5/3 Daleville to Bobblets Gap Shelter (18 miles)
The owners of Duck N Hiker’s Hostel cooked us a hearty egg and cinnamon roll casserole for breakfast before we shuttled back to the trail. The trail felt nice and easy compared to the Triple Crown; the climbing was mainly gradual and there weren’t as many rocks. Mountain laurel (small white and pink flowers with ridges) and rhododendrons (large green leaves with large purple and pink flowers) are beginning to bloom, adding bursts of color along the trail.
I entered the region where the AT travels along the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP), a road which travels over Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. The trail led to several scenic overlooks along the parkway. I stuck to the AT despite the road walk being easier and having more views. I guess I’m a bit of a purist when it comes to hiking the entire trail: if it’s within my power to stay on the trail, then I do. No shortcuts.
Mountain laurel
Rhododendron; ubiquitous along the AT and the builders of the “Green Tunnel.”
5/4 Bobblets Gap Shelter to Tentsite (19 miles)
Firecracker, Mr. Happy and Cowbell (thru hikers from last year) did trail magic today at Mills Gap Overlook. I got a few snacks. Lots of thru hikers say “I’ll definitely do trail magic next year.” When push comes to shove and it ends up costing money and requiring time, I bet that not a lot of people follow through and end up doing trail magic. It was very nice of those three thru hikers to come out to the overlook on the BRP and do that today.
The morning started out cloudy. Watching clouds recede and evaporate in the valleys reminded me of the Smokies. There was one view after a stretch in the green tunnel where I stopped and reminded myself of how grateful I am to be out here. I am beginning to smile at nature the way that I smile at people. I am building an everlasting connection to the outdoors.
I chose a tentsite near Black Rock Overlook. I ate dinner and watched the sunset at the overlook. The mountains really did look blue – hence “Blue” Ridge Mountains. Recently I’ve felt like I’m focusing too much on the future instead of enjoying this present moment. I wrote this poem as a simple reminder that some deep breaths can help those unnecessary thoughts dissipate so that you can be present:
Just look.
Look with mind light as the
bird singing melodies,
breathe deep for thoughts to float away.
Watch green trees turn to blue
blue sky blend into orange
orange sun crest over mountaintop.
I have one supporter who I’d like to shout out (hopefully she reads this): Demi Duivenvoorden. Her social media page is very inspirational and relatable: she posts life and training updates. I often feel like she speaks directly to me. Oh, and she’s also a BPN athlete. I don’t know how in the world a BPN athlete discovered my account, but I’m glad that she did. One of her recent posts was about being unapologetically you, and staying rooted in who you are as your life unfolds. That resonates with me because I often find myself second guessing who I am when I feel different from others. It’s meaningful to hear that someone else is working on overcoming the same obstacle. I’m drawn towards people who are uniquely authentic, and I bet that some of my friends reading this can also relate. Deep down, I’ve always been happy with who I am and I know that I am building something great.
Sunset from Black Rock Overlook.
5/5 Tentsite to Glasgow Town Shelter (19 miles)
Today’s climbs were nice and gradual. The summit of Apple Orchard Mountain was foggy this morning when I hiked over it. There are abundant overlooks in this section along the BRP. Looking out at chains of green Virginia mountains doesn’t get old.
I got my first glimpse of the James River several miles before reaching it, at the top of a several thousand foot descent this afternoon. As I approached the footbridge across it, I saw lots of people hanging out there and eventually heard their pop music. A party! I arrived and met a bunch of kids from Liberty University who were spending their afternoon enjoying the beautiful weather and swimming. Somehow they got a couch out onto a concrete platform in the middle of the river. A few of them showed me a spot where you could jump off the bridge 25 feet into the river. My previous best was probably a ten foot jump. I didn’t hesitate to jump and they loved it. It was an exhilarating end of the day. I think it’s awesome that my tolerance for fear and discomfort is going up by hiking the AT. I just think about it logically – if I can survive for days on end in the mountains, jumping off a bridge is a walk in the park!
Slide Rule, another hiker, happened to be swimming in the river this afternoon too. He offered me a ride into Glasgow. He liked that I knew what his trail name meant and we connected over both of our engineering backgrounds.
Glasgow Grocery Express had everything that a thru hiker could need. I was disappointed to learn that the one restaurant in town is closed on Mondays… until Dave from the Glasgow St. John’s Episcopal Church recognized my hiker aura in the grocery store and invited me to a free hiker Cinco de Mayo taco dinner at his church! The food was excellent. I learned about 15 other hikers’ backgrounds as we took turns sharing about ourselves around the table. Today was an example of things happening for a reason: I feel that I was meant to cross the James River footbridge on a beautiful day and meet the kids partying there, to meet Slide Rule at the river, and to arrive in Glasgow on a Monday; the one night every week that the church hosts that dinner.
Tonight I’m tenting at the Boy Scout project town shelter. Some of my tramily fell behind – lots of people are getting sick with norovirus. Hopefully we meet back up soon.
Jumping into the James River!
Slide Rule and I.
5/6 Glasgow to Reservoir Road Lot to Lexington, Virginia (15 miles)
The trail works in mysterious ways. I had one of my favorite days on trail yesterday and today was the absolute worst. Today I learned to listen to my body, which I ultimately interpreted to get off the trail.
The morning started great. Slide Rule (John) kindly offered to drive me from Glasgow back to the trailhead at the James River crossing. He even brought me some pancakes from the breakfast that they served at his hostel in the morning. I felt completely normal as I set out on my hike.
About a mile in, I started to develop fever-like symptoms: feeling very hot in the sun, getting chills in the shade, feeling fatigued/weak, and I had a headache all day. Pushing through all of that to hike 15 miles with over 4,000 feet of elevation gain was by far the hardest thing I’ve done on this thru hike. During the day I tried to remedy the situation by taking a nap at my lunch break, but that didn’t make me feel any better. I kept going back and forth in my head about if I should get off the trail. On the one hand, I could stay out there, camp near a road, save the money of staying in town, hope to feel better tomorrow and if not hope to find a ride into town at a road. I made the smart decision by being proactive and getting off the trail. If I got worse tomorrow, I might be in no condition to pack up camp and hike to a road, let alone coordinate an extraction ride.
Unfortunately I made this decision at the Reservoir Road lot, which had no cell service and was ten miles along a mountain road away from the nearest road with any traffic. I hoped never to be in a situation like this, but thankfully this is why I carry my Garmin inReach satellite phone. I messaged my mom, sent her John’s contact information and asked her to call him to see if he’d be willing to come pick me up and drive me into a town. I knew that he was taking a zero in Glasgow, appreciated how kind he had already been to me, and figured it was worth asking. He said yes. I spent around an hour and a half in that lot between arriving and John getting there to pick me up. During that time I continued feeling weak, so I set up my sleeping pad and laid down on it on the side of the road.
I am eternally grateful to John for saving me in that situation. He drove over 45 minutes from his hostel to pick me up. We drove out along that 10 mile mountain road. He had to let air out of his tires because of how rocky the road was. If he didn’t have his truck, he wouldn’t have been able to do the drive. I was literally stranded out there without him. Getting to the main road would’ve been a 10 mile hike, not walk, and I didn’t even have the energy to do that.
He then drove me another 45 minutes into the town of Lexington. I went to the urgent care there (luckily arriving 45 minutes before they closed). I tested negative for the flu and covid, and they sent my blood to a lab to test for Lyme disease since I found a tick on myself a few days ago and might’ve had another one previously which I didn’t notice. They prescribed me a medication which treats Lyme disease to begin taking just in case I have it. I am still unsure of what I actually have. It could be a variant of whatever virus has been going around hikers lately. It could’ve been my body demanding a break – my last zero was on April 11th. I’ve likely been extremely malnourished which contributed; they weighed me at the urgent care and I’ve lost more weight than I thought.
After stopping at urgent care, John dropped me off at a motel in town. Again, I feel that I was meant to meet him at the James River yesterday. If I got there five minutes later then I wouldn’t have met him. If I had stopped for one more break during the day then we might never have met, and I don’t know how I would’ve gotten out of my predicament.
Despite how crappy I felt, taking a long and hot shower was another moment that caused me to smile to myself. I could not believe the contrast between where I was several hours ago and now. I was so grateful to have a queen size bed with clean sheets and air conditioning to get a good night sleep.
This is what I signed up for. Getting sick and running into emergency medical situations in the woods is part of thru hiking the AT. This situation taught me two things: first, how strong the thru hiking community is, and second, to take care of my body. I’ve been swept away by the kindness of strangers along my thru hike. Friendships accelerate faster out here. People are more vulnerable and open to helping others. And I need to treat my body like my temple if I want to make it all the way to Maine.
At urgent care at the end of a very long day.
5/7-5/9 Zeros in Lexington
Other than a brief trip to the food store and pharmacy, I spent these days resting in my motel room. By 5/9 the fever symptoms were better but I still lacked my usual energy levels.
5/9-5/11 Mother’s Day Weekend with my Mom and Sister
Several weeks ago, my mom decided to visit me in VA this weekend, before this whole ordeal happened this week. The timing worked out very well because I got to spend a few more days off the trail, with people that I love (my sister surprised me and came too!), continuing to recover.
We went to an IV vitamin drip place. I got an IV full of the vitamins and minerals which I’ve been deficient in on the trail. We also found a Trader Joe’s, where I bought the healthiest resupply that I’ve gotten on this whole hike so far. I won’t have access to many more Trader Joe’s along the trail (if any at all), but I made smarter food choices which I can continue to make in other grocery stores.
It was a blessing getting to spend this weekend with my mom and sister. We explored new places, ate lots of healthy food, and above all else, spent time together. I am so thankful that they both were willing to spend 20 hours in a car this weekend just to see me. My sister and I got to be with our mom to celebrate Mother’s Day, which was very special. My mom means the world to me. She is my biggest supporter on this journey, would drop anything in an instant to drive to wherever I am, and took care to bring me back to health this weekend. This Mother’s Day weekend ended up being much more about me than about her, but I’m simply glad that the three of us got to be together. I missed my family terribly over the past 8 weeks and this time with them was much needed.
It felt amazing to feel like a normal person this weekend, wearing clean clothes from home and comfortable sneakers!
My mom, sister and I on a short hike!
Coming back from the dead
I thought I was a goner. I was 90% set on quitting as I lie awake in bed, restless, on 5/8. The allure of going home, getting healthy, eating normal food every day and all of the other comforts of off-trail life was strong. I was also in a negative headspace. I didn’t think I could muster the strength and courage to get back out there and risk all of this happening again.
After sleeping on it and more thought on 5/9, I decided that I won’t let myself quit right now. I set out to gain an unbreakable spirit on the Appalachian Trail. I reached a breaking point this week. I am choosing to bounce back and keep hammering away at that unbreakable spirit.
I’m making this decision for myself. Yes, the thought of letting down my family and friends by “quitting” crossed my mind. “Quitting” is a subjective term. In my head this whole experience has already been a win. If I stopped now it wouldn’t be “quitting.” I’ve already experienced and learned nearly everything that I set out to. I’m already part of the small population of people crazy enough to set out on this 2,200 mile trek, which is more than most people will ever do.
I spent my days off trail watching YouTube videos about ultramarathons, following the Cocodona 250 live, and listening to podcasts with athletes and entrepreneurs who I admire. On Nick Bare’s podcast, Cam Hanes said something which resonated with me: he’s attracted to people who voluntarily subject themselves to suffering by signing up for physical challenges. That’s because they are much more than physical challenges. I’ve been to what I hope is my lowest low along this journey, and now I see that thru hiking the entire Appalachian Trail is a monster of a mental challenge. I wholeheartedly believe that if I come back from this low and complete this thru hike, that I can and will set out to do whatever my heart desires for the rest of my life.
So, what am I going to change when I return to the trail?
Nutrition and rest! I’m going to try to eat healthier by incorporating more freeze dried meals for dinners, because they have more calories and nutrients than what I’ve been eating for dinner thus far. For snacks, I’m going to try to reduce the amount of processed, sugary foods that I consume. Instead, I want to eat more nuts, dried fruits and healthier fats. I’ll make sure that I eat well balanced meals in trail towns. In terms of rest, I’ll make sure I take a zero every few weeks.
