I've walked 1000+ miles - weird, huh? perhaps even insane. I'm in Harper's Ferry, WV (finally we are out of Virginia!), so I still have another 1000+ miles to hike, but I'm ok with that cause I'd rather be hiking than working - of course, I am working my butt off - quite literally - just not gettin' paid to do it...and that's ok for now.
Anyway, more later - I've gotta eat... and hopefully keep the food down - something funky's going on inside my intestines. I hope it's not giarardia. I hope it's just the greasy fries and onion rings I ate yesterday with my 1/3 lb cheeseburger. yucky.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
You never know what's lurking in the shelters...
Journey, Pyrofly and I were sitting in the shelter enjoying an afternoon snack and break at BlackRock Hut (sleeping shelters in Shenandoah NP are called huts, and day-use picnic gazebo-esque structures are called shelters...just to confuse us) and a friendly creature decides to join us. While we weren't rude to the creature, we certainly weren't friendly, either. In fact, it was nearly instantly upon seeing the creature - a copperhead snake - that we jumped away from it and snapped a zillion photos from a distance while politely and patiently waiting for it to find another resting spot out in the woods.
The snake is finally leaving the shelter. Snakes are fascinating creatures - imagine the abs humans would have if we had to crawl around on out stomachs all day to get around. Truly fascinating to watch these things move...
The snake is finally leaving the shelter. Snakes are fascinating creatures - imagine the abs humans would have if we had to crawl around on out stomachs all day to get around. Truly fascinating to watch these things move...Shenandoah NP
Aaaahhhh!!!! A rattlesnake on the trail! This thing scared the living sheets out of me...first rattler on the trail. I saw my first bear, too. A baby being treed up a tree - because I'm a scary, feisty not-so-sure what you're gonna do creature - to a bear... 
The next three photos are of beautiful sunsetting views from Passamoquoddy Trail - a blue blazed trail from the AT - although we did see remnants of old white blazes, so we were perhaps on the original AT.
Good ol' Appalachia. Gotta give it to the CCC as well for all the hard work they put into building so much of the trail. Their workmanship is incredible.
And this is from a great viewpoint in the Shenandoah's somewhere - weather here has been phenomenal. NO RAIN!!! Cool temps at the higher elevations. Nice sunny breezes. phenomenal. plain and simple.
The next three photos are of beautiful sunsetting views from Passamoquoddy Trail - a blue blazed trail from the AT - although we did see remnants of old white blazes, so we were perhaps on the original AT.
Good ol' Appalachia. Gotta give it to the CCC as well for all the hard work they put into building so much of the trail. Their workmanship is incredible.
And this is from a great viewpoint in the Shenandoah's somewhere - weather here has been phenomenal. NO RAIN!!! Cool temps at the higher elevations. Nice sunny breezes. phenomenal. plain and simple.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Plant life using the oh so wonderful super-macro!!!
Cool water droplet on a plant after a rainy morning...and for the record, the rain won't stop. We have had sunny days scattered here and there, at least. But it's been wet enough that my pack is growing/smells like mildew. grody.
Little spider on a leaf...
Pretty butterfly on a yellow flowering plant...way to go super-macro!!
Pink Lady Slipper
Purple Flower
I'm obsessed and in love with my super-macro feature...too bad I can't figure out how to turn the sideways photos right side up in blogspot so you're just gonna have to turn your head sideways to see some of them correctly - like the baby spider and the pink lady slipper.
Little spider on a leaf...
Pretty butterfly on a yellow flowering plant...way to go super-macro!!
Pink Lady Slipper
Purple Flower
I'm obsessed and in love with my super-macro feature...too bad I can't figure out how to turn the sideways photos right side up in blogspot so you're just gonna have to turn your head sideways to see some of them correctly - like the baby spider and the pink lady slipper.
Trail photo, Roan Mtn Shelter, Overmountain Shelter, Dad @ The Biltmore in Ashland, Horses endorsing McDonald's in Erwin
This is me on top of Roan Mountain at the shelter with close to the same name - also the highest shelter on the AT - tops 6,000 feet. It was a hefty climb to the top - and I knew it would be so I decided to count how many steps it would take to get to the top. 10,800 steps. yup, that's just about right.
View from Overmountain Shelter - sadly enough, I did not take a picture of the shelter which is an ancient barn (ancient by US standards - perhaps 100 years old???).
My pops at The Biltmore Estate...I took a little side vacation to Asheville, NC from Erwin, TN for a break/visit. Thanks for the yummy sushi and cozy bed!!
Yes, the horsies are endorsing McDonald's - Just like cows endorse Chick-fil-A..."Eat More Beef" the horses say.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Misc. Photos
Here are a few more pictures of my journey - they are kind of random. I apologize. And they will probably continue to be random - so I will apologize one last time and never again :)
Perhaps 2 minutes before the Hiker Parade/Water fight at Trail Days. We had filled approximately 100 water balloons to throw at the town folk while they sprayed us down with water guns, fire hoses, and sprinklers.
Perhaps 2 minutes before the Hiker Parade/Water fight at Trail Days. We had filled approximately 100 water balloons to throw at the town folk while they sprayed us down with water guns, fire hoses, and sprinklers.
Walking Stick 75 (aka the original Walking Stick) cooking scrumptious pancakes for breakfast. This wonderful man made many wonderful meals during our stay at Trail Days. Thanks!
A small portion on Tent City - our temporary home for a week or so. There were supposedly 3000 or so tents throughout the weekend during Trail Days and different 'neighborhoods' in Tent City itself. We stayed in a neighborhood named Riff-Raff near the creek.
A restaurant in Pearisburg, VA named after me! Awesome.
Pyrofly taking a ride on the zipline to The Captain's house across the rivercreek. He's sporting a kilt - just a fancy name for a man-skirt which is relatively common on the trail. The Captain had a hiker feed the day before we arrived, but we were able to enjoy some leftovers and the crew of friendly folks who decided to stay another day. Zipline as a form of transportation is truly the way to go. Sometimes I wish I could zipline from a mountain-top to town versus 3 or so miles of walking down down down...but that would probably be cheating. but it would be fun.
More to come!
Misc. Photographs
Partnership Shelter - one of the shnazziest on the trail - has a functioning warm water shower and sink, two levels, covered porch, and is close enough to a road with pizza delivery...definitely one of the more appealing shelter meals...
Little ponies in Grayson Highlands.
Enjoying the nice weather and spectactular hiking in Grayson Highlands...beautiful place. And good hiking temps too - I'm wearing long sleeves and pants, but was comfortable.
Somewhere in Virginia on a beautiful sunny day.
Little ponies in Grayson Highlands.
Enjoying the nice weather and spectactular hiking in Grayson Highlands...beautiful place. And good hiking temps too - I'm wearing long sleeves and pants, but was comfortable.
Somewhere in Virginia on a beautiful sunny day.
Mysteries solved...
A skunk took my shoes.
We've been walking along/crossing over the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) for a week or so now. Lots of nice views scattered here and there between lots of mountains and spring trees. I must say, the flower scents are wondrous. I sometimes forget I'm a stinky stinky hiker. (I'm not at the moment, though, cause I'm in Waynesboro at the Lutheran Church Hostel - so I've taken a shower AND done laundry).
I should also mention the privies in the BRP have been beautiful - by privy standards. There's a huge hole the size of a basement, a real toilet seat/stand on a concret slab inside an exquisitely built wooden toilet home, and you can actually stand up inside without having accidently hitting the toilet and feeling grossed out. Going doo-doo out in the woods is almost better that privies actually. But it does require some hefty physical labor - digging a hole at least six inches deep :) Anyway, the Natural Bridges AT Hiking Club gets kudos from me for best privies on the trail thus far.
We've been trying to do bigger days without taking shorter breaks during the day meaning a couple days getting into camp after dark - not so much my cup of tea. I just don't like it. You have be quiet so you don't wake people up because hikers midnight in actually 9 pm. hang food bags in the dark. set up in the dark and still be quiet. go to bed on a full stomach. wake up early so you don't have to get into camp late the following night. It just doesn't create good trail habit making.
We got into Thunder Hill Shelter late several nights ago. After being quiet/hanging food bag/eating/going to bed, etc, I awoke in the middle of the night needing to take a tinkle. And upon waking up, I hear a noise ruffling through some plastic - figured it was a mouse and carried on with my nightly wake-up call. But I couldn't find my brand new hiking shoes (bought just a couple days prior). I also noticed all the other shoes were scattered about, and a single sock without it's pair. And as I crawl back into bed, I saw a larger-than-mouse shadow stroll down the mountainside...scared the living sh*t out of me.
So the next morning, we discover my shoe is not the only missing, but both Pyrofly and Y-Knot have a missing croc each, and Wingo's sock is nowhere to be found. (I had put all the remaining shoes/socks inside the shelter before I went back to bed). Y-Knot crawled out of bed first and found the missing items minus his own Croc and Wingo's sock...and Wingo only had one pair of socks on him...uh oh. Neither were ever found.
After pondering what the dark shoe stealing shadow could be (perhaps a raccoon), Pyrofly and I sighted the perpetrator...a skunk with a white tail casually yet catiously strolling up the mountainside - to it's sock/croc filled nesting sight perhaps. Excellant. It wasn't scared of us. Probably knew we weren't gonna run up the mountainside banging at it with a ferocious stick...seriously, there's not much one can do about a skunk. I mean, we do stink, but we don't stink like skunk spray stink - well at least, I don't think we do.
But we were informed later that peroxide and baking soda works wonders on getting the skunk stink off of misbehaving skunk chasing doggies...
We've been walking along/crossing over the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) for a week or so now. Lots of nice views scattered here and there between lots of mountains and spring trees. I must say, the flower scents are wondrous. I sometimes forget I'm a stinky stinky hiker. (I'm not at the moment, though, cause I'm in Waynesboro at the Lutheran Church Hostel - so I've taken a shower AND done laundry).
I should also mention the privies in the BRP have been beautiful - by privy standards. There's a huge hole the size of a basement, a real toilet seat/stand on a concret slab inside an exquisitely built wooden toilet home, and you can actually stand up inside without having accidently hitting the toilet and feeling grossed out. Going doo-doo out in the woods is almost better that privies actually. But it does require some hefty physical labor - digging a hole at least six inches deep :) Anyway, the Natural Bridges AT Hiking Club gets kudos from me for best privies on the trail thus far.
We've been trying to do bigger days without taking shorter breaks during the day meaning a couple days getting into camp after dark - not so much my cup of tea. I just don't like it. You have be quiet so you don't wake people up because hikers midnight in actually 9 pm. hang food bags in the dark. set up in the dark and still be quiet. go to bed on a full stomach. wake up early so you don't have to get into camp late the following night. It just doesn't create good trail habit making.
We got into Thunder Hill Shelter late several nights ago. After being quiet/hanging food bag/eating/going to bed, etc, I awoke in the middle of the night needing to take a tinkle. And upon waking up, I hear a noise ruffling through some plastic - figured it was a mouse and carried on with my nightly wake-up call. But I couldn't find my brand new hiking shoes (bought just a couple days prior). I also noticed all the other shoes were scattered about, and a single sock without it's pair. And as I crawl back into bed, I saw a larger-than-mouse shadow stroll down the mountainside...scared the living sh*t out of me.
So the next morning, we discover my shoe is not the only missing, but both Pyrofly and Y-Knot have a missing croc each, and Wingo's sock is nowhere to be found. (I had put all the remaining shoes/socks inside the shelter before I went back to bed). Y-Knot crawled out of bed first and found the missing items minus his own Croc and Wingo's sock...and Wingo only had one pair of socks on him...uh oh. Neither were ever found.
After pondering what the dark shoe stealing shadow could be (perhaps a raccoon), Pyrofly and I sighted the perpetrator...a skunk with a white tail casually yet catiously strolling up the mountainside - to it's sock/croc filled nesting sight perhaps. Excellant. It wasn't scared of us. Probably knew we weren't gonna run up the mountainside banging at it with a ferocious stick...seriously, there's not much one can do about a skunk. I mean, we do stink, but we don't stink like skunk spray stink - well at least, I don't think we do.
But we were informed later that peroxide and baking soda works wonders on getting the skunk stink off of misbehaving skunk chasing doggies...
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Slackpacking
I'm a slacker. If you're familiar with the AT, you might know what this means - if not, prepare to learn something new...cause seriously, how can anyone walking to Maine be a slacker?!
Two days ago, I landed back at another place I visited on my bike trip - Catawba, VA. There's not much to the town/valley, but it sure is pretty and has the Homeplace. Back in '06, we came across The Homeplace closed (only open Thurs - Sun), but we arrived on Thursday this year - BBQ option night!! It's a huge old farmhouse that was converted into a restaurant back in 1982, and they've been serving home cooked food family style since then - that means All You Can Eat - a very important term for thru-hikers. It was sooooooooooo yummy - words can't even describe, so I'm not even gonna try. But fried chicken, roast beef, real mashed potatoes, real green beans, cole slaw, bbq pork, spiced apples (not from a can), cherry cobbler topped with ice cream, sweet tea, beans, etc...man, we were salivating...for real. it was good, and i left stuffed and happy.
The General Store in town let us stay in their backyard for a small fee - the store hasn't changed much in three years - not too surprising. We woke up the next morning after a night of feeding and relaxing to rain and fog. excellent. (this right now is my favorite word - if something sucks and is just not going right, I say "excellent" and somehow, I feel a little better. excellent). We've been hearing about McAfee's Knob forever and the views of all of Virginia the day would bring, so we were not looking forward to hiking on and missing yet again another beautiful day only to see a blank white-ish grey mixture of hydrogen and oxygen mixed together...otherwise known as fog and clouds. Not my favorite view. So we hung around Catawba for a bit waiting for the clouds to depart. They did not.
So long story short, we ended up catching a ride with Trampoline (he had contacted a trail angel shuttle driver who loves her cats) to Daleville 20 miles up the trail. Pyrofly needed new hiking shoes desperately (700+ miles, holes in the sides - not a pleasant sight...and Daleville has an outfitter, so it all worked out. We were planning on hiking south from Daleville back to Catawba and hitching back. Then we ran into Denali and Gorgonzola and they already had a ride to Catawba planned out and were gonna hike north from there - so we followed...and left all of our gear minus our packs and snacks and a few other necessities in their hotel room and slacked.
Man, slacking is a powerful thing. Just to clarify, the term "slackpacking" refers to hiking a section of the trail without your full pack - either emptying it out significantly or using someone elses daypack. Basically, one who slackpacks is a slacker, and I was that. And hiking 20 miles was far easier than ever before...I felt I could have easily walked another 20. so much less strain on the muscles. And the weather was spectacular - amazing hiking and views from both McAfee's Knob and Tinker Cliffs. I've been very anti-slackpacking for myself since the beginning, but this go around it all worked out and was worth it.
I don't care to make slackpacking a habit - and that was why I was so against it. I had never cared of other people did it, nor did I truly believe they were 'cheaters,' even if i gave a few people a hard time about it - but that was just for fun. There are so many opinions out there about what a thru-hike is...that's why HYOH (Hike You Own Hike) is such an important philosophy out here. And my HYOH includes one at least one slackpack - part of the whole experience, right?
And just to make sure you understand - the food at the Homeplace is so yummy to my tummy. I'd go for some green curry right now, too. And shave ice, regular ice cream, burritos, pho, tomatos, and grilled zuchinni dusted with salt and pepper would do as well.
Two days ago, I landed back at another place I visited on my bike trip - Catawba, VA. There's not much to the town/valley, but it sure is pretty and has the Homeplace. Back in '06, we came across The Homeplace closed (only open Thurs - Sun), but we arrived on Thursday this year - BBQ option night!! It's a huge old farmhouse that was converted into a restaurant back in 1982, and they've been serving home cooked food family style since then - that means All You Can Eat - a very important term for thru-hikers. It was sooooooooooo yummy - words can't even describe, so I'm not even gonna try. But fried chicken, roast beef, real mashed potatoes, real green beans, cole slaw, bbq pork, spiced apples (not from a can), cherry cobbler topped with ice cream, sweet tea, beans, etc...man, we were salivating...for real. it was good, and i left stuffed and happy.
The General Store in town let us stay in their backyard for a small fee - the store hasn't changed much in three years - not too surprising. We woke up the next morning after a night of feeding and relaxing to rain and fog. excellent. (this right now is my favorite word - if something sucks and is just not going right, I say "excellent" and somehow, I feel a little better. excellent). We've been hearing about McAfee's Knob forever and the views of all of Virginia the day would bring, so we were not looking forward to hiking on and missing yet again another beautiful day only to see a blank white-ish grey mixture of hydrogen and oxygen mixed together...otherwise known as fog and clouds. Not my favorite view. So we hung around Catawba for a bit waiting for the clouds to depart. They did not.
So long story short, we ended up catching a ride with Trampoline (he had contacted a trail angel shuttle driver who loves her cats) to Daleville 20 miles up the trail. Pyrofly needed new hiking shoes desperately (700+ miles, holes in the sides - not a pleasant sight...and Daleville has an outfitter, so it all worked out. We were planning on hiking south from Daleville back to Catawba and hitching back. Then we ran into Denali and Gorgonzola and they already had a ride to Catawba planned out and were gonna hike north from there - so we followed...and left all of our gear minus our packs and snacks and a few other necessities in their hotel room and slacked.
Man, slacking is a powerful thing. Just to clarify, the term "slackpacking" refers to hiking a section of the trail without your full pack - either emptying it out significantly or using someone elses daypack. Basically, one who slackpacks is a slacker, and I was that. And hiking 20 miles was far easier than ever before...I felt I could have easily walked another 20. so much less strain on the muscles. And the weather was spectacular - amazing hiking and views from both McAfee's Knob and Tinker Cliffs. I've been very anti-slackpacking for myself since the beginning, but this go around it all worked out and was worth it.
I don't care to make slackpacking a habit - and that was why I was so against it. I had never cared of other people did it, nor did I truly believe they were 'cheaters,' even if i gave a few people a hard time about it - but that was just for fun. There are so many opinions out there about what a thru-hike is...that's why HYOH (Hike You Own Hike) is such an important philosophy out here. And my HYOH includes one at least one slackpack - part of the whole experience, right?
And just to make sure you understand - the food at the Homeplace is so yummy to my tummy. I'd go for some green curry right now, too. And shave ice, regular ice cream, burritos, pho, tomatos, and grilled zuchinni dusted with salt and pepper would do as well.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Malfunctioning gear :(
Slowly we are moving along. About 3 miles an hour seems to be the average pace for me (not including breaks), which really is slow for many modes of transport, but not so much on foot with an oversized bag on my back. Sometimes I wish I could just take my pack off and run down the trail - I would get to my destination at least 2x faster.
The trail in Virginia is getting rocky, and my feet don't like it so much. I've also gotten blisters for the first time. I had changed out my shoes in Damascus from boots to trail runners. They were working great til the first rain came and BAM, blister on my heels. excellant. I've been ducktaping them ever so delicately with a bit of gauze in between, and they are heeling fine.
I've also had my first significant gear malfunction - my water filter broke. Gotta call REI to get a replacement, I suppose. I have an inline water filter - so the dirty water goes into the Camelbak style bag, the filter is attatched to the hose...so you suck untreated water from the back and the first half of the hose, it goes through the filter and our comes clean water through the second half of the hose into your mouth. It's easy and convenient. But for now, I'll just have to rely on the kindness of others to filter water for me (I do have some treatment tablets just in case, but would rather use filtered h2o).
I'm currently at "The Captian's" at mile 646-ish. The Captain had a 'hiker's feed' that we missed by just a day because we were lolligagging in Pearisburg too long. But he allows people to camp on his property anytime during the season - and he has a zip line to get across the large creek to his casa. In just a few more miles, we'll be at our 1/3 distance barrier. pretty neato.
I'm lolligagging again. Pyrofly and I have been trying to get a super early start, and it is now 11:36 and I am no where near ready to go. ahhhh!!!
til next time.
The trail in Virginia is getting rocky, and my feet don't like it so much. I've also gotten blisters for the first time. I had changed out my shoes in Damascus from boots to trail runners. They were working great til the first rain came and BAM, blister on my heels. excellant. I've been ducktaping them ever so delicately with a bit of gauze in between, and they are heeling fine.
I've also had my first significant gear malfunction - my water filter broke. Gotta call REI to get a replacement, I suppose. I have an inline water filter - so the dirty water goes into the Camelbak style bag, the filter is attatched to the hose...so you suck untreated water from the back and the first half of the hose, it goes through the filter and our comes clean water through the second half of the hose into your mouth. It's easy and convenient. But for now, I'll just have to rely on the kindness of others to filter water for me (I do have some treatment tablets just in case, but would rather use filtered h2o).
I'm currently at "The Captian's" at mile 646-ish. The Captain had a 'hiker's feed' that we missed by just a day because we were lolligagging in Pearisburg too long. But he allows people to camp on his property anytime during the season - and he has a zip line to get across the large creek to his casa. In just a few more miles, we'll be at our 1/3 distance barrier. pretty neato.
I'm lolligagging again. Pyrofly and I have been trying to get a super early start, and it is now 11:36 and I am no where near ready to go. ahhhh!!!
til next time.
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