Greetings from Bland VA, not like vanilla ice cream, and I will not make any more food references from now on. We are making this entry as Dewey is in absentia for the time being. After hiking 123 miles from Damascus, he returned for Trail Days on Friday with two friends we have made on the trail. He was to return to his exit point yesterday, and will probably catch up to us sometime before New Hampshire.
Virginia has been a great trail state so far. The trails are well maintained and usually well graded. The shelters have largely been recently replaced and are constructed out of a log kit. One very recently constructed shelter we stayed at close to Mt Rogers State Park Headquarters had two levels and could sleep 18. It even had its own hot water shower, a welcomed luxury. A shower now seems to take on a completely different meaning these days and almost reaches a religious experience!
The Mount Rogers highlands at 5500 ft were spectacular. These high bald areas are inhabited by several thousand wild ponies. These horses have no fear of humans and will willingly eat out of your hand. We brought a few carrots for just such a purpose. (We have pictures but have problems downloading them into the blog from the computers we are using at hotels, libraries, etc. These will have to wait until I can send Kathy a CD copy in the mail.)
We have teamed up with two other thru- hikers for the time being, 'almost lucky' a 26 year old from central PA, who will be doing a three month internship with ATC after he completes the trail. 'Circadian' is a special-ed teacher from Mass, now living in New Haven, who has an excellent sense of humor and keeps us all entertained. He has a pregnant wife and two small children at home (wow!).
In the meantime, Ryan, from now on referred to as "Tres" maniac, has joined us for 10 to 12 days of trail magic, flying in yesterday from Portland to Roanoke, Va. There we arranged for a shuttle service with Homer who hiked the trail in 2002 with his wife and two children then aged 8 and 11 years! After dropping Tres off at the motel, Homer had the foresight to know that Uno might be having a problem getting a ride into Bland, as he had to walk the distance 5 years ago. Sure enough, about two miles out of town he found me with my thumb out and frustration somewhat high.
The last three days on the trial have been somewhat lonely, as many of the thru-hikers had been shuttled back to Damascus. I spent one night completely by myself in the Davis Path shelter. The next day, I wanted to cover much of the distance to Bland, so I went a full thirty miles to Jenkins shelter. This took me over Chestnut Knob at 4400 ft., which was another beautiful bald area. The shelter had originally been the cabin for a forest ranger who had manned the tower, long ago dismantled. The building itself was stone, fully enclosed, and could easily sleep 12. What a view from the top! It would have been great to stay there, but at 4:30, 10 miles of further hiking was calling me, so I settled for making dinner, and continuing on my way, arriving at the next shelter at 8:45PM.
Our plan now is to take easy hikes over the next couple days, either waiting for Dewey to close the 55 mile gap, or we will simply wait for him at the next hostel stop in Pearisburg. Next update on our wild adventures to come from there.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Sunday, May 6, 2007
May 6, 2007 Erwin, Tennessee
Greetings all from the AT! The last four days of hiking have brought us from Hot Springs, N.C. to Erwin over 70 intervening miles of trails. One word probably describes the last few days - wet, wet , wet.
Hot Springs was a fantastic trail town, very small and quaint, well versed in greeting trail hikers, and making them feel at home. The trail goes right through the middle of the town. We had already decided to take our first 'zero' day there and ended up staying at Elmer's, a hiker hostel in the middle of town, and right across the street from the town diner, where the meaning of fried greasy food takes on a whole other delicious meaning to trail hikers. Elmer has an interesting history: having hiked the trail in 1976, he returned to Hot Springs after finishing and bought the old Victorian house he now runs as a hostel. This is a beautiful old home, and for $15 per night per person, we got a private room, and for an additional $10 per person, we had a gourmet vegan meal each night. (After 4-5 days on the trail without substantial vegetables, the idea of veggie overload with these two meals seemed like a good idea.)
We managed to do a little personal grooming while there, going to the only woman in town who does hair. She was very pleasant, but must have been at least 80, and judging by the cut lines in our hair, must have just had her cataracts done. Ah well, we're both wearing hats anyway.
The trail between these two towns was very reasonable, with graded trails, and nothing terribly challenging. The weather, however, threw us our first curve ball. Each day we had showers and thundershowers. During one of the more turbulent t-storms, we hunkered down under my tarp waiting for the thunder to pass. The next day, we found a tree several miles down the trail that had scored a direct hit from this storm. Most days we were walking the the mist and fog. Obviously, nothing wanted to dry out. You do your best to keep your dry things dry. With our arrival in town today, the clouds parted and the sun returned. The best news is that the weather is expected to be good for the next eight days or so, more than enough time to get us to Virginia and the town of Damascus, which we expect will take another 5-6 days.
Most nights we have stayed at the shelters. We have yet to encounter any significant biting insects so it's comfortable to sleep at night, and particularly with bad weather, its nice to end the day in a dry place. As Sean has indicated, the trail is a very social experience. At the shelters we can interact with other hikers and share stories. Most, if not all, are extremely nice people from every walk of life. Many are students, just out of college, some are young computer or bank workers, fed up with their jobs, who gave it up to seek the trail, with no formal plan for reintroduction to the work force on their return. Finally there are other old guy hikers like myself who have retired, etc. We have encountered one other father-son pair hiking together from Georgia, and they lived only a short distance from Springer Mountain.
There are the occasional unusual hikers who seem to become trail legends, and everyone knows about them. It's unclear if they truly are 'crazy' or merely act this way to gain notoriety. One such gentleman told us he would always hike with chewing gum. When he begins to sweat, he would immerse the chewed gum in his sweat and save it, convinced that the gum can then be used to cure homosexuality.
Spring has been slow to come even here. Only now in the lower elevations are the leaves yet out. The forest floor is now a verdant green with an abundance of wildflowers and ferns. Most of them look like prepared gardens. We have seen many lady-slippers, and four different varieties of Trillium; white pink,yellow, and crimson. The azaleas are just starting to bloom, and within the next week or two, the mountain rhododendrons should come out. These plants are abundant at all elevations, and at times make a virtual tunnel or trellis over the trail.
Over all, Sean and I have found ourselves well equipped to handle the challenges of the trail. We seem to have a good system which works well for us. The only exception is my change of boots in Hot Springs after 270 miles. The bottoms of my feet became very swollen, painful and numb on a daily basis, mostly from pounding during descent. I brought the shoes to the local outfitter who quickly showed me that the New Balance trail shoes had no support under the forefoot; so of course, he was able to find me a good substitute, and my feet have been much happier ever since.
I suspect both of us have lost some weight after 340 miles of hiking. Sean's appetite is gearing up a little more than mine, but he had a shorter road to travel to lean body mass than I still have. For four days of hiking, we are generally carrying 10-12 pounds of food, which is about a third of our pack weight. Even with this, I think we are consuming a total of about 2500 calories per day. With a twenty mile day of hiking, we should be in the 4000 cal per day range, but I don't think they make a pack big enough for this. Meals can be repetitious, but the day always starts off right with two pop-tarts. We are trying different recipes at times.
Next update will be in Damascus, in about a week. We hope to pick-up my second son Ryan in Pearisburg, for two weeks of hiking. Every step brings us that much closer to home!
Hot Springs was a fantastic trail town, very small and quaint, well versed in greeting trail hikers, and making them feel at home. The trail goes right through the middle of the town. We had already decided to take our first 'zero' day there and ended up staying at Elmer's, a hiker hostel in the middle of town, and right across the street from the town diner, where the meaning of fried greasy food takes on a whole other delicious meaning to trail hikers. Elmer has an interesting history: having hiked the trail in 1976, he returned to Hot Springs after finishing and bought the old Victorian house he now runs as a hostel. This is a beautiful old home, and for $15 per night per person, we got a private room, and for an additional $10 per person, we had a gourmet vegan meal each night. (After 4-5 days on the trail without substantial vegetables, the idea of veggie overload with these two meals seemed like a good idea.)
We managed to do a little personal grooming while there, going to the only woman in town who does hair. She was very pleasant, but must have been at least 80, and judging by the cut lines in our hair, must have just had her cataracts done. Ah well, we're both wearing hats anyway.
The trail between these two towns was very reasonable, with graded trails, and nothing terribly challenging. The weather, however, threw us our first curve ball. Each day we had showers and thundershowers. During one of the more turbulent t-storms, we hunkered down under my tarp waiting for the thunder to pass. The next day, we found a tree several miles down the trail that had scored a direct hit from this storm. Most days we were walking the the mist and fog. Obviously, nothing wanted to dry out. You do your best to keep your dry things dry. With our arrival in town today, the clouds parted and the sun returned. The best news is that the weather is expected to be good for the next eight days or so, more than enough time to get us to Virginia and the town of Damascus, which we expect will take another 5-6 days.
Most nights we have stayed at the shelters. We have yet to encounter any significant biting insects so it's comfortable to sleep at night, and particularly with bad weather, its nice to end the day in a dry place. As Sean has indicated, the trail is a very social experience. At the shelters we can interact with other hikers and share stories. Most, if not all, are extremely nice people from every walk of life. Many are students, just out of college, some are young computer or bank workers, fed up with their jobs, who gave it up to seek the trail, with no formal plan for reintroduction to the work force on their return. Finally there are other old guy hikers like myself who have retired, etc. We have encountered one other father-son pair hiking together from Georgia, and they lived only a short distance from Springer Mountain.
There are the occasional unusual hikers who seem to become trail legends, and everyone knows about them. It's unclear if they truly are 'crazy' or merely act this way to gain notoriety. One such gentleman told us he would always hike with chewing gum. When he begins to sweat, he would immerse the chewed gum in his sweat and save it, convinced that the gum can then be used to cure homosexuality.
Spring has been slow to come even here. Only now in the lower elevations are the leaves yet out. The forest floor is now a verdant green with an abundance of wildflowers and ferns. Most of them look like prepared gardens. We have seen many lady-slippers, and four different varieties of Trillium; white pink,yellow, and crimson. The azaleas are just starting to bloom, and within the next week or two, the mountain rhododendrons should come out. These plants are abundant at all elevations, and at times make a virtual tunnel or trellis over the trail.
Over all, Sean and I have found ourselves well equipped to handle the challenges of the trail. We seem to have a good system which works well for us. The only exception is my change of boots in Hot Springs after 270 miles. The bottoms of my feet became very swollen, painful and numb on a daily basis, mostly from pounding during descent. I brought the shoes to the local outfitter who quickly showed me that the New Balance trail shoes had no support under the forefoot; so of course, he was able to find me a good substitute, and my feet have been much happier ever since.
I suspect both of us have lost some weight after 340 miles of hiking. Sean's appetite is gearing up a little more than mine, but he had a shorter road to travel to lean body mass than I still have. For four days of hiking, we are generally carrying 10-12 pounds of food, which is about a third of our pack weight. Even with this, I think we are consuming a total of about 2500 calories per day. With a twenty mile day of hiking, we should be in the 4000 cal per day range, but I don't think they make a pack big enough for this. Meals can be repetitious, but the day always starts off right with two pop-tarts. We are trying different recipes at times.
Next update will be in Damascus, in about a week. We hope to pick-up my second son Ryan in Pearisburg, for two weeks of hiking. Every step brings us that much closer to home!
Walkin Down the Line...
"Well, I'm walkin' down the line,
I'm walkin' down the line
An' I'm walkin' down the line. My feet'll be a-flyin'
To tell about my troubled mind."
Bob Dylan
I know that dad has already posted today, but I wanted to get my own post in as well. As dad mentioned, another week of walking down the line, following the white blaze has deposited us, wet and smelly, in the booming metropolis of Erwin, Tennessee. The Southern mountains are a downright beautiful place. The towns we walk through are reminiscent of Vermont, dotted with picturesque green pastures and rolling hills. To tell you the truth, I did not had a lot of experience with the "true" south before this trip. In general we have found the people to be extraordinarily kind and hospitable, but sometimes they come across as a bit odd. Today, for example, we got off the trail and decided that in lieu of staying at the hostel we would make the 1.8 mile trek to the local Holiday Inn (actually, we were drawn here by the promise of a free pint of Ben and Jerry's Ice cream, but that is irrelevant to the story at hand). Anyway we were walking down the road, visions of Cherry Garcia dancing in our head, when all of a sudden a large, brown conversion van stopped abruptly in front of us. A plump, middle aged woman leaned out of the window, "Y'all going into town?" she asked. We nodded and smiled thinking that maybe she would be kind enough to offer us a ride in. "Y'all should hitch a ride...just go up to this next intersection, put your packs at your feet, put yer thumb out and stick a smile on yer face!" she instructed us, in a tone most people reserve for immature puppies who are caught peeing on the carpet. Then, as quickly as she had stopped, she jammed her foot on the accelerator and sped off, leaving two dumbfounded hikers in her wake. We tried what she said, but still had to walk to the hotel. Oh well.
I'm walkin' down the line
An' I'm walkin' down the line. My feet'll be a-flyin'
To tell about my troubled mind."
Bob Dylan
I know that dad has already posted today, but I wanted to get my own post in as well. As dad mentioned, another week of walking down the line, following the white blaze has deposited us, wet and smelly, in the booming metropolis of Erwin, Tennessee. The Southern mountains are a downright beautiful place. The towns we walk through are reminiscent of Vermont, dotted with picturesque green pastures and rolling hills. To tell you the truth, I did not had a lot of experience with the "true" south before this trip. In general we have found the people to be extraordinarily kind and hospitable, but sometimes they come across as a bit odd. Today, for example, we got off the trail and decided that in lieu of staying at the hostel we would make the 1.8 mile trek to the local Holiday Inn (actually, we were drawn here by the promise of a free pint of Ben and Jerry's Ice cream, but that is irrelevant to the story at hand). Anyway we were walking down the road, visions of Cherry Garcia dancing in our head, when all of a sudden a large, brown conversion van stopped abruptly in front of us. A plump, middle aged woman leaned out of the window, "Y'all going into town?" she asked. We nodded and smiled thinking that maybe she would be kind enough to offer us a ride in. "Y'all should hitch a ride...just go up to this next intersection, put your packs at your feet, put yer thumb out and stick a smile on yer face!" she instructed us, in a tone most people reserve for immature puppies who are caught peeing on the carpet. Then, as quickly as she had stopped, she jammed her foot on the accelerator and sped off, leaving two dumbfounded hikers in her wake. We tried what she said, but still had to walk to the hotel. Oh well.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
The AT in Pictures: Georgia to Hot Springs, NC
Hello everyone, 
The Maine-iacs Mark "Uno" and Sean "Dewey" at the Airport
Our second night on the Trail. It was a blizzard.
Wind speeds topped 30 mph that night. It was cold.
Here are a few pictures from our trip so far. We hope that you enjoy them!
The Maine-iacs Mark "Uno" and Sean "Dewey" at the AirportAt the summit of Springer with Roger, the ridgerunner
(who happens to be from Maine...weird)
(who happens to be from Maine...weird)
Our second night on the Trail. It was a blizzard.Wind speeds topped 30 mph that night. It was cold.
"Are you sure we're in Georgia? This feels like Maine."
Into the Georgia wild...
Trekin' to Neels Gap, GA
Tray Shelter after a long day on the trail
The Georgia/North Carolina Border
Trail Magic at Wayah Bald, NC with Anderson South Carolina Backpacking Club
Clingmans Dome
The Great Smoky Mountains
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