Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Sore feet and hot temperatures

On the 24th, we did 11 miles to Laurel Creek Shelter. On the 25th, we did 12.4 miles to Nilay Shelter. On the 26th, we did roughly 12.5 miles and camped two-ish miles past Pickle Branch Shelter. On the 27th, we did 6ish miles and camped a mile after route 624 despite taking a five hour break at a gas station that involved eating a lot of food and ice cream. On the 28th, we zeroed because it was insanely hot and instead spent the day exploring the stream we camped next to. On the 29th, we did 15.8 miles and camped .3 miles past Lamberts Meadow Shelter. The weather was better and we were feeling better, finally. On the 30th, we did 9.1 miles into Daleville and stayed at the Howard Johnson Express.

So the experiment of taking a few resting days basically backfired. After about 20 minutes of hiking my feet were killing me and my knees were more sore than they had been at any other time along the trail. After a very slow 4 miles I stopped to get some water and take some Vitamin I (Ibuprophen). This was only the third time so far I have felt like I had to use Vitamin I so not a great start to the day... We made it to the shelter and decided that we didn't feel up to doing any more. My feet and knees were sore and UV was feeling more tired than normal and her legs were not feeling good.

This feeling persisted for a few days and sort of tied in to an incredibly hot stretch of weather. I do not do well with that. I had always assumed I would have to start getting up early, hike a few hours, take an extended break, and finish up the day with some evening/night hiking. I hadn't anticipated making this shift until probably Pennsylvania though. The overall discomfort and tiredness of our bodies leading into this heat created a rough week to get through. On the up side, Virginia is supposed to be the most challenging state mentally and I still feel really upbeat and happy with the whole journey. All in all, I feel like we worked through the physical hardships we had and are starting to figure out a schedule for hiking in hot weather. Hopefully it cools off a bit and the schedule change isn't needed quite yet, but who knows.

The area we have been hiking through has been quite nice despite my discomfort. We saw Keiffer Oak which is the largest oak tree on the southern half of the trail (photo below with UV giving the tree some needed love). There has also been many more rocky outcroppings that allow for a nice view. While I am used to nice mountain views, it is nice to continue to get them; the previous week or two we had very few.

One of these views is called Dragon's Tooth. It is a stone monolith that stands at the top of a relatively steep climb. While it was moderately impressive (not great photo below) we saw an absolute ton of day hikers. On top there must have been a dozen and we passed another two dozen on the climb down. It reminded me that the days of the week actually matter somewhat. Normally I have almost no concept of what day of the week it is. Also, despite seeing so many people there was no trail magic. Bad day hikers in my opinion!

The most impressive view was McAfee Knob. It is the most photographed place on the AT and, while I don't think it compares to Katahdin, I understand why it is so photographed. It is a pretty easy 3.9 mile hike from a parking lot and it is relatively close to quite a few people; neither of those things can truthfully be said about Katahdin. Since I did McAfee on a weekday I didn't see too many day hikers so it still felt remote(ish). Since it is so photographed I obliged and am including quite a few with this post. I just realized that I don't think I have included a photo of me in my kilt yet so for those that are curious this should satiate that a bit.

From McAfee Knob you can see the Tinker Cliffs across the low land. The Tinker Cliffs are a .5 mile cliff walk with some great views. It was neat to get to the cliffs and look back at McAfee Knob and realize that I just walked from there in two hours. I included a photo from the cliffs but it is hard to tell where the Knob is. If you look closely there is a white spot on the top of the mountain, that's it. Most of the time I have a view I have no idea what mountains I am looking at and even less idea where I am headed. It was a nice change of pace.

So I finally arrived in Daleville and got my food shipments. It is always a great feeling tearing open the boxes. It is like Christmas and I know I am getting what I want more than anything else, FOOD! This is the first big shipment of dehydrated food that my mom has prepared so it should be interesting. All the meals looks great; hopefully the portions are properly sized after the small trial run last box.

I mentioned aqua blazing in my last post but did not explain what it is. As I go about organizing in my head how to explain it, I figure I might as well give a more thorough explanation of the different techniques of thru hikers and some of the debate around them. To start, there are two main groups--AT purists and AT non-purists. Obviously there are extremes and moderates in each of these groups. The extreme purist thinks that you are only a real thru hiker if you have walked every single inch of the AT. This means that if there are two trails leading to a shelter you have to make sure to take the same one back to the trail that you initially took to the shelter; the same goes if you go off trail for a view or any other reason. UV actually does this, even though I don't think she's quite an extreme purist. The extreme AT non-purist basically accepts any method of getting from Springer to Katahdin. Usually there has to be a vast majority of the miles done on the AT, but there can be some sections skipped via motorized vehicle or other trails. These common trail terms are used when discussing these viewpoints: blue blazing and yellow blazing. Blue blazing is taking side trails (usually marked with blue blazes) to cut miles or hard climbs out of the hike. This can also include road walking to go a more direct route than the AT takes. Yellow blazing is similar but involves getting a ride in some car or truck. Most commonly it involves getting picked up at a road crossing and getting taken to a town or hostel then getting a ride back to the trail at a road crossing further along the trail. Neither of these are rare occurrences on the trail, but people usually don't readily admit to using them. So far, I have done neither, not because I am an extreme purist but because I have enjoyed the trail. I do admit to taking different routes to and from shelters, though so, technically, UV has walked probably 200-500 more feet on the AT than I have.

With that as background, you might be able to guess what aqua blazing is. It is possible to rent a canoe or kayak and take it down river from roughly Waynesborough (mile 856.5) all the way to Harpers Ferry (mile 1017.3). You can do this for a day or two or for enough time to get the whole way. It is a rather unique opportunity for a thru hiker since there is no other long stretch that follows a river. I find it unfortunate that it cuts off the Shenandoah National Park since that seems interesting to hike but, oh well.

I guess that is enough rambling for one post. Yesterday I passed the 700 mile mark... 2/3rds left!

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Trail Daze

The delay in posting is caused by not having cell signal at Wind Rock and then my phone losing the post I had already written. I'll try to get everything in the post but I have already written it once so I might forget to put something in.

The remainder of the 18th was spent driving back to Damascus where we camped at Tent City .5 mile out of town. The 19th and 20th we camped in Tent City. On the 21st we got a ride back to the trail with the Incredibles, went .2 miles to a great view at Wind Rock and camped there. We decided that Trail Days hadn't been the actual restful break we had wanted and spent the 22nd and 23rd at Wind Rock as well. This was only mildly successful at being as restful as hoped (more on that later).

So UV's faux parents showed up at the road crossing in the afternoon on Friday with lots of food! They brought lasagna, pesto spaghetti, bagels, cherry pie, brownies and ice cream. We had a great meal on a rock on the the side of the trail. I had to have multiple desserts because the ice cream was melting, I did my duty and helped finish off the ice cream with some brownies. After the meal we started the drive to Damascus.

We got to Damascus early in the evening and went straight to Tent City so we could find a spot. Tent City was packed. There was an open field with some tenters (photo below) but that was just a small portion of the people there. Most people were camping in the woods behind the field. There were tents and hammocks everywhere in there. Any spot that was remotely flat had a tent on it and many of the non-flat spots were filled with hammocks. After what was probably an hour and a half, we finally found a pretty decent spot right next to the river. No one had ever camped there before so it was a bit overgrown but after some work with my knife the brush was mostly cleared away and there was a nice little flat spot. Since it was right next to the river it was virtually impossible to hear all the partying going on in other places in Tent City.

That evening we went to the free food, drink and music at one of the churches in town. The food was good but the music a bit jesus-y. As UV's faux Pa said, nothing is ever truly free. We also had to give the little old lady at the front of the line a hug to get food. Very nice of them to do all this for free. After that we wandered a bit and then went to bed.

The next morning was spent fixing or replacing gear. UV's air pad had a leak so Big Agnes replaced it. Her bag was ripping, so Osprey fixed it. Her headlamp was acting up so Princeton Tec replaced it. My bag needed smaller hip pads and shoulder straps and Gregory quickly swapped those out. It was great having all the gear people there and completely willing to do almost anything to help you. After wandering the vendor area it was time for the hiker parade.

The hiker parade is where all the thru hikers that want to parade down main street in order of year--current thru hikers bringing up the rear and in chronological order, getting older as you move forward. This seems like it is meant to sort of honor the hikers and the tradition of hiking but in reality it is just an excuse to have a town wide water fight between the people in the parade and the observers. Water balloons, squirt guns, hoses and any other sort of water delivery system that people can come up with are employed to get the other side as wet as possible. There were quite a few people even on the roof of Quincy's Pizza trying to get a better vantage. It definitely allowed their hose to have a longer reach. (pictures below)

The rest of the day after the parade was spent managing when drawings for free stuff were happening and when. Most of the vendors had some sort of drawing for free gear but you had to be present at the time of the drawing. After all the drawings I had quite a good headache so I decided to call it an early night.

The best part of the whole experience was seeing a lot of the people that I hadn't seen in a really long time. Virtually the entire original crew was there--Bunny, Button, the Incredibles, Red Fury and Highlife were all there. It was great seeing them all again and finding out where they all are on the trail. It turns out the Incredibles were just 27 miles behind us. It turned out to even work out better to get a ride back to the trail with them Monday than with UV's faux family.

So Monday we got a ride back to the trail. The ride gave us extra time to swap trail stories and catch up with the Incredibles. It turns out they would like to Aqua blaze with us so hopefully they catch us. We aren't going fast but Elastigirl's mom is coming to hike with them for a few days which will slow them down and then they are taking a few zeros. I still think they can easily do it.

After getting dropped off at the trail we were both not feeling great due to the long car ride. We decided to just go .2 miles to a nice view (photo below) with some camping and relax there. Such relaxing seemed to take 2.5 days which theoretically wasn't bad since it would be a nice rest and we would be ready to hike after that. It didn't actually work out that way since the day after my feet and knees hurt a ton and UV didn't feel great either but that will be covered more in my next post.

Friday, May 18, 2012

Fighter Pilots Need to Learn from Tom Cruise

On the 16th, we left Pearisburg late but managed to do 11.9 miles to Symms Gap to camp, 5 miles past Rice Field Shelter. On the 17th, we did 8.6 miles to Captain's, where we basically had to stay. On the 18th, we did 6.4 miles to VA 613 where we got picked up by UV's faux family.

After eating all of the ice cream in Pearisburg, we finally made it out of town. This involved a few miles of road walking, which is quite boring. The first time we did it, it was kind of a change of pace but mountains are much more enjoyable to walk along than highways. Once we got back in the woods and had climbed back up onto the ridgeline that is the hiker highway, we finally hit an area that actually had a nice view (photo below). We decided to go past the first shelter out of town and were rewarded with a great grassy mountaintop campsite with a view.

The next day we got to "Captain's." To get over the stream to Captain's house, he has set up a zip line chair contraption. It worked quite well (photo below). Captain offers free cold drinks on his back porch, a nice lawn for tenting, sleeping spots on his covered back porch, and use of his bathroom. What a great place to stay since we only had to do six more miles before noon the next day. It did feel strange just opening the door to his house and wandering through his living room to use the bathroom while he and his wife just sat on the couch watching TV. I'm not sure I could completely open my entire life to hundreds of hikers every year, but it makes for a great place to stay.

This isn't the best forum for this suggestion/complaint but it's what I have... F15 pilots, why do you feel it is necessary to buzz the mountains? It is mildly disconcerting to have one or more fighter jets zip seemingly directly overhead when you are on the trail. I think Tom Cruise definitively proved that cool fighter pilots buzz flight control towers. Don't you want to be cool fighter pilots?

Oh, and I saw my biggest snake yet (photo below). My best guess is somewhere around 4-5 feet long.

This is a short update but I would prefer more short updates (means I have to procrastinate less) and I wanted to make it so Trail Days had a post all to itself. It should be interesting, I should have that post up sometime on Sunday.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Tragedy Strikes

On the 7th we did 2 more miles out of Atkins and camped along a stream at Davis Hollow. On the 8th we did 15.3 miles to a campsite on Lick Creek. On the 9th we 5.7 miles to Chestnut Knob Shelter and stopped there to get out of the rain. On the 10th we left late waiting for the rain to stop but did 10 miles to Jenkins Shelter. On the 11th we did 14.8 miles and camped just past Helveys Mill Shelter. On the 12th we went to Trents Grocery for some food but still did 17.2 miles and camped at Dismal Falls. On the 13th we zeroed at Dismal Falls since it was a nice spot and we thought we would have to zero in Pearisburg. On the 14th we did 12.2 miles to Woods Hole Hostel, the best hostel yet! On the 15th we did 10.4 miles into Pearisburg.

Three days ago, I ran out of body glide! It almost made me cry a bit. I had to steel myself for the following days but I have persevered and made it to town. Hopefully such a terrible thing never happens again.

The only thing I have to add about Atkins from my last update is that resupplying from a gas station is far from ideal. To see what it's like, go to your local Shell or Exxon station and try and buy food for 5 days. Then remember that you eat 4000 calories every day. The pile of food you are forced to buy is disgusting! I did pass on the jar of pickled pigs feet; maybe that would have made it better.

The day after Atkins was the day of cows and fence stiles. It felt like every .5 mile had a fence stile. For people that don't know what a fence stile is, it is basically two ladders leaning against each other over a fence (photo of UV navigating one below).

The next day it rained forever. Our stuff was wet and soaked so when we got to Chestnut Knob Shelter and it was a 4-walled stone house with a door we decided to wait out the rain. It worked rather well; things didn't dry out completely, but nothing got more wet. The following day we waited for the rain to stop, which happened in the afternoon, and then pushed on to the next shelter.

The next day was boring. The day after involved real food! I had eaten basically all of the junk food I had bought in Atkins so it was time to head to Trent's Grocery and buy enough food for the short trek into Pearisburg. Unfortunately, it turns out that Trent's is also just a gas station that happens to serve a little bit of food. So I bought a burger and loaded up on more Little Debbie's and hiked onward. I resisted the large selection of turkey calls and bait that were for sale. We found a great campsite at Dismal Falls a few miles past Trent's. It was so nice that we decided to spend another day there with the theory that finding a ride back to Damascus was going to be easiest from Pearisburg and that didn't need to happen until the 17th or 18th. The downside of this plan was that it decided to rain excessively that afternoon and night.

After waking up sleeping in a nice 1.5 inch deep puddle, we had to move on. It is quite amazing how much heavier everything is when it is completely saturated with water. Getting from Dismal Falls to Woods Hole Hostel functionally involves hiking up stream. Eventually, wet and tired, we got to the hostel.

Woods Hole Hostel is amazing, pure and simple. It is a farm that serves as a hiker hostel and a retreat for people that want to get away (photo of bunkhouse below). They served dinner and breakfast and it was potentially the best food I have had yet on the trail. The dinner was salad, from their garden, and burritos that you assembled yourself with homemade tortillas followed by Amish made blackberry ice cream. For breakfast we had creme brûlée French toast with scrambled eggs and fresh baked bread. It was hard to leave in the morning; many people didn't resist the urge to stay and spent at least one day there.

Shortly after leaving Woods Hole, I came across a large puddle/stream in the trail due to the rain. Since my feet were still dry and I think my inner child needed some play time, I spent twenty minutes using leaves and sticks and redirecting the water flow while draining the puddle (photo below). Needless to say, UV found this activity quite amusing when she caught up to me. This day also had the best blooming rhododendron tunnel yet (photo below).

Once we hit Pearisburg, I got my mail boxes and we called the hostel. For some unknown reason, the hostel doesn't open until May 22nd, which is outrageous! Rendezvous Inn it is, even though it is a bit more expensive. Dinner consisted of all-you-can-eat Chinese, followed by a half gallon of mint chip ice cream. At the Chinese place, we got the oddest/meanest fortunes in our cookies ever. Mine said "My reality check just bounced." I'm still unsure what exactly it is trying to imply. UV's was just plan mean. It read, "You can count your friends on one hand." I couldn't help but laugh as she pouted.

We found out that UV's faux family is coming to Trail Days and is going to give us a ride to and from the event. This makes things much simpler than trying to find a ride and/or hitch a ride back to Damascus. I feel like this post was a bit rushed, but I have to get back to the trail.

Other photos not yet mentioned: a view of Pearisburg before we came down out of the mountains, and a photo of a white blaze on an underpass so Debra knows how we cross highways.

Monday, May 7, 2012

The joys of wild ponies

Some short days but I made it to Atkins. On the 3rd we did 11.8 miles to Wise Shelter that was at precisely 500 miles, a good place to spend the night. On the 4th we did 10.9 miles to Hurricane Mt Shelter walking through friendly pony fields of joy. On the 5th we did 13.4 miles and camped 1.5 miles after VA 670 along a stream. On the 6th we did 13.4 miles to Chatfield Shelter to set up for an easy day into Atkins. So far on the 7th we have done 4.5 miles into Atkins and plan on doing another 4ish after we finish eating all the food and resupplying.

Leaving Whitetop Mt we had a fairly intense thunderstorm. This included hail and zero count thunder and lightning. When over 5k feet and basically in the clouds, zero count lightning is impressive yet somewhat disturbing. Later in the day we had our first pony sighting, which made everything better. If you were wondering if wild mountaintop pony foals have the power to make a grown woman squeal in delight and bounce up and down... They do. Also, if you are directly looking at a wild pony, saying the word "pony" automatically makes you smile and the end of the word is done in a little girl voice. I've tried to fight it, and lost.

On that note, Grayson Highlands is an outrageously amazing place. Imagine if you will a rocky mountaintop field that goes for 7ish miles and is jam packed with wild pony herds, deer and enough bunnies that I saw at least 3 fat ones bounce down the trail in front of me. To sum it up, if there was a scene in a Disney movie that took place on top of a mountain and starred a princess it would basically look like this. Unfortunately, on the first day in the highlands no ponies really wanted to be friends. Oh, and we slept in the shelter at exactly 500 miles!

The next day changed our pony luck, though. We came over a rise and were at once in a pony herd. UV ventured out to say hi and quickly made a friend. Apparently wild ponies are fond of licking the saltiness of dirty hikers. We act as large mobile salt licks that are conveniently delivered directly to the ponies. The pony that we befriended was named Charlize because she was pregnant and had a mohawk. UV felt it was a good name for an edgy mom pony. (photos below)

The only other exciting thing that happened was hitting Partnership Shelter. This is a shelter that you can order pizza from and take a shower! Unfortunately, we didn't hit the shelter in the 4pm to 7pm window for pizza and we hadn't been making good miles, so we pushed on. On the bright side, my feet are starting to feel better after this string of shorter days. Maybe we can do a few more miles now.

----**** Warning ****----
The following includes trail thoughts and philosophy that might make absolutely zero sense but is included for a more complete view of my journey.

I was walking along and I started pondering: why am I enjoying trail life? What makes it all that different from normal life? I quickly discounted the physical act of walking an outrageous distance over hard terrain. (Side note: Stinger, a hiker finishing his triple crown on the AT this year, informed me that on the PCT you climb 380,000 feet of elevation, on the CDT you climb 475,000 feet and on the AT you climb 515,000 feet and the AT is the shortest mileage.) While I enjoy the hiking aspect of the trail, that isn't what really sets it apart. Part of it is the sense of camaraderie that is shared by thru hikers but, again, I don't think that hits the heart of what I like so much. It all has to do with the community.

There are a few different aspects about the community that I feel make it so appealing. The big three that I tentatively hashed out are the following:
- one's past and future are almost completely inconsequential and are not discussed much except among close hiker companions,
- the everyday "bullshit" becomes nonexistent when basic things like shelter, food, and water become actual legitimate things to worry about, and
- everyday decisions are actually decisions without large negative consequences on the trail. Ex. Getting up at a certain time.

I am not completely sure if these completely cover it but I think it does form at minimum a good base to start from. None of the conditions are guaranteed for someone who comes out on the trail and I think that is an important distinction. If you want you can ignore these ideas but the community as a whole seems to have embraced them and by not doing so as well you may find yourself feeling more like an outsider than one of the group.

As I walked along I started trying to flesh out these ideas and come up with more detailed versions. This is perhaps where my ideas get more murky and less sensible but I include these thoughts for a more complete look at my thought process and to perhaps spark some other thoughts in others that will be relevant.

The first thought that one's past and future matter very little, if at all, is more important than I originally thought. There are few places (I use "places" to refer to interpersonal communities, not physical locations) where no one is concerned with what you do/did for work, how much money you make/made, what car you drive, who your connections are, or where you've lived. These are not necessarily all things about one's past but many can be considered such and they are most certainly status symbols. The concept of lack of concern with one's future is a bit simpler. There are few questions about what people will do when the trail is over or what they have waiting for them. This might just be due to the fact that I am only 25% done with the trail but, so far, that is my observation.

This insistence on remaining so focused on the present is wonderfully refreshing. It's as if when you step on the trail you become a blank slate waiting to be filled in. When you meet someone new on the trail a question about the past never goes farther back than "When did you start?" It's as if that is when everything that is important started. There are questions about where people lived before but mainly this question is asked by section hikers and day hikers. Actual thru hikers seem to care less and I don't think I have asked where someone is from yet. If someone has a thick accent, then a question might be asked, but it's hard not to wonder a bit in that case. It is amazing what taking life by what is happening right now can do for a complete removal of stress and that ties in with the third and probably most important point in my view.

The trail's "bullshit" removal powers are immense. Everyday I think about how much food I have with me versus the mileage to the next supply point. I consider how much water I am carrying and where water sources are. I also contemplate my options for sleeping arrangements, whether that be a shelter or a campsite. These are all concerns that do not enter into most people's daily lives. Sure, you might have to decide what to eat, or where to go get food but it isn't usually a carefully rationed and planned supply system. There isn't the thought that if I don't walk far enough today perhaps I won't be able to feed myself all the way to my supply point. For the most part on the AT there is virtually no fear of any sort of starving since there are so many towns and ways to get into towns. The worst thing that will happen is that you will have to make an unscheduled trip into a town for supplies. It's either that or stretch your food and be hungry, an option that is taken on a fairly regular basis.

When these are the concerns that I spend my brainpower on there is no time, energy, or desire to worry about all the little things that so many people spend time worrying about. People that know me from "normal" life will know that I spend virtually no time worrying about such things anyway and be wondering why this stands out on the trail. While it is true that I don't worry in normal life, everyone around me did. I never knew or noticed what this does. While I am incredibly laid back, other people's small pieces of stress were able to find their way into my brain. For the most part they were too small to be noticeable but they did add up to something. Out here those small pieces are gone, vanished in the wake of more primal concerns. These primal worries don't carry the same amount of stress, unless you let them and most hikers don't, and if they do have stress it isn't transferable stress. They are purely solitary concerns. If you are stressed about food, hikers around you aren't because they probably have enough. If you are stressed about a shelter the hikers around you won't absorb that stress because they have their own plans and timeframe that is completely different and not at all contingent on decisions you make. It is quite freeing to be without transferred stress from other people.

Lastly, there is a true sense of choice out on the trail. When absolutely nothing is required of you in any meaningful way, everything becomes a legitimate choice. Small things stand out as options that never did before. In normal life if you don't wake up on time or don't get up on time there is usually a distinct negative consequence. Out here I feel like I have more choice without negative consequence in those things than ever before. This includes my long stretches of unemployment. The negative consequences are less pronounced then but they still exist, lack of productive activity being the most prominent. If you haven't been unemployed or under-employed for an extended period of time you might not understand but I think if you have you will.

I got bored writing this and just stopped kind of mid thought. Typing this much on the my phone is a bit arduous. If the previous bit makes any sense then I feel lucky.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Three States Down

On the 27th after trail magic I did 5 more miles for a 14 mile day and camped a mile after Wilbur Dam Rd. On the 28th I did 18 miles to Double Spring shelter and UV did 17 miles and camped. On the 29th I did 16.4 and camped 2 miles out of Damascus. On the 30th, we did 2.3 miles into town. After escaping the vortex of prepared foods, on the 1st we did 5 miles and camped along a river I don't know the name of. (For assistance locating this mom, it was a mile after US 58 and right where the AT first gets quite close to the Virginia Creeper Trail after leaving it for the first time. Hope that helps a bit.) On the 2nd we did 14.9 miles and camped on top of Whitetop Mt, just after USFS 89.

When I had digested enough to move, which took an extended period of time, I night hiked to catch UV. It reminded how much I enjoy night hiking. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a nice late evening activity. It is quiet, peaceful and emphasizes the feelings of solitude and aloneness that accompany one while hiking. If you attempt it, have a good headlamp; they make all the difference.

The next day had many trials that had to be overcome. Since we camped randomly on an exposed ridge I had zero water. The first water source was inexplicably difficult to find so I had to make it the 4 miles to the next shelter's water source. It made me hate life and all of existence. Being quite thirsty, I wasn't thinking completely clearly and started down the blue-blazed trail to water with my pack on. This particular trail was outrageously and potentially vindictively steep and long. By the time I hit water I knew going back up was going to make me cry and/or curse the designers of the trail. I was not wrong. I believe I put it thusly in the shelter log, "I HATE THAT WATER SOURCE WITH A BURNING PASSION. I HOPE IT DIES A DEATH WHERE IT KNOWS ALL IT EVER LOVED WILL SUFFER FOR ETERNITY." I feel that is potentially being too kind. Let's just say it was a rough start to the day. The next major event of the day was the first ever sighting of bears by us! UV was a few hundred yards ahead of me until I came upon her stopped in the trail. She had startled two bear cubs up over the rise and the mother was just kind of hanging out, saying hello. For the remainder of the day and some of the following day UV would turn to me and exclaim, "I saw three bears!" It reminded me of when Cassie got a truck when I was in college. For weeks most of what I heard her say was, "I got a truck!"

Later that day I had a bovine standoff. While walking through a cow field, the first one we had done, a group of cows decided to pretend to be Gandalf. I correctly interpreted their "Moo" to mean "You shall not pass." Fortunately cows are lazy and they didn't feel like moving to maintain the charade. I escaped around them and taunted them for their failure as I left their pasture. I hiked until 9:15pm that day to hit the shelter, surrounded by hordes of small children masquerading as boy scouts. Incidentally these hordes had scared off other actual hikers and I got the shelter basically to myself.

Besides multiple excessively long breaks, the next day was pretty uneventful. The one exception was at the last shelter of the day the water was ".2 miles down a steep path." This invoked images of rage, hatred and pain involved with the last such water source so I decided to go 8 more miles to a campsite without any water rather then give the mountain the satisfaction of causing me pain. Logically this might be flawed as an argument but it made some sort of sense to me at the time. The real kicker was the water was .2 miles downhill from the campsite. Mother nature is a bitch who always revels in the torment of others. Just before camp we hit the Virginia state line. It felt pretty good to finally be done with North Carolina/Tennessee but I know Virginia will feel like it goes on forever. It is 530ish miles making up 25% of the entire trail.

Damascus was foody. While it seems to be a nice town, towns all kind of seem similar to me at this point. They provide cold treats, food that I don't have to cook or clean for and interior sleeping arrangements.

Leaving Damascus the AT and the Virginia Creeper Trail are one and the same. Maybe .5 a mile out of town they split. I fought the urge to blue blaze and stuck to the AT. While hiking I decided a conversation between the two trails would go something like this:

VCT "Wow, this river is beautiful, we should follow it for six miles and have a nice scenic stroll."
AT "It is quite nice but if we take a left here we can zigzag through the mountains for 12 miles!"
VCT "That sounds... Harder. Are there great views along the way that make the harder terrain and 6 extra miles worth it?"
AT "Views? Of course not! It will be completely covered in trees basically the whole time. But every now and then we can swing over to the river so we can glimpse the water."
VCT "... Why don't we just take the relatively easy route along the river? Then the whole thing will be scenic. Besides, don't you spend all of your time in the mountains? A change of scenery might be nice."
AT "Your ideas sound completely absurd! How about I go my way and you go your way. We can meet in 12 miles to compare notes."
VCT "Okay... See you in 6 miles. *muttered* Crazy AT spends too much time in those mountains."

It says a lot about a thru-hiker that I can basically know the mentality of the trail and make the conscious decision to follow the AT. I might be completely insane.

We found a great camping spot along the river and had a refreshing swim. The next day was fairly boring except the full realization that Virginia shelters have shitters. Hikers have low standards. Whitetop Mt felt like it went on forever but there was a nice camping spot at the top.

This post is already rather long so I will leave my newest philosophical ramblings until the next post. They focus more on trail life and happiness than religion so they will be less controversial.

Lastly, a rundown of the photos. There is a cow trying to cause me to get lost by destroying a white blaze post. There is the bovine standoff. The picture of the bear actually came out fairly well. There is a picture of my tent at the river campsite and then one of it the next day at the Whitetop Mt campsite. This shows how rough living on the trail can be. There is one of me at the state line. Finally I had to post a picture of Mr Fabulous and his enormous pack. This is what happens if a thru hiker goes hungry before town. They get a bit excessive with carrying food.