I’m trying to stay on top of these blogs, but it’s getting harder as we hike longer days. By the time I get to camp, I’m a total zombie. Set up, eat, pass out. Still, I’m holding onto my main goal for the trail: ROMANTICIZE EVERYTHING!! This week made that easy as we hiked through the Virginia Triple Crown, one of the most iconic stretches of the AT. It’s popular for a reason. unbelievable views, rocky climbs, and a surprise rainbow that will forever be so special to me. We hiked through meadows, got chased by a crow, battled growing hiker hunger, and passed the seven hundred mile mark!
700 miles in – woah
That said, not every day is smooth. There are definite peaks and valleys, sometimes literal, most emotional, but they make the good stuff shine brighter. There are No Bad Days, though. Even the tough ones are a gift, especially when we’re healthy and uninjured.
So now, as I type this from a Holiday Inn computer, here’s a little slice of what life on trail looks like lately. Thanks for reading 🙂
Day 52 – 21 Miles (Pearisburg to Dismal Branch Waterfall)
We woke up on the porch at Holy Family Hostel and had Deja vu. It has only happened three times on trail (Gatlinburg, Boots off, Tent city) when we’ve slept in the same place twice in a row. The porch bed is one of my favorite places we’ve slept the whole trip. I made coffee and packed up and said goodbye to Twig and the two other hikers staying there. Twig drove us to pick up iodine tablets at Walmart because I am SOOOO anxious about norovirus. This next section is supposed to be crawling with norovirus and I don’t know anyone who’s gone through this and avoided it. Following Trek bloggers who are 150 miles ahead of us, everyone is getting it and everyone we know personally ahead of us has had it. I tried to squash this anxiety all day long, I still want the trail to be fun, but it kept creeping back up and reminding me to be scared. Maybe it’s good though because I am so diligent about touching nothing and never ever touching my face. I wash my hands about 16 times a day.
The day was pretty average. It was a beautiful sunny day with a high of 75, a nice breeze, and plenty of tree coverage. We climbed for the morning on a steady incline then spent the next 10ish miles going up and down on a ridge. We ate lunch at a tent spot, a block of Cabot sharp cheddar cheese and a baguette. I met Wormwood and he asked me about how I got my trail name and I gave the lamest response ever because I’m tired of telling the story post trail days. I just said “like the monster from Godzilla.” As if I didn’t just learn about the Godzilla lore a few weeks ago…
So many meadows in Virginia
I listened to a new book today that I found on Goodreads and it’s so good. After a couple dud books I am so happy to be listening to a book that is so impactful. It’s called “Zeal” and is about two slaves who are in love and their newly “freed” lives right after the civil war. It follows the generations of their children all the way until present day. I felt super strong today and even after we got to camp, we both felt like we could keep going. We hiked 21 miles from 9 am to 6 pm with an hour lunch in there! We saw Rorschach and Space Fleet (a retired veteran from the Space Force we met at Woods Hole) at the shelter before camp and chatted for a while. It’s so nice to be back on trail. I have a whole resupply of freeze dried meals this week from a package my parents sent us in Damascus, pretty luxurious. And we camped right next to a waterfall! We are avoiding shelters and picnic tables for the next few weeks, probably until the end of Virginia and double filtering most water we get if its not directly from a spring on top of a climb.
Blooming Rhododendrons, unreal
Day 53 – 17.1 Miles (Dismal Branch Waterfall to Laurel Creek Shelter)
Slept so good last night with my earplugs in and the white noise of the waterfall. I woke up quickly and started immediately writing my Trail Days blog post. Once strider opened his eyes I packed up and made breakfast. I decided to count my grams of protein today and I counted over 120g! We saw Energizer and Duracell, as father son duo, pass us and right as we started we saw Rorschach and did the first climb with him. When we got to the top, everyone stopped for water and we didn’t see anyone again until lunch. I struggled to keep up with Strider on some rolling hills, he was cruising today. I abided to my self-appointed rule of only listening to my podcasts or book after 12 pm. I want to sit in my thoughts and try to distinguish the bird calls, something I’m getting pretty good at due to the app, Merlin. It was already sunny and hot in the morning and only got hotter. We saw a man we met at trail days named Poles and then stopped for lunch at a beautiful spring. “Water you can trust” we joked. No one seems to be as worried about noro as me but I am just so paranoid about throwing up. Especially away from society in a tent, what a nightmare.
We hiked the next climb with Rorschach and ran into Juice, Die Hard, Butterfly, and the Dutch couple. We hadn’t seen any of them since before Trail Days! The climb was miserably hot, even my shins were dripping with sweat. Striders foot started to bother him so we decided to stop early at the shelter and set up our tent in order to set up our next days good to get to McAffee knob for sunset! I was so hungry, I could not stop eating. I ate on a log next to the picnic table (noro fear again) and we all chatted over dinner. I found out Juice and Energizer are both retired from the military. Die hard is Juice’s wife and both of them are so passionate about the Arizona Trail, another long distance hike I can see us doing. I enjoyed talking with them all. We did a thorough tick check after I found one crawling on my face…
Day 54 – 22.9 Miles (Laurel Creek Shelter to a Stream past Pickle Creek Shelter)
It rained last night a good amount and we stayed mostly dry a little puddle near my feet. We are still dialing in exactly how to set up the Durston to get no water inside during windy, strong storms. We were slow going to get started this morning and taking time to hang out together while being still felt luxurious. It was a misty grey day all day, foggy and chilly. My favorite! My arch in my foot was hurting in the morning but quickly felt fine. The miles ticked by quickly in the morning as we hiked through a beautiful meadow and by the largest oak tree on the AT. On the first big climb, I jumped at a giant black snake. It coiled up like it was about to snap at us and stared me down as I passed it off trail. Scary. I let Strider lead after this and we continued to climb. I listened to my audiobook, Zeal, all day. Again, it is the first good book I listened to on trail. When I listen to historical fiction, I want to learn and also be inspired by the characters, seeing myself in them even through historical times. This book is well written and clever. Without a predictable ending! I hope to finish it tomorrow.
Dry footprint in the morning! Gotta love it.
Snake
Me and the 300-year old Oak Tree!
I love this weather
We slogged down to the river crossing which was 14 miles in and our first water source. It wasn’t that bad despite all the fear mongering on the FarOut comments. I took my shoes off and walked across. We ate lunch and I made coffee for the last 9 miles we had to do. There was another big climb which wasn’t that bad. By this time my legs felt strong and I knew we were going to hit our 23 mile goal. We stopped at the Audie Murphy memorial, a famous WWII veteran who died in a plane crash on the mountain in 1971. We paid our respects and then thought about what it would be like to be hiking the AT and a plane crashes into the mountain. We then got charged by an evil crow that was very territorial. Everyone else on this day was also charged by said crow.
Warning sign for the river crossing everyone has been warning about. It wasn’t bad.
Audie Murphy Memorial
A screenshot from a video I took of the angry crow! We had to hike all the way down the hill around it. Energizer had to hold it down with his trekking pole to pass it!
We made it to the road crossing and saw Rorschach for the first time all day since he left camp early. We made it up to camp where a bunch of tents were set up. I ate 7 bars today and two dinners and am still hungry typing this. I wasn’t in the mood to talk to the people at camp but I did anyways. I’m getting a little tired of telling the same stories from Trail Days and after a long day I just want to lay in my sleeping bag silently sometimes.
Day 55 – 16.7 Miles (Stream past Pickle Creek Shelter to Pig Farm Campsite)
It was extremely windy last night and this made me anxious because I am always worried a tree is going to fall on our tent. In the morning, it was beautiful to see the forest swaying in the wind and be under a canopy of the loveliest trees. The sun shining through the leaves gave this golden tint to our faces and the cool breeze made me so excited for the day. We made breakfast, a protein oatmeal and instant coffee, and started off on our day. There was a climb to start which led us up to the 700 mile mark! Crazy! I feel like it was yesterday we passed the 600 mile mark, they are just breezing by now. I finished my audiobook, shedding a couple tears about how beautiful the ending was and then rating it 5/5 stars. We continued to walk along a ridge through 40 mph wind gusts to get to Dragon Tooth, the first of the Virginia Triple Crown. A couple gave us both an apple which we devoured immediately. I am so weird when talking to day hikers after being in the woods for so long. For example, someone asked me if we were hiking the Triple Crown. I was confused and thought she meant the CDT, PCT, and AT. “No, we’re hiking the AT.” She replied “I know, are you hiking the Triple Crown though?” Ummmm, yes? We were hiking the triple Crown but not all in one day. Idk.
Beautiful tree canopy above us
Strider climbed the Dragon’s Tooth and everyone was in awe of him and asked if he was an avid rock climber. I didn’t do it because it was too windy and I felt fine standing two feet on the ground. We then hiked down to the road where we were able to walk to a gas station and get a couple food items to get us to town tomorrow. Once we heard about this gas station, Strider and I ate all of our 5 day resupply we packed. If you can’t already tell, I am so hungry out here. At the gas station, I got pizza, a biscuit sandwich, Gatorade, poptarts, an ice cream, Doritos, Oreos, Ramen, and gummy worms. The healthy diet of a thru-hiker! We hung out with some other hikers outside and I washed my hands really thoroughly, multiple times.
Strider on Dragon’s Tooth! No cavities found
After hanging out for over an hour, we hit the trail again with a climb up to McAfee Knob ahead. All day we’d been calling it an “easy day”, just 16 miles or so, and I’m not even sure when that mindset started to feel normal. The weather was a dream: 70 degrees, sunny, not a drop of rain. We’ve been unbelievably lucky this week, and now, any day our feet stay dry feels like a gift. When we finally reached the top, we expected a crowd of day hikers, but to our surprise, we had it entirely to ourselves. In the distance, rain streaked the horizon – and then, a rainbow appeared. Moments later, a mom-and-son duo we’ve been hiking with arrived and caught the view with us. Pure joy broke out. We were all running around, laughing, dancing. Just us thru-hikers, high above the world, sharing something magical. It might be one of my favorite moments on trail so far.
DOUBLE RAINBOW ON MCAFFEE KNOB! How did we get this lucky?!
It started to rain and we hiked down to the designated campsite below. We set up our tent quick and hiked down to the water source. We waited for our iodine tablets to work, patience is a virtue, and then made dinner. We went to sleep with the sun still up, too lazy to hike back up to the knob for sunset. How could we beat a rainbow??
Day 56 – 15.6 Miles (Pig Farm Campsite to Daleville, VA)
Even after the high of yesterday, I woke up this morning feeling extremely grumpy. My body felt tight and I didn’t sleep great. Strider and I are getting really good at communicating to each other when we don’t feel good and giving support to each other if we want, but mostly giving space. It was super cold, 50 degrees, and for some reason that felt even colder. We were extremely slow going, we didn’t start going until almost 10 AM. When we started, the Dutch couple appeared and started talking. They are such positive energies all the time and they gave me the best compliment ever, asking how my bag is so small. I felt grateful to hike with them in the morning, I feel like hiking with others does not allow me to sit in my grumpiness. We went over a couple climbs and made it to the third part of the triple crown – Tinker Cliffs! We hiked along the edge and took in the deep green views. It was sunny and the cold was dissipating and heating up. Perfect weather! We talked about growing up in the USA vs the Netherlands. We also talked about how much weight we are all losing. I have already lost over 10 pounds which makes me nervous because that’s how much weight I was expecting to lose over the course of 5 months, not 1.5. I’m sure it fluctuates, though, and Strider is really good about making sure he eats enough which also rubs off on me.
The Dutch couple on Tinker Cliffs
After the Dutch couple stopped for lunch and we decided to press on, hiking got really hard. My body felt so heavy and the thought of town was so enticing yet so far (9 miles). We were both so tired. It was mostly downhill into Daleville and we passed through a lot of giant power lines. They are so powerful you can hear them buzzing. I tried to start a new book but I was so uninterested I decided I just wanted to hike in silence. We didn’t see anyone else the rest of the day until we made it to Daleville, where we walked down a busy highway right to Bojangles. I ate two biscuit egg and cheese sandwiches and another 2 plain buttered biscuits. I joked that I love biscuits so much I could name my son Biscuits. I will miss them up north.
Washing my hands good in the Bojangles bathroom (I smell so bad)
We did our resupply at the Kroger and then made another hitching sign to get to our hotel in Roanoke. A man and his wife on his way to a bluegrass show picked us up and brought us to the Roanoke turnoff. Then a young man from Japan brought us directly to our hotel. I am always so humbled by stranger’s kindness in helping smelly strangers out. Neither of them would even take gas money. The hotel was so luxurious, Strider booked it with points he acrued from his job so its pretty much free.
These signs work… smiley face to show we are nice
I spent maybe 20 minutes in the shower since it was our first shower so far with no time limit. The only chore we had left before our zero tomorrow was laundry. However, we needed $6 cash. The hotel workers did not even know what the AT was so they were less helpful then people we met in the apst in getting this cash. The receptionist could not understand that we did not have a car. I asked where we could get to an ATM and he pointed me 2 miles down the road. I tried to explain I’m not walking that and he didn’t understand. So, last resort, I went across the street to a Starbucks to try to talk to the young baristas there. I explained I needed $6 cash and I would venmo them $7. They both looked at me like I was on drugs, I have never been looked at like this before. Like they were scared of me and trying to talk me down. I was laughing at myself and tried to start over and explain it. I don’t have a car cause I’m hiking the AT. I will pay them. I’m not trying to scam them. Finally, one of the young guys agreed and gave me the $6 and I venmo’d him $8 just cause I felt so cringe at myself. We did laundry and I layed in bed watching Drag Race. The bed is so comfy and luxurious. Breakfast was even better and typing my blog post on a real computer has been a dream!
My set up next to the breakfast this morning. So lux!
