Alisonwanderland

Day 81 Campsite to Blackburn Trail Center 1007.1 miles! June 25, 2014

We all woke up pretty early this morning and packed up. I passed a shelter not long after starting. We hiked somewhat together and soon got to the Bears Den hostel. I had a soda and we watched most of the movie Continental Divide. It’s such a funny movie and I could really relate to all the backpacking jokes in it. It has John Belushi in it and he is pretty funny with his facial expressions. Most people know him from the movie Animal House. We didn’t finish it because we had the 1000 mile mark to reach! We headed out, crossed VA 679, which had very confusing markings on it, and climbed a hill to reach our milestone. I couldn’t believe it! Finally 1000! Plus, just after that we crossed the Virginia/West Virginia state line! Woo! I wanted a picture with Pending because we had our matching shirts on. We all continued together for a while toward the Blackburn Trail Center. It began thundering and was really dark. Titan and I decided to get to the Trail Center to see if they had snacks, while Botany and Pending continued on. There weren’t snacks, but with a covered, screened in porch available to sleep on, I decided to stay. I cooked an MRE meal that Alex, a friend and coworker of my mom’s, had given me. It was pretty good once I figured out how to use the heating implement. The caretaker at the center gave me soda and made brownies, too. So nice! Soon, I tried to go to sleep, but there were lots of mosquitoes buzzing around my head. Obviously, the screens weren’t working too well. Eventually, I did fall asleep after the lights went out and bugs went away.

Day 80 Jim and Molly Denton Shelter to Campsite 988.7 miles June 24, 2014

I woke up to another nice day and got all packed up. CAT was there, having stopped and stealth-camped a couple miles before the shelter. He gave me a chicken sandwich, too! He always feeds me when he runs into me! He’s the nicest guy, trying to be the first Chinese American from Taiwan to walk the trail. That’s where his name comes from. He left before me and I saw him a mile later at the road I needed to walk to Linden on. I had a nicely shaded walk to the post office there and resupplied my food bag. I stopped at a little store to buy a cold Starbucks Frappuccino and some peanut butter M&Ms. It was the weirdest thing-the M&Ms were stale! I’ve never tasted that in M&Ms before. A lady in the store offered me a ride, but as soon as I said the road route number, she said she didn’t know any roads around here, so I said it was ok and she left. Bummer, man! I then had to walk a slightly uphill mile back to the trail. Once back on the trail, I went up a pretty steep hill and as I went over the top, I spotted a bench to sit on! There was a beautiful view from it, so I stopped and had some trail mix. I passed one shelter and a couple miles later, took a break near the second one. A whole bunch of butterflies were flying around me, landing on my hands and trekking poles. Pretty neat! Not long after that, I heard someone yell, “Homestretch?!” to me. It was Pending! She and her boyfriend, Botany, had caught up, along with Titan. It was fun to see them again! They hiked a bit ahead and when I caught up at the next water source, Pending said Botany had slid and fell on his butt. Glad that wasn’t me this time! Pending and I walked together through Sky Meadows State Park, trying not to get run over by a guy in a tractor mowing the grass by the trail. We walked on, hoping there would be stealth-camping nearby a stream up ahead. We luckily found a spot someone had previously used right by the stream and Botany got a fire going. We made dinner and I got my tent set up. Titan eventually joined us and he cowboy camped next to the fire. Cowboy camping is when you sleep out in the open under the stars with no tent, as the cowboys used to do. After sitting by the fire for a while and fighting some ants off my empty can of chicken, I went to bed.

Day 79 Gravel Springs Hut to Jim and Molly Denton Shelter 970.8 miles June 23, 2014

Day 79 Gravel Springs Hut to Jim and Molly Denton Shelter 970.8 miles June 23, 2014

I woke up to a gorgeous day today. It was my final day in Shenandoah National Park, so I tried to fully enjoy the nice smooth walking while I still had it. I had some nice views and great weather for it, too. Not too long into the day I came to the northern boundary of the park. I took some pictures at the sign, then proceeded to get quite confused at the real boundary line. There were red blazes all over the place, with no white ones to speak of. I knew the red was a boundary marker, but almost couldn’t find where to continue the trail. Finally figuring it out, I went downhill and passed a shelter and 4-H swimming pool trail. I passed the road to Front Royal, where many had gone to resupply, because I’m picking up a maildrop in Linden tomorrow. I walked along a huge fenced-in area right before and after the road. This is the National Zoological Park Conservation and Research Center. I was trying to see something interesting, but no animals were to be seen. It was also really hot walking along in the open field, so I was happy to be back in the woods after a bit. Soon I came to the Jim and Molly Denton Shelter. It was super clean with a really nice porch. It even had some Adirondack chairs on the porch. I set up my tent, though, and then cooked dinner under the cooking pavilion. I worked on my journal until a huge group came along. Then I retired to my tent. They were really noisy and the bugs were out, so it was great timing to go to bed.

Day 78 Byrd’s Nest Shelter to Gravel Springs Hut 952.2 miles June 22, 2014

It was really foggy this morning and I had to deal with a wet tent again. Partway up to Mary’s Rock, I ran into two people watching a couple of deer off the path. They were a father and daughter day hiking, but were really neat to talk to about their experiences. He had climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, which I really want to do, and she thought thru-hiking would be awesome. It’s nice to talk to different people out here-it’s actually one of my favorite parts of the trail. I saw a lot of hikers this morning. I was excited because Elkwallow Wayside was about halfway through the day today. Another place to buy food! I ordered a grilled cheese and one of the park’s famous blackberry milkshakes. Yum! Then I spent some time journaling and charging my phone there. I tried to buy a glass I had seen at a previous wayside, but this one didn’t have it. Eventually, I had to keep going. Not long before my destination for the day, I came across a black bear near a campsite. It stayed over by the site, but it seemed really curious about me so I kept looking back for a while to make sure it wasn’t following me. I know they don’t normally do that, but this one looked like it wanted to! I had some great views this afternoon and came across a roped-off area for peregrine falcons to nest in. After that, it wasn’t much further to the hut I was camping near and I set up my tent for the night.

Day 77 Lewis Mountain Campground to Byrd’s Nest #3 Shelter 934.7 miles June 21, 2014

I got up early this morning and put away a wet tent-yuck! It had rained most of the night. I used the flush (!) toilets and got to brush my teeth using running water. I headed to where I thought the trail reconnected from the campground, but it was super foggy and I got a little mixed up. I ran into Titan and Peaches and had followed them for a short distance, but when I asked them if they were going to the trail, they said no! Haha oops following someone the wrong way. Anyway, eventually I got on the trail and fought through some wet bushes and spider webs for a while. I was hoping not to see any naked hikers! Today being the summer solstice means it’s naked hiking day. I’m not sure who came up with the tradition, but there you go. Being in a national park at the time, it didn’t seem like a great idea. Someone even told me they got caught by a ranger and got a ticket-no fine, though. Most of the hiking was quite level today and I soon came to Skyland-originally a 19th century summer resort. I walked down a short distance to the restaurant there and had a delicious burger and a huge slice of pretty good chocolate cake. Plus, I got out of the rain that was starting. The view wasn’t too great from my seat due to fog, but I could imagine it must have been nice from that altitude. The waiter was asking me all these questions about the hike and was saying he and his wife might try it someday. I bought a cinnamon bun to pack out for later and headed back to the trail. The rain had let up until I went outside, at which point, it started pouring. Awesome, right?! It was warm out, at least, so it didn’t matter too much. I almost forgot-I walked with Titan for a while this morning. He had passed me earlier in the day going pretty fast. A woman hiking the opposite way told me he was running! Later, I could see him in the distance and soon caught up with him. He told me I was hiking really fast, but I think he also slowed down. That’s when he told me about drinking a bunch of wine, hiking naked and that he thought that was slowing his pace. I stopped to take a break just after that. Not long after my break, I passed through a graveyard and then saw two women hiking the opposite way. They told me to watch out for a cougar! At first, I thought they were joking around, but they explained that they saw one a mile or so back! Or so they thought. I was skeptical about the whole thing, because they had only seen a glimpse of whatever it was. It almost sounded like a story about Bigfoot. Later, Titan and I stopped at Big Meadows Campground and I tried to buy a chocolate bar, but they didn’t take cards and I only had a 50. Titan pointed out it might be bad to break that for a one-dollar item. I ended up eating a bar from my food bag, instead. Anyway, only a little further past Skyland to Byrd’s Nest #3 Shelter for the night. I met Motown, Archangel and Peaches (officially met her). Another thru-hiker was there, too, and said there was plenty of room for a girl in the shelter. This guy was sort of creepy and I had heard him saying something before about thru-hiker females in a negative way, so I opted to sleep in my tent. He said, “well it’s probably going to rain,” to try to convince me, but I don’t like shelters much anyway, so I said no. Archangel and Motown had brought hot dogs and s’more stuff to the shelter and shared some marshmallows with me! I also had my cinnamon bun for dinner. What a nice treat! I’d been craving s’mores since Linda and I made them at her house. After signing the shelter log and brushing my teeth, I set up my tent and went to bed. I was so tired from my 23-mile day.

Day 76 Pinefield hut to Lewis Mountain Campground 911.6 miles June 20, 2014

Day 76 Pinefield hut to Lewis Mountain Campground 911.6 miles June 20, 2014

It was pretty foggy this morning, but I had some great views at a few of the Skyline Drive crossings. There were a lot of those again today. It was kind of muddy, but nice, gradual walking all day! At one point, I heard rustling in the bushes and saw 3 deer. One was a fawn! That is my first baby deer sighting so far. The mom and another deer were on one side of the trail and the fawn was on the other. The mother was making these crazy bleating sounds and the baby kept running back and forth across the trail as the mother also switched sides. Eventually they figured out which side to be on together and I kept walking. I couldn’t get the best pictures, but it was so neat to see! Later, at the South River Picnic Grounds, I ran into Doc and Hangry. They mentioned staying at Lewis Mountain Campground, so I said I’d meet them there. Five miles later, I arrived there and bought too much at the camp store. I had soda and 3 different candy bars, including M&M’s. I also had a burrito – yum! Then, once Doc and Hangry showed up, I took a shower and we combined our laundry into one load – not too many clothes as thru-hikers! Then, we decided to get a campsite when Smokey & Smakey showed up. They got hot dogs and made a fire to cook them over. I had a Mountain House dinner and set up my tent. I had to ask a nearby couple if I could set up in their site, since there is a stupid rule of 6 people, 2 tents, 2 cars per site. Even with only 5 people, the campground facilitator wouldn’t allow my third tent. How rude! It was fine in the end though.

Day 75 Blackrock hut to Pinefield Hut 891.7 miles June 19, 2014

I got up fairly early this morning and hiked up Blackrock. There were some nice views and I saw a huge boulder field that I was happy the trail didn’t go through. Last night, I met a hiker named Bilbo, also originally from Maine! Another thing that happened last night – a deer was standing really close to my tent and kept running really close by. It happened again this morning, too! I must have set up my tent in the deer’s path. Again today, I crossed Skyline Drive multiple times. There are some nice views from the road that we don’t even get to see from the trail! I walked 0.3 miles to get water at Doyles River Cabin from a nicely-flowing pipe. Not far after that, I ran into SYBAK again. I had first met her back before Damascus. She is hiking and doing a blog for a paper in South Carolina. Her name stands for “See You Bitches At Katahdin.” She had tenanted near Blackrock Hut, also. I hiked with her for a few minutes, and then continued as she stopped for a snack. Not long afterward, she caught up as I checked the map for Loft Mountain Campground and Wayside. I didn’t want to miss the food! We made our way to the campground, where she paid for a campsite. Then we headed toward the Wayside after checking out her site. The SNP (Shenandoah National Park) has waysides along the trail that I can hike to almost every day, which is great! The Waysides have a grill and most have milkshakes – the blackberry ones are famous in the park. I ordered a grilled cheese with bacon and after eating that with lots of ketchup, I ordered a blackberry sundae with hot fudge, whipped cream, and blackberry sauce. Their milkshake machine was broken and the worker told me it’s been that way since April. The sundae was delicious so I couldn’t complain. I was able to pick up some more hand sanitizer at the Wayside, too. After finally getting back to the trail, due to me going the long way, I continued on. At one of the parking areas, I noticed a sign with two hikers looking so happy, even with what looked like 80+ pound packs on their backs. A humorous sign, I thought. I saw two deer today! There have been quite a few in the park. I was walking down the trail, sort of watching the ground so I didn’t fall on my face, when I sensed something ahead of me on the trail. It was a female deer, sort of peering around the corner of the trail at me. She decided to go off to my right, out of the trail, when I saw a buck behind her. This was the first male deer I’ve seen on the hike. He followed her and I was able to keep going. I made it to Pinefield Hut not long after that. I set my tent up and went to read the shelter log. There was a hiker in there! I hadn’t seen him when I first arrived. We were swapping bear stories as I had seen one very close to the trail this morning and he had seen one near this hut. As we were talking about it, I spotted a bear by the stream. It was only about 200 yards from the shelter and didn’t seem scared at all. I decided I would definitely hang my food bag tonight. Even with it hung up, I still didn’t sleep too well and kept hearing noises nearby.

Day 74 Waynesboro, VA to Blackrock Hut, 878.5 miles June 18, 2014