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[at-l] Solophile Journal Entries [May07-13]

Lotta typing over the holidays, but this is everything
I have so far.  Also, there should be a bunch of pictures
updated on her web-site this week.  I'll let you know 
when that happens!!

--
Andy Markham
markham@nortel.com
Signaling Server Group
Nortel, Inc.

--------------

May 7 - Day 58
16.0 mi to Trent's Grocery - 588.9 mi cum

I'm too tired to write much today.  It was a long day.  Brushy Mountain was
pretty brushy, the rocks beat my feet to a pulp, and the trail relocatins
abounded.

Tew-Ton and I were the first to arrive at Trent's Grocery.  We got some
cheeseburgers, paid our $2 to camp in the adjacent meadow, and set up our
tents.  There were three horses in a corral right next to our tents and they
were fascinated by Micah and Tew-Ton's donation of a PowerBar to their dinner
assured us that we'd have their nearby company throughout our stay.

People kept straggling in as it got later and later.  Oatmeal Raisin Cookie,
Fox on the Run, Goat, Al, Gypsy, Long Pig and Grey Bear added their tents to
our growing tent city.  We had all pretty much settled in for the night when
Wapiti and Stringer were the last two to straggle in just as night fell.  It
had been a long hard day for all of us.


May 8 - Day 59 
13.0 to Wood's Hole Hostel - 601.9 mi cum

Very few of us seemed to be in a rush today.  There were a few that got very
early starts but most of us were getting a late start.  Trent's didn't open
for breakfast until 8 and it would have been nice to sleep in, but the sawmill
across the street started operations promptly at 6:30am.

Grey Bear looked like the walking dead this morning as she hobbled across the
field to go to the bath house.  There must have been eight of us that stared
at her obviously painful progress.  She looked more like a 90 year old in
desperate need of a cane than like what you might expect of a "healthy" hiker
in her 30's.  Of course, we've all come to accept these shuffling, limping,
painful gaits in one another as pretty much the norm lately and they hardly
get more attention than a brief chuckle, but Grey Bear looked exceptionally
painful and definitely had all our sypmathy.

Breakfast was a pretty long, drawn out affair.  It took me an hour to get a 
single egg and bacon biscuit. I don't mind the slowness of service at a lot
of the stops along the trail.  To me it's part of the trail experience and
a part of the different town cultures I'm passing through.  Some of the 
other hikers have very different views and expect the same level of service 
that they used to get back home.  They're usually quite disappointed more
often than not and carry their gripes with them on the trail.  I think that
every store and business along the trail is a blessing in its own right. 
You always have the choice of just hiking on and not patronizing them if 
they're not up to your standards.  For me, they ease some of the pain of my
trip by offering little comforts, like a shower or a meal.

Puget Pounder arrived at Trent's just as Gypsy and I were preparing to leave.
It was good to see him again and he had done some pretty heavy miles to 
catch up with us so that we could all go down to Damascus for Trail Days
together.

The miles came extremely slow today. There was a new relo off of VA606 that
must have added a mile to the trail.  We didn't leave Trent's until about
10:30 and I was really dragging after just the first 4 miles.  We finally 
made it to Wapiti Shelter by around 2, which left us 6 more miles to the
hostel.  I really didn't think I could make it today.  I felt nauseous and
feverish and weak when we finally got to the shelter.  It began to rain as
well and I decided I would stay right there.  I tried to encourage Gypsy
to go on, but I don't think she was feeling too well either.  I decided I was
going to stay in the shelter and I pulled out my sleeping bag and crawled in.

Wapiti pulled in to the shelter soon after.  This was the Wapiti Shelter 
after all and he couldn't miss his namesake shelter.  I heard him and Gypsy
talking and he informed her that everybody else (Chops, Stringer, Peter Pan,
Grey Bear, Long Pig, Puget Pounder) had taken a blue-blazed side trail that
used to be the AT a long time ago so that they could cut out a 4.6 mile
section of today's hike!  I was pretty shocked.  Most of these people fell
into more of a purist category than anything and I was a little amazed that
they had all cut a section of the trail.  I think it's more a measure of how
tired we all are.

The weather cleared a little and I was feeling a little better.  Gypsy and I
decided to try and continue on with Wapiti and we left the shelter at 4:30
with 6 miles to go.  Neither of us wanted to have to do a 16 miler the next
day in order to make it to Pearisburg before the PO closed.  Gypsy is not a
late day hiker.  Her best miles are done before lunch and I knew that 
starting another 6 this late in the day was really going to be tough for her.

We all tried to more or less stick together.  Wapiti led, and Gypsy and I
brought up the rear.  Gypsy was really having a tough time the last few 
miles, but she does manage to keep going and we were sure to stop and wait
for her every mile or so.  As we finally hit the road leading to the hostel,
the skies opened up once again.  We did the 1/2 mile road walk as quickly as
we could and the sight of the lit front porch and hulking form of the barn
of Wood's Hole was a welcome sight.  There were over 20 hikers there already
and it made my day to see that Fireball was among them.  He had done 100
miles in 4 days so he could catch up!

The loft sleeping quarters were already full, so about 10 of us slept on the 
floor downstairs.  Gypsy, Peter Pan, Fireball, the two dogs and I ended up
on the floor of the kitchen area.  It was a great night to be warm and dry
under a roof and among friends.


May 9 - Day 60
10.4 to Pearisburg, VA - 612.3 mi cum

Stringer had written a letter to Tillie, the owner of Wood's Hole, to make
reservations for a group of 8 of us for "Breakfast with Tillie."  She only 
takes the first 8 hikers that reserve and I wasn't too confident that
reservations by mail would work, but they did, and I was one of the lucky
ones.  Promptly at 7, Tillie comes out on her porch and rings a bell to wake
all the hikers.  There is then a picture taking on her front porch and the
bell is rung once again at 7:30 to announce breakfast.  Tillie is a very 
gracious hostess and she runs her hostel purely for the pleasure of meeting
hikers.  They only payment she requests of her guests is that they should
gather a stone and add it to the rock fence that is growing around her home.
The 8 that are invited to breakfast are asked to pay $3.50, which is then
donated to the trail.  Breakfast was a wonderfully civilized affair and it was
quite fun to see all of us on our best behavior asking one another ever so 
politely to "Please pass the butter."  Just the night before we'd all been 
eating a community dinner from the same pot with just our spoons.

Gypsy and I finally hit the trail at around 8:30.  The going was slow and
Gypsy has been having to deal with a lot of discomfort from her pack lately.
Wapiti, who had worked at a gear outfitter selling Dana packs, had spent a
great deal of time with her over the last few days trying to adjust her pack,
but it just wasn't working for her.  We were having to take breaks every mile
or two and were barely making 2 mph.

By the time we started the descent to Pearisburg, the weather had turned cold
and it was raining.  I was feeling the lowest I had felt on the trail so far.
My feet were battered and bruised from all the rocks, my legs were covered
with cuts from overgrown briars, and I really think I was just purely 
physically exhausted.

As I hit the last two miles of the trail a wonderful thing happened.  On 
either side of the trail a profusion of wildflowers sprung up as I descended
to the lower elevations.  It was one of the prettiest displays I had seen so
far.  Thousands of star chickweed covered the forest floor accented here and
there by the huge single blossoms of White Trillium.  Further back from the
trail were large groups of large Flowered Bellwort.  The large waxy white
blossoms on the May-Apples were finally opening, and there were gropusing of
Wild Stone crop hugging the ground in patches here and there.  I could also
pick out some Solomon's Seal and Jack-in-the-Pulpit.  Aove all of this were
several blooming Dogwoods that stood out among all of the new spring foliage
and provided a graceful white canopy that arched over the trail.  Every day
on the trail is a blessing in some way, you just have to open your eyes to it.


May 10 - Day 61
0 miles - Stay in Pearisburg - 612.3 mi cum

Today was a very emotional day for all of us.  Greay Bear and Long Pig were
leaving the trail.  Long Pig was suffereing from blisters, tendonitis, a
chipped knee cap, and some type of skin reaction that was just getting worse.
They were just not happy on the trail any longer and every single day had
become an unbearable battle with pain.

This is the first time that thru-hikers I am personally close to left the
trail, and it's a horrible emotional loss.  You feel as if you are losing a
member of your family.  Our goodbyes were filled with tears and embraces.  I
don't  know if it might have been easier on them if they'd been able to
leave without everybody knowing, but I knew I was glad for the chance to
tell them both how much they'd be missing.

So our band of hikers will continue on two less in number.  I look around at
those of us still here and I can't help but think we will all make it to
Katahdin barring any unforseen accidents.

Long Pig and Grey Bear, we love you and wish you happy trails.


May 11 - Day 62
19.1 mi to Pine Swamp Branch Shelter - 631.4 mi cum

What a difference a day off and some new thinner insoles made on my hike
today.  Gypsy was staying over one more night in Pearisburg to wait on the
delivery of a pack belt.  The rest of our crew was headed off for a 19
mile day.  Everybody except Tew-Ton and myself was slackpacking.  Tew-Ton
and I had agreed to camp out at 15 miles if we felt too tired to do all 19.
The slackpacking thing is just not for me yet, at least not while I'm
relatively healthy out here.  Some of the others have slackpacked over a
hundred miles already!

Anyway, the highlight of my day was seeing a beautiful Scarlet Tanager.
This is probably the prettiest songbird I've ever seen while hiking.  The
entire body is a bright red, shinier than a Cardinal's coloring.  The black
wings make a startling contrast against the metallic red body.  It's quite
an eye-catcher and this particular bird stuck around for a minute or two
while I stood on the trail admiring it.

The weather was perfect - cloudless blue skies with temps just touching 70
and a cooling breeze blowing all day long.  After the first four mile ascent
out of Pearisburg, the trail was truly an almost flat ridgewalk.  I hiked
alone most of the day but I made sure I took enough time to rest at the
really pretty spots along the trail.  I still managed to make camp by 4:30 -
ahead of all of the slackpackers except Fireball, who hiked the last 3 
miles with me.

Fireball had a wonderful surprise for all of us at the shelter.  After
retrieving his backpack at the road crossing 3 tenths of a mile up the
trail, he pulled out a watermelon from his pack!  We had over 12 people at
the shelter and there was enough for all.  What a great treat after a
19 mile day.


May 12 - Day 63
3.9 mi to Bailey Gap Shelter - 635.3 mi cum

I don't know what I ate or what I did, but I awoke in the middle of the
night sweating, cold, and wracked with nausea.  It was a horrible feeling
and I had to get out of my tent three times to run to the privy.  I eventually
settled on using a 1/2 gallong ziploc bag once I started feeling too weak and
shaky to make the climb uphill to the privy.

Morning finally came, but there was really no improvement in my condition 
other than that there was nothing left in my stomach to throw up.  Peter Pan 
gave me a Pepcid-AC since nobody had anything better to offer.  About 8 I got
up enough energy to get out of my tent, walk the 15 feet to the shelter and
crash on one of the sleeping platforms so I could watch everybody go about
their preparations for departure.

I felt awful and was considering just going to the nearest road and getting
a ride back to Pearisburg.  The others were headed 12 miles up the trail.  
Fireball came through once again and offered to hang back with me until I
knew what I was doing.

By 10 o'clock I started feeling strong enough to at least start gathering
up my gear.  If I could have slackpacked today, I would have jumped on it
in a heartbeat.  The thought of carrying my 35 pound pack while feeling
this way was enough to make me nauseous all over again.

Fireball, bless him, offered to carry my food bag.  I think this guy is
destined to be my ultimate trail angel.  Whatever his mom and dad did to 
turn out such a wonderful, thoughtful young man is beyond me, but I'm
forever grateful.

We left camp at 11 and my pack was amazingly light.  I managed the first 
2.5 miles well enough, but then we hit the grueling one mile uphill that
eventually sent me off the side of the trail to empty what little contents
I had in my stomach.  By this time I knew I was dehydrated, my limbs were
shaking, I felt lightheaded, and I hadn't eaten anything or been able to keep
down liquids for over 16 hours.  It was time to call it quits and I just
dropped my pack and sat on a moss-covered log.  I knew the shelter was only
a few tenths of a mile further, but I couldn't do it.

Fireball soon came back down the trail looking for me.  We sat for a few
minutes and then he shouldered my pack and we did the last little bit
together.  I was wiped out and crashed on the top of the picnic table for
a few hours.

So, my hiking day lasted two hours.  Later in the afternoon I managed to 
eat some mashed potatoes, but other than that, I just laid around camp all
day trying to get over this.

Fireball and I are the only ones here tonight.  It's odd for things to be so
quiet.  He's built a nice fire and I'm just hoping tomorrow's a better day.


May 13 - Day 64
7.9 mi to War Spur Shelter - 643.2 mi cum

In justification of my pitifully low mileage yesterday and today, here's
an interesting tidbit taken from "The Thru-Hikers Handbook":

  Each mile of the AT has an average elevation gain of 217 feet,
  which means a thru-hiker will climb and descend a total of 88.79
  miles between Springer and Katahdin.  That is the equivalent of
  going from sea level to the summit of Mt. Everest and back more
  than sixteen times!"
  
No wonder I'm tired! I've already climbed Everest at least 5 or 6 times!

a rainy, cold day.  We didn't leave the shelter by 3:45. Here I stay.  It's
just Micah, Fireball, and me once again.  A storm seems to be moving in,
complete with high winds and thunder.  I sure am glad I still have most of
my winter gear - especially my sleeping bag.

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