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Wed 20
⁃ Stay at Blackrock Hut
After waking up today, I heard a rooster crowing. I really am living on a farm lol.
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I’ve missed liquid iv lol. The hiker box resupply at the cabbin was propel and bone broth—mostly functional but not great.
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Just watched a muggle dump their extra pasta sauce five feet from the only puddle of water at the pinefield hut. SMH. Right before I grabbed water. And then as I was leaving I saw him washing dishes in the puddle. Le sign. This is why we can’t have nice things.
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Was resting at a view. Met a couple that was going northbound (either backpackers or thru hikers (idk, didn’t ask)) and taking a quick break on the “steep” (not) uphill. I offered them to come enjoy the view (that was about 15 ft off trail) and to not let me get in their way. They said they had a “strict no view policy”, if it was any distance off trail.
Wow, that’s a boring way to live. Why even hike, much less backpack if you’re not going to even glance at the *basically on trail* views.
Thu 21
⁃ Stanimals (Waynesboro, VA)
Did I just haul ass yesterday and today to get into town today? Maybe.
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So I did the dinner and second dinner thing again. First pizza, then Cookout (I’ve really missed cookout). In total I had:
⁃ a slice of pizza larger than my face. Literally.
⁃ A cheeseburger
⁃ Hush puppies
⁃ Chicken nuggets
⁃ Banana fudge milkshake
⁃ Cheerwine float
Fri 22
⁃ Tentsite ~2 mi N of Humpback Rocks
I did not sleep well last night. I slept on perhaps the worst mattress ever. And I also had the displeasure of eating butter that went bad while having pancakes. Can’t say I’m very pleased with my Stanimals experience overall. Gonna prob say it’s a C on my hostel tier list.
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I’m really not feeling like hiking today. I managed to make it past the first shelter, but only by a few miles. So rip my nice plan I had. I guess I’ll have no issue getting my package from the PO in buena vista now (I was originally lined up for arriving Sunday afternoon).
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I’ve started pre-planning water carries and I’ve been pretty happy with the convenience of knowing how much I need and what sources to skip, without having to figure it out on the fly. A typical plan looks something like this:
⁃ c Tentsite 1342.8
⁃ w Piped Spring 1343.0
⁃ 5+4
⁃ w Laurel Spring 1348.1
⁃ 7+2
⁃ cw Maupin Field Shelter (1354.9) – Sat 23
The first number is the approx number of miles, the second is for every 250 ft of elevation over 500 ft at once. Add them together and I get how much water to leave a source with (in tenths of a liter).
Sat 23
⁃ Maupin Field Shelter
Packing up camp and hiking in this cold rain today was a mistake. I initially hoped to make it to a shelter 18 mi away, with a fallback to the one 12 mi away (the one I’d planned for last night). I ended up only just barely making it to the 12 mi one.
As forecasted, it was cold (low 50’s), was super windy, and rained all day. I also pretty much had to make it to the next shelter since my tent was soaked, my hands were too cold to be of any use setting it up, and I did not have enough layers to stop and warm up. Yikes. Let’s not do that again.
About 4 miles in, my hands started to loose function, and by the time I got to about 8 miles, zippers, buttons, and buckles became a real struggle. After this point, I basically didn’t stop, since there wasn’t really a point to, and I needed to make it to the shelter.
Thankfully, there was only one other person at shelter when I got to it, another SOBO, Fernalicious. After an hour or so, we had Will and Maggie, two overnight backpackers, join us. Unlike most non thru/section hikers, these were actually nice and quite sociable. They also shared their fresh made dinner with us, a chickpea and spinach curry. They also offered us hot toddy’s (hot tea, whiskey, and honey). I declined but did take them up on a hot tea, specifically Trader Joe’s seasonal Fall Harvest Blend (which was excellent).
Will briefly mentioned he had a tarp he was carrying earlier in the evening, so I offered to put it up to block the wind (and the continuing rain) through the night. Channeling my best engineering skills—not to mention my best Eagle Scout knots (that’s a joke, for those unaware)—we fully covered the front of the shelter, save for a 6” gap at the top.
Sun 24
⁃ Stay at Seeley-Woodworth Shelter
That tarp over the shelter worked wonders! It was downright comfortable overnight and into the morning.
Today is gonna be a long day. I’m hoping to ascend and descend Chimney Rocks then climb the Priest, and make it to the Seeley-Woodworth Shelter, for a total of 20.4 miles and over 6k elevation gain.
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There’s a tradition to confess your sins (pretty all much AT related, many of them about poop) in the Priest Shelter log book. Reading through them is quite hilarious, but to protect the innocent (or really the guilty), you’ll have to go up and read them yourself.
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A bit past the priest shelter, my shin started to hurt while hiking. Hopefully it goes away with sleep.
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And yep, today was indeed a long day. I ended up rolling into the shelter a little after dark. Thankfully though, Fernalicious let the two people staying in the shelter (who turned out to be Rockhopper and Yapper (Yakker?), two people from the hostel) know I’d be getting in late.
Once I rolled in, the laundry list of things to do began:
1. set up sleep system (so the others can go to sleep wo too much noise/disturbance)
2. Poop
3. Eat
4. Store food
5. Sleep
Mon 25
⁃ Stay at The White Tree Inn (Buena Vista, VA) via US 60
So I didn’t notice my shin for the first 3-4 mi, but the pain progressively returned, and occasionally there were sudden, stabbing pains while walking. So, I guess I’m zeroing tmrw. Maybe do little can catch up to me and we stay tmrw night in buena vista.
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At the store I got a pound of sharp cheddar, a pound of pepper jack, a discounted log of fresh mozzarella, 4 greek yogurts, two ben and Jerry’s (I’m zeroing and they were 2/$7, get off my back), candy corn (so I guess it’s officially fall now), and a 2 L of orange Sunkist (can’t help my cravings 🤷♂️).
Tue 26
⁃ Zero at The White Tree Inn (Buena Vista, VA)
Turns out do little is still another day behind. So I won’t get to see her :(.
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On a more positive note though, during my brief walk around town, my shin felt like it was starting to heal.
Had lunch at a semi-recently opened Japanese place, Katana, which was pretty good for a sleepy small town but nothing special (had the teriyaki chicken and a “buena vista” sushi roll).
Got carry out from the Italian place, Original Italian Kitchen, for dinner. The large calzone was absolutely giant (same diameter as a large pizza). I also foolishly got pasta as well… So I’m definitely packing out calzone (along with the cheese I’d already planned to pack out), along with having some leftover pasta and calzone for breakfast.
Wed 27
⁃ John’s Hollow Shelter
Starting my hike today, I heard distant dog barking. As I continued it got louder. Maybe something to do with a guy in a pickup truck with dogs in a crate in the back I passed near the trailhead?
In any case, a guy passed me abt a mile in and said he was going to go deal with “that noise you’re hearing”.
It sounded like it was coming from uphill, far behind the Brown Mountain Creek Shelter, where I stopped for lunch.
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Ran into Rockhopper and Yapper (Yakker?) at the punch bowl shelter.
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Another day, another viewless summit (this time Bluff Mtn).
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I’d originally planned to stealth camp behind one of the viewpoints on Big or Little Rocky Row, but I made better time than expected and there wasn’t gonna be a sunset thanks to the fog, so I decided to push to my originally planned destination of John’s Hollow Shelter. I’m glad I did, since I have the shelter all to myself. So all the peace and quiet of stealth camping without the hassle of setting up my tent. This is why going SOBO is nice. And as has been the case for a while, there’s no bugs (at least the relevant (ie biting) ones).
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Eating cheese w a spoon is so darn convenient. So glad I watched the NOBO do it on bear mountain. And think, if I’d detoured around bear mountain, I’d still be using a knife like a peasant.
Aside from packing out half a pound of cheddar and pepper Jack (each), I also packed out most of my leftover calzone from dinner last night. Yum!
Ended up leaving a few pieces of the calzone, a couple slices of mozz, and a small salad in the fridge for whoever wants it (rather than it going to waste).
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Good news, my shin doesn’t hurt! The zero worked!
Thu 28
⁃ Stay at Bryant Ridge Shelter
I popped out of the woods at Petites Gap Road, not expecting much, just a gravel road crossing. Ended up instead meeting “Fresh Grounds”, a well known Trail Angel for his trail magic cookouts. Today was no different. I had more than my fill of bratwurst (4x) with coleslaw (chef’s kiss), grapes, fresh made fries (ended up packing half these out bc of how full I was), a banana, and Gatorade. Right as I was leaving I was handed two giant pieces of watermelon for dessert (those were hard to eat bc of how full I was, but they were oh so good).
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Another night hike, another shelter to myself. This one’s a super cool double decker one. You could prob fit 30 people in it if you’re desperate (ie, if it’s pouring).
Fri 29
⁃ Stay at Wilson Creek Shelter
Call me a cheater all you want. I road walked from the Bryant Ridge Shelter in to middle creek campground, waited around for about 40 minutes until I could get my Mail Drop. after finally getting it and repacking my bag, I started walking towards the Jennings Ck/VA 614 trailhead, but ended up being offered a ride to the trailhead by a super nice local. I cheated on my cheat route and accepted the ride.
What’d I miss in the end? No views, ~400 ft of elevation gain, ~4 miles of trail, and ~2 mi of net distance (I walked ~2 mi of the ~3.5 mi detour).
I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
But really, I’d just avoid that campground since getting ahold of them was so difficult. Not to mention I also had a ton of leftover food since I (1) packed out cheese and part of a calzone, (2) got trail magic from fresh grounds yesterday, and (3) I did the Buena Vista to Middle Ck Campground section faster than planned (2 days instead of 3 days). So I’m basically leaving MCC with 5 days of food.
If my replacement water filter wasn’t in this box, I would’ve had it sent back home and not waited around for it.
Oh yeah. I found a broken fiber in my filter a few days ago. Seems like it’s the same fiber I thought might’ve been broken all the way back in PA…so I might’ve been drinking unfiltered water since then.
Oh, and the brand new filter has a fiber with a slightly concerning kink in it, but it passes the filter integrity test, so I guess it’s fine.
Can you tell I have a love-hate relationship with these Katadyn BeFree filters?
I think the issue causing the broken fibers is a combo of (1) debris in the water (ex sand or organic matter, (2) the overly open filter cage, (3) overly aggressive shaking when cleaning, and (4) significantly reduced flow after several uses leading to the need to aggressively clean it.
The sawyer squeeze seems to do pretty well at avoiding each of these since (1) there’s a fine fabric-ish primary filter that keeps sand and silt from the fibers, (2) it’s cleaned through back flushing, not shaking, and (3) it doesn’t suffer nearly as significant a flow loss after using it.
I think once my BeFree is no longer under warranty (and the thing inevitably breaks again), I’ll switch to a sawyer squeeze (the full size, not the easily clogged mini or micro) and a cnoc bag (prob the 1 L) instead.
Sat 30
⁃ Stay at Lamberts Meadow Shelter
Stopped at the Fullhardt Knob shelter for brunch. Met “Waiting On”, who was just packing up for the morning (it’s a fun reminder that we all have different schedules on trail, some hike 6 miles before others even break camp). He works at the Broken Fiddle Hostel in Damascus, VA.
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I accidentally chased everyone out of the shelter tonight lol.
I let the two weekenders that were already there know there were four people behind me, but that I didn’t know whether they were planning to stay in the shelter or tent.
The two weekenders decided to tent. And the four people behind me never showed up (they might’ve stopped at the campsite before or continued on and stealth camped near tinkers cliffs, which I guess is allowed, despite several warnings on FarOut and the ATC website).
So I have the shelter to myself again, while everyone else is tenting. Oops.
Sun (Oct) 1
⁃ Stay at Four Pines Hostel
Had a great time chatting with Griff and Go, two cool weekend backpackers last night and this morning, with topics around thru hiking, gear tradeoffs/favorite ultralight gear, and our favorite freeze dried meal varieties.
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Glad I’m only doing 18.6 (19 w the little bit extra into the hostel) today. Didn’t sleep great, even with the shelter to myself, though that did allow me to freely move to a somewhat more level spot of the quite un level shelter platform (first time I’ve ever had that issue).
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