may 13 - trents grocery

Today, may 13th, was a great day. It was supposed to be a good da anyways because it was supposecd to be a short day. What made it even better was thhat it was a resuupply day. Resupply days are good for at least 2 reason. 1 being that i get to eat alot of food at the resupply place. In this case the resupply place was trents grocery. The other reason is because my pack is lighter than usual while on the way to the resupply place. The bad thing about resupply is that mmy packk is hhheavier after i resupply my food. Which after a full resupply can be 12-14lbs. But this resupply is special, because i only needed 2 days of total food. Which is less than 5 lbs. I dont need much for tomorrow, because we are getting to a hostel around midday, and there will hopefully be food there. Then the day after that we are going to pearisburg, where there will be more food. Then back to damascus thye next day. Where food will once again be abundant. so in short, im in a good mood because i ate alot today and will have a lighter pack the next 2days. In addition to food and weight, today was a real good chill. A lot of hikers were at trents, and i caught up to monk and coach and solo there. I stuffed my face with food. And resupplied for the upcoming few days. We hung out there for a while, then hiked the 2 miles to dismal falls. A campsite next to a river with a waterfall. I got there around 2pm, then we just chilled for the rest of the day. Guru, coach, monk, solo, aquaman. I ate way too much for dinner that night, and got sick from it.

may 11 and 12- hiker feast

May 11 i woke up to a foggy day. it was a 10 mile hike to the shelter where i was gonna meet up with monk and coach. it was a long 10 miles with alot of elevation change. it was also difficult to follow the trail because the fog made it difficult to see the blazes while hiking over balds. when i got to the shelter, monk and coach were already there and there were signs left in the shelter that told us to continue another mile and a half to the bottom of the mountain where there is a hiker feast. It started raining just as i reached the bottom. at the bottom of the mountain was an awning set up with a table covered with all types of food, fruits, vegetables, baked goods, chili, snacks, soda beer. it was provided by hemlock and freak. they have been making this hiker feast the day before mothers day for the past 4 years. Freak was giving out postcards for us to send home for Mother's Day. All we had to do was write a message and the address and he mailed me out for us. i ate until i was a bit past full then began the next 9 miles to the shelter we stayed at. There were a lot of people there, it was a good chill at the end of the day too May 12 my blisters had gotten pretty bad. I had bad ones on my heels that hurt a lot to walk on. I still kept my schedule with monk and coach.

may 10 - knot maul

May 10 was a relatively short day, i dont remember how many miles, but we had finished at around 230. We ended at the knot maul shelter. Ending so early gave me a chance to drink that bottle of evan williams we found on the trail. I drank it, coach had a sip and lowgear had some too. But i drank most of it. i ate then passed out for 2 hours. At the time i thought it was 15 minutes but a few dayys later i foud out it was that long. It thunderstormed in the latee afternoon, and we packed 8 into a 6 person shelter, along with many tents. Earlier in the day, there was a cooler with snacks and soda in it. Trail magic is always awesome.

may 9 - the barn

May 9 i woke up in a motell in marion, va. Was a decent nights sleep. I woke up alot during the night but at least it was indoors and in a real bed. First thing i did was go get the free breakkfast the motell offers. It was nothing special, waffles, english muffins, cereal, coffe, nut still way better than poptarts. After that i went across the street to the farm supplies store to see if they had denatured alcohool so i can restock that. There was a minibike sitting outside along wiith their lawn tractors. I asked the cashier if i can take it ffor a test ride. She saiid shed have to ask the manager but its usuallyy alright. I thought that if i involved the manager idd just piss him off if i took it for a ride and then he found out im a hiker with no intention of actually buying it. So i gave up that opportunity then went back to the motel. I packed up my stuff and soon after the shuttle showed up to take us back to the trail. It was a sunnny day, ad it was about time. Especially after the few days of rain we had. It wasnt long into the hike when we stopped for lunch. There was a small whiskey bottle that looked like it was filled with pee on the floor. I walked right past it and sat down with the others. We ate and relaxed for a few minutes. But before we left we convinced coach to open and smell the contents of the bottle. It turned out to be exactly what the label said it was. A bottle of evan williams honey bourbon. Nobody else wanted it so i took it, i was willing to carry it, especiallly because there hasnnt been much hard alcohol on the hike. Our hike took us through meadows and farmland. Walking through the meadowsi was hit by the smell of the flowers on the bushes in the meadow. It smelled so good, exactly like what one would expect spring to smell like. Eventuallly we reached a road where the settlers museum was located. There was an 1800's schoolhouse and a house filled with settler artifacts and information. From there was a 2 mille hike to the barn. A restaurant in the town of atkins that the trail passes. They advertiise having a 1lb burger. So many hikers go there just for that. Being right next to the traill helps too. After that was just a few miles to the campsite. There used to be a shelter there, so theres alot of garbage around the floor under where the shelter used to stand. On the plus side, theres a privy. A privy is always a plus. The ground wasnt too flat so it was work to find a flat spot.

may 8 - 20 miles to marion

May 8th was a real long day. I woke up in the overstuffed hhurricane mtn shelter after most of the other hikers had alread left. Monk and coach left just a few minutes before me, but i was hikinng fast so i caught up quickly. We had made plans to stop for lunch at trimmpi shelter, about 10 miles awa from where we started. It wasnt raiing et but rain was forecasted so i wore my raingear, which means that i was sooaking wet regardless. I got to trimpi shelter at about 1130am. So 10 miles were already done by that time, and the total for the da was planned to be 20 miles. Shortly after our lunch break at trimpi we walked through a field with some shrubs and flowers, it smelled like spring,, the sweet smell of flowers filled the air. At the end of the field was a big wooodenn box that was filled with all different types of food. A loccal church had put a trail magic box on the trail for hikers. We stopped and ate again just because of the convenience of the box. I filled up on sardines and crackers and some snack mix then conntinued hiking. While hiking i found a morel mushroom. I have been looking for one since first learning about em at the fontana lodge. They are famous in southern appalachia for being rare and tasty. I picked it and put in in my hipbelt pocket for later. We hiked really fast that day, even though it rained most of the day, and finished the 20 miles by 4pm. It was the fastest day so far, and second to longest. At the partnership shhelter theres a shower, and a visitors center, so we went to the visitors center to find out about getting a ride to marion. I also asked the woman workking there if she can identify the morel but she had no idea. The shuttles werent running for the rest of the day, the last one was at 230, so we went to the road and tried to hitchhike. after an unsuccesful half hour of trying to hitchike we were about ready to call a cab, but a bus drove by and pulled over for us. It was the marion shuttle that had just drove some people to nearby roanoke, and picked us up anyways while on its way back to marion. It dropped us off by the marion econolodge. There were 3 different hotells alll right there, so we checked the prices of all of them then decided on the americas best value inn. After we got settled in our room we went for dinner, then ingles to resupplly, then back to the motel. It was a long exhausting day.

may 7 - hurricane mountain

It rained on annd off all night before i woke up o may 7. Ad it looked like rain for the rest of the day as well. It was a slow mornig for me. Wwalked down to te water source to pump sme water packed up my tent slowly, i was i no hurry. First coac left, then monk, then me. I caught up to monk at the first shelter i came to. It was 5 miles in, and i stopped there for a snack break. Inside the shelter was a small pile of food. Someone had fouund a fod bag ii the forest and brought it to the shelter. It was quickly torn apart b the ravenous hikers, and people took what they wanted. I grabbed a big bag o jerky and trail mix. It greatly added to my already overstocked food bag. We had planned to meet for lunch 5 miles from there at the next shelter. The hurricane mtn shelter. When i got there i first filled up my water and saw the other group, garbear, bearsnack alpha dog, peanut and northstar. They were all planning on going 6 more miles then staying at a hostel. There was a thunderstorm coming and they had been soaking wet for 3 days already. I walked up the hill to the shelter to meet up with monk and coach. They were debating staying at thhe shelter for the night. Coach had just checked the weather and the thunderstorm was close. The next shelter was about 10 miles away, annd we could already see the storm clouds over the mountains across a wide valley. So we stayed in the shelter. I walked back down to get some more water for the night, and as i was puttiing away my pump i began to hear thunder, and shortly after the rainn started falling, and hard. I hhad put m tarp over part of the front of the shelter to keep out soome wind and rain. But the rain was coming from the side, and some was still getting in, but not too badly. I cooked for a while, makinng about 2 dinners,, because i had so much extra food. And another group came in to the shelter. We had already had enoouugh enough people to fill the shelter, but we managed too squeze in 6 more. Was tight but not too bad. Was a chillly nigth though.

may 6- no ponies

The grayson highlands are way overrated. Or at least they seem that way when the rain has been so bad in the area for the past 3 days that the appalachian trail has become the appalacchian creek. Or at least most of it is. And it definietely seemed that way today. The grayson highlands is a park in southeastern virginia that is famous for having wild ponies roam the area. I didnt see any ponies, just a load a horse shit. On the trail and next to the trail were piles of horse shit of differing sizes. Some were so big you think all the horses on the mountain decide to shit in the same spot at the same time. No horses were shitting on the trail today, may 6, though.... the wind was strong and the rain was coming down, and it was impossible for your shoes to not be really really wet. One of the other hikers, evenbeard, saw a horse, and one walked right up to his father. They started the same time as us and from the same place as us. So they werent far behind us when they encountered the ponies. Were still in horse area though, so its possible that tomorrow ill get to ride the ponies. Tomorrow is going to be a real long day too. We have 20 miles planned. I hiked with monk ,han solo and coach today. Han solo went ahead after we took a break at the first shelter 4 miles in. He's getting off the trail soon for a wedding and a cd release. Hes not the one getting married, but his band is releasing their first cd. Its pretty cool, and the music is pretty good. Its a bluesy rock type o sound. Anyways, he went ahead because monk wasnt doing too well and was debating stopping for the day after just 4 miles. It was cold today and monk doesnt have rain pants and he wears fivefingers while hiking. So he was cold and his foot was hurting. Me coach and monk continued together. It was a coool trail, mostl grassy balds, the grass kept short by the grazing horses, though i didnt get to see any. There were also some cool rock fields where i had to hop from rock to rock. And of course, lots of water, constantly walking through water. At onne point tere was a bridge over a fast moving stream, though i opted to wade through the stream just for fun. I couldnnt get any wwetter anyways. We got to a shelter hoping for a spot, but the shelter was already overfull. There were 10 people in an 8 person shelter. The night before there was 18 in that shelter, and the hikers couldnt continuue hiking for half of the day because the stream that is just past the shelter was too high to safely cross, the bridge was covered by fast moving white water. I saw the streeam at the end of the day and it was still very high. We camped at that shelter, getting water that ran off the roof of the shelter. I was reluctant to use ground water because of all the horse shit that was scattered everwhere. Even finding a tent spot was a chore to avoid the feces scattereed everwhhere