Filling in the back story--PA edition

So my last post was a quickie. I don't have phone during my time in PA so nothing to really show, but there is a story and this is it:

I left the hostel I was at in Maryland and hiked into PA that day through Pen-Mar park crossing over the Mason Dixon line. I was shocked to find this is an actual marked line with markers every mile or so along the PA border.  I hiked into the park with a ridge runner from MD. This is a paid position where the guy hikes up and down the AT in MD multiple times a week to keep the trail clean and enforce the rules of the trail in the state (ie no alcohol). He isn't a ranger or anyone with authority to ticket you, but he will call in enforcement if needed. He told me about an interesting breakfast idea that I started using after my next resupply. More on that later.

So PA was the worst place to not have a camera.  There were some awesome views that I hope to experience again some day. There was one view I specifically came upon that I'll never forget. It was a beautiful scene of mountains, farmland, roads, technology and some industry...a perfect mix of American culture. In my head it is the perfect picture of this country.  All I could do when I saw it was quote from Team America the movie and say "America &@$# Yeah!" I wish I had a picture. 

I spent a total of I think 8 days in PA. This state had the most weekend warriors or section hikers I've seen other than in the Great Smokey Mountains.  This provides unique experience. It means one night I was with some rowdy boy scouts and another I was with a group of people my age that brought way too much food a mile into their campsite.  The boy scouts made a huge fire and were interesting to watch and listen to as they teased each other. The group of 4 I had to assist with the fire but was offered a hotdog, bratwurst, small piece of steak, fruit (I so miss fruit) and a drink. It was so nice! PA was a great state for trail magic.

I was very fortunate on day last week as well. It started raining one night around 8pm as the sun was going down. It rained all night and all the next day. I was in a shelter for the night and stayed dry. The next morning was difficult, but I was able to convince myself to get up and hike the 14 miles into Duncannon, PA. I stayed at The Doyle in town, a 109 year old hotel that is now used as a hostel and restaurant. It was run by an old couple who owned it. I loved my time there as the wife was very feisty as she served the customers and the husband who cooked all the food was so good natured and laid back. It was an interesting combination. I was able to dry out my stuff in Duncannon making the rest of my trek through the state a nice one other than the lack of water sources due to somewhat of a dry summer.

I finished the state by staying at a church hostel in Delaware Water Gap, PA (DWG). I got new phone there and spent the day setting it up with music and apps. I also bought new shoes.  I woke up the next morning and hiked across the Delaware into NJ.

One last thing about PA. The state has a bad reputation for being rocky. This is somewhat of a bad reputation.  It has a lot of times when you need to rock hop (meaning you step from rock to rock for quite some time) but it wasn't any worse than other states. There was one section between Wind Gap and DWG where for miles and miles you had nothing but sharp pointy rocks that you couldn't rock hop because the rocks were too small and you couldn't avoid the rocks because there were too many of them. This was extremely annoying.  I actually stopped early on my last day before DWG and put up my tent instead of making it to the shelter because of how bad the rocks were and how frustrated I was at the time. I slept well for a few hours until I woke up and found I was sleeping under a flight path for what I'm assuming was international flights considering the time the planes were coming through, the size of them and the extremely loud noise they made...I was not very happy that night haha.

Well that was PA. My last major post talked about all my woes getting back on the trail. It didn't mention that I found out my debit card was skimmed so I had to have that canceled. Also when I left the hostel I hiked a reasonably short day to allow my shin a little more time to recover.  The next day I took off and felt great. No pain. I was 6 miles into my hike and was stung or bit by a bug right in the middle of my bad shin. I hiked the rest of the day in pain...The next day was better again and so ended my 2 straight weeks of woe! I have been a much happier hiker since then.

Another update covering NJ and NY should be coming in a few days! That one will have pictures!

NY bound!

I just entered NJ today. It's a short state on the trail. I hope to be in NY in a day or two. Not too much to post about for the last 2 weeks. I hiked, I hurt, I got better. Now I'm feeling good and getting the miles I expect! I did get 62 miles in 2 days through PA which is the first time I've done two consecutive 30 mile days. 

This is a short post cause I'm only taking a short morning break and heading on for a 25 mile day. Here's what I'm looking at while I'm typing this entry. Enjoy!

First post back

So this is my first post since getting back on the trail.  I've been back on the trail for 9 days now, so you know this will be a long one.  I'll keep it as short as possible though.

I got to Waynesboro, VA on Saturday night late.  I wanted to stay at the brand new long distance hiker pavilion in town.  Unfortunately I was looking at an old map that had the tenting area for hikers located right behind the YMCA, which now is a concrete parking lot, not the best place to set up a tent.  I ended up sleeping next door at the library under an overhang until about 3:30am when it started to rain.  I packed up and sat in an alcove while I waited for the rain to stop.  During that time I was able to find a current map and I located the pavilion.  It was a nice place with a solar charging station and plenty of places to tent or hammock over night. There were two hikers there, but I never met them because I was ready to go at 7am and they hadn't moved from their tents.  Since I got in so late and it was still too early, I didn't call any of the possible trail angels for a ride and walked the 4 miles to the trail.  I then hiked a nice 20 mile day into the Shenandoah National Park.

The Shenandoahs are the reason why I went back and hiked from Waynesboro instead of getting on the trail at Harper's Ferry where JD and I got off.  I am glad I did that.  The woods were beautiful in the Shenandoahs and the overlooks along skyline drive were breathtaking.  I took plenty of pictures!  I even saw a few bears!  The first bear I saw made some noise to the left of the trail.  I stopped and looked for what was making the noise, but didn't see anything.  Then all the sudden a bear goes sliding down a tree like a fireman on a pole.  Literally just slide down the tree with no stops.  He got to the ground and took off running away.  I also saw a mama bear and a cub cross the trail.  It was the cutest thing ever to see the little cub only about 10 inches tall when on its hand and feet go running. 

So hiking was going well the first day.  The second day my knee started acting up a little bit.  I took some "Vitamin I" (Ibuprofen) and was fine.  After a day or two though I knew I needed to get into town.  The brace I had wasn't sufficient enough for what I needed and my knee was killing me.  I was hoping to resupply in Front Royal, VA, but ended up getting off the trail 50 miles earlier in Luray, VA.  There I was able to get a brace from Walmart and stay the night with Sparkle Pony taking a chance to recover from the pain in my knee.  Sparkle Pony and I went around town and did the normal resupply and eat.  We found a nice little diner/bar, the only one in town and had some food and drinks.  We started walking back to the hotel and made a pit stop at the 7-11 that was on the way.  When we left the 7-11 Sparkle Pony asked a girl if she could give us a ride the rest of the way to our hotel.  She told him sure, we hopped in and got back to the hotel.  When we got back to our hotel room, I realized my phone had fallen out of my pocket in her car.  Sparkle Pony didn't have a phone and the room phone wouldn't dial long distance, so I couldn't call my phone.  I stayed in town another day trying to track down my phone but to no avail.  I am now phoneless and 3 days behind schedule.

The next few days I was able to keep a normal pace.  My right knee feels better, but isn't 100% yet.  Unfortunately my left shin is swollen.  I didn't realize it until yesterday, but it had been hurting because I was favoring my right leg because of the knee pain and I didn't realize that there was actual swelling.  I took an easier day than I planned because of the swelling and stayed at a really cool little campsite that was just off the trail near a spring.  I'd have taken a picture to share but the whole no phone thing kinda kills that.

Today I hiked another short day, about 18 miles into a hostel at Bear's Den Gap.  This is just past the middle of a section known at "The Roller Coaster" because there are 10 ups and downs in a span of 13.5 miles.  There are very few good views in this area.  I am icing my shin and eating a nice dinner while I sleep in a comfortable bed.  I hope this will help to get back on track!

Tomorrow I plan to hike just before Harper's Ferry.  It's another short hike (like 17 miles) so I hope that will help me to recover as well.

Look for more updates in the weeks to come!

The requested update!

So this is why I didn't want to start the blog, I'm not one to post regular updates of my life. Sorry everyone for the lack of an update but this is where things stand now.

So JD and I left Waynesboro, VA via the Shenandoah river.  This is known as aquablazing. Basically instead of following the trail by foot, we followed by water. To do this we bought a canoe and all the required equipment to paddle down the river.  This was an amazing experience!  Within the first 30 minutes of being on the water we flipped our canoe in some very small rapids. It was slightly embarrassing how easy the rapids should have been. Regardless, we flipped and everything went floating down river. I captured our packs and the required life jackets. JD caught the paddles. Unfortunately, we also were carrying a cooler which had food we needed over the next few days that didn't start down the river until we started to get back in the boat. JD dropped everything in his hands and went down river to get the cooler. When I finally get the boat turned over and empty of water JD is walking towards me up the river with cooler in hand. We get situated in the canoe again to realize we have no paddles...

Luck was on our side though. We started again down the river with no paddles hoping to find them. We found one and have no clue where the 2nd one went. We weren't entirely screwed! Of course paddling a canoe with one paddle isn't the easiest thing in the world. This led us to the 2nd time we flipped over. During this occasion we flipped and again our gear went floating down river. I went this time to catch it all.  JD stayed behind with the boat which was stuck against a rock with the river flowing into it. I made it about a mile down the river before I was able to get all our hiking gear. It took him some time for JD to get the boat unstuck but he managed.  We met up on the side of the river with our hiking gear, the canoe, life jackets and no paddles. I didn't see the last one float by and JD didn't notice it when he was catching up to me. At this point we were literally up a Creek without a paddle. I start to look around on the shore for something, anything that could be used to keep us going just to get to a road so we can either get new paddles or get off the river.  JD had other plans though. He walked away from the river onto a goat farm just over the ridge.  The farmer was there drinking a beer (this was about 10 am on a Thursday) and tending to some fallen branches from a storm the previous night. JD asks the man if he had any canoe paddle and if we could buy them from him. Luckily the guy was extremely nice and didn't immediately yell at JD for trespassing.  Unfortunately the man didn't have any canoe paddles. He did offer to give us some extremely old row boat oars for free. He referred to them as antiques.  They were sturdy and wooden, weighted about 10 pounds each and definitely old, but most importantly they were free and could be used to get us where we needed to go!  We gladly accepted them! This is probably the best trail magic JD and I received during our journey! 

We flipped over one more time on the first day. Again the canoe got pinned against a rock due to the current of the river. This time we were smart enough to tie all of our equipment down so nothing went down stream. I unhooked all our stuff and JD took it all to the side of the river while I struggled with the canoe. It took some time but we finally got free and continued on our way. The first day of aquablazing ended early, around 3pm at a dam. The company we purchased the canoe from was based at this dam. They drive our boat around the dam and let us camp on their site for free. Additionally we were only a few blocks from a laundromat which allowed us to dry all of our gear that was by this time soaked. This included my phone which despite being in a zip lock bag decided it wanted to join in on the fun. This is one of the reasons why an update was delayed. 

We got back on the river the next day and had a much better day. We learned from our mistakes and individually bagged all of our gear.  The day before we bagged our packs with a trash bag and only important items in zip lock bags. After everything got soaked I bagged my tent, extra clothing and sleeping gear separately in trash bags which kept everything dry! We also strapped our bags to the canoe so that we weren't loosing items down the river. We only flipped once that day. We ended up camping for the night at a place with picnic tables and a privy. It might have been private property but there were no signs and no one caught us so we were good.

The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful.  We did decide to be stupid on our last day on the water.  We knew there were no serious rapids and we knew we only had a few more miles to go before we finished, so the last day out we did "night canoeing." This was stupid as we could not see anything on the river or shoreline.  We went over a few rapids but luckily nothing dangerous.  We ended up finishing the night at watermelon park just outside of Harpers Ferry, WV around midnight.  This was the first night we both "cowboy camped" which means we just slept on the ground with no tent. In the morning we sold our canoe back to the people we bought it from. JD and I then took a bus from Harpers Ferry to Washington DC. I left the trail here for a friend's wedding.  For the past 4 weeks I've been off the trail. I went to the wedding and then went to NYC while I waited to hear back from a job I applied to.  On Friday July 18 I finally heard back from the job. They decided to go with another candidate so I am heading back to the trail!!

I will get back on the trail in Waynesboro despite the fact that I have already canoed past here. I plan to hike in the Shenandoah park which should help me to get back in hikers shape. I plan to get back on the trail on July 27. I will continue to post after that! I can't wait to get back on the trail and finish! Stay tuned for more updates!

PS.  Because my phone went for a swim during the aquablazing session I have no pictures. I have attached some pictures of my time off the trail during the last few weeks.

PPS. Sorry for the long update, this was part of the reason why it took so long as well, I knew the entry would take some time!

 

Brent And Tammy's Wedding

   

Couldn't ask for a better view for July 4

Hedwig and the Angry Inch a Broadway show with Neil Patrick Harris.  I won lottery tickets to this while in NYC.

 

Neil Patrick Harris signing autographs after the show! 

 

I don't remember what this is, but it looked cool! 

Sick in Daleville

So an update over the last few days.

Not too much to report hiking wise. On the AT there is something known as the "Virginia Blues." This is because a high number people drop off in VA. By this time the newness and excitement of hiking has wore off and it's a lot of day in and day out of the same things. On top of that VA is probably so far been the most boring part of the trail. There haven't been many great views and there aren't a whole lot of difficult ups and downs. To top it off there hasn't even been much trail magic to speak of in VA. I can understand why people wouldn't like Virginia much.

On Thursday afternoon this past week JD and I arrived in Daleville. JD went grocery shopping and I checked into the motel room we reserved. I had some food and dried out my tent and clothing from the rainy day earlier in the week. By the time JD got to the room with his food I was not feeling too well. I think I had Norovirus which is common on the trail and equivalent to food poisoning. I'm not gonna elaborate on my symptoms, but I will say it usually lasts between 12 and 48 hours. Knowing this is took Friday off and stayed in town. JD stayed as well because we have been eating and drinking from the same places and he wanted to be sure he was not going to get sick as well.  Lucky for him he was fine.

Unfortunately this put us in a very tight schedule.  It was 134 miles from Daleville to Waynesboro and we had 5 days to make it in time for our aquablazing reservation. Our original plan gave us 5.5 days with extra time to prepare. Coming off of being sick, I didn't think it was smart to push myself as hard as it would be required to make our schedule. JD took off in the morning on Saturday for the 134 miles, I got a shuttle to Glasgow,  VA and cut off about 57 miles that I can go back and do at a later time. Of course as things would work out, I was able to easily knock out the 77 miles I had in under 3 days meaning I could easily have made the full 134 miles in time. So now I have 2 days in Waynesboro to get ready for aquablazing and kill time. Right now I am enjoying myself in Panera with some coffee and wifi. I can't wait to get on the Shenandoah river on Thursday! More information on aquablazing still to come! Maybe I'll put info on that tomorrow since I'll have time then too!

Meanwhile enjoy the pics!

Rainy night update

So it has been a crazy couple of days, which is now to be expected on the trail.  Leaving Pearisburg JD and I planned a casual 12 mile day to a water source and camp area outside of town. We were able to get some water about a mile before we planned to stop. Neither of us filled up as we had enough water to make it the remaining mile.  We get to the camping area but were told that the site was just a little farther down the trail as the description of the area did not match what the book said. Another mile down the trail it is 7:00pm and we came to a point where we could verify we were now a full mile away. So as any good hiker faced with the decision to walk back 1 mile to stop and camp or continue on another 7 miles with no water and in the dark to stop and stay at or near the next shelter would do...we hiked on.

3 hours later we arrive at the shelter, exhausted and ready to set up camp or crash in the shelter. The only problem is every campsite we can find is full and the shelter is filled as well. We fill up with water and continue on another half mile until we can find a suitable place for 2 tents.

The next day wasn't too bad. We got a much later start than usual (left about 8:30 opposed to 6:30 as normal). It wasn't a bad day. Only 2 major uphill treks. Of course during the day I find myself as I do most days in my head just thinking about things. At one point I realized I had not seen any of the required white blazes that signify you are on the correct trail for quite some time now. I hike on a little further paying extra attention to ensure that I just didn't notice them, but was on the correct trail...no such luck.  I ended up hiking about a half mile uphill down the wrong trail. It was so demoralizing. I made it where we planned though!

Today we woke up in rain. It was a hard short rain, just enough to get everything wet. We also had planned our hardest day in VA. The first uphill was immediately after our campsite. I got a late start and struggled up the hill about 3 miles straight up.  I arrived at the first meet up point and JD had already been there about an hour. He waited a little while with me so we could discuss the plan forward.  I ate, filled up with water and left as the rain came coming down. Again just long enough to soak everything.  The rain stopped as I hit the next major up hill, this one about 5 miles of continuous up.  The sun is out and everything is extremely humid. I am soaked from sweat.  I meet JD, we discuss our final plans and take off for our last uphill battle for the day, another 5ish miles, some of the most difficult inclines we've seen so far in VA. Of course I'm about midway up the climb and a thunderstorm rolls in. It lasts like the earlier ones just long enough to make everything wet and the air humid.

JD waits for me prior to the final summit, known as dragon's tooth, and we hike it together. It is a little rocky but or the most part not too bad. The decent on the other hand wad deadly. So many steep wet rocks, one wrong move and your hike is over. It took us almost an hour to go downhill about 1 mile. Our normal average pace is 3ish mph.  We are now camping outside of Catawba, VA. The rain was so bad for a while it woke me up and I'm struggling to get back to sleep. So here's a long update.

VA has very few cool pictures. Below is a panorama I took just after one of the shelters yesterday.

Pearisburg, VA for the night

Spent last night in Pearisburg, VA.  From Erwin JD and I hiked a couple of solid 25 mile days to get near enough to have an easy 16 mile day into town. It was awesome to be done by noon!

Two nights ago we stayed at Wapiti shelter about 16 miles from Pearisburg.  It was very cool because we were with a few older section hikers from Atlanta. One guy was a doctor who was planning to section hike the trail, another was a Chick-fil-a executive of some kind and the last guy was involved in construction.  The conversations were great and funny. It was especially an interesting night when the doctor gave a mini exam to one of the hikers who was having some issues. Everything seemed okay with the guy but without the proper equipment the doc suggested he go into town and get checked out. I found out today that the doctor was able to assist last night at a shelter with someone who thought he was having a heart attack. They were able to get 911 to come out and assist. The guy luckily wasn't having a heart attack but he was taken off the trail as his oxygen levels in his blood was low.

Today we plan on a short day. Looking forward to it! I'm also looking forward to aquablazing from Waynesboro to Harpers Ferry! Yes, it is as cool as it sounds!  More info on that later.

Enjoy the pics!