AT Section 2 Day 9

Fri Apr 17
Helvey's Mill Shelter to Jennys Knob Shelter
10mi
So I decided to take it easy today since I've been doing some big miles lately and I now have a heavy pack. I slept in late until the sun finally forced me out of my hot bag at 8:30. I hiked for an hour and ran into Bushwack and Tumbleweed. I was correct that they didn't make it into town yesterday so they got up early and hit it today. They're continuing on and we're planning on meeting up again tomorrow night then doing lunch together Sunday in town. I was wanting to stay in town Sunday night but just found out that the hostel won't be open for a few more weeks and I don't want to spend the money on a hotel. It looks like I'll have to hike on after lunch. Today I've just relaxed in the sun. I washed out my clothes and shoes. I've got a big day ahead of me so I'm going to try to get to sleep early tonight. Sleep better take care of this headache that I've had all day.

AT Section 2 Day 8

Thur Apr 16 Jenkins Shelter to Helvey's Mill Shelter 17 miles

What an awesome day! I got out hiking at about 8am to a perfect sun rising over the ridge. You have to realize I haven't seen the sun since Easter. I got up on the ridge in a couple miles and had the rest of the 12mi with an amazing view down into the valley. It was really cool to see the transition from the steep sides coming to a point to the wavey green ocean with barns floating in. At a nice pile of logs I took a nice break looking at the ant sized tractors below. I continued booking it on over to the highway so that I'd have plenty of time in Bland. I got to the highway and started down the 2.5mi of pavement all the way down the mountain. I didn't try hitching too hard and there wasn't much traffic anyways. That pavement really hurts you feet though. I got to the post office and was delighted to find my package. I cried a little inside when the mail-lady grunted as she lifted by box. The I cried some more when I tried to fit it into my pack. This maildrop is a lot bigger for some reason, I guess I was planning on 8 or 9 days back when I split the up. As I'm trying to arrange my pack, a lady in a $5 Footlong shirt walked into the post office. I took this as a sign from God and got a ride back to work. How I ate two footlong Subways I still don't know. I was there a long while planning out this week, charging my phone, and making plans for May trips though. I left there and started the walk back to the trail. Once I got to where the highways split, I stood with my pack on and my thumb out. Within a minute I climbed into an old chevy pickup and was a few thousand feet higher in no time. I hopped out and sat at a vista looking out over a long winding valley with the interstate at the bottom.

At this point I realized I didn't have my hat. Now I was strapping clothes all over the place to be able to fit my food in my pack so I was sure it had to be somewhere. I tood everything out and checked every pocket, no where to be found. I was crushed. I walked along trying to figure out how the heck the trail crossed the interstate when I ran into the father and son that stayed with me last night (I'm not even going to start on the 3 pro snorers that kept us awake all night). Their ride was stuck in traffic so they were headed down to Bland. I asked them to go find my hat while they were the when the bow pulled it out of his pocket. I was ecstatic. I thanked him and gave him his choice of any of the snacks I had. He got the rice crispy treat, but I wish I could have done more. Evidently it fell out of my pocket at those pile of logs I was talking about before. They were killing time for their ride and I wasn't in any particular hurry so we stood there for about an hour talking. Come to find out, they live in Rochester Hills, Michigan, which if I'm not mistaken, is where my dad went to high school. Their poor dog could barely walk after their 60mi trek. I got on up to the next shelter, had a big pot of pasta and spaghetti sause. This is the first night I've been able to see the stars and they are amazing. Oh, and I have the shelter all to myself! I can't decide if I want to do an easy or hard day tomorrow. I guess it'll depend on how well I sleep. Night everyone. Thanks Humpty-dumpty and Salt!

AT Section 2 Day 7

Wed Apr 15 Knot Maul Shelter to Jenkins Shelter 19 miles It was a pretty decent day today. Chilly and drizzly all day, but nothing too cold or too wet. I hiked again with the couple I met a Saturday night, Bushwack and Tumbleweed. It was a slow day with a good bit of ups and downs. Half way through we were on top of the balds in thick mist near Chestnut Knob Shelter. It got windy and cold at that point so we had lunch in the shelter instead of the pond as I had hoped. We passed at least 20 lookouts, but the view was nothing but white. It's taking me a bit to get my trail legs Hopefully after a nice sleep, the legs will be doing alright. I'm anxious to get to Bland tomorrow to pick up my food drop and get on for another week.

AT Section 2 Day 6

Tue Apr 14 Chatfield Shelter to Knot Maul Shelter 18.4 mi Happy birthday to my sister, but I don't think she reads this. Today has been a long day. I woke up at about 6:30 and was excited to see it wasn't raining. It took about an hour to get dressed, get breakfast, and get everything repacked. As soon as I dawn my pack, it starts raining. But I was having more of a problem dealing with my heel than I cared about the rain. After about 4 miles, I was down in the Great Valley I was talking about yesterday.

Everything 50ft higher than me was in the clouds, but the beautiful rolling green hill for as far as the eye could see were amazing. Shortly after, I resupplied at a gas station right before crossing under I-81. I let myself choose between carrying all day a beer or a mtn dew, and the dew for tomorrow morning won out. I climbed a big mountain crossing into the next wide valley. Then ridgeline. Then back down to a river. Then a mountain. You get the idea. All very pretty except when I couldn't see because of the rain or if I was in the clouds. Over 18 miles of this before reaching this shelter. I really like this a lot more than the constant forest of NC/TN, but I do miss the balds. The pastures here are just so bright green and roll on forever. Anywho, my feet are hurting and tomorrow is going to be longer and harder than today. Fortunately, if I don't feel like I can make it, there's a nice shelter halfway. I'm really happy everything in the pack stayed dry. I don't know whether it'll rain tomorrow. Hope my food package is in Bland by Thursday morning. Love you all!

AT Section 2 Day 5

Mon Apr 13
Partnership Shelter to Chatfield Shelter
7 miles
Good things first. I got the whole loft in the shelter to myself last night so I didn't have to listen to anyone snoring. The hike wasn't strenuous at all. There was a nice view from a log bench that made for a nice break. The view today and the second half of yesterday has been much different than I'm used to. Usually the AT runs along the tops of ridges and the ups and downs come from going from mountain to mountain. The usual view is the valley below and more mountains on the otherside and peaks as far as you can see. Here, however, the mountain drops off and the valley is flat and miles wide before the next parallel ridge. The flatland is an incredibly bright green compared to the gray-brown of the mountains. I would hate to be doing this section when there's leaves on the trees because there's almost no breaks to see down into these valleys. Now for a little bad. It turned out that I don't have a blister, just a hard bump like bone that hurts every step. I don't know if it will heal today or if I just have to deal with it. I threw the SteriPen off the mountain to save weight by getting rid of useless equipment. just kidding. But it hasn't worked a single time in a couple days now. So any questionable sources like streams I've been using iodine tablets and drinking straight from good looking springs. And lastly, it's supposed to rain tonight and the next two days. Unfortunately, they took down the next shelter so now I'm forced to do 18.4 tomorrow in the rain. I'm so bored now, I wish I had just tried for 25 today. I know I wouldn't have made it though. There's a book sitting in the shelter, but the first 120pages are missing. Hopefully I can get a good night's sleep tonight and get started early. I've got some heavy bags under my eyes from lack of sleep. Can't complain too much about sitting all day next to a babbling brook.

AT Section 2 Day 4

Sun Apr 12 Hurricane Shelter to Partnership Shelter 20 miles

Today was absolutely beautiful! I was pretty scared about it being too cold last night but it ended up much better than the night before. I woke up very early with a couple thru-hiking and hiked all day with them. They had been taking the pace pretty slow, but decided they wanted to book it today to get to this shelter. The three of us had all day to talk about everything with not a cloud in the sky. We came across the into the wild bus, evidently moved to VA.

We were booking it for the first half and took out time with many breaks sitting in the sun for the rest. The special thing about this shelter is being able to have PIZZA delivered! And the first place I've been able to get reception. The three of us put down two larges pretty easily. It's pretty easy to see why this place is called "Paradise Shelter" It'd be a bit nicer with the running water, but that's not until the nights are above freezing. I got a nice blister from my boots. Tomorrow I have the choice between 7 or 24 miles, so I looks like tomorrow will be an easy day with 7 to heal the heel.

AT Section 2 Day 3

Sat Apr 11 Thomas Knob Shelter to Hurricane Shelter 16 miles Well, I survived the storm last night! Between the hail hitting the tin roof, the thunder, the gusts literally moving the shelter, and the freezing cold, I got almost no sleep. It was still raining when I got up so I wasted hours chatting with the others waiting it out. Finally it stopped and I hit the trail at noon. I was hiking in the highlands through the clouds. Shortly into it, I was surprised by a wild pony staring me in the face.

I definitely want to go back to Grayson Highlands and Mt. Rogers again someday. By the time I got to lower elevation the clouds had cleared and I had a beautiful day of hiking. I met up with a family of dayhikers that gave me an apple and a bag of carrots. Yum! I've got some good company here at the shelter. It's supposed to be even colder tonight. Sorry, but with such poor reception, posting the pictures is going to have to wait.

AT Section 2 Day 2

Lost Mtn Shelter to Thomas Knob Shelter 13 miles Fortunately, today was definitely not what I expected. It was absolutely beautiful when I woke up so I decided to best the threat of thunderstorms and was out hiking by 9. At 10 I started climbing and the rain came. By 11 I was miserably wet and freezing. I found a small muddy cave to hide in.

It was thunderstorming, freezing, and the wind gusting and supposed to continue throughout the night. From the book's description, the next shelter was not suitable for bad weather. So I resigned to sleep in the hardly suitable shelter I'd found. Water was trickling down and spraying from everywhere, but I went ahead and took a nap. When I woke at 1, the rain had passes and the skies were clearing up. I packed up my gear and continued the climb. I was soon at the summit of Whitetop Mtn with a beautiful, sunny view. Parts of the trail were snowy and others rivers.

The weather managed to remain perfect despite the predictions.

Once I got to the shelter here on top of Mt Rogers, it started thunderstorming. I can literally feel the building move when the wind gusts. But I'm dry and we have a crowd of 8 keeping this place warm. My SteriPen is about to be thrown off of this mountain. Good thing I don't mind iodine too much.

AT Section 2 Day 1

Thur Apr 9 Damascus to Lost Mtn. Shelter 17 miles Weather: beautiful

Meeting up with some new friends, I started the hike off right with a double serving of the most unhealthy biscuits and gravy imaginable. I hung out with everyone a little too long considering if I was going to stay the next two days in Damascus. After tying up some loose ends at the outfitter, I hit the trail about 11. It was a beautiful day, bluest skies I've seen and upper 60's. After stripping off all my layers, I was hiking in shorts and a tshirt. The trail had great variety starting at the river, heading up a ridge, back down into the valley and up to a peak. I made it to the first shelter at about 3:30. I found a man with his young son and a friend and chatted with them over lunch. They were having the same trouble with their SteriPen, so I offered my advice. Mine has given me a smiley face every time, but it take some convincing to get to that point. I decided to continue hiking to make it as far as I could today. Chances are I will be taking a 0mile day tomorrow because of the thunderstorms. Its in the 30's up here now, so I'm a bit frozen. I got two of the guys that stayed in the hostel with me staying here tonight. They caught a shuttle to the top and are headed south. Hopefully I don't go nuts tomorrow.

AT Section 2 Day 0

Damacus, VA
Weather: beautiful and chilly
Trail conditions: mud and sharp rocks covered in wet leaves with a topping of snow
As with coming off the trail, James and I took the mountain bikes off to the trails. Our usual rides take us through quick ups, downs, and zigzags. Going up a mountain was a bit different experience. Not that it would have been all that bad dry, but it was soaked from the past two days rain. This turned every root into a slip and slide for the rear tire. Usually you just torque it in a higher gear so you have plenty of momentum to make it over slick obstacles. This wasn't quite so easy to do when the ascent goes on longer then your heart is willing to race. Once on top we continued to climb the ridge having beautiful views down both sides. Most everywhere was covered in snow making for both gorgeous scenes and cold spray from the tires. Once we turned around, I might have had to pedal 3 or 4 times. We followed the ridge all the way down this time, crossing the stream way more than any biking trail should. Back here at the hostel it's dang cold, and I'm pretty nervous about all the rain I'm supposed to get. Fortunately, I have no set goals so even if don't make it anywhere, this trip is still a success.