Month: May 2016

It’s been a while since I last posted, so there’s too much to do a day to day type post. Instead it’s going to be a general overview and a story involving a bear (don’t worry I’m fine).

I may have mentioned this before, but both March and April I was very fortunate with the weather. Unfortunately, May hasn’t been that way. Most days it’s quite dreary, and rain is always a concern. It definitely makes me appreciate the infrequent sunny days. On the bright side, fog is nice hiking weather. The cool air keeps my core temp down and I don’t overheat much. This makes the long uphills nicer, until I get to the top and find that there isn’t any view due to fog. It’s fine though, there are many views along the AT.

Foul weather also means I keep my phone in a Ziplock somewhere in my pack. I’ve thought about upgrading my phone case to a waterproof one, that way you all can see that I do indeed get bad weather. I hope you don’t think it’s just sunshine and rainbows. It’s not. In fact, I’ve realized that in my blogs I neglect to mention the bad times. Memory has a funny way of drowning out the bad parts and amplifying the good. Like the day I had a migraine weeks ago. Or when I was constipated from too much cheese. It wouldn’t make terribly good blog material anyways.

So, story time. My first incident with a bear! First a little background. It was about three in the afternoon and I decided to stop for lunch at a shelter. What ended up being just a break after 10 miles ended up being my final destination that night. It wasn’t because I couldn’t keep going, but rain started up and the shelter was just so nice and dry. Lord of the Rings seemed much nicer to read than to live. Fast forwards to maybe 6ish and two women section hiking show up to the shelter. They together made the shelter full. Four thru-hikers and them. I could tell they were a tad less experienced for they wanted me to show them how to hang a bear bag. I was happy to help demonstrate and showed them what’s known as the PCT method. This bear hang is infallible if done correctly, so it’s what I use. The one problem is you need to use a branch that is at least 20′ high, for the bag drops down about a third the way when finished. They opted for a shorter branch close to the shelter and used a method where you just tie the loose end to a tree. This method is the most common on the AT and bears can cut the line (at least in California where bears may be more intelligent?). In my mind, I didn’t think the bag was high enough. Rather than being that guy who is a stickler for everything, I held my tongue.

So we go to bed and all is good in the world. I should have mentioned that there was a campsite five miles further than this shelter where they saw a bear earlier in the day (they were southbound). We thought we would be ok and the bear would stay in that area, turns out if followed them towards our shelter. I woke up at about 3 a.m. to Deadwood yelling at something “Hey! Hey! Get out of here!”. I bolted up in my sleeping bag to see what was happening. To late, the bear had scurried off with bag in mouth. Apparently a few people had heard someone eating. They thought it was just someone having a midnight snack. It was, but it wasn’t until they heard a ripping noise they thought it was a bear. Deadwood was the first to get his headlamp out. This is all second hand for I was fast asleep.

Unfortunately the bear got away with a food bag. This really sucks because bears should be afraid of people. Once they get food from hikers, that association is only strengthened, and eventually they need to be relocated or eventually put down.

That morning we found all other food bags to be safe and intact. I had to help the other section hiker put her food bag on my bear hang that night, but there were some punctures in her food. Luckily it was my last day to get into Glasgow, so Deadwood, Spongebob, and I were able to give away our food. The section hikers were so kind about the whole thing and thanked us much. Tenderfoot even mailed food to us, so I think I should really be thanking her! She left a note in the mail drop which I will keep with all my other AT memorabilia. Surely something I won’t ever forget!

Right now I’m on the doorstep of the Shenandoah National Park, land of many cheeseburgers and milkshakes (and daywalkers). I would normally be leaving tomorrow for my body doesn’t need a zero day yet, but heavy rain is expected. It sucks to get soaked the first day, so a zero may be in order. I’m sharing a room with a new friend, Soccrosse. He’s doing all of Virginia, what is known as a LASH (long ass section hike). He’s a bit older than me and has many valuable tales to tell. His friend and former coworker Paul was on the trail for a bit of this last stretch and it was great to get to hang out with them both. I’ve really enjoyed the company of more experienced folk, many life lessons to be learned!

I have often heard Virginia be talked about like it’s un-scenic, boring, and lacks views. Honestly, I completely disagree. Yes, there are times when all I see is the green on trees and plants and a brown trail. But every so often amazing views come by. Even without the views Virginia is scenic. There are insects, snakes, and you can always hear the birds singing. For these reasons, I find Virginia to be an amazing part of the Appalachian Trail.

The weather after the Captain’s definitely improved. I still got hail, and intermittent rain wasn’t uncommon. But there was never anything quite like the first day out of Pearisburg. Even the thunder storm on the last day wasn’t that bad. A sustained rain is the worst possible weather. I think I’d rather have snow. Yes, it is extremely cold. But you just put on a few more layers, and you’ll stay dry. It’s getting wet that’s dangerous. Also when it’s dry you can have your camera out to take amazing photos. I hate giving up on good photos just because my phone is buried deep down in my backpack.

The first day leaving the Captain’s, I didn’t quite make it back to my intended schedule out of Pearisburg. I got a very late start because I was trying to dry my tent. That morning it was sunny which it hadn’t been for a while before. This meant that I got to camp rather late. I prefer not doing this, it’s never fun throwing up bear bags in the dark.

The next morning I felt good. I had planned a 22.5 mile day, definitely on my bigger side. In fact it was only half a mile below my record at the time. Everything was going just fine, it looked like I would’ve made it. What happened was there was trail magic. And I’m so glad that I got magic. It wasn’t a church, or any other organization with some other agenda. Just a bunch of friends, some of them triple crowners, that just love giving back. It also happens to be Mother’s Day. I had no cell reception, and they offered to give a message to my mom. I don’t know what they said, but my mom said she liked the message. It was also definitely the best trail magic so far. They had coffee from Starbucks, a tank of hot water for washing my face, Dutch oven’s with delicious casseroles and nachos. It was overwhelming how much food they had. I happily lingered for several hours and settled on only doing one more mile that day rather than nine. I did not cook dinner later that night.

After that trail magic, I gave up on catching up to my original plan. Again, not an issue since I always pack a little extra food. I would just be out of tortillas, no biggie. That there was a lot of Ridge walking. Not too many long ups and downs, but still quite strenuous. I found myself scrambling over rocks and walking across slanted trails. This really wore in my shoes. More holes were starting to form near my toes and I was very glad to be getting a new pair in Daleville. That’s the night I stopped at Four Pines Hostel. It’s just the a three bay garage with a bunch of couches and cots in the middle. There’s no price but donations or gladly excepted. They had this game, I can’t remember the name,  but essentially you’re throwing beanbags into plywood boards with holes in them. I wasn’t very good at it but I definitely want to bring it back to Coho. Overall, it was a really nice place. The people were friendly and they had a relaxed atmosphere.

The morning I set off to McAfee knob. This is the most photographed section of the entire Appalachian Trail, or so they say. I can believe it, I definitely took a lot of photos. About 15 minutes before I pulled into the shelter that night, a large thunderstorm rolled in. When I started looking at the register, many people were talking about bear encounters there. Several people got their food bag stolen, and the bear definitely did not seem to be bothered by their presence. There was even a small bit of a torn up Term-a-rest. The bear and the thunderstorm were my reasons for pushing on that night. I didn’t want to deal with my stuff getting wet, and the bear really didn’t sound like fun. It was about a 9 mile push and made my day 26 miles. Luckily I left early enough such that I didn’t have to walk in the dark. I also walked that section with another hiker who wanted to push, so if the shit really hit the fan there would be someone else for help. The thunderstorm passed pretty quickly, so we weren’t really in any danger. Still, it was on exposed Ridgeline and I wouldn’t want to be there if another one rolled in.

I got to Daleville at about 8 PM, got my hotel room, and went to the closest restaurant, Pizza Hut. It wasn’t great, but calories are calories. Today I ended up zeroing, so I’ll be nice and rested after such a long day. Daleville is a nice town. I’d say it had the best grocery store on the AT. A large selection and many things they cooked in house. They also have a good beer selection, a huge plus.

My next major resupply is going to be in Waynesboro. I may not have a good connection before then, so it could be a while before you hear from me again. It’s roughly 140 miles from here, also right before Shenandoah National Park. I’ll be doing a resupply before then, but probably not staying in any towns.

Until then,

-Orion

So this post is going to be a little bit different than usual. Because of the rain lately, I don’t have many photos to share with you all. There also isn’t much to talk about, considering I was just in town two days ago. However, I am camped next to a house with Wi-Fi, so I thought I would take advantage of it and do a little post.

The day coming out of Pearisburg was very wet and cold. Polar bear and Justice both decided not to go out that day. In fact, very few people left Pearisburg that day. Luckily, getting a hitch back to the trailhead didn’t end up taking that long. I figured that a hiker standing in the pouring rain would either be a benefit, or keep people away from picking me up. Seems like it helped. Once back on the trail, I followed some highways over a wide river. It wasn’t until passing a large factory that I got back into the forest. The trail climbed for a while out of the valley where Pearisburg lay. Once on the ridgeline the trail hit the first shelter. I only planned on having lunch here, but after I was cold and wet I decided it would be safer just to stay. This ended up being a good decision for the rain kept on all during the night.

This morning the rain wasn’t quite as bad, but the wind was still strong. This led to my morning hike still being cold. For the first hour I couldn’t feel my hands. My torso and legs were still warm, so I wasn’t worried. After my morning coffee and oatmeal break, the trail followed another ridgeline. This continued for roughly 10 miles until I started to drop down into the next valley. Rather than push on and make it to my projected campsite, I decided to stop short and stay at the Captains.

So, what exactly is the captains? About 30 yards off the Appalachian Trail, and across a river, there’s a man who opens his backyard to through hikers. He has a large lawn where you can put your tent, and if it’s raining you can go on his back porch. Getting across the river was also quite interesting. There is a strange zip line pulley contraption thing that you clip your pack to and sit on. Unfortunately, due to the recent rains the river is about two feet higher than I believe it normally is. This meant my feet dragged through the water. Thankfully, Deadwood, the only other hiker here was able to document it for me.

Due to my slower start out of Pearisburg, I don’t think I’ll be able to make it to Daleville in five total nights. This is fine though because I always carry an extra days worth of food than planed. Hopefully these next few days I’ll be able to keep my phone out of my Ziploc bag. That way I can have more photos from the trail.

So far Virginia has been pretty great. The leaves are beginning to grow on the trees, especially at the lower elevations. The views have been a little less frequent, but they are still breathtaking.

Coming out of Marion was a pretty easy 14.8 miles. The weather was hot and rather humid, but was still bearable. The thing that really sticks in my mind was how amazing it smelled. You would be walking along meadows and you could smell all of the wet grass and flowers blooming. I honestly can’t say I’ve ever had this kind of experience. That night Tetris, Ptarmigan, and I decided to go to the campsite with the privy. There were concrete blocks so I assume that it used to be a shelter. There were definitely a lack of good tent sites. This just meant we all had to pitch our tents close together. Not a problem unless you were next to the Tetris Chainsaw Massacre (he snores).

After the privy campsite we took a good 20 miler up to Chestnut Knob Shelter. The views from here were spectacular. It was definitely one of the more scenic campsites that I’ve had. There was also a good amount of climbing that day, so I slept pretty great.

The next day we got some good rain. I was pretty lucky though and managed to time it perfectly. By the time I got to the shelter for lunch it had been dry. Then the rain started but when I decided to push on the rain had passed mostly. That night we camped near Laurel Creek (I doubt the same one that made Laurel falls). It rained a good amount that night, but only until after I had my diner made and food bag hung.

The next morning Ptarmigan and I left in the rain. Tetris decided to stay in the shelter 4.4 miles back. Probably not a bad decision considering my tent was so wet. This added about 3 pounds to my pack but I was able to dry it pretty well. That day I had to get some food in Bland (what a name). It was and easy hitch to town and back out. The town was quiet and nice, but I did notice a Trump yard sign. We didn’t stay in Bland, we only hiked 2 miles out to the next shelter.

That night at Helvey’s Mill Shelter we received a good size thunderstorm. I managed to stay relatively dry. What was nice was that I had reception so I could check the radar and see that most the storm was passing quickly. A luxury for sure.

That day we went to Dismal Falls. It was a nice waterfall and swimming hole, unfortunately the weather didn’t favor swimming. It was quite cold and gray. Most of the day was nice and easy going. A lot of Virginia has been on ridge line it seems, so not a lot of large ups and downs but many little ones.

After the falls I had a 15.7 mile day into Docs Knob Shelter, where I opted to sleep in the shelter. There wasn’t a lot of good camping and I wanted to have an early start the next day. Ptarmigan opted for Woods Hole Hostel about 2 miles before and I didn’t know where Tetris was, he stopped before Dismal Falls the night before.

Today I got the early start I wanted heading into Pearisburg. It wasn’t quite a nero at 9ish miles but it didn’t feel like much. Tonight I’m at the Holiday Motor Lodge with Polar Bear. We’ve been running into each other the last few days and I didn’t want my own hotel room. The place is definitely past its prime and feels quite run down, but at least the price was right. After I got into town I just had to get my food figured out for the next 5 maybe 6 days. This will be enough to get me all the way to Daleville where I’m getting my new shoes sent.

A few people have decided to zero tomorrow in Pearisburg, but I don’t think I need the break yet. My legs feel good and my feet are happy, so I don’t see too much of a reason to stop. I like it more on the trail anyways.