In June 2011, my baby sister did a trek on the Appalachian Trail in the state of Virginia. The first post is mine based on info from Sister. The second and photos are from Sister's story.
Sister’s adventure as told by Sissy
DAY 1
Just had a call from Sister. The group did the 10 miles from Lewis Mtn to Big Meadow in 5 hours!!
Sunday, our intrepid hikers dined at TGIFridays inCharlottesville
Left Lewis Mtn around7:20
am and arrived Big Meadows a little
after 1:00pm .
They were not speed walking and spent time enjoying the incredible scenery.
The ferns were the size of humans and provided some relief from the
heat/bugs. Encountered several thru-hikers with whom Shawn shared lots of
treats(trail magic). Everyone was friendly, sharing some info but
terribly smelly. Remember thru-hikers do not have the luxury of a nightly
shower like Sister's group. All of you know Sister, so selecting nightly
stops with a shower is no surprise. The most difficult part today was the
ascent, about one mile, into Big Meadow. The two things Sister could not
live without on this adventure...her trek poles & her platypus beverage
container. What??? This is a bladder that you fill with water and
it has a spout which is accessible from your backpack. Saves you having
to remove your pack to get water bottles. Think...rednecks at NASCAR
wearing beer hats with tubes directly to their mouths.
Upon arrival at Big Meadow, Sister had a beer, bowl of fries & blackberry cobbler. Now this was around1:30 ,
which would say "lunch" to me. I asked what dinner would be and
in true Sister fashion, she replied that this snack would be enough.
(Believe me, Sister and I are NOT related when it comes to our eating
habits. I would have been planning my next two meals.) This
afternoon may include a two hour hike to look at the waterfalls. Is it
possible that they have that much energy left? What happened to a nice
nap and a book?? Are you starting to see why I was not included on this trip?
Sister's trail name is Sparky. No one uses their real names on the trail.
Just had a call from Sister. The group did the 10 miles from Lewis Mtn to Big Meadow in 5 hours!!
Sunday, our intrepid hikers dined at TGIFridays in
Left Lewis Mtn around
Upon arrival at Big Meadow, Sister had a beer, bowl of fries & blackberry cobbler. Now this was around
Sister's trail name is Sparky. No one uses their real names on the trail.
DAY 2
Someone asked yesterday what would be the half-way
mark on the AT if you started in Georgia Georgia Keystone State Pennsylvania Pennsylvania West Virginia
Sparky & gang arrived around 2:00pm
at the Skyland Resort. Sister did break down and eat dinner last night
and a big breakfast this morning at Big Meadow. The lodge even packed
them lunches for the trek today (big sandwiches, cookies, fruit &
water). The other gang members are Sassafrass(Shawn), Triangle(Robie,
Shawn's sister) & Scout(Joe, Shawn's cousin). All three ladies are
now wearing their Johnny Depp/pirate tattoos.
Today was really hard with uphill most of the way,
very rocky, roots and filled with talus. Talus is a sloping rock
formation that appears to have been split into several boulders and you have to
maneuver through/around/over this creation. Acres of mountain laurel were
blooming and one inquisitive deer got close enough to let them see its
whiskers. Yesterday, they encountered a bear and a deer at close range.
They have met many thru-hikers who have shared
trail tales. Some names were entertaining...Rusty Bumper, Zigzag, Ranger
Bob, Full Time. Skid will be interested in the thru-hikers you
mentioned - he knows Full Time, Zig Zag, and Ranger Bob. Good to know
where they are. I actually met Zig Zag while I was on the Trail - she was
just Rebecca then (no trail name yet)! She was also one of a group who
ate dinner together when we were in Hot Springs
Some of these thru-hikers are keeping an account
of the daily adventures on trailjournals.com
Hmmm. Not sure I would want a netbook in my pack for more weight.
How would you charge the battery? Did you know if you are doing the AT
wearing Merrells that your shoes will be replaced free when you have 1,000
miles on them? You will receive the exact shoe at one of the postal
drop-offs. Merrell Shoe figures you will have exhausted the life of your
shoe by 1,000 miles. Sister is wearing Mephisto boots and the other three
are wearing Merrells. What?? You thought the Zappo Queen would fail to
ask what kind of shoes everyone was wearing? Do you think those shoes are
made in a really cute style? And, yes, I have cute riding shoes!
Skyland Resort got the "beautiful/awesome"
award from the gang based not only on the lodge but on the surroundings. Sister
said there lots of horses at Skyland and I should be riding the trails up
there. This is the most posh of the three lodges. Snack today was
beer & fries. Tonight is a real dinner and Sister has already decided
on trout and blackberry cobbler. Whew! Am I glad Sister is
eating. Guess she got hungry from all the work. I knew Sister was a
true Ray...family trait...so, eat!
Tomorrow is the longest, almost 10 miles, and most
difficult portion of their hike in the woods. They will end the hike
where the car is parked and then onto Charlottesville
I really have to stop so I can finish BECOMING
ODYSSA before Sister gets home. You know this is one of the books which
inspired Sister's AT trek. Jennifer Pharr Davis Hendersonville
DAY 3
Alas, I have little to report. Sister and
her gang completed their trek at 3:30
this afternoon...too tired to talk, too tired to think.
Spending the night in Charlottesville 5:00
pm .
One note, dear Shawn's luggage was left on the
tarmac in Charlotte Charlottesville Go , US
Sister’s, a.k.a Sparky’s tale
On Day 1 our first group of thru-hikers told us it takes 200
miles to get your 'trail legs'.
We didn't understand what this meant until Day 3 when we realized that
simply hiking 200 miles would be a feat unto itself.
Last fall, hiking less than 10 miles per day for 3 days sounded like something 'anyone' could do. As I read more, I wondered how in the world it could take an individual up to an hour to hike a mile. I mean, I can walk a mile, on a sidewalk or street, in 14 minutes
and there are plenty of folks who can do so in less time so it was a stretch for me
to imagine 1 mile in 1 hour. The addition of hiking boots and a backpack began to
change my perspective. I guess only “husband” and Shawn really know what went into
the decision of which pack to purchase and what to put it in so that I could make
this tiny trek. What I can say is that, with 4.6lbs of water, I was walking each
day with 21 lbs on my hips and shoulders. That in itself is a game changer. Folks said
I should have carried less but even now, I'm not quite sure what I could have left behind.
I don't think 2 extra pair of socks/ underwear were really wearing me down.
Bear in mind that unless you throw your clothes away - you are carrying the same load
each day. Yep, you may drink ALL 4 lbs of your water but as the day goes along and your shoulders get fatigued. ‘They' don't seem to care about the 2 or 3 or 4 lbs that you have deleted. The pack, itself, becomes a burden. One day, just to make their point, my 3 comrades put 2 large rocks in my pack (right on top, on the inside) and then asked me for
some Aleve - HA - what kidders!!!
I thought I could just sit down and reminisce about last week but as I began to revisit my photos and memories I found myself getting all teary-eyed and realized that this adventure, although brief, was a big deal for me. You cannot know what your few emails about Skid’s and Pat's progress on the trail meant to each of us. Once we took our first
step - their few words made a world of difference.
We didn't understand what this meant until Day 3 when we realized that
simply hiking 200 miles would be a feat unto itself.
Last fall, hiking less than 10 miles per day for 3 days sounded like something 'anyone' could do. As I read more, I wondered how in the world it could take an individual up to an hour to hike a mile. I mean, I can walk a mile, on a sidewalk or street, in 14 minutes
and there are plenty of folks who can do so in less time so it was a stretch for me
to imagine 1 mile in 1 hour. The addition of hiking boots and a backpack began to
change my perspective. I guess only “husband” and Shawn really know what went into
the decision of which pack to purchase and what to put it in so that I could make
this tiny trek. What I can say is that, with 4.6lbs of water, I was walking each
day with 21 lbs on my hips and shoulders. That in itself is a game changer. Folks said
I should have carried less but even now, I'm not quite sure what I could have left behind.
I don't think 2 extra pair of socks/ underwear were really wearing me down.
Bear in mind that unless you throw your clothes away - you are carrying the same load
each day. Yep, you may drink ALL 4 lbs of your water but as the day goes along and your shoulders get fatigued. ‘They' don't seem to care about the 2 or 3 or 4 lbs that you have deleted. The pack, itself, becomes a burden. One day, just to make their point, my 3 comrades put 2 large rocks in my pack (right on top, on the inside) and then asked me for
some Aleve - HA - what kidders!!!
I thought I could just sit down and reminisce about last week but as I began to revisit my photos and memories I found myself getting all teary-eyed and realized that this adventure, although brief, was a big deal for me. You cannot know what your few emails about Skid’s and Pat's progress on the trail meant to each of us. Once we took our first
step - their few words made a world of difference.
Shawn probably said it best when, at the end of Day 1, she said the trip was 'magical';
try as I might, I cannot think of a better one-word description. We saw deer - up close and personal; a fawn that would make Bambi blush, a real-live black bear just yards from where we stopped on the trail to talk with a girl with a really cool dog (a Vizsla) who just happened to mention that there was a bear on the trail! You've heard about 'my' mouse but you didn't hear that Joey had 2 or 3 mice in his cabin and they were running up and down the walls - OMG!
Plants that made me want to cry: acres and acres of fern,
some as tall as we and NO YOU have never seen anything like this, I'll
guarantee it. Mtn Laurel for miles. MILES. We walked under it and at
times it was on both sides of us for the longest as we made our way thru it.
Wild columbine, fairy flowers, all manner of wild flower - trillium and
galax out the yazoo and poison oak that was so healthy you almost wanted to
photograph it. We were lucky enough to hit it maybe a week after some
trail maintenance had been done so lots of areas had seen the weed-eater - which
was EXTRA cool. There were places where the trail was only as wide as
'my' foot and other places where the trail was wide enough for 3 of us to walk
side-by-side (but these places were few and far between). Most of the
trail was 'about' 2 feet wide and often you were
brushing against growth with your legs and sometimes your arms and face. We were a very egalitarian group - we all led and we all took up the rear depending on our energy at any one time. Until the last day when I seldom moved from last place and was just happy to be following someone.
No one can imagine how much we laughed on this journey. Shawn has ALWAYS been able to make me laugh - it is one of her many gifts. Sometimes, when we are having bad days one of us will call the other one and just say, 'make me laugh' (believe it or not - I 'can' be funny) and we do but these 4 days were a laugh riot.
brushing against growth with your legs and sometimes your arms and face. We were a very egalitarian group - we all led and we all took up the rear depending on our energy at any one time. Until the last day when I seldom moved from last place and was just happy to be following someone.
No one can imagine how much we laughed on this journey. Shawn has ALWAYS been able to make me laugh - it is one of her many gifts. Sometimes, when we are having bad days one of us will call the other one and just say, 'make me laugh' (believe it or not - I 'can' be funny) and we do but these 4 days were a laugh riot.
Shawn is the world's greatest cookie baker and she had
brought each of
us 1 dozen chocolate chip cookies in our own ziploc bag. On the drive fromCharlottesville Charlottesville
end... we could find ANY and EVERY reason to laugh and just when you thought there was no way you needed to 'pee' - the laughter would begin and you would have to exert that extra ounce of energy to squeeze, yet another, muscle really tight!
The places we stayed were all very clean (okay, there were mice in the cabins) BUT the linens and towels and bathrooms were very clean. The food at the lodges was really, really good and the staff were beyond cordial to everyone. Someone has taught them that regardless of smell - we are their meal-tickets. There are lots of folks who actually spend weeks at these lodges during the summer, obviously they love the ambiance and I can see why...
One week ago today, as I type, we were in Charlottesville purchasing last minute items to
load in a rental car for the trip to the Shenandoah National Park. In the few pictures I am
including you will see the infamous piece of luggage that came from St. Louis (with Shawn and Robie) but then spent the week in Charlottesville because it was left sitting on the tarmac as the small plane we were in from Charlotte, NC to Charlottesville, VA backed away. Our flights intersected there and we were informed that the flight was overweight! Instead of leaving behind a man who volunteered, US Air decided to lighten the load by off-loading luggage and Shawn's bag (containing - among other things - our first class, first-aid kit) was left standing on the tarmac. It was a surreal moment and one that got me thru many difficult moments on the trail - I would get a visual of that bag and start laughing. I mean there was NOTHING funny about flying off without it except maybe the fact that Shawn was much calmer than I was coupled with the fact that US Air could not deliver it to us since we would have been completely unable to drag it behind us as we navigated the trail. SO - like the roaming gnome, the bag had a vacation inCharlottesville
Picture 1 is MORNING 1 with Robie sporting orange, Shawn in yellow and Joey (in basic blue - ha!) Shawn and I have been friends since 1989 or 1990 (I can't remember) when I hired her to work with me atSchaeffer
Eye Center Missouri
easily worry about him, his feet, blah, blah, blah... Joey didn't worry about ANYTHING.
The fact that he gave himself injections at the end of every meal, by simply pulling up his shirt and injecting himself in his abdomen was bizarre - I mean he did this in every dining room, without fail so I found myself always checking behind him to make sure he had this little pouch thing that held all his apparatus and yep, he always did.
If you ever get REALLY bored you can go online to "hikelodgetolodge.com" and read a description, written by someone who obviously took a Valium or something to take the edge off reality at the end of each day. Believe me, we had read these descriptions prior to arrival and revisited Day 1 on Sunday evening - trust me, if they asked US to re-write these descriptions, fewer folks would be on the trail! This particular area is supposed to be one of THE easiest sections and I believe that. What I can't conceive is how much more difficult other areas must be... The write-up about Day 2 mentioned something called 'talus'; when I was discussing this with “husband”, he said, that means 'bone'. Well even "I" knew we weren't going to be walking on bones (at least not that we could see) but in retrospect it could have meant bone as in, 'you may break one - or two'!
Talus equates to large rocks - note the picture. You can see Robie and Shawn attempting to carefully navigate over these rocks (without hiking poles - I was the only one with those) and naturally it felt like it was about 100 degrees as we walked over 3 large areas of this talus. Our focus was on trying to maintain our balance but we later learned that we should also have been paying attention to the distinct possibility of snakes - they happen to love these areas! AND don't let me leave this pic without pointing out that the talus went up the side of the mountain on our right and down the side of the mountain
on our left - so pretty much while you were 'in' it - it was ALL that you could see.
Picture 3 is a shot or Robie, Joey and Shawn signing (or looking on) a banner that a thru-hiker, by the name of Full-Time, was carrying in his pack. (I cannot imagine carrying ANYTHING you couldn't wear or eat but what do I know...) We met this man along with Ranger Bob (hiker name) and Zig Zag (a female) who were traveling together within the first few minutes of our first morning. (These three were friends of Skid.) We would leap frog with them ALL day and then when we came upon them on the second day as we walked up to Skyland Lodge you would have thought we were meeting long lost friends (and we were!) Full Time has been a Scout leader for 34 years and lived in a town of 400-something inOhio
half-way point' of Harper's Ferry next week where his entire scout troop would meet him along with 40-some people from his home town (IMAGINE - 1/10th of the population was making the trek to VA to greet him!) and his scouts were going to hike the next 50 miles with him!!! He was SOOooooo nice and cute and funny AND had lost 40 lbs so he kept having folks send him smaller clothes along the trail.
He had allowed ONLY folks from his life and hometown, who had already met him at different points on the trail to hike for a day or two - to sign his banner but he told us he wanted us to sign it as well cause we were so much fun!!! That's because he did NOT see us on Day 3... The one thing that I found that I could actually be jealous about when talking with thru hikers is their ability to eat as much as they could - one guy told us
that one day he ate for 3 hrs straight and another said that he could easily eat 6000 calories... Trust me, gaining weight on this adventure is NOT going to happen - just lacing up your boots and putting that pack on your back burns up whatever you eat for breakfast.
The 4th picture is of the 4 of us at dinner (well actually dessert) at Skyland Lodge in preparation for our final day on the trail. I am holding up (what could best be described as a Pyrex dish of) blackberry cobbler. Both Big Meadows (which I swear was served in something bigger and I shared it with Joey that day - but this day
I had thought about it ALL day and warned him that I was NOT about to share - G-d had the last laugh cause it was smaller...) and Skyland served this cobbler and it was ORGASMIC - I'm just saying - it was TO DIE FOR! You might be able to discern that Joey also had blackberry ice cream ON his cobbler but I'm a purist...Shawn and Robie ate chocolate and another picture, which I did not include, shows Robie literally LICKING
the plate. If you look closely you might note that my face is beginning to swell - since I had been bitten by one of the many 'bull gnats' in the area. These suckers bite you - you may or may not feel it at the time and then you may or may not react. Lucky me - I am allergic to their slobber so... what started as a little swelling under my right eye ended up with me looking very much like a pig the next morning.
The next picture shows us as we were heading off for our final day. I was 'hopped up' (if you can be hopped UP) on Benadryl and after over an hour of holding an ice pack over my eye I had a slit thru which I could see and if I needed to see my feet (which was an absolute necessity since we walked on rocks about 90 % of that day - smaller rocks than talus but rocks that require you to pay attention to every freaking step) I had to turn
my head/face DOWN. Couple this with the fact that I haven't taken Benadryl in years cause it 'used' to make me so sleepy and you can only imagine how much the other 3 loved having me with them... This was the longest hiking day - 9.5 miles, I think - several straight up ascents followed by (you guessed it) straight down descents
(what goes up...must come down... spinning wheel - got to go round... yep, I made a song about virtually everything the first two days - day 3, it took every ounce of energy to just keep pushing ahead). It was interesting to note, the following day at the airport, that this day -June 8, 2011 , was THE hottest on record for the
area and although it is cooler in the mountains this 'coolness' is relative.
When you don't start hiking till 8:42
in the morning
you have missed 2 very pleasant hours and each time you are walking IN the direct sun - you are really IN THE DIRECT sun. I cannot forget to give credit to the birds that 'sang' us all the way to the end. Early mornings in the dappled sunlight with multiple birds singing their own special songs was like being INSIDE a Disney movie. Day 1
I amused the other 3 with my Snow White rendition and the hits just kept on coming. Many hikers wear iPods for obvious reasons (like not having to interact with idgets like us) but also perhaps to keep them from thinking about blisters or pains or just to keep them moving. Personally, I'd rather listen to the birds. You might go thru a small
area and not hear them but just when I thought perhaps I wouldn't hear them again that day, back they would come and sing - they did!
The last picture I included is of a group of 3 guys who are part of the 'group of 30s' (or some such name that 30 yr olds have given themselves). They all began their thru hike adventures at different dates in April and already close to the half way mark on the trail. They meet each other on the trail and may walk a while together and then go their own pace and then when they encounter one another at watering holes/taprooms
and the like they catch up, eat and drink all they can and take off again. Meeting other hikers and hearing their stories was, without a doubt, the highlight of the trip (along with the bear!) I took every opportunity from Day 1 to give away food from my pack with the hope of lightening my load. It never worked but I gave away ALL my food AND my toilet tissue. (And yep, on the last day I finally had to pee on the trail - well, actually
OFF the trail but you get the idea.) I would have given away my clothes if I thought the folks would mail them to me from the next town! These 3 were particularly interesting in that we spent 3 hours, sitting at a table on the patio at Skyland, drinking beer and asking them every conceivable question about thru-hiking. Every question that 'we' could imagine. These guys all came in at different times and once two of them joined us
by the end of the day for us, there were 10 at the table... On the left you see Grimey (one of the dwarves, I assume) who is an engineer in his real life, Oggie - in the middle and yes, HE spelled it for us - not oooggie but Oggie. Cute young guy from theMilwaukee
a giant booger made from horn...) and a long, skinny braid - all that was left of his hair when he was shorn early on. Their stories SHOULD be a movie so I'm wondering if there is a movie out there of REAL hikers and their real stories. We had a ball buying them beer, picking their brains and giving them snacks from our packs. Goldie, a vegetarian, who prefers to be a vegan ate everything we put in front of him (and there was a PILE) before leaving the table - he didn't want to carry it with him on the 10 additional miles he planned to do that evening. He actually passed us on Day 1 or Day 2
and gave us quite a scare in doing so because he came up behind us without making A SOUND. We mentioned this during our sit-down and he told us that he has been hired thru the years to track animals for people exactly because he is able to walk without making ANY noise. He also looked quite scary until you talked to him and then he was
seemed to be the polar opposite from his 'look'.... hhhhmmmm... either he is a serial killer or the nicest guy you could ever hope to meet.
The last picture is the infamous 'roaming' luggage... if only it could talk I would love to hear the stories 'it' would tell...And know that I haven't mentioned the interesting folks I sat beside on 2 legs of my flight - one an Air Force Medic who has already completed 2 brief tours in Afghanistan and Iraq and is headed back again in December and another,
married to a woman from Trinidad/Tobago.
Someday soon I hope I can really consolidate my thoughts and write down what I learned or as Oprah would say, "what I know for sure". At this point I can say that with one exception - everyone we encountered on the trail' seemed' very nice and was, even briefly, interesting. Some were very fun and funny and I look forward to following
their adventures on trailjournals.com. "One day at a time" and "putting one foot in front of the other" mean more to me now than they did a week ago; the latter being literally how I made it back to our car on Day 3. I know that I am stronger than I look or appear to others and that when you are really tired and really perspiring you can't cry
cause you don't have the liquid or energy needed for tears. I believe that if someone would 'carry my load' (ie - slackpack) I might attempt another section of this beautiful trail and even if that doesn't happen I hope I never forget the sites and sounds along the portion I walked. It was truly magical.
us 1 dozen chocolate chip cookies in our own ziploc bag. On the drive from
end... we could find ANY and EVERY reason to laugh and just when you thought there was no way you needed to 'pee' - the laughter would begin and you would have to exert that extra ounce of energy to squeeze, yet another, muscle really tight!
The places we stayed were all very clean (okay, there were mice in the cabins) BUT the linens and towels and bathrooms were very clean. The food at the lodges was really, really good and the staff were beyond cordial to everyone. Someone has taught them that regardless of smell - we are their meal-tickets. There are lots of folks who actually spend weeks at these lodges during the summer, obviously they love the ambiance and I can see why...
One week ago today, as I type, we were in Charlottesville purchasing last minute items to
load in a rental car for the trip to the Shenandoah National Park. In the few pictures I am
including you will see the infamous piece of luggage that came from St. Louis (with Shawn and Robie) but then spent the week in Charlottesville because it was left sitting on the tarmac as the small plane we were in from Charlotte, NC to Charlottesville, VA backed away. Our flights intersected there and we were informed that the flight was overweight! Instead of leaving behind a man who volunteered, US Air decided to lighten the load by off-loading luggage and Shawn's bag (containing - among other things - our first class, first-aid kit) was left standing on the tarmac. It was a surreal moment and one that got me thru many difficult moments on the trail - I would get a visual of that bag and start laughing. I mean there was NOTHING funny about flying off without it except maybe the fact that Shawn was much calmer than I was coupled with the fact that US Air could not deliver it to us since we would have been completely unable to drag it behind us as we navigated the trail. SO - like the roaming gnome, the bag had a vacation in
Picture 1 is MORNING 1 with Robie sporting orange, Shawn in yellow and Joey (in basic blue - ha!) Shawn and I have been friends since 1989 or 1990 (I can't remember) when I hired her to work with me at
easily worry about him, his feet, blah, blah, blah... Joey didn't worry about ANYTHING.
The fact that he gave himself injections at the end of every meal, by simply pulling up his shirt and injecting himself in his abdomen was bizarre - I mean he did this in every dining room, without fail so I found myself always checking behind him to make sure he had this little pouch thing that held all his apparatus and yep, he always did.
If you ever get REALLY bored you can go online to "hikelodgetolodge.com" and read a description, written by someone who obviously took a Valium or something to take the edge off reality at the end of each day. Believe me, we had read these descriptions prior to arrival and revisited Day 1 on Sunday evening - trust me, if they asked US to re-write these descriptions, fewer folks would be on the trail! This particular area is supposed to be one of THE easiest sections and I believe that. What I can't conceive is how much more difficult other areas must be... The write-up about Day 2 mentioned something called 'talus'; when I was discussing this with “husband”, he said, that means 'bone'. Well even "I" knew we weren't going to be walking on bones (at least not that we could see) but in retrospect it could have meant bone as in, 'you may break one - or two'!
Talus equates to large rocks - note the picture. You can see Robie and Shawn attempting to carefully navigate over these rocks (without hiking poles - I was the only one with those) and naturally it felt like it was about 100 degrees as we walked over 3 large areas of this talus. Our focus was on trying to maintain our balance but we later learned that we should also have been paying attention to the distinct possibility of snakes - they happen to love these areas! AND don't let me leave this pic without pointing out that the talus went up the side of the mountain on our right and down the side of the mountain
on our left - so pretty much while you were 'in' it - it was ALL that you could see.
Picture 3 is a shot or Robie, Joey and Shawn signing (or looking on) a banner that a thru-hiker, by the name of Full-Time, was carrying in his pack. (I cannot imagine carrying ANYTHING you couldn't wear or eat but what do I know...) We met this man along with Ranger Bob (hiker name) and Zig Zag (a female) who were traveling together within the first few minutes of our first morning. (These three were friends of Skid.) We would leap frog with them ALL day and then when we came upon them on the second day as we walked up to Skyland Lodge you would have thought we were meeting long lost friends (and we were!) Full Time has been a Scout leader for 34 years and lived in a town of 400-something in
half-way point' of Harper's Ferry next week where his entire scout troop would meet him along with 40-some people from his home town (IMAGINE - 1/10th of the population was making the trek to VA to greet him!) and his scouts were going to hike the next 50 miles with him!!! He was SOOooooo nice and cute and funny AND had lost 40 lbs so he kept having folks send him smaller clothes along the trail.
He had allowed ONLY folks from his life and hometown, who had already met him at different points on the trail to hike for a day or two - to sign his banner but he told us he wanted us to sign it as well cause we were so much fun!!! That's because he did NOT see us on Day 3... The one thing that I found that I could actually be jealous about when talking with thru hikers is their ability to eat as much as they could - one guy told us
that one day he ate for 3 hrs straight and another said that he could easily eat 6000 calories... Trust me, gaining weight on this adventure is NOT going to happen - just lacing up your boots and putting that pack on your back burns up whatever you eat for breakfast.
The 4th picture is of the 4 of us at dinner (well actually dessert) at Skyland Lodge in preparation for our final day on the trail. I am holding up (what could best be described as a Pyrex dish of) blackberry cobbler. Both Big Meadows (which I swear was served in something bigger and I shared it with Joey that day - but this day
I had thought about it ALL day and warned him that I was NOT about to share - G-d had the last laugh cause it was smaller...) and Skyland served this cobbler and it was ORGASMIC - I'm just saying - it was TO DIE FOR! You might be able to discern that Joey also had blackberry ice cream ON his cobbler but I'm a purist...Shawn and Robie ate chocolate and another picture, which I did not include, shows Robie literally LICKING
the plate. If you look closely you might note that my face is beginning to swell - since I had been bitten by one of the many 'bull gnats' in the area. These suckers bite you - you may or may not feel it at the time and then you may or may not react. Lucky me - I am allergic to their slobber so... what started as a little swelling under my right eye ended up with me looking very much like a pig the next morning.
The next picture shows us as we were heading off for our final day. I was 'hopped up' (if you can be hopped UP) on Benadryl and after over an hour of holding an ice pack over my eye I had a slit thru which I could see and if I needed to see my feet (which was an absolute necessity since we walked on rocks about 90 % of that day - smaller rocks than talus but rocks that require you to pay attention to every freaking step) I had to turn
my head/face DOWN. Couple this with the fact that I haven't taken Benadryl in years cause it 'used' to make me so sleepy and you can only imagine how much the other 3 loved having me with them... This was the longest hiking day - 9.5 miles, I think - several straight up ascents followed by (you guessed it) straight down descents
(what goes up...must come down... spinning wheel - got to go round... yep, I made a song about virtually everything the first two days - day 3, it took every ounce of energy to just keep pushing ahead). It was interesting to note, the following day at the airport, that this day -
you have missed 2 very pleasant hours and each time you are walking IN the direct sun - you are really IN THE DIRECT sun. I cannot forget to give credit to the birds that 'sang' us all the way to the end. Early mornings in the dappled sunlight with multiple birds singing their own special songs was like being INSIDE a Disney movie. Day 1
I amused the other 3 with my Snow White rendition and the hits just kept on coming. Many hikers wear iPods for obvious reasons (like not having to interact with idgets like us) but also perhaps to keep them from thinking about blisters or pains or just to keep them moving. Personally, I'd rather listen to the birds. You might go thru a small
area and not hear them but just when I thought perhaps I wouldn't hear them again that day, back they would come and sing - they did!
The last picture I included is of a group of 3 guys who are part of the 'group of 30s' (or some such name that 30 yr olds have given themselves). They all began their thru hike adventures at different dates in April and already close to the half way mark on the trail. They meet each other on the trail and may walk a while together and then go their own pace and then when they encounter one another at watering holes/taprooms
and the like they catch up, eat and drink all they can and take off again. Meeting other hikers and hearing their stories was, without a doubt, the highlight of the trip (along with the bear!) I took every opportunity from Day 1 to give away food from my pack with the hope of lightening my load. It never worked but I gave away ALL my food AND my toilet tissue. (And yep, on the last day I finally had to pee on the trail - well, actually
OFF the trail but you get the idea.) I would have given away my clothes if I thought the folks would mail them to me from the next town! These 3 were particularly interesting in that we spent 3 hours, sitting at a table on the patio at Skyland, drinking beer and asking them every conceivable question about thru-hiking. Every question that 'we' could imagine. These guys all came in at different times and once two of them joined us
by the end of the day for us, there were 10 at the table... On the left you see Grimey (one of the dwarves, I assume) who is an engineer in his real life, Oggie - in the middle and yes, HE spelled it for us - not oooggie but Oggie. Cute young guy from the
a giant booger made from horn...) and a long, skinny braid - all that was left of his hair when he was shorn early on. Their stories SHOULD be a movie so I'm wondering if there is a movie out there of REAL hikers and their real stories. We had a ball buying them beer, picking their brains and giving them snacks from our packs. Goldie, a vegetarian, who prefers to be a vegan ate everything we put in front of him (and there was a PILE) before leaving the table - he didn't want to carry it with him on the 10 additional miles he planned to do that evening. He actually passed us on Day 1 or Day 2
and gave us quite a scare in doing so because he came up behind us without making A SOUND. We mentioned this during our sit-down and he told us that he has been hired thru the years to track animals for people exactly because he is able to walk without making ANY noise. He also looked quite scary until you talked to him and then he was
seemed to be the polar opposite from his 'look'.... hhhhmmmm... either he is a serial killer or the nicest guy you could ever hope to meet.
The last picture is the infamous 'roaming' luggage... if only it could talk I would love to hear the stories 'it' would tell...And know that I haven't mentioned the interesting folks I sat beside on 2 legs of my flight - one an Air Force Medic who has already completed 2 brief tours in Afghanistan and Iraq and is headed back again in December and another,
married to a woman from Trinidad/Tobago.
Someday soon I hope I can really consolidate my thoughts and write down what I learned or as Oprah would say, "what I know for sure". At this point I can say that with one exception - everyone we encountered on the trail' seemed' very nice and was, even briefly, interesting. Some were very fun and funny and I look forward to following
their adventures on trailjournals.com. "One day at a time" and "putting one foot in front of the other" mean more to me now than they did a week ago; the latter being literally how I made it back to our car on Day 3. I know that I am stronger than I look or appear to others and that when you are really tired and really perspiring you can't cry
cause you don't have the liquid or energy needed for tears. I believe that if someone would 'carry my load' (ie - slackpack) I might attempt another section of this beautiful trail and even if that doesn't happen I hope I never forget the sites and sounds along the portion I walked. It was truly magical.
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