges, and the physical grind, I was ready for the hot humid days and cold nights, but I didn’t expect to meet anyone as amazing as Miranda. I had just gotten back to the trail from DC when she and her brother showed up at that hostel outside Harper’s Ferry and I’m not sure where I’d be today if she hadn’t. The days back then wore me out, I was tired and thinking of home; now hiking with her every day the miles fly by and the days pass like fleeting moments. I’m loving every minute of it and wishing it could last forever. There’s others too of course, Landon always keeping us up to date on shelter log goasip and ready with a silly joke, Strider who I camped with for 1000 miles and got me through the first half, Katie Wilderness – only a couple weeks on the trail together but seeing those enthusiastic texts gives me added motivation. It’s been said that I’m rather picky when it comes to who my friends are, but there have been quite a few on the AT who meet and exceed any standards I have, and that’s been the most surprising part of the trail.

Vermont is cool too! Only 10 miles in and so right now probably my favorite state. We’re in the Green Mountains now, and the forest is spectacular. We went by several ponds and nice streams already today and the weather was spectacular. There’s a lot of muddy trails here even though there hasn’t been much rain lately. It can be a bit slippery but it beats walking on rocks. The cool air and breeze felt great on the ascents and tonight the air is cold enough to bundle up with several layers. We’re seeing a few more southbounders lately and for the next 100 or so miles the AT and the Long Trail overlap, so there’s a few extra people around.

Another cold night last night, probably in the mid 30′s! It feels like just a few weeks ago I could barely sleep because it was so warm at night and now I’m putting on multiple layers of clothes and a down jacket to sleep comfortably. I prefer the cold nights to the warm ones though, it just makes it a bit harder to get out of bed in the morning. Vermont is still looking really good. There’s been a few little ponds that look really neat and today’s 19 miles went by quickly. We had one big descent and matching climb down into and back out of the road into Bennington, VT. Totally by chance we met Uncle Buc yet again parked near the trail at the road crossing. He’s making some sort of temporary career out of shuttling hikers around and taking donations so he keeps moving north to stay near the bubbles, so we keep running into him.

Toward the end of the day there was an amazing view from a lookout tower. Really nice to have some good towers with panoramic views again, very reminiscent of the early days in North Carolina. There was very nearly nothing man made visible from this one, just a couple of huge wind turbines that we’ve been seeing since Mount Graylock. Kid Gore is pretty crowded tonight. Now that we’re on the Long Trail there’s people doing either all or part of that along with more and more NoBo’s that started in April or March that we’re catching up to, and a few SoBo’s. We’re still going at a pretty high pace, especially compared to people just starting the shorter long trail, or the slower pace thru-hikers that started much earlier, so we don’t see many people for more than one night.

Kid Gore is one of those rare shelters with a decent view right from the front step. This one wasn’t too spectacular but we got to see another sunrise. I was actually awake about 40 minutes before the actual sunrise, took some pictures, laid down again, then got up to take more pictures when the sun was actually out. I’d actually rather have slept through this one, but I can’t really go back to sleep once I’ve been up.

The actual hike today was fun, we covered about 15 miles, most of it gently sloping with the exception of the historic Stratton Mountain at the end of the day. Right now the AT actually overlaps with the Long Trail which runs the entire length of Vermont. The original ideas for both the Long Trail and the AT were conceived on the summit of Stratton – first the Long Trail, then about 15 years later the AT. The climb up was beautiful, there is a different feeling walking through the forest up here in New England, especially now as we see some higher elevation again. Everything feels older, more mysterious, and more elegant. The sky is always a magnificent blue and the air is totally clean and crisp. The summit of Stratton had another firetower lookout with excellent views. There was quite a bit of water visible this time and trees as far as the eye could see. It was pretty windy up there today and with sweat covered clothes and 60 something degree air it was rather chilly.

The descent was about three miles to our final destination today – Stratton Pond Shelter. The trail continued the Vermont trend of lots of roots and mud with a few rocks mixed in. There’s plenty of places where the trail has been built with board walks or long series of boulders as stepping stones to allow for passage over the wettest, muddiest parts. Still going strong without rain right now though so most of it is passable without any trouble at the moment. We actually had to pay $5 each to stay at this shelter tonight, one of only two shelters on the AT where there’s a fee. I guess it actually goes toward maintaining the Long Trail and its’ shelters. The place is nice and clean though since there’s a caretaker up daily to collect the fee and clean.

A fantastic morning, the weather was cool but not cold, the sky was overcast but not raining, and the trail was interesting but not challenging. We were on a mission to get up early, pack quickly, and make it into town early to relax. With only 10 miles to cover we made good time and only stopped for one short break at a scenic overlook. We had a pretty easy time getting a ride into town and immediately started taking advantage of being back in civilization yet again. There were visits to McDonalds, a couple of outfitters where Landon and Miranda both got new shoes, and Landon got a new warmer sleeping bag. We ended up at Ben and Jerry’s where Landon dropped $40 on The Vermonster – a ridiculous concoction of 20 scoops of ice cream paired with heaps of nuts, brownies, waffle cones, sprinkles, whipped cream, about four bananas and whatever else they had to throw in the bucket. He wanted to try to eat it by himself but of course didn’t really come close. The more sane among us went for a mere banana split with a total of three scoops of ice cream.

When we were done there we got picked up by Jeff from the Green Mountain House, a hostel just outside town. Turns out this place is amazing. Possibly the best hostel on the trail, only Elmer’s way back in Hot Springs may still be able to compete for that title. For $25 we get real beds, a pint of ben and jerries, free soda, a decently equipped kitchen with things like milk, pancakes, eggs, etc. There’s a computer, a flatscreen TV with a DVD player and video library, WIFI, and the whole place is as clean as your grandmother’s house. We watched Zero Dark Thirty, and were enjoying the place enough that we decided to take a zero day here tomorrow.

ZERO DAY!

We stayed at the Green Mountain House. Amazing place. Miranda got some alone time as Landon and I went to see a movie. That’s really about all that happened. All day. Probably the most relaxing zero day on the trail in terms of not having to do ANYTHING. No laundry, no shopping, just sat around.

A lost day in the journal. Probably too tired to write, didn’t even get any notes. A boring day I guess?

Woke up in the middle of the night last night and had to stick my head out of the shelter to throw-up. I had been feeling a bit odd the night before but nothing really serious. I felt fine again right away and was able to go right back to sleep. When I woke up I still felt alright, but shortly after finishing my breakfast of oatmeal and a granola bar, that all came back up as well. Once again I felt ok right away after, just couldn’t keep food down apparently.

We started hiking and it was a pretty average day, I was feeling exhausted all day though. I’m sure a lot of it was the lack of fresh energy from not being able to eat anything. In addition to throwing up what I did eat, I still wasn’t hungry at all. Adding to the rough day was more heat and humidity and a couple climbs. As is normal Landon was only interested in doing as many miles as possible, we had agreed to try to find a spot to camp between shelters, but when we got to Clarendon I was totally beat and Miranda’s feet were hurting. There was a big discussion that eventually ended with Landon and Miranda separating for the first time on the trail – Landon continued on trying to do 6 miles to the next shelter before dark, Miranda and I stayed at Clarendon. The two of us will have a longer day tomorrow, but we’ll all be meeting up in Killington at the end of the day.

A very different day today with Team Hustle and Flow split up. Thanks to my tired day yesterday Miranda and I had a big day ahead of us. Luckily we were able to get going pretty quickly, Landon is always the one that takes the longest to get ready in the morning. Once we were underway it wasn’t long before we encountered a road crossing where there was a major detour. Sandy had done a lot of damage to the trail and they are still working on repairing it. We glanced at the sign for the detour and headed off down the road expecting to see more directional signs. After a while though we started to think we were on the wrong track. I thought I remembered that the longest piece of the detour on the road was 0.8 miles and it felt like we were well over a mile. Finally we decided to pick a house along the road and ask for directions. Turns out we picked the right person to ask but were totally lost. The woman we met was part of the trail club that was working on maintaining the trail; she told us we had gone the wrong way along the road, and that actually they were so close to reopening the trail that we could go ahead and use it instead of taking the detour. After thanking her and starting to walk away she offered to drive us back the mile plus to the trail – we readily accepted.

The trail for the next couple miles was awesome since it was freshly dug in most places and scarcely used for months in others. It paralleled a nice stream for most of the section as well. We stopped for lunch at a shelter and had to spend a couple extra minutes there after Miranda sliced her finger with her knife trying to cut cheese. Once the blood stopped we pressed on, beginning our ascent of Mt. Killington. Killington was a pretty serious mountain, the climb was steep and felt like it went on for miles. The forest at and near the top was magnificent though, I think this was the highest elevation we’ve seen in New England. There were ski slopes on Killington and visible on surrounding mountains.

We ended up that night at a fun place Landon picked out – The Inn at Long Trail. Just a little ways off the trail, the place featured comfortable rooms and an Irish pub. Miranda and I arrived near 7:00, Landon already had the room ready, had showered and was at the pub eating dinner. Indeed, the shower was particularly nice today. got cleaned up and headed over to the pub for a hearty meal of hamburgers, fries, and onion rings.

Never got around to writing this entry, I had a few notes written down, and I remember this was quite a day. Written on 12/6/13

We did a fairly quick two miles early in the day and made it to the outfitter where I was expecting a huge maildrop with all my winter gear. It wasn’t there. We all waited around, not only for my package, but just shopping at the store, having food, drinks, etc. I don’t think anyone really felt like hiking today. I made a few walks back and forth between the outfitter and the post office trying to find out where my package was. FInally I had to leave, and decided to figure out the winter gear situation late. We went on about 3 miles, and as we came to a road crossing there was a man driving a pickup truck who jumped out and started waving. He worked at the outfitter and had come to personally deliver the package to me on the trail since he knew I had decided to press on. Great service!

This was also the night that it ended up raining, pouring, and it was also the first time Miranda and Landon had to use their new tent. It was my first stealth camp of the whole trip too. They really had no idea how to set up their tent, I was now the veteran, and had to guide them through it during the downpour. The inside of the thing did get some water in it since it took a while to figure out, but we did ok. Still after a long few days, it only added to the misery. Miranda sounded to me like she was actually, truly considering quitting – something I couldn’t accept. I spent a lot of time thinking that night, I think I was awake long after the others, trying to imagine what I would do if Miranda quit the trail. Would I go with her, try to help however I could, comfort her; or would I go on to Katahdin now basically alone and without my new best friend at my side. I ended up writing a little poem for Miranda about making it to Katahdin. I guess it worked. We all kept going, but I still think it’s a good thing we weren’t near a road with cars on it this night.

Never got around to writing about this day. I had a few notes written down:

Miranda and I had a few minutes to ourselves as Landon went ahead. The two of us went up on top of a recently built cabin with a lookout on top and spent some time just seeing the view.

When we caught up to Landon we had to have a big talk with him to cheer him up and convince him not to quit and that we could make it to Katahdin even though we were all feeling tired, exhausted.

Steep day of climbing, especially after we stopped for a break and some cold drinks at Edge of the Farm. They had some special sodas, including a maple flavored one made in Maine. I believe Miranda also tried on my Oakley sunglasses and enjoyed “looking like a badass.”

A really wet night and wet morning left everything dirty and the trails muddy. Of course we were ready to get into town, and luckily it wasn’t a full day of climbing. It was hard getting up and back on the trail though. Still feeling pretty worn out overall. I started out with rain gear on but that didn’t last long. It’s that nasty combination of wet weather but still warm temperatures and climbing hills. There was a nice general store / deli right on the trail about 5 miles into the day where we were able to stop and grab a sandwich for an early lunch. I was able to get my first Moxie of the trail here too, an old soda favorite from the vacations to Maine. Landon and Miranda tried one too – Landon liked it at first then decided against it, Miranda thought it tasted like carbonated cough syrup.

There was a decently long but gradual climb after our lunch break but it went by quickly and before long we emerged onto the road where we began one of the longest road walk stretches of the trail, including crossing the Vermont/New Hampshire state line. Just across the border we arrived on the campus of Dartmouth in Hanover, NH. Of course there was the typical college town collection of shops and restaurants right near by. We had dinner at the Salt Hill Pub before getting picked up for our stay at Tiggers Tree House. The pub food was good and our ride came just as it was starting to rain again. Tiggers Treehouse isn’t really a treehouse, just the home of Ralph and Karen who put up hikers in their place, along with giving free rides anywhere nearby. We got in pretty late, but we had time to watch World’s Greatest Dad and found out it was a rather strange movie.

The power was out at Tiggers House this morning when we woke up. There had been a rather large and intense thunderstorm during the night; there was one lightning strike that looked and felt and sounded like it hit the ground right outside the house. Good night to not be outside on the trail. Once we were up we got a ride to Hannaford to resupply and to EMS for Landon to buy a jacket. With shopping chores done we got delivered back to Hanover to resume our journey.

I spent the day still feeling pretty tired and worn out. We had one substantial climb up Moose Mountain where we found the one decent view for the day. There was one kind of depressing moment when we hiked past a cemetary that we had already seen twice before while being taken to and from Tiggers. We had hiked for hours that day to cover the distance the car had gone in minutes. Once again we had ended up getting back on the trail rather slowly and ended up night hiking again for just a couple of minutes. When we arrived at the shelter we found a group of incoming Dartmouth freshmen. The AT is what they use for orientation up here – it looks like groups of 5-10 students and a pair of upperclassmen spend three days hiking and camping. Neat way to start college.

I awoke this morning to the sound of Miranda encouraging a golden retriever to stick its head in my tent and lick me. I guess it belonged to some locals out for a morning walk and the dog had run over to her while she was peeing in the woods. After trying to wake me up the dog went over to Landon and ate one of his belvita breakfast biscuits. After that excitement we took it slow this morning, I slept really well last night for the first time in a while because Miranda didn’t let me eat sugar last night. She is so smart. I was eager to continue relaxing.

Turned out we did get to continue relaxing, after walking less than a mile we were at the home of Bill Ackerly. His house is just a few yards off the trail, and he stocks his patio with free icecream for hikers and has a croquet set on his lawn. We passed on the croquet but spent a few minutes talking to Bill while I enjoyed a pair of orange creamsicles. The next several hours were spent going up Smart Mountain. We may not quite be in the Whites yet but the climbs are starting to feel like it. It was a good day for it though, almost all sun with cool air and a slight breeze. It was the kind of day where you feel absolutely perfect hiking and then slightly chilly when you stop for a break and the sweat is evaporating. At the summit of Smart there was an awesome firetower with spectacular views. It reminded me of the view from Shuckstack back on the first day in the Smokys.

The descent was about as long as the climb, but the terrain was smoother and we covered it fairly quickly. All told we only did 12 miles today, but I’ve been eager to do some shorter days for a while. Just a couple of days from the hardest part of the trail so I want to be fully rested and ready to enjoy the Whites.

1800 miles has all led up to this. Tonight I’m sleeping at the base of Mount Moosilauke and the beginning of the White Mountains. Just the other day we met a fellow in Hanover who was excited to learn we were thru hiking and said we were making great progress but also said that the local saying is that being in Hanover means you’ve done 80% of the miles but only put in 50% of the effort needed to get to Katahdin. The Whites are where you start to make up that gap between miles and effort.

Today was an excellent prelude to that next phase of the adventure. It was probably the coldest day yet on the trail with the exception of day 1 back in Georgia and maybe one day in the Smokies. I was able to hike comfortably in my fleece for most of the day, even on the steep climb uphill in the morning. That was the climb up Cube Mountain, and it was a fun one with rewarding views at the top. We could see back toward the firetower on yesterdays big climb and miles of surrounding mountainsides. With that done we were on our way down to the road into the little town of Wentworth where Miranda was needing to pick up a package at the PO with new shoes. I had finally convinced her to try the same shoes I was wearing that had totally changed my hiking experience. Landon decided to wait on the trail while we hitched in, I went along hoping to get some good food at the general store. We got to the post office only to find their hours changed and they were closed for lunch for over three hours. There wasn’t much way we could wait that long and make it back to the trail and hike the miles we wanted. It was just a tiny town though, I told Miranda we should to the general store, get some lunch, and come back by the PO – maybe the postmaster would be back early, or we might even find him at the store. We walked half a mile to Shawnee’s General Store and as we were looking around the postmaster walked right by us. We stopped her and asked if there was any way we could get a package even though it was lunch time and she agreed, she said to meet her back there in a few minutes. We got our food and cold drinks and went back up the street, but there was more bad news. There was no package there. Looks like there had been some confusion over how the shoes were going to be shipped, and they had gone via UPS and couldn’t be delivered to a post office. Eventually Miranda got UPS to reroute them to Lincoln, NH where we will be tomorrow.

We ended up getting back to the trail in good time and met up with Landon just ahead at the next shelter. The rest of the day was a kind of calm before the storm. We covered about 11 miles between that side trip and the final shelter, almost all of it was pretty nice smooth trail with no major climbs. A nice way to set up our big climb tomorrow. The only problem is how cold its going to be tonight, probably below freezing. Luckily it doesn’t look like rain and all we have for tomorrow is the eight miles up and over Moosilauke into town.

A chilly air enveloped us overnight at the shelter. My 25 degree sleeping bag and down jacket kept me comfortable though; I slept well enough to wake up excited and ready to climb Moosilauke. The climb was easier than I’d expected, I think it was mostly because of the weather actually – it was cold enough that even though I was going straight up a mountain I kept on my fleece and my hat and still didn’t sweat much. The incline only got steeper the higher we went; there was a stretch of probably a half mile with boulder steps several feet high. There were several places with streams running down the mountain but mostly the climb itself was visually uneventful.

Near the top we first arrived at the South Summit. We took a short rocky side trail to get there, and later found out it wasn’t really worth it when compared to the main peak. We continued another 0.8 miles, now only very gradually uphill, to the true summit. We passed above the tree line on the way and felt the wind blowing fiercely. There was quite a crowd at the top; a couple other thru-hikers that came from Jeffers Brook like us, and several day hikers that had come up the other trails. The view was amazing. We weren’t quite sure which mountains were which in the distance but the rest of the Whites loomed large in front of us. We spent quite a bit of time up top considering how cool the air was and the wind chill. Full on sun made it comfortable though when hiding behind a rock to block the wind.

Finally we started our descent down the North side. The first couple miles were actually kind of flat as we worked along a small ridge, but then just past another shelter we began a 1.4 mile stretch of the steepest downhill so far on the AT, possibly of the whole northbound trail. We were right beside a stream coming off the mountain and most of the trail was big rocky steps. In some places without boulders to go down there were simply wooden blocks somehow drilled into the rockface to use as steps. I think it took us at least two hours to cover the mile and a half downhill because we were going so carefully.

We made it down though and found a ride into town rather quickly. We’re staying at the Woodstock Inn, and pretty much everything we need is right nearby. I had a gyro for dinner and got food at the gas station / general store, did laundry just up the street, and got to watch some TV in the room. Back at it tomorrow.

Oh yea, we’re into it now. 11.5 miles that took us about eight hours to traverse. Hello White Mountains. These are the mountains that have been talked about so much for the entire trail; always hearing about how hard it is, how slow the hiking will be, and how beautiful it is. It’s definitely slow going and definitely spectacular. And yea it’s hard in a technical climbing kind of way not a drop dead from exhaustion kind of way. The mountains today, particularly Kinsman Mountain, were quite steep but so rocky that there was almost no way to go fast enough to get out of breath. Just slow going from one step to the next, higher and higher. Once again the summit was quite nice, although nothing compared to Moosilauke, and still low elevation compared to what’s ahead the next few days. By the time we got there it was getting late and we didn’t have much time to linger.

The weather was nice and up here that’s the most important thing I can hope for. I lost my appetite for hiking in the rain sometime along the trail, and I know I’m certainly not looking forward to it now that it gets near or below freezing at night. The sun was out for most of the day today and it was actually almost warm for parts of the afternoon. Clouds started coming in later and it cooled off rapidly. On top of Kinsman the rushing wind added to the chill and I returned to my cozy fleece for the last mile and a half to the shelter.

Breakfast this morning was quite something too. It was included with our room at the Woodstock Inn and they had one of the most extensive breakfast menus I’ve ever seen. So much looked good – there was a BBQ pork omelette and a four fruit waffle, but I was feeling brave and went for the Mediterranean Womlet. It was a belgian waffle on the bottom, then a layer of Mediterranean veggies, then a layer of egg on top, served with syrup. It was gigantic and decently good but I ended up wishing I’d gotten something more traditional.

Wow. The Whites are completely unlike anything else on the AT so far. Today was full of adventure and intrigue and amazing sights. It all started when Miranda left the shelter just moments ahead of Landon and me. She likes to get a few minutes head start knowing that Landon and I will catch up quickly; today though we somehow passed her without any of us knowing it. After a few minutes on the steep downhill of rain slicked rocks and no sign of Miranda I started to think she must have taken the wrong trail out of the shelter; Landon and I started going a bit quicker to make sure she wasn’t still ahead. Finally we caught up to another person from the shelter and found out that Miranda had not passed her, so we knew something was up. We decided to go down the last few tenths to the hut and wait there figuring that if Miranda took the wrong trail she would figure it out quickly and be along. Sure enough she showed up in a few minutes but hadn’t gone off course. It sounded like she had just stopped somewhere on the side trail between the shelter and the AT and somehow none of us saw each other.

With that part of the day out of the way we all headed downhill another three miles to Franconia Notch. That was probably the easiest three miles yet in the Whites, it didn’t last long enough. After crossing the interstate we were headed straight up to Franconia Ridge. The morning drizzle had stopped, the sun was even coming out and it had probably warmed all the way up to the low to mid 50s. We climbed for a few miles, another rock staircase. It really is amazing how nice it is to hike in cool weather, I can climb faster and longer over worse terrain and feel quite comfortable in long pants and a fleece. Near the top of the trail to the ridge we started seeing some amazing views of the mountains behind us, the sky above littered with rapidly flowing puffs of clouds. We made it up to the ridge trail and before long emerged above the tree line on our way to Mt Lincoln and then Mt Lafayette.

Franconia Ridge was spectacular. Probably the most amazing place I’ve seen on the AT, or anywhere else for that matter. We covered about two miles above treeline walking along a rock treadway a few meters across, totally exposed to the cold mountain air and howling wind. I was wearing all three layers: a thick baselayer, my fleece, and the rain jacket, and gloves. Needed it all to be comfortable up there. For the entire two miles the White Mountain National Forest sprawled out on either side of us. Layers of mountains filled the landscape to the left and the right; Mt. Lafayette loomed large ahead of us. Clouds rushed by at incredible speed. Sometimes the gusts of wind made it difficult to walk straight, or at all. Add supporting yourself in the wind to the list of things trekking poles are amazing for.

There was another minor climb along the ridge trail up Lafayette but it was nothing compared to what it took to get on the ridge. By the time we made it up though we were ready to be off the mountain for the day. The wind was overwhelming and even 11 miles for the day was exhausting. The problem was there was no ideal place to camp. We had to either keep going a few miles and look for somewhere to stealth camp (tent along the trail) or walk 1.1 miles down a steep side trail at the summit to get to Greenleaf Hut. We chose the hut.

The huts are places that charge hikers 100$ a night for a bunkroom (no shower, no heat) and two hot meals (dinner and breakfast). That’s for your average weekend visitor though; as a thru-hiker you can do work for stay which means getting to sleep indoors (still your sleeping bag) and eating all the leftovers from the meals in exchange for some labor. Tonight we ended up getting to dine on stuffed shells and peas in exchange for doing dishes and doing some extra scrubbing on their entire collection of pots.

So three days into the Whites and it’s both incredible and a bit overwhelming. There’s many more miles left up here, and doubtless more cold days ahead. As awesome as Franconia was though, I find myself thinking that I wouldn’t mind a bit if we could skip ahead to Maine, get out of the cold and wind, and accelerate our journey to Katahdin.

It was a frigid night even with the shelter of the hut. Even before our hut breakfast I was treated to a special birthday treat. Miranda had been packing two huge pastries and a bunch of candles through the Whites and set it all up as an early morning birthday cake. There was a blueberry coffee cake with candles that spelled out HAPPY BIRTHDAY! and a honeybun with 27 on it. Yum! A bit later on we had the hut breakfast which turned out to be the best part of our work for stay. The regular guests ate almost all of their food and for a bit it looked like we might only get oatmeal, but one of the hut croo made a batch of french toast for us (and some for himself). It was the hottest food we got while there and quite tasty. We finished our stay with our last chore – sweeping the dining room floor.

We headed off back up the rocky trail to Mt. Lafayette. Kind of unfortunate that we had to spend so much time getting to and from the hut and not on the AT. There was a bit of ice on the Greenleaf trail but the summit felt more comfortable than yesterday since the wind had calmed down. As soon as we arrived at the summit Miranda dazzled me with her singing of Happy Birthday! We headed down and off of Franconia Ridge in short order, and transitioned to the equally rocky and slow going Garfield Ridge Trail. The highlight of the day was Mt. Garfield with views back to Franconia Ridge and the rest of the trail we covered today.

Coming down from Garfield Ridge was steep and rocky as usual and there was even water flowing down the trail in places from springs or streams. I had just met a local hiker on the summit whos working on climbing every mountain in the Whites who said the Garfield Ridge trail is his least favorite in the forest. We eventually made it to Galehead Hut shortly before four and again had to reevaluate our plans – there wasnt any way we could make it to Zealand Falls by sundown and camping along the trail would mean using up our own food and having to go into town early. We decided to stay at Galehead and get WFS again. The evening portion of our stay turned out to be pretty awful. The guy running the hut today decided to send the thru-hikers outside to sit while the regular guests were eating dinner. He even wanted our packs outside. It was cold, windy, and there was all kinds of space inside the hut where we had all been sitting quietly. After we were allowed inside we got the leftovers, there wasn’t as much to eat because the guy had let a total of six people stay as WFS so we were all splitting leftovers. Later we were all done eating and waiting for our chores for a really long time, we were getting tired so I started blowing up my air mattress and finally the guy comes out to say that that’s not allowed yet either. He got the hint that we were ready to be doing something though, and finally had us start on the dishes. At least that part went a little quicker than last night with six people. We finished dishes and kitchen cleanup and went to bed; it’s much warmer in here than las night at Greenleaf.

To Katahdin: 348 miles

Guest Writer: Miranda Jones pretending to be me!

Woke up this morning to a more pleasant hut crew member, Alana, greeting us with a smile and a tap on the feet. After packing up and expecting to be sent outside again, we were relieved when she told us we didn’t have to leave and could wait inside where it was warm. The guests sped through breakfast now that they were aware of our situation. They were happy to pass off their leftovers. Our morning experience at the hut was much more pleasant than our evening one. After finishing our chores we set out for the day. The peak we were climbing had heavy fog and we were expecting thunderstorms at any time. Luckily the storms never hit, but the fog obscured our views for the day. The trail was much easier and we made it over half way by 1:00 with only a drizzle. We took a snack break at another hut and Miranda gave me part 2 of my birthday present; a handmade coupon book of camp chores and even a foot massage! After the hut, the trail flattened out to a level we haven’t seen in SO LONG! We were so giddy. Miranda was in the middle of making a comment about how this must be a trail for beginners when she slipped on the only rock in the trail and fell right on her butt! I couldn’t stop laughing! I’m pretty sure she fell just to get a laugh out of me, knowing how much I’d love the irony. The things she does for me. After the glorious flat trail we arrived at the shelter early in the day and had time to relax. We almost didn’t know what to do with ourselves. The shelter sits just off shore of a beautiful pond….that really seems more like a lake. A few of the trees have started changing from green to red and make a beautiful backdrop. Today was great, but we have higher mountains to climb in the morning.

After a long day of climbing I’m spending the night less than two trail miles from the summit of Mount Washington – the most formidable mountain on the AT. Tonight at Lakes of the Clouds there is a nice thunderstorm going on outside. It’s actually been going on since about the time we arrived around 4:30. This is the busiest of the huts since it’s so close to Washington, they usually let four thru-hikers do work for stay. Tonight there was a bit of drama when the crew turned away a big group of hikers who said they were thru hiking but had come up to the hut on a side trail. We arrived shortly after and were granted WFS and got to hear the other group complain about their unfair treatment. We even got to sit indoors tonight while the regular guests ate dinner!

So that was the evening excitement, but the hike was even better today. One of the best days on the trail, I enjoyed all of it, even though it was a huge day of climbing. We started at Ethan Pond, descended to the lowest elevation in days at Crawford Notch, and then headed straight up into the Presidential Range. Before long we were hitting summits and seeing spectacular views what felt like every few minutes. The climb up to the ridge was hot, the warmest we’ve seen in days. It was hard to believe that just a couple of days ago we were freezing on Franconia Ridge. We took a short break at Mizpah Hut before making the ascent above treeline and heading for Lakes of the Clouds. Most of the time between huts the AT was contiguous with Crawford Path, one of the most scenic stretches of trail yet. We could see Mount Washington ahead of us – the weather observatory clearly visible on top from miles away – and tree filled valleys on either side. Alpine terrain stretched out all around us on the ridge as we climbed ever higher all afternoon. Not much other than the photographs will do justice to the views today so I’ll leave it at that and get some sleep. Ready to get an early start and finally be back in a town tomorrow.

Today was 14.8 miles of total insanity. Twelve hours on the trail, 3343 feet of climbing and 6293 feet downhill. The infamous Mt. Washington, with the worst weather in the world at 6,288 feet. Gusting winds, thunderstorms, pouring rain, over eight miles above treeline, incredible views, cloudy summits, slick rock. Today had it all. The most memorable day on the trail so far.

It all began at 6:30 sharp just like our other mornings at a hut. The wake up call arrived and instead of waiting around for breakfast leftovers we packed quickly and were ready to head out right after we heard the weather report relayed to us by the hut crew at 7:00. They were forecasting rain, but most likely later in the day; it was cloudy though, and predicting weather on Mt. Washington is like predicting the roll of the dice. Ari the hut master told us the radar looked clear and we should be in the clear, we headed out the door, and started up the trail. It’s 11:30 at night now and all of this feels like a week ago. Of course the trail was entirely above treeline, it had been raining all night, the rocks were wet, there was water overflowing from the nearby little lakes that give the hut its name. It was sprinkling on and off as we rose higher, but then as we were just a few tenths from the summit the wind became suddenly fierce and the skies opened, unloading a drenching downpour. We booked it for the summit as quickly as possible, eager to find the shelter of the visitor center at the top.

We made it indoors but not without getting a little wet. It was about 8:40 and the main attraction at the summit wasn’t even open yet. The snack bar opened at 9. We sat around watching the weather report and looking out at the downpour. Once food was available I dined on a cheap sandwich, a yogurt parfait, a brownie, and a rootbeer. We knew we wanted to be in town today if at all possible so while most of the other hikers were discussing taking the cog railway or finding a shuttle off the mountain, we were gearing up to head on. One of the other “thru-hikers” asked me what our plans were, I replied, “keep walking.” As we headed out we heard one of the people we had met at one of the huts whisper to her husband, “whoa, they’re going for it!” The thing was it wasn’t even bad out, just some gusty wind but it wasn’t raining anymore and it was probably over 50 degrees. Still I was geared up with full rain hear (wind resistant), gloves and hat. We paused briefly at the summit sign for a picture and took off down the mountain.

Being above treeline in a thunderstorm is bad news of course. We had about five miles of slow rocky terrain all above treeline to cover before the first shelter of any kind – Madison Hut. Fortunately there were no early thunderstorms, there wasn’t even any precipitation at all. There were clouds and fog and wind though. Visibility was low, rocks were wet and there were several trail junctions to navigate along the ridge. We skirted the summit of Mount Jefferson somewhere on that section between the Washington summit and Madison Hut. The hut was our next only real break of the day besides the delay at Washington, and it was short. It probably would have been longer if I hadn’t urged Landon and Miranda to keep it short if we wanted to get to Pinkham before dark. While we were at the hut a very brief downpour came and then passed, a prelude of things to come.

We left the hut and immediately began the last climb of the day, the ascent up to Mount Maddison summit. It was only 1/2 a mile but the hut guidebooks list it as an hour hike. We did in about 30 minutes but it was still an extremely steep ascent made up exclusively of jagged boulders. The first couple miles of downhill on the other side featured similar rocks although less steeply arranged. It was still slow going, but the views here were spectacular. It had temporarily cleared up rather nicely allowing views into the valleys and to the ominous gray clouds gathering in the distance. We finally made it back to the treeline only to find the trail turn downward for an even steeper descent. At least now some steps were on soft mud rather than bare rock. Not long after our return to the trees we heard the sounds of thunder, and the rain followed in short order. The trail leveled out, but we still had over four miles to the notch and it was getting late. The trail was becoming not only a stream but a river. Rain came down unrelentingly, washes were flowing into the trail at full capacity, water was everywhere, everything was soaked. I didn’t even bother with a rain jacket, it was too warm and I was going too fast. It was four miles of total adrenaline fueled hiking, knowing we were heading for town, dry clothes, a shower, and the finish of an epic day. Nothing hurt, I could go full speed and not be out of breath, every step felt perfectly placed without having to think about it even when it got dark and we were hiking the last mile by the light of headlamps. In a way it was fun, in a way it was miserable. We had agreed that we wouldn’t be night hiking again, and here we were doing it in the rain. We made it though, into Pinkham Notch where there was the Joe Dodge Lodge waiting to greet us with all the amenities of modern life. It was after 7, we changed into dry clothes and arranged for our spot at the hostel and a ride into town. We decided to relax tonight and take a zero tomorrow, doing chores, resupplying, and resting. Well deserved.

Zero day! Laundry, coffee shop, Walmart, pizza, watch TV, relax!

We were very slow getting out of town today, unfortunately an ongoing trend. The trail was brutal once we got going too. We had celebrated our successful run through the Presidentials, but quickly found that the other side of Pinkham Notch was just as rugged. It started with another ridiculous vertical ascent up into the Wildcat range. It was about two miles long and seemed unending. The Wildcat area is primarily ski mountains it seems, there was a working ski lift at the top of the climb, we could have taken a ride down to the restaurant below if time had allowed. We had been planning about 14 miles, but by the time we stopped for a break at the summit it was clear that was not going to happen. Instead we made it to the last in the series of White Mountain Huts, Carter Gap Hut. We had full food bags so we didn’t really need leftovers, just a spot to sleep. When we arrived though we got more than we bargained for.

Since it was a Saturday evening the place was packed with regular guests and there were about a dozen thru-hikers including us. We haven’t been able to escape this little bubble of thru-hikers no matter our efforts because almost all of them skip sections of trail at will. While we spending our evening coming down from the Presidentials in a thunderstorm, they were in town hanging out after taking the railroad down or getting a ride. Instead of going back to where they left off, they missed some of the most magnificent few miles of the whole trail. Anyway, a few of them are alright, but most of that sort are out here more for the parties in towns than the hiking. We are all at the hut though, and this hut crew provided amazing service to all of us thru-hikers. We were outside in the cold again during dinner but this time out of necessity, the hut was small and booked to capacity, there was no where to sit inside until people went to their bunks. Instead of ignoring us though, George the hut master brought bread out to us while people inside were still eating. A few minutes later he delivered a warm pot of pumpkin soup, and then finally invited us inside where they had tons of leftover turkey, steak, salad, and potatoes. Easily the best hut stay we’ve had. The only downside is again not being able to sleep until close to 10 and having to get up at 6 tomorrow. Worth it to be inside though and warm.

Had to get up super early to clear out the hut dining room before breakfast. Made my own oatmeal with the hut’s hot water and we got under way as quickly as possible. It was a chilly morning deep in Carter Gap where the sun couldn’t reach until almost mid-day. We were heading up the east side of the gap too, in shade, another vertical ascent. No as bad as the initial climb into the Wildcats but still intense. It was nice to have the worst part of the day over in the first hour though. We made our way across the rest of the ridge, more Wildcat peaks, Carter Dome, and Mt. Moriah. Almost all of it was still rugged, rocky terrain. Some of the descents were very technical, more like an obstacle course than a trail. We had to navigate tricky rock formations often requiring hand usage, and sometimes sitting down to ease over otherwise dangerous steps. There were numerous bog boards today, planks of wood in the trail to keep the trail above water in marshy areas – the problem though is that the boards get super slippery. Unless they are in the sun they soak up and hold water and have been responsible for several slips and/or falls. We all made it out alive though, eventually descending toward Highway 2, and Gorham, NH. Basically it took us two full days of hiking on the trail to move about 9 miles as the crow flies. Instead of going back into town though, we are staying at the White Mountain Hiker Hostel right on the trail. It’s a nice place; but super crowded as most everywhere has been lately. The Whites seem to have created a nice bottleneck and grouped everyone up.

I’m excited to be done with this part of the trail and excited to soon be in Maine. The first day of Maine includes the single most difficult mile on the whole trail, but hopefully after that this huge group of hikers will spread back out a bit. Overall I’m definitely ready just to make it to Katahdin and be done too. Still some awesome trail and incredible sights, but the cumulative effect of 135 days is starting to grow. Gonna be nice going home.

The first mountain of the day was a lovely little climb, lovely because it’s the first mountain in several days that could be ascended on mostly dirt trail instead of rock steps. It felt good to walk on a nice switchbacked trail again. There was still plenty of mud and more than enough roots, but surely a huge improvement over recent terrain. It was cold and windy though, especially on the summit.

We were hoping to make it to the shelter just past the NH / Maine border today but the trail returned quickly to it’s normal New England treachery after we were up the first climb. The other side of the mountain was rocky and steep and slippery and slow. Much of the rest of the day included copious amounts of mud, slippery bog boards, and generally slow terrain. We made it to Gentian Pond and had to call it there, pushing on would have meant another night hike, this time in extremely cold weather. The wind was picking up too, and after going outside the shelter here and feeling the wind chill I’m glad we didn’t keep hiking in it. Feels good just to have a bit of time around the shelter with nothing to do. Sleeping stuff was out early, dinner was made, and I could just relax. Actually, I relaxed by playing a few games of Magic: The Gathering with Landon. We had talked about how we both had played previously and so for my birthday he had gotten each of us a preconstructed deck and a few extra packs so that we could play on the trail. I think it’s been a few years since I’d played and it was good to be back.

To Katahdin: 274.2

Maine! Thirteen down, one final state to go. It feels so close now, especially after knocking out Mahoosuc Notch this afternoon as well. Generally regarded as the most difficult (longest) mile of the whole trail. More on that later.

We began the day early, awakened to (near?) freezing temperatures and a gusty wind. Nothing but clear sunny skies though, which is all I can hope for from this point on. It was another rugged day, beginning with an ascent of Mt. Success, the last mountain not in Maine. The top was scenic but exposed and cold and windy, we didn’t stay long. The descent was more jagged and seemed to drag on as I eagerly anticipated finding the sign marking our entry into Maine. Finally we came upon it, taking a short break for a snack and all the necessary photos. Over 1900 miles to get this far!

We continued on, across Mt. Carlo, up and down all three peaks of Goose Eye Mountain, through the roots and the mud and the wet rocks, and past Full Goose Shelter, and finally we arrived at the main objective for the day, Mahoosuc Notch. As I said, many consider it the most difficult mile of the AT, many also consider it the most fun. Rather than just crossing the notch we’re actually walking lengthwise in it for about one mile, and it’s filled with a jumble of large boulders. Essentially a mile long rock scramble involving all kinds of maneuvers ranging from jumping over chasms to squeezing through small holes to taking packs off to fit through caves and crevices. It took us just over two hours to complete, and I would not hesitate to say it was an enjoyable mile. Difficult isn’t really a good word for it, time consuming sure, and it took a lot more acrobatics than walking a normal trail, but it wasn’t particularly challenging or dangerous.

Our campsite at Bull Branch was right at the end of Mahoosuc Notch and right at the beginning of Mahoosuc Arm. The arm is also about a mile long and instead of navigating a boulder field it’s an ascent up an extremely steep wall of rock. To me the arm was the more difficult of the two, but still mostly just another fun challenge. There was a long descent on the other side of the mountain, but this was one of the easiest downhills in recent memory. The Maine woods are beautiful, the weather has been a bit cold at night but clear and sunny. We made it down to the road in the notch, crossed and started right back up the other side.

The other side consisted of a big climb up to West Bald Pate and then a short traverse down and back up to East Bald Pate. The east peak was one of my favorite summits outside of the Whites. The ascent was, as the name suggests, on bare rock. Instead of a single trail leading up there was just a wide expanse of stone slanted sideways and slightly upwards with terraced steps every few yards. You could pretty much pick your path to the top. And the top was amazing – wide views of Maine mountains, ponds, and trees starting to change to fall colors.

The last few weeks have been pretty taxing, the Whites and Southern Maine combine for a grueling stretch of trail. My knees are actually starting to feel sore from all the crazy steep descents. Luckily it looks like we’re starting to ease back into some “normal” trails – stuff that doesn’t slow us down to 1.5 or 2 mph. We’re looking forward to being able to do some longer days and close in on Katahdin.

We had an awesome stretch of nice trails today, the longest since Vermont without crazy rocks or boulders or ridiculous climbs. Just some smooth uneventful miles, a welcome return to the way the trail was before northern New England. Well, that was most of the day anyway, just near the end we came to Sawyer Notch. To me Sawyer was much more “difficult” than Mahoosuc was a couple days ago. This was just a normal down into the notch and right up the other side, but both sides were steep. My knee is still taking a pounding on the downhills and the uphill had me out of breath several times, something very hard to do after almost 2000 miles on the AT. At least this one was kind of a trail and not just rocky steps – it was mostly root steps I guess instead of rock, and it was actually pretty warm this afternoon. The descent into the notch was about 1.5 miles and the climb was 0.8 but felt twice as long. I was quite glad to see the top.

Of course after that big climb up, the trail descends immediately again. This time at least to our final destinaion of the day – the road to Andover. It was a very quiet road, hardly any traffic at all, but we had successfully hitched a ride before I was even done stepping across the stream right next to the road. As soon as Miranda crossed ahead of me a single car approached, she put her thumb up and the car stopped. The guy even had a license plate that read ANDOVER. He was awesome and delivered us to Pine Ellis Lodging, our hostel for the night. As you might expect for western Maine, there isn’t much in town. Pretty much the hostel, a general store with a short order grill inside, and a post office. Pretty much all an AT hiker needs though. Since it was the last day between resupplies I had been a bit light on food during the day’s hike. I made up for it at the grill by devouring an order of mozzarella sticks, a 1/2 lb burger, a small side of fries, most of a 12 inch pizza, a bubblegum soda, a can of watermelon juice, and a bag of skittles.

We were up early getting things together for our 8:00 appointment with the shuttle back to the trail. Made a quick run back to the general store for breakfast sandwiches and managed to locate a few articles of clothing that had been missing from the laundry. Turns out the dryer at the hostel was missing a piece of the inside back panel and there was some kind of weird alcove that had accumulated several socks.

Once we were back at the trail we headed up Blue Mountain, the biggest obstacle of the day. We ran into a few other thru-hikers on the way up but none as interesting as the one at the top – Nomad. 220 miles from Katahdin and here was one of the people Strider and I spent some nights with back in southern Virginia. Pretty sure I hadn’t seen Nomad since Grayson Highlands, and back then he was doing 20 to 25 mile days comfortably. He said he’d slowed down quite a bit lately, the people he had been trying to catch up to he did catch, but they both eventually quit. We enjoyed the view from the Blue Mountain summit – the fall colors starting to come to the Maine woods and the ponds visible in the distance.

Unfortunately Miranda has been feeling a bit under the weather the last few days and it seems to be getting worse. Some kind of stomach / digestive issues, can’t keep food down, and generally uncomfortable hiking. We made it to a campsite at Bemis Stream and decided to camp there. Short of our original goal, but fewer miles while sick was necessary and it sets us up to make a stop in Rangeley to get off the trail, perhaps see a Dr, and spend some time getting well. The campsite was nice and with all the sun lately we were able to get a fire going rather easily and enjoy an evening of warmth and relative comfort.

Zero day, Miranda couldn’t see a doctor since it’s Sunday. Nearest ER was an hour away, decided to wait until tomorrow for the local medical office to open. We stayed last night at a motel, moved to a nearby B&B that’s much more comfortable and is the same rate as the motel. Got to spend some time at the local restaurants – sports bar, coffee shop, pizza – and play some more MTG.

Miranda was still recovering but well enough to get out of the B&B and visit the local coffee shop where she did this.

To Katahdin: 207

Miranda was much improved after two days rest and the first dose of metronidazole so we’re back underway, closing in on Katahdin. Very ready for the end now. After two days off in a comfortable bed and breakfast, eating real food for over 48 hours straight, finally getting to see the new Star Trek, playing more MTG, watching football, and being indoors when the high outside was about 40 degrees, returning to civilization, especially in the desert, will be amazing. With thoughts like that in mind I started climbing the Saddlebacks this morning. It was a cool day, not as cold as yesterday, I think the forecast for Rangeley was about 50 degrees. Of course town is at 1500 feet, Saddleback Mountain almost 4200 and totally exposed. Even before the summit the wind was rampaging across the alpine landscape, whipping the light drizzle falling from the sky into a sideways frenzy. It felt like being back in the Whites, except this was worse weather than anything we experienced there, fortunately the terrain in Maine is more forgiving. And there was ice. Not on the ground but all over the small alpine brush and short trees. Everything green was crystallized, frozen in place barely into autumn.

We weren’t expecting such ferocious winds and cold, or to be above treeline for so long. We stopped somewhere between the summit of Saddleback Mountain and The Horn to add another layer of clothing and get a quick snack. After The Horn, 1.6 miles from Saddleback, the wind died away rather abruptly and that took away most of the chill. 50 degrees by itself isn’t bad, 50 degrees with 40 mph winds is pretty uncomfortable. The last peak of the range was Saddleback Junior; the most notable thing here was that I snapped one of trekking poles in half catching a fall near the summit. Covered by Leki’s warranty, but now we’re in rural Maine with no outfitters nearby – don’t know how long I’ll have to go without.

Made it down the mountain without them though. We ended up camping along a woods road near a stream and waterfall. Still not getting done as many miles as planned usually, gonna need a big day tomorrow to get to Stratton.

To Katahdin: 188.2

Long day into Stratton. Up early and didn’t slow down all day. The first several miles were easy going, nice to see some fast miles. Several more mountains to climb after that, a nice long descent to a stream we had to ford, and then straight up the other side. Lots more fall colors and a couple views of entire valleys in the midst of their autumnal transformations. From the top of the last peak, a long, unending, 5.2 mile luckily not steep) descent to the road into Stratton. Easily the longest day mileage wise since well before the White Mountains.

Hit the road not too long before sunset, yet another successful hitchhike in Maine – the first car, again! That makes two first car, and one ride without even thumbing it. Stratton is a small place, a few inns for the hikers and skiers, a small grocer, and a gas station. Not much else. Would have had more time to get stuff done tonight except the restaurant we went to took an hour or more to provide our food after we ordered. The White Wolf Inn & Restaurant – famous on the trail for the Wolfburger. 1/2 pound of beef topped with mushrooms, cheese, bacon, and a sausage patty. Pretty good, too bad about the poor service though. Most memorable part of the night was trying to do laundry. It was late but we wanted to get it down, a lot of laundromats open 24 hours so Landon and I headed out to find it with all our clothes. Found the place, part of a condominium building, sign above the door announcing “Old Tyme Laundry,”‘went inside the outer door and just inside to our left was a doorway (no door) leading to all the machines. The room was dark but I stepped in looking for the lights or the hours. Immediately inside the doorway a burglar alarm goes off! No locked doors, no posted hours…We quietly went back to the hotel, the alarm still blaring.

Two thousand miles. Sounds awesome, but it doesn’t feel as exciting as I expected. Nothing really matters now except the final mountain. Today marked the end of a rough three day stretch through some of Maine’s more famous mountains – Tuesday was the Saddlebacks, yesterday Sugarloaf, and today the Bigelows. Each day brought rugged climbs, several 4000+ foot peaks, chilly wind, and rocky descents. Tonight though we camp knowing that today was the last time above 4000 feet until Katahdin, that there’s only one more mountain range reaching 3000 feet, and the vast majority of the rest of the trail is much closer to 1000 feet and often almost flat for miles at a time. Could be standing on Katahdin in as few as 10 more days.

This morning we had to do a lot of the town chores we usually do the night we arrive. Went back to the laundry, had opened at 7, everything normal inside, found the hours sign posted INSIDE the room. Got the clean clothes, sent home broken trekking pole, had breakfast, resupplied. Got another quick ride back to the trail. Friendly Mainers must like hikers! Only a bit over 10 miles today with our long day yesterday and chores this morning. A slow 10 though, finishing up those mountains. The worst part has been the dichotomy between weather forecasts and weather reality. Forecast the last two days has been “mostly sunny.” Reality: Maybe 10 minutes total of sun not blocked by an overwhelming massive gray cloud. Three awesome chains of mountain peaks and no real views to show. Always just up in a cloud, blowing wind, and a veil of gray. Nice campsite tonight, got another fire going. Matt Munchies is here with us, as is Sir Stooge who I hadn’t seen since Erwin, so many months ago.

Destroyed 22.7 miles of Maine woods today. In the final stretch now and we mean business. Up at 6 am, walked until sunset. One of the best pure hiking days of the trail. Not much in the way of spectacular views, trail magic, or other events – just beautiful weather, good terrain, and generally feeling good. The theme of the day was ponds. After coming down from Little Bigelow the trail wove between several ponds as it progressed mile by mile toward Baxter State Park.

The showcase of fall colors continued, fallen leaves litter the trail, the night was cool, and the day was warm. As we walked along the edge of one of the ponds our progress was watched from a canoe by a man and his dog. It was super nice to have so much of the day on flat ground, probably climbed less today than any day in over a month.

Insane numbers of people near us on the trail. Last night at the shelter was crowded, tonight I set up my tent near the shelter area without even going to look at it. There’s a few good people around like Munchies, Nomad, and Sir Stooge, but then there’s about a dozen that spend time smoking cigarrettes, lazing about town, and then skipping entire sections of trail. Impossible to get away – hike fast and you meet again when they skip a section, hike slow (ie. two 0 days in Rangeley, and we stay on their pace). There’s probably close to 15 people at or near the shelter tonight, and luckily my tent is now my preferred sleeping arrangement. Staying in a shelter right now is sure to lead a night of trying to sleep through snoring after an evening of carcinogenic smoke. We would much prefer climbing Katahdin without a horde of people there so hopefully not many of this crowd will match our intended pace of 18-20 miles per day to wrap up the trail.

Other than the big crowd it was another good day. Early fall in Maine continues to yield fantastic weather once we made it past the Saddleback ice fields. On top of Lost Pond Mountain today it was totally sunny and nearly 70 degrees – hard to believe three days ago I had three layers of clothes on going over an icy summit.

The most important landmark of the day came early, about 4 miles in – The Kennebec River – and our ferry ride across. The ferry is a three person canoe (one spot is the guide) operating four hours a day specifically to get hikers across the river. There’s even a white blaze painted on the bottom of the boat. Everyone made it across safely and shortly we came on US 201 where I had originally planned on connecting for lunch with my Uncle Mike for a bit of trail magic, but thanks to lack of phone service in the Maine woods I couldn’t get word that we would be hitting the road very early in the day and we had to cancel.

Instead it was another day of trail food for lunch and the climb up Lost Pond Mountain. We got a little surprise there when half way up we met a Maine ATC volunteer who was out working on finishing up a new section of trail. Just a week or two ago they had carved out a fresh reroute to become the official AT path next year. Little pieces of colored ribbon on trees uses to tag the path of trail construction were still on trees and there were brand new white blazes. It was designed to skip a couple tricky rocks that can be dangerous when wet, and the volunteer said we could be the first hikers to try out the new trail if we wanted. We did, and it was pretty neat. Instead of a well worn treadway eroded down so that every rock and root is exposed on top of a hardened dirt pack like the normal trail this fresh section was raw forest floor – soft and mossy, the ground felt like a sponge as it absorbed my steps. The reroute was less than half a mile, but it was a unique experience and a nice change of pace.

Just miles the rest of the day. A long slow downhill with a few too many little sections of quick dips back uphill mixed in, crossing Moxie Pond by hopping across rocks, and then about three miles of gradual uphill to camp. Like I said, didn’t even bother looking at the shelter itself, found a sweet tent site on the way in just a few yards from a little stream. One week from tonight we should be camping at the foot of Katahdin.

Long day into town. Stayed at Shaws. Monson seems like a dying town. The hostel is for sale, the general store just closed. Most of the town is falling apart, and pretty much all that’s left is a gas station that looks like it’s brand new. Of course that means that the gas station is the only resupply option and we have the 100 mile wilderness ahead and need six days of food. Gonna spend this week with minimal protein and lots of junk food. Sending home anything I don’t absolutely need for this last week or so.

An excellent breakfast from the cooks at Shaws. You start with a pair of blueberry pancakes and while you eat those they ask you to pick a number – whatever number you say is how many eggs you get cooked to order, as well as that many slices of bacon. Then theres home fries and a sausage patty as well. Even with that and a stop by the post office we were back on the trail by 9.

We entered the 100 mile wilderness today. The final run to Katahdin. 100 miles without any civilization. There’s a sign warning those who enter to be fully prepare and to carry 10 days of food. Our packs were already loaded but there was a bit of food someone had left right on the sign. Snagged a couple of goodies to eat right away at lunch today – fresh blueberries and a KitKat bar. So far the 100 mile wilderness lives up to its name – it feels different up here. Never hearing the sounds of nearby roads, or jets crossing overhead, no paved roads, no power lines – only the untamed wilds of Maine woodland.

Many more miles of rocks and roots and rough trails today. Three more water crossings needing to be forded. One had water rising above the knees briefly at the deepest point. It was kind of a day heavy on the ups and downs – there weren’t any big climbs but it was never flat. Roller coaster. Unfortunately my shoulder issues that once seemed resolved by a new pack have been slowly returning but were seemingly accelerated today by the full bag of food. Luckily there are only five more days of carrying my pack left (don’t need to bring all the gear up Katahdin) and it’s going to get significantly lighter every day.

Tonight we are finally less than 100 miles from the summit. In just two days we will get our first view of Katahdin in the distance. Hard to imagine that moment. Don’t think anything could stop me from that point on.

From the books I had read and the stories I’d heard it sounded like many people spent the last few days before Katahdin wishing that the trail wouldn’t end. For me it’s quite different. The closer I get to that last day the more it feels like time is slowing down. I never got any real feelings of ready to quit / ready to be done in the middle of the trail like most people, but now I’m good and ready. Maine is rugged. The scenery is nice but the trail is endlessly rugged. Roots tangle together, intermingling with rocks to create and endless obstacle course for the feet.

Knocked off a few more little mountains today though, tomorrow features another group of four, most notably White Cap Mountain, the last significant climb before Katahdin, and also the place where we can see Katahdin for the first time. There was a nice bit of trail magic tonight – turns out there are a few old dirt roads out here – there was a cooler full of soda and a bag with a few pasta sides / ramen. Awesome to find ice cold mountain dew in the middle of the 100 mile wilderness after a tough day. Also nice to be away from a shelter tonight and camping by a stream. Looking back it’s hard to believe I spent so many nights in shelters – tenting is now much preferred. Time for some rest, another day closer tomorrow.

A little trail magic right at the end of the day, an early finish with daylight to spare, and a relaxing evening not at a shelter was fantastic. Slept well and was feeling good today. The trail morphed into a less treacherous version of untamed wilds – there were many fewer rocks and the roots were much more manageable. The day began with another water crossing and then we slowly gained elevation as we approached the last climb before Katahdin. The big one was White Cap Mountain, but first came a series of three smaller associated peaks. The climbs were pretty steep but all short and we made quick work of them.

On top of White Cap the trail turns North and descends that side of the peak. Katahdin becomes visible for the first time. Today only semi-visible. The top obscured by clouds, only the eastern edge visible as a faint wisp of a gray form emerging through the haze. Still incredible. Over 2100 miles done and now to finally be able to see the mountain that has been driving the whole adventure. Still three long days hiking until we are ready to climb it, but that’s 62 miles of essentially flat ground.

So close to the end and we are still meeting new thru-hikers almost daily, well “thru-hikers” anyway. Mostly more yellow-blazers. Today while taking a break at a midday shelter one asked where we had started the day, we told her, and she said we were making good time. Landon agreed, telling her we were with the exception of yesterday where the trail was so rough and rugged. She said she had heard that that was the case and had skipped that section. I almost asked her if she had heard Katahdin was five miles of intense vertical climbing… it sounds taxing to me, maybe she should skip it. So apparently even with nothing but scarcely used dirt roads hikers are able to find people to carry them around in cars. We did meet one new guy, Ketchup, who is a fellow purist. We all found it remarkable that out of the whole group of 15-20 people about a day behind us there are maybe 2 who haven’t skipped significant sections.

Awoke to another perfect autumn day, sunny but cool. Made quick work of breakfast and packing and hit the trail before 8. There were a few tiny climbs early and one little hill late in the day but most of the day was completely flat trail. A bit rocky at times, a few roots, but the miles flew by. Had planned on doing about 19.5, ended up over 22, shortening up those last two long hikes to the foot of Katahdin.

That gray wisp of Katahdin that we saw yesterday became a well defined monolith today, towering above the landscape at our first real vantage point. A very lonely mountain indeed, it looked a bit daunting because of it’s total isolation. No going gradually up a nearby ridge and then making your way to the summit on this one – straight up. It loomed large and it was a bit hard to believe we still had to walk over 40 miles of AT before beginning the ascent. Two long flat days of walking and then one big climb.

Not much else going on the 100 mile wilderness. We are quickly blowing past almost everyone that was near us in Monson or that we meet out here. We’re camping tonight near a stream we have to cross in the morning, I think it’s the first time on the whole trail I’ve tented just in the woods and not where there’s a designated camp site or at least previous camp use. I can’t believe how amazing the weather has been on this last stretch. October in northern Maine and it gets near 70 during the day and stays warm enough at night that I can comfortably start each day in shorts. Bad news is that it looks like it will last one day too few. Planning on Katahdin on Sunday and the forecast is calling for clouds and a 30% chance of rain.

A day of journal lost to total exhaustion! Getting close though.

One day left now. Only the climb up Katahdin. 5.1 miles. 155 days since Springer Mountain and tomorrow will be the final day. Still very ready for the end, but I guess now I know that I will definitely miss being out here as well.

The day began with a torrid pace as Miranda and I pushed hard to cover the 11 miles to Abol Bridge as quick as possible. We had both completely exhausted our food bags after breakfast and a mid morning snack, and there was a real restaurant waiting at Abol. Needed time to eat, and still do 10 more miles after. We made it there before noon, no problem after getting a couple more looks at Katahdin on the way. First from Rainbow Ledges early in the day and then from right on Abol Bridge, the best view yet. Landon caught up to us just as we were on the last few tenths of trail before the road and we all ate together. The food was amazing, some of the best on trail, very surprising considering the location. Possibly the best mozzarella sticks ever, and a great burger. Also picked up the food I needed for my last trail meals – dinner tonight and breakfast and snacks for tomorrow.

We were super excited to be on the final 10 mile stretch before Katahdin after lunch. We crossed into Baxter Park and signed up for the thru-hiker shelter, and forded our last two streams. It was flat and mostly smooth and easy trail, a welcome change from the 100 mile wilderness terrain.

Everyone is enjoying our last evening on the trail. It’s a bit cold tonight and probably will be for the climb tomorrow, but the forecasts of rain that once existed for tomorrow have been updated to sunny skies. On the last mile or so into camp I could see Katahdin through the trees; it’s slightly intimidating because we don’t usually see what we climb ahead of time, and of course because this one is particularly steep. Well, its 9:30 and we are planning on being packs ready and on the trail by 7:00 so about time for bed. Gonna be a lot to write about tomorrow.

It’s been two weeks since this day actually happened. For a while I thought that the picture was enough, that that said it all. And I guess that I knew that writing this post would be the very last thing I do “on the trail” and I didn’t want it to end.

This final day began early. Earlier than any other day on the trail. I was lucky to have slept at all. It would have been even earlier but the ranger station at the park didn’t open until 7 am and that’s where we left all our excess gear in preparation for slackpacking the summit. As it was we were up before six and on the way down to the ranger stationa around 6:45. We unloaded some gear – tents, sleeping bags, anything we didn’t need for Katahdin, and then started the trail, one last time.

Only 5.2 miles to the summit. As we began we found a super nice trail, rising only gently, and mostly free of rocks – a nice surprise. It lasted maybe a mile and then turned upward, becoming steeper and getting more rugged at the same time. We passed Katahdin Stream falls and the trail turned away from the stream shortly after. The difficulty continued to increase, but the caffeine and adrenaline had me in a zone where none of that mattered. I felt like I was pulling 3 mph where normally the pace would be less than 2. We started hitting some bigger rocks and nearing what seemed to be the start of the boulder climbing section while Landon and Miranda were talking about how that should call their parents from the summit, “we could try but it’s Sunday, they are going to be in church,” Landon said. Only moments later, we rounded a curve in the trail, and there were two older people with a video camera pointed at us. It was Mom and Dad come all the way from Florida and trying to make it to the top of Katahdin on their first hike! L & M took a few minutes to recover from their shock. They couldn’t believe their parents were there, or had made it half way up Katahdin. We all hung out there on the side of the mountain for a few minutes – chatting, having a few snacks, and feeling our hands start to go numb from the still cold morning air. We saw why they had chosen this point to stop and cancel their ascent to the summit – this is where it got serious. There were metal handholds attached to rocks ahead and you had to pull yourself up onto the huge boulders.

Soon the parents headed back down to the campground and we began the last few miles to the top. The weather that we had once feared would be rainy had turned out to be clear blue skies, comfortably cold temperatures, and almost completely wind free. Perfection. Good thing too because most of the rest of the way was navigating a sometimes near vertical boulder field. There were probably a dozen or more times where we were hauling our bodies up rocks with hands and arms. Still we were moving as quickly as possible, fueled now by being able to see the high ridgeline ahead with the summit on it. After some solid climbing the trail levels off again on “the tableland,” a reprieve from the vertical ascent for at least 1/2 a mile. As we walked along the tableland the summit itself became clearer, we could see the crowd of people massed at the top, lingering about and enjoying the view. The final climb from tableland to summit was short, and over all too quickly.

We arrived at the summit just after 11 o’clock in the morning on Sunday October 6, 2013. The end of a 2185.9 mile journey. I had thought about this moment quite a lot throughout these five months and I was never quite sure how I’d react when I made it. I think if there weren’t 30+ people within 30 yards of the summit sign I might have yelled, or cried, or something; but as it was all I could do was sit down, silently, and just think about the trail. That it was over, that I had made it. That we were done, and this was it. Of course there were a few Team Hustle & Flow hugs, and pretty soon we got started with the most important photo shoot of the trip. We started by celebrating with the champagne Miranda had carried up, and moved into all the shots of us and the Katahdin sign. I called home to say Hi to Mom and Dad from the summit, and then after about 75 minutes up there we turned around and went back down the mountain. Back down into the real world, back into civilization. The past few weeks I really felt like I was ready to be done, but now, actually being done is making want to stay out here forever. I knew that phase would hit eventually; for a lot of people it starts a few days or a week before Katahdin. These were the greatest five months of my life. The sights were spectacular, the journey was incredible, and the people were amazing. I feel so fortunate to have made it all the way, and to have met Miranda and started a relationship out here on the trail makes it more incredibly special than I could have ever imagined. It will be a summer that I will always remember, an adventure I will never forget.