2nd – 8th June
We’ve had our biggest mileage week so far on the trail; over 90 miles.
I woke up on Monday morning feeling absolutely knackered after our nearly 18-mile day the day before, but we were excited to get to a hostel. This week we were due to pass all three of what they call Virginia’s triple crown of hostels. They all happened to be a day’s walk from one another, and we decided we didn’t want to miss any of them. Monday’s was called Weary Feet. It wasn’t far to walk, but I was not feeling it. On the way, I had to walk through a meadow with grass at least hip-high. As I was, I saw a snake out of the corner of my eye. I didn’t see it until I was millimeters from it. I ran past it and when I looked back, I saw that it was poised with its head in the air, ready to strike. Thankfully it was only a rat snake, so it wasn’t going to be wasting its energy on me. I watched it cross the path, and it must have been four or five foot long! After this scare and tough start to the day, I was rewarded with Weary Feet; a beautiful American house with a big porch, amazing home-cooked food and more great hikers. We collapsed on the porch, and met some lovely Dutch hikers: Nomad and Roger. Sheera turned up too and we were brought out a two-course lunch! Homemade cheeseburgers and crinkle cut fries, with an incredible heath bar chocolate cake for dessert. We sat in the sun and drank cold sodas; it was heaven. I enjoyed a lovely outdoor shower (there’s something wonderful about being in a hot shower while there’s a breeze), and later, Nomad bought a few beers and chilled them in the river. After a cold beer, we enjoyed a three-course home-cooked dinner; sat at real tables in a dining room all together. The owners had some great stories to tell. One of them had been a police officer in Florida; apparently in the winter there, iguanas essentially freeze and can fall out of trees. Tourists often pick up what they think are injured iguanas, and when they start to warm up in the back of the car they come back to life and cause absolute havoc. The other owner (trail name Purple Haze) had hiked the AT and actually been bitten by a bear. She told us with incredibly good humor how the bear had followed her out of the privy towards the shelter and just before she’d reached it, the bear bit her once, right on her arse. I wouldn’t have believed that she’d managed to escape with just one clean bite, but she showed us a picture of 4 clear teeth marks and a lot of bruising. She’s even had a funny tattoo done of a bear to commemorate it.
I was still feeling pretty tired the next day, but Weary Feet served us a two-course breakfast and we enjoyed eating with everyone. Roo had arranged for us to slack pack that day, which means you don’t have to carry your big ol’ pack and someone either drops it off where you’re headed, or picks you up at the end of the day. We’d gathered together a few of us to share the cost, so it was something like $10 each to have our bags dropped at the next hostel. It felt SO incredible setting off; me and Nomad actually skipped out of the hostel! It was a pretty hot day, so we took a break and sat with our feet in the river at Dismal Falls. We had a tough climb in the afternoon but arrived at the next hostel, Woods Hole, after 15 miles. It was an incredible place; it’s an old log cabin from the 1880s that was lovingly restored by a couple who found it in the 1930s. Their granddaughter still runs it today and everything is made by hand there, from the ranch dressing they serve at dinner to the mugs that you drink your coffee out of. The whole place seemed to be made of local materials and was beautifully decorated. I don’t think I had realised it was possible to be so sustainable, practical and beautiful – the interior design was out of this world. Handmade stained-glass windows let the sun into wooden shower enclosures, stunning hand-stitched quilts hung on the walls, and of course the vegetables that we ate with dinner had been grown on site. I could rave about this place a lot more, but I’m only on Tuesday and my word count is creeping up! I will stop by saying “brava” to Neville who runs it, she runs the place with such kindness and operates a donation-based payment system. We had a great time there with Nomad, Roger, Sheera, Distracted, and Gummy Bear, and we hope to return there one day.
I briefly saw the sunrise over Woods Hole, before going back to sleep. It was beautiful, and we started the day with a ‘gratitude circle’. It sounds a little out there but it’s a pretty good practice to get into; we just went round in a circle and said one thing were grateful for. Not only do you think of something to be thankful for, but you also hear lots of other things you realise you’re grateful for too, and some of them are things you might be a little a part of (hopefully): Sheera’s ‘the kindness on the trail’, Roo’s ‘being here with my wife’ and Nomad’s ‘the great people I’ve met on the trail’. It gives you a little glowy feeling in your stomach to start the day. As does the delicious homemade breakfast and my first good experience of grits (I’d heard so much about them but have been disappointed so far!). We didn’t want to leave! So we sat in the garden with the others for as long as we felt we could afford, but we did have to get some miles in that day and the hostel we were headed to next was actually run by a chiropractor (trail name Doc Peppa)! I’ve been having some numbness in one of my shoulders, so I was hoping to be able to see her. It was a short, but tough day of 10 miles and I was feeling done-in by the end of it. I thought the Doc would run normal office hours, so Roo and I decided to divide and conquer: I’d go straight to the hostel to check in, and he’d go to dairy queen! As I finally got to the hostel, a minivan full of people arrived and Roo emerged out of it, victorious with milkshakes in hand. It was so hot, and the cold milkshake was incredible after hiking quickly in the heat. Working with hikers means that the doc doesn’t work normal hours, and she could see me that evening. She reminded me that what we’re doing is an extreme sport, and that I need to take at least one zero every week. I also have to work on my posture and stop hauling my big ol’ pack onto my back in one swift movement from the floor with just one arm. She also did some pretty scary big clicks on my back to adjust things.
Roo had organised three more days of slack packing starting on Thursday to try to catch up some of the miles that we’d lost with noro. This costs a fair amount of money because most of the time you have to pay for accommodation and the shuttles to or from the trail, but I was very much looking forward to having a few nights in the same place, resting my back, and feeling light! I actually hung up my clothes in a wardrobe for the first time in months. Of course I don’t have many to hang up, but it was a nice feeling to know we weren’t going to move for a few days. The place we were staying in at the hostel was a little house and so we actually had a kitchen. There was a supermarket nearby so we could buy fresh food too. We even ate fruit at breakfast on the porch in the sun, it was glorious! We were shuttled 20 miles north and hiked southbound back to Pearisburg. We knew we’d pass Axel that day as we’d been trying to catch him up for a while. Roo took him a cold PBR and it didn’t last long! It was great to see him again and catch up. It was a good hike, but I got pretty tired by the end. I think that’s normal for an almost 21-mile day though! Thankfully the first thing you hit when you hike into town is the dairy queen, so we couldn’t pass up an opportunity for a milkshake, and enjoyed them while we wandered around the supermarket savoring the choice of what we would buy to cook that night. We ate it on the porch listening to the crickets.
The next morning was a beautiful one; there’s something about first thing in the morning on a summer’s day that can feel so hopeful and full of promise. After another excellent breakfast on the porch, we were shuttled 20 miles north to the same place, but this time we hiked north too. There were 2 tough climbs and it was pretty hot, but my tunes helped a lot! Sheera had offered to cook us dinner that night, but the hike took us much longer than we thought so we text her to say that we were running late and we’d understand if it was too late for dinner. She text us back with a full menu that included steak and malbec! It was all waiting for us. We managed to hike another nearly 21 miles that day, and to have that dinner waiting for us was such a treat. When the shuttle driver picked up us, he was shocked to hear an English accent come out of my mouth. He had thought I was American with my checked shirt and backwards baseball hat. When he dropped us back it was raining so we ate our steak dinner around the dining table of our little house, it felt very civilised! Roo had an ice bath before bed to try to help ease his stiff muscles and I wrote on the porch being slowly munched on by mosquitoes.
Breakfast on Saturday was porridge, we thought it would be good for energy. The problem was that Roo is getting really quite hairy now and his beard is long enough that he can’t feel when he has food in it. I had to tell him that he had a huge glob of oats on his chin. He said he was saving it for later, but I told him he’d attract all the bears. This could be an ongoing problem! We set off on our shuttle for our third day of slack packing. We stopped at a petrol station for snacks, and the cashier asked us if we’d seen any cows on the trail. Apparently some had got loose, so she gave us her number and asked us to call her if we found them. You never know what your day will have in store on the trail! It turned out that our day didn’t have any cows in it, but 2 big climbs and lots of bugs. The first climb wasn’t too bad but the second combined with bugs wore me down. I inhaled 3 flies that day; one into my nose and I felt it crawl its way out again too. When we got to the top of the second mountain, we could just muster enough strength to climb a little bit more to see Audie Murphy’s memorial. He is the most decorated American soldier of World War Two, with 3 purple hearts, and he lied about his age to that he could join the war effort at just 17 years old. He died in a plane crash nearby, and it was a very moving tribute. We were glad we made the extra climb. We’d arranged to be collected at a particular time and place, and arrived in good time. There was absolutely zero phone reception, and the minutes were ticking by. 10, 15, 20…What would we do if no one turned up? We’d waited half an hour and still no one. We had one chocolate bar and one raincoat between us. We were just on a gravel track and the maps that we had were only for the trail, so it was difficult to tell which way we should walk to get to an actual road. It was possibly the scariest moment on trail so far. Fortunately, someone did turn up eventually. No apology, and the first thing he asked us was whether we were in a rush because he wanted to drop his girlfriend off first so she could start dinner. We were pretty hungry too after such a long day! In the end it was all fine, he was a lovely guy who dropped us straight at dairy queen. It’s becoming a habit!
After the Doc had stressed the importance of zeros, we decided to take one after our three days of slack packing. This meant we had 5 whole nights in the same place, it felt great! It was a beautiful day, and it was such a good feeling knowing we didn’t have to go anywhere. We basically spent the day eating and catching up on things. We also both took ice baths. They’re kind of horrible, and I find I laugh my way through the cold setting in (apparently, it’s an odd coping mechanism I have for pain too!) but it feels so good afterwards. I’ve been having trouble sleeping because my legs are so twitchy, so we’re hoping this helps.
All in all, a good week out here on the AT. The tunes are helping me get through the tough physical parts, and if you have any suggestions of great tunes to hike to, please drop them in the comments section below.
This website contains affiliate links, which means The Trek may receive a percentage of any product or service you purchase using the links in the articles or advertisements. The buyer pays the same price as they would otherwise, and your purchase helps to support The Trek’s ongoing goal to serve you quality backpacking advice and information. Thanks for your support!
To learn more, please visit the About This Site page.
