"Hiker Feed"

Ever heard of a "hiker feed"? Well I had not until today. This is
trail magic of the highest order. I am not talking about the {awesome}
cooler on the side of the trail near a road crossing full of sodas on
a hot day. (Thank you to those who put the awesome coolers full of
sodas on the side of the trail near road crossings on the hot day!!!)
This was something entirely different. Ann, Loon, Signage, and
wonderful others whose names have escaped me, made quesadillas over
hot coals, greens, cookies, fruit salad, couscous salad, quinoa, tofu,
lasagna in a Dutch oven, cheese rolls, spring rolls, and everything
you can imagine. It was a spectacular feast. THANK YOU!!!
As I sit here absolutely stuffed, I am thinking about how mind
boggling the generosity and thoughtfulness of others can be. We were
discussing, as we sat around pigging out all evening, that if the rest
of the world treated eachother like hikers treat eachother, the world
would be a better place. (Most trail magic is hosted by hikers or
former hikers).

Of course the best trail magic is seeing loved ones after being on the
trail for months. I am lucky enough to have one meeting me tomorrow.
After hiking 14.5 miles in the morning, I am meeting Drew and spending
a couple of days with him. Thank you for driving so far to see me! I
can't wait to see you!

Thunderstorms on a Friday afternoon...

Although I am in my tent listening to a raucous thunderstorm outside,
today was mostly sunny and hot. I just made it to a perfect camping
spot and got the tent up just minutes before it started coming down in
buckets. It was really muggy and still today, so it felt particularly
good to sit in the middle of Jennings creek. Lots of people went
swimming, enjoying a lazy afternoon until it started thundering.

Tomorrow, Saturday, is one gargantuan climb pretty much all day,
gaining over 4,000' in elevation total. I have been studying the
profile map for tomorrow's hike for over a week and have been dreading
this seemingly never-ending climb. The good news is that there is
rumor of trail magic (read: real food) hosted by a local trail club at
one of the points where we cross the blue ridge parkway tomorrow. Yay.

One thing I have noticed since going to all cold food is how food
preparation is incredibly fast. I am usually done eating by the time
most people have their water boiling. So far, my favorite dinner is
tuna, cheese, and (lately) sliced tomato on a tortilla. Of course
after almost slicing my finger off last night, I am much slower in my
food preparation. Don't worry mom I have a well stocked first aid kit
and I am slowly but surely learning how to properly use everything in
it.

Thursday

Back on the trail again. Sometimes getting out of a trail town is
tricky. I finally got back on track and marched 17.5 miles to a great
camping spot with a view. I crossed the Blue Ridge Parkway four or
five times today. It's wierd following a road for so long.

Today started out sunny, hot, and muggy. As I sit here, the wind is
blowing hard and it's lightning. The forecast rernains the same with
30-40% chance of thunderstorms every day. At least it usually doesn't
rain all day.

I don't usually talk about gear, but WOW! What a difference it makes
at times. I was fortunate enough to be able to drop about 3-4 pounds
from my pack. I switched to my ONE pound summer weight sleeping bag,
swapped backpacks, and sent home my Jetboil. My Gregory Jade 60 is a
much more comfortable pack, I felt like I was practically skipping
down the trail. I am not sure what my pack weighs now...I am soooo
curious (I absolutely must find a scale). I will have to do a new gear
list because I hardly have anything I started with.

Oh, and Marge and Lefty are doing really well. I only have two pieces
of tape on them now! Boots are working just fine.

McAfee's Knob

Although this is a commonly photographed spot, the view in the
background is usually not the backside of a morning rainshower. It was
still a really beautiful spot.

Pollywog soup day

Pollywog. What a wonderful word. Doesn't it just make you smile to say
it? I did not know there was a regional differentiation between
pollywogs and tadpoles. The reason I mention it is I just happened to
camp the other day near a pond that was full of them. Yes, it was the
only water source for miles.

So yesterday we all had a huge climb at the start of the day. It was
not too steep, actually the mountain had nice long switchbacks. It was
only cloudy when we began with occasional peeks of sunshine. By the
time we reached the top it was thundering and dark heavy clouds filled
the sky. Amazingly there was a bench at the top where we all gathered
to catch our breath and commiserate about the drenching we were about
to receive. "Too much" had a 6 x 9' tarp and decided he was going to
take cover. So what happened next? Yes, the three of us hid from the
thunderstorm, crammed on the bench under the tarp. All of a sudden we
saw feet in front of us and the uncontrollable laughter ensued. Of
course we invited "Dodger" to join us to wait out the storm.
Eventually the lightning and thunder moved away and we continued on
our way, still chuckling.

So after several days of rain, I had been looking forward to arriving
in Daleville. Getting everything clean and dry becomes the driving
force for the last few days before getting to a trail town. Keeping
things dry and clean is a futile obsession, as it usually begins
raining the very moment you leave the trail town. But you know what
they say out here on the trail..."no rain, no pain, no Maine".

Dragon's tooth....yes, that's the trail

Saturday....

Big rocks, little rocks, two 1700'+ elevation gain climbs, mud, and
rain are how I would describe yesterday. 22 gruelling miles to the
Niday shelter where I victoriously climbed into my sleeping bag at
9pm. The reason I am awake this morning at 5am, awakened by an ALARM,
no less???? Other hikers anxious to meet up with their friends so they
can go party. Uh huh. Unfortunately, having the worst night of sleep
on this trip so far, I face the notorious "dragons tooth" later today.
Apparently it's a rocky scramble with built in ladders and such. That
ought to be exciting.

Now that I have finished complaining, I can say that besides the
difficulty factor in yesterdays many adventurious twists and turns and
tumbles, I can also say that it was a gorgeous hike with many scenic
rock outcroppings, farmlands, and of course all the flowering flora.

For those of you that have never hiked a section of the A.T. through
farmland, you may not be aware of the fun way we get over all the
fences. There are these stile type contraptions that are like a big
wooden two sided ladders. These would be fun without a heavy backpack
and trekking poles, but let me tell you....these have been the source
of hours of laughter. As some hikers try to wedge themselves in the
fences trying to avoid going up and over them. Some of them are really
rickety, some are covered in poison ivy, and some are much steeper on
one side than the other. These are the ones you think...this is going
to topple over someday...is it today? Well, we climbed over probably
8 or 9 of those yesterday, just to add to the fun.
Yep, today is a new day. I am looking forward to see what kind of mess
I can stir up on this trail today.

Friday...

Waiting for it to rain...again. I was lucky to stay dry while hiking
today. It was really dark with ominous clouds and high wind all day.
But it never did rain. It's supposed to rain overnight and tomorrow as
well. The trail was really rocky so I'm glad it was dry.

The trail was really beautiful today. I was up on a ridge for a good
portion, then following a cascading stream for a while, and through
ferny meadows. The mountain laurel and flame azalea is in full bloom
and it is gorgeous. It reminded me of hiking in the Cohuttas quite a
bit.

I know, I know...you want to know how the cold food thing is going
don't you? Well, I had a delicious whole wheat tortilla with smoked
salmon (yeah the kind from a foil pouch, but good nonetheless), pepper
jack cheese and sliced tomato. It was spectacular! Yes, I packed 2
tomatos, an avocado, 2 oranges and 2 bananas out from town yesterday.
And yes, my pack weighed 435 pounds...at least. I have really enjoyed
having the fresh food, but it has also been difficult carrying the
extra weight. I am trying to come up with a new plan for next week. Or
find a sherpa.

Sunshine!

Wow. What a difference a day can make. Today was beautiful. I had an
interesting hike out of Pearisburg this morning. Coming into or out of
towns is always interesting. Usually the trail will end up in
somebody's side or back yard eventually. Today it weaved in and out of
yards, back into the woods (you know, the urban kind...pine forests
covered in poison ivy), up neighborhood streets, over a huge bridge,
beside a highway more like an interstate...it's a jungle out there.
Somebody I have been hiking with for a few days got lost twice today,
before the trail ever made it into the woods.

I saw a huge 5 or 6 foot black rat snake this morning. This fella had
just had some kind of massive lunch. He was hanging out next to the
river. I also saw a toad and some deer. That about wraps up the
wildlife for the day, other than hikers.

I am camped up on a ridge in a meadow area, with a nice view of
sprawling farmland down below. I got a late start this morning and had
a somewhat leisurely 12 something mile hike today with a 2 hour break
at a gorgeous lunch spot. I was taking time today to stop and smell
the flowers and I am glad I did. They smell wonderful.

"...it's one of those people from the woods, dear"

Well, as predicted, the Chinese buffet was sadly mediocre. Filling,
but mediocre. And after a day of eating as much town food as possible,
I am ready to get back on the trail as soon as possible. As usual I
can only handle so much "civilization".
Today I gladly watched as all the surrounding mountains were
completely covered in dark storm clouds and I was not in it. All my
clothes and all my gear is totally dry...at least for now. The weather
is actually supposed to be really nice tomorrow.

So I resupplied my food for the next week and I can say I'm down with
the mashed potatoes. Actually I have decided to go all cold. No more
cooking. Even mashed potatoes. So this will be an interesting
experiment. I am planning to send my stove home next week. Hmmmm.

Well I am looking at a nice stretch of trail here out of Pearisburg,
Virginia. I will keep you posted. Ok goodnight.
Oh, and the title of today's post is a quote I actually overheard in
town today. Yep.

Ferns in the rain...

Still raining...

I am in my tent near a cliff overlooking Pearisburg, Va. At least I am
assuming that is the town below....I have no idea really because I am
in the clouds completely and it is still raining. I am sure it will
stop tomorrow and be sunny because I will be in a town.

It was a pretty tough 19 or so miles today. The trail was very rocky
which makes for hard hiking. The on and off rain wears you out as
well. We actually heard tornado sirens going off in the town below.
Don't worry. We are hiding in our tents. Because everyone knows that
tents are safe and will protect you from everything, right? Just
kidding....The three of us that are camped up here on this cliff have
an actual plan if we hear a tornado. Of course it involves dangling
from a rocky ledge but a plan none the less. Some days are way more
interesting than others.

That's alright. Tomorrow is Chinese buffet day....we are hoping the
Chinese restaurant makes it through the night. Everyone I have been
hiking with has been talking about nothing but the Chinese buffet. I
am sure it will be absolutely mediocre at best but bring it on.

I have to say, tonight and last night have been some of the coolest
places to camp. Last night I was camped near a beautiful waterfall and
tomorrow morning, I will wake up to a gorgeous view...assuming the
clouds and fog actually go away. I will let you know later how good
the view was.

Sunday

So once again I find I am sitting here smashed in between 8 smelly wet
hikers in a shelter during a thunderstorm. I was hiking along today
and I thought to myself, "I don't really mind hiking in the rain when
it's warm out..." and just about that time, the skies absolutely
opened up. I mean full force. I was not wearing any rain gear because
it was so warm. I don't remember ever being so wet. By the time I got
to the next shelter, I am sure I was quite a sight. I was planning to
go 7-9 more miles today but I never left here and it only ended up
being a 14.5 mile day. The past couple of days I have been really
lucky because it rained mostly at night. Oh well. It's all good.
This morning was really nice. There were some hikers that were
dropping off another hiker and I just happened to be hiking by at the
same time. They had cold sodas, mint oreos, fruit, mixed nuts, and
raisins. And, they took my trash from my food bag. What a nice
surprise. It definitely made up for the storms that came later today.
I certainly have the experience for a future professional food
panhandler.

Monday, Monday. Right?

Rain! So I woke up still sardined between lots of other smelly hikers
but the funniest part was the shelter itself. We had clothes lines
criss-crossed all over the place with wet clothes, socks, bandanas,
pack covers, rain gear, and you name it. Traditionally, we hang our
packs from rope suspended from the ceiling in shelters to keep mice
from getting in them. So between the clothelines and the packs hanging
everywhere, it was like a wet hiking gear explosion. You could not
even walk around for all the "stuff".

I got up at 6am (as if you have a choice when you wake up in a shelter
with that many people in it) and was on the trail, in the rain, by
7:30 this morning. I was anxious to get to the next shelter 10 miles
away to take a break, get out if the rain for a few minutes, and let
Marge and Lefty dry out. The next motivator was none other than
Trent's store on Hwy 606. Yep, food was calling our names. Even if it
was just deep fried potatoes and cheap convenient store pizza. The 4
of us that showed up at the road at the same time, hitched a ride in
the back of some guy's pickup truck to the store. (Thanks nice dude
with the truck!) So I had a veggie pizza, apple pie, and diet A&W
rootbeer. Yum. Yes I know, all our lives revolve around food out
here. I told you that already. Don't act so surprised.

Now I am camped beside Dismal Creek falls after a 19.5 mile day. The
waterfall is beautiful. I am camped at mile marker 604 and will be in
Pearisburg the day after tomorrow. Yay.

Saturday

Yesterday, I hiked down a mountain to find a river that was big enough
to get into and take a little dip. That is so totally refreshing on a
hot steamy day. Today I found a creek but it was more like standing in
it than swimming. Marge and Lefty enjoyed it though. What I did find
today, after a gorgeous hike up and over several grassy balds, was the
Chestnut knob shelter overlooking Burkes Gardens (otherwise known as
"God's Thumprint") where I stopped for lunch. There were some
dayhikers having a picnic. They were so kind to share their
leftovers. I had an absolutely awesome tomato sandwich and cookies and
they gave me their extra veggies to take with me! Thank you guys! So
then tonight for dinner, I had lettuce, onions, and green peppers with
tuna in a tortilla. Fabulous! Not only did Iuck out for lunch, but at
the bottom of the mountain this nice couple had left a bag of cold
sodas. What a treat. The generosity and thoughtfulness of complete
strangers has completely awed me.

So here I am, in my tent listening to a ferocious thunderstorm. It has
been raining hard for about an hour. This is about the time you figure
out how well you picked your spot to put the tent. So far so good
tonight. No waterbed effect. Last night I slept in the shelter, so
when it started thunderstorming, it didn't matter. I just thought it
might be fun to carry around a wet tent tomorrow for a while. Just for
kicks.

Friday

In reference to my earlier inquiry about the whereabouts of Tarzan, I
am here to report that I have found him. Yes! You guessed it. He is
hiking the Appalachian trail! After he ditched poor old Jane,
unfortunately he had to have knee replacement surgery from swinging on
too many vines. I passed him at the last shelter.
It is a beautiful day to be hiking the Appalachian Trail. I am headed
19 miles north to a spot that us supposed to be haunted. Cool.

Thursday May?

Atkins, Virginia. What can I say? Just got back from eating at a
little "home style cooking" restaurant called The Barn just up the
road. You know, one of those places where the list of "vegetables"
goes something like this..."macaroni and cheese, cottage cheese, cole
slaw, pinto beans, and fried okra".....of course it had an assortment
of various ways to order fried potatoes, onion rings, and an entire
page of meats, including fried bologna(?). I know I am still in the
south and all, but do people really eat that? Being the vegetarian
CRAVING vegetables that I am, I ordered the vegetable plate. I really
have no idea what I actually ordered, but I was presented with a bowl
of beans (complete with chunks of some kind of reddish fatty meat
floating around), fried okra, or I should say some fried batter with
the remnants of something green in it, an iceberg salad with cheese
and bacon, and french fries. Oh, and some corn bread. Well that pretty
much rounds out a healthy meal dontcha think? Since I told the
waitress I was vegetarian, I bet the little piles of bacon bits and
chunks of reddish fatty meat left on my plate came as no surprise.

I am just spending the night here in Atkins, VA at a lovely little
retro 1960's style motel. The trail actually goes right by here and
under I-81. I am getting back on the trail tomorrow morning with a 15
mile hike planned. The weather has been off and on rainy the past
couple of days, with the exception of today because I am indoors of
course. And as usual, it is forcasted to be mostly rainy tomorrow
because all my stuff is now completely dried out and clean. That's
okay. It's just how it works sometimes... or nearly every time. I am
just grateful for the opportunity to be out here at all. What a gift.
It's not every spring that you can spend so much time outside, you
literally can watch the rhododendrons bloom before your very eyes just
after a rain storm. Or go to sleep at night camped right next to a
rushing creek and wake up to a cacophony of what sounds like 100 birds
every morning. It's a gift alright.

Tuesday?

I celebrate two milestones today...one being that I am camped at the
Trimpi shelter about 17 miles past the 500 mile marker and the other
being that I hiked over 20 miles to get here. I saw more ponies
enshrouded in dense fog this morning. Today's hike included quite a
bit of walking through cloud covered balds. It seemed very surreal. (I
added a couple of pictures to the slideshow on the right.)

I woke up to rain this morning. I was happy about my decision to sleep
in the shelter. The thunder and lightning never came and the rain
eventually slacked off. The sun even peaked out this evening for a few
minutes. Literally. Three.

There is a rumor that I will be passing by a shelter on the trail
tomorrow that you can actually order pizza. Wow. I will be definitely
giving that a whirl. So naturally, knowing I will be eating a huge
lunch, ate all my food reserved for tomorrow, tonight. It was a
veritable feast, including mashed potatoes...

Monday sometime in May...

Today was totally awesome! Hiking through the the Grayson Highlands is
spectacular. There are wild ponies with their foals everywhere. I
stopped at the Thomas Knob shelter for lunch and a couple of them just
walked right in the shelter. They were pretty tenacious about trying
to convince me to share my food with them. They didn't offer to carry
my pack for me the rest of the day so I had to decline their requests.

I am so proud of Marge and Lefty today. They did a fantastic job
carrying me 17.3 miles today. They only complained a few times. I am
actually sleeping in the Wise shelter tonight, as it is supposed to
thunderstorm tonight. I thought I could at least avoid packing up a
wet tent. Now on to more important things...dinner. I had a special
treat tonight. Somebody gave me some bacon bits made from tofu. Yep,
they went into my mashed potatoes. Yum.

I hiked past a huge crop of pink ladyslippers this morning. There must
have been 50 of them. I saw a few red columbine, tons of trout lilies,
ramps, star chickweed, and one white flower that I was not familiar
with. It had two completely different size blooms on it. Tomorrow is
my first "scheduled" twenty mile day. I will tell you how that works
out later...

Mother's Day sunday

Well first of all, Happy mom's day to all the mothers. Of course this
probably will not post for a couple of days and will be a little
behind the times. I have not had AT&T service for a while. Damascus is
another communication black hole. That's okay, because it is by far my
favorite little town I have seen yet.

Today's hike was great. It was near the river for quite a bit,
paralleled the Virginia Creeper trail for a while, full of gorgeous
Rhododendron blooms, and topped off by meeting all kinds of new
people. I stopped 5 times to take my boots off and let my feet breath
and apply new dressing, moleskin, duct tape, or anti-friction goo. My
new accidental trail town hobby has become to seek out any type of
store that has any kind of first aid supplies and carefully examine
their blister care selection. The treatment of the day today was an
exquisite combination of gel pads, wrapped carefully with sports tape,
and a side order of my recently purchased "Body-Glide" (the above
mentioned anti-friction goo). Oh and an evening treatment of some of
that red stuff my mom used to put all over cuts when I was a little
kid, that another hiker let me use. And just like I remember from way
back then, because I think they outlawed it because it contains mercury
(???), it still stings like hell.

I somehow managed to squeek out a 15.8 mile hike here to the Lost
Mountain shelter. Tomorrow I will be hiking past Mt Rogers, at 5,729'
in elevation, Virginia's highest peak and through the Grayson
Highlands that I hear is full of hiker friendly wild ponies. Cool.