Miles Hiked: 7.4
Miles Left: 1513.8
Ending Location: Mile 671.5, VA 42, Comfort Suites Hotel, Blacksburg VA

The way the roads crossed the trail, today we had the choice of either hiking seven miles, or twenty two. Studebaker and Foxy choose the twenty two while the rest of us opted for the shorter day.

The hike was fairly unremarkable with the exception that it was a lot harder for me than it should have been. I was still in denial that I was sick but looking back on it I probably should have just taken a zero. At the last road crossing we were met by Wiki and Tog who had decided to zero and went food shopping instead. I’ll admit , I was a bit envious of them.

This was our last day slack packing so ending our day early was a bit of a godsend since I had so many chores to complete. There was laundry to do, I had to clean and stow my gear, there was bubble tea I had to drink. Well maybe the last one wasn’t exactly a chore but time really flew.

Stude finished up her hike much earlier than any of us expected, (only a couple hours after we finished our seven miles), so we all then headed out to the Cellar for one last town meal. Drinks may have been had. Back at the hotel room we all tried to get organized which was easier said than done after a couple of days of hotel living. None of us got to sleep before 1am so it was a late night.

Miles Hiked: 13.2
Miles Left: 1521.2
Ending Location: Mile 664.1, VA 632, Comfort Suites Hotel, Blacksburg VA

The hike today started out with a zip line ride across a stream to visit “The Captain’s”. It’s the home of a local resident who offers his yard space for tenting and provides trail magic. Oh and of course there was the zip line ride to it! Once across I was accosted by his three very large dogs who wanted to play but were not well trained. They jumped and gnawed on everything which made it difficult to make it to the back of the house to grab a soda. I wasn’t originally planning on drinking anything but the Captain had met me as I crossed and insisted I take one before stating he had to take care of a snake that needed shooting and left. It’s kind of hard to say no at that point.

Owl had stayed on the other side of the river to rest his feet as his new shoes were giving him all sorts of problems. So this is what he saw: I crossed the river, talked briefly with the Captain, and then went around back. The Captain then went into his house, grabbed a shotgun, walked around and then fired it….

Luckily I survived and made it back across the river. Owl and I then had a fairly lengthy discussion since his shoes were really tearing up his feet. We decided that he would head back, skip this section, and let his feet heal up. I would them continue on hiking by myself.

The hike itself was pretty rocky for the first half and then smoothed out later on. I met another through hiker halfway into the day who was limping and complaining about his knee. It was bad enough that he was worried that it was going to end his trip. I commiserated with him and offered him a ride into town. At that point he complained that his knee hurt so much it took him over 12 hours yesterday to hike over 20 miles. It was all I could do to bite my tongue and not say that might be the root of his problem. Regardless, he didn’t want to get off the trail so we parted ways.

The rest of the hike was fairly uneventful. In the drive back we stopped by the University Mall for some more frozen yogurt and to eat at the new Mongolian place there. The frozen yogurt was great but the food wasn’t anything special. Then it was back to the hotel room for the night.

Miles Hiked: 17.6
Miles Left: 1534.4
Ending Location: Mile 650.9, Stony Creek Valley, Comfort Suites Hotel, Blacksburg VA

Today was another day where the hiking itself might merit a paragraph while everything else I could go on and on about. It was a nice sunny day and the road crossings were such that we were able to cover some real miles vs having to cut our hike short to be picked up. The mountains gave us some nice views and I managed to climb a tree so when we finished up for the day I was feeling like we accomplished a lot.

Then it was into Blacksburg for dinner and beers at the Rivermill. I was feeling exhausted though so I went with a Mai-Tai instead for the vitamin C. As we left we heard what sounded like a concert going on over by the drill field. Going to investigate it we found the Mowglis were playing a free concert in front of the graduate housing by the student center. They had that hit song “San Francisco” a while back … if you don’t know of them ask your kids ;p In short though they were really good and all of us were grinning ear to ear and laughing at our good luck. After the concert we grabbed some ice cream from a self serve frozen yogurt place. Wiki complained about how these places never say how much anything costs so we jokingly got into a contest to see who could spend the most. The Lorax won with a leaning monstrosity of ice cream and cookie toppings but he still managed to make it out of there for under ten bucks so it was an affordable evening.

I guess what keeps getting me is how everyday on this trip seems to bring something new and notable. I don’t think I would have ever made it down to Blacksburg again if I hadn’t hiked the AT and here I’ve been able to spend almost two weeks in the area reliving old college memories and making new ones. I’m looking forward to being able to getting back to normal backpacking as it’s so much simpler, (planning is annoying), and it’ll be nice to have some space to myself in my tent vs sharing a hotel room with four other people, but I’m very glad I took this opportunity to slack pack.

Miles Hiked: 12.8
Miles Left: 1552.0
Ending Location: Mile 633.3, Clendennin Rd, Comfort Suites Hotel, Blacksburg VA

Today started with us relocating to Blacksburg. It made more sense as we continued to hike further northeast, and quite honestly there is more stuff to do there. That turned out to be a bit more complicated than expected though as Owl had made the hotel reservations online and we didn’t find out until we showed up that they had booked us in the Comfort Suites in Radford instead… We lucked out though in that the hotel clerk was planning on hiking the AT herself so not only did she set up a room for us, but she honored the lower Radford price, and more importantly with a wink and a nod allowed us to go with the story that Foxy was a service dog. So all of us including Foxy the seizure detecting dog piled into the room and dropped off our stuff before heading out to hike for the day.

No, of course we didn’t head directly to the trail. Owl and I wanted to drive everyone through Virginia Tech’s campus first and then we grabbed lunch at Gillies which was one of my old favorite vegetarian restaurants. Then for dessert we made an impromptu stop at Gobble Cakes for some gourmet cupcakes. Because you know, cupcakes are hiker fuel… Hey we didn’t pick up beer for the trail so give us some credit!

Once we made it to the trail itself it was a rocky but fairly easy day of hiking. I wasn’t feeling all that good but I put it down to lunch and allergies as plants were certainly blooming. The planned highlight of the day was Angel’s Rest which was a rocky outcrop overlooking Pearisberg, but I thought the best view was a mile before it where Owl and I stopped for an extended break. After Angel’s rest the trail dropped down into Pearisberg and I’m pretty sure went through one dude’s backyard. It then crossed the bridge at US 460 which was a surprise since I must have driven across that a hundred times back in college and had no clue the AT ran along it. Then we walked along a chemical plant and did the most pointless two miles of the trail yet since if the trail had instead followed the road to the same ending location it would only have been 0.3 miles, (we measured it). What made it worse was the detour took us along a real life toxic waste dump, (or solid chemical waste storage facility), where needless to say we did not drink the water. The fact that I could taste the chemicals in the air freaked me out a bit.

Once Owl and I were picked up by everyone else we headed off to The Cellar to wash the toxic taste out of our mouths with slightly less toxic beer. We lucked out with some live country music playing and people dancing so it turned into a great evening.

Miles Hiked: 14.5
Miles Left: 1564.8
Ending Location: Woods Road, Hotel La Quinta in Radford VA

Today we switched things up a bit by having Stude and Foxy hike with Lorax and Wiki since their hiking speeds were similar. By the time we had breakfast, dropped everyone off, and drove back to our starting point it was almost 11 so Owl and I very sensibly decided to grab lunch first. You can’t let hiking get in the way of your town food! We had heard great things about an Amish grocery store called Nature Way so we stopped by there. It turned out to be one of the better resupplies we’ve seen yet with all sorts of jerky, dried fruit and nuts. I ended up having two hot dogs topped with some of the best chili I’ve ever had. I highly recommend it! Oh and they also had some homemade ice cream which was impossible to pass up.

Backing up a bit, another reason for our late start was Owl and I had originally planned on staying at Woods Hole hostel for the night. I thought it’d be good after our stay at Fort Bastion because it was the polar opposite if it, offering home cooked organic food and yoga lessons. We stopped by there in the morning to drop off our sleeping bags, (hey we’re slack packing, don’t judge us!), only to find the owner cleaning up puke. One of the hikers had gotten sick the night before and it appears threw up on every surface there was in the bunkhouse. To the hostel’s credit they were handling it the right way by scrubbing everything down with lots of water and bleach, but neither Owl or I wanted to chance catching whatever that was so we decided to pass on staying there.

So with our bellies full Owl and I finally hit the trail shortly after noon, only to proceed to take a detour to dismal falls. It’s about 0.3 miles off the trail but the graffiti on the sign spoke well of it so why not? It was worth it. The falls themselves were small, but there was a great swimming hole and excellent camping.

Back on the trail proper it was a bit of a slog. Everything was wet from the day before but luckily none of that moisture was actively falling on us. Just about every type of creepy crawly critter was out though as I’m sure the rain had flushed them into the open. We even saw crawfish on the trail which speaks to the fact that the trail was likely a minor river less than 24 hours ago. Despite the fact we were slack packing I wasn’t really feeling tons of energy. I didn’t realize it at the time but I was starting to come down with a cold, so I’ll admit parts of the day dragged on longer than i’d like. That being said, we made great time and managed to finish up before 8pm despite our late start. Then it was back into town for another dinner at Sharkys and another night in our hotel room.

Miles Hiked: 0
Miles Left: 1579.3
Ending Location: Mile 606, VA 605, Hotel La Quinta in Radford VA

According to the weather reports the entire East Coast was underwater, which we manually confirmed by looking out our hotel room window so there was no hiking today. Instead we grabbed very all you can eat Indian food in Roanoke, hit up the outfitters for gear, and resupplied at Walmart. That actually took up most of the day so we polished it off with Sushi in Radford. Not the most exciting day but it was good to have a zero as your body really does need a day of downtime to recover.

Miles Hiked: 17.6
Miles Left: 1579.3
Ending Location: Mile 606, VA 605, Hotel La Quinta in Radford VA

The logistics of the day quickly became complicated but the short story was that Owl, Wikipedia, Lorax, Studebaker, her dog Foxy, and myself rented a car from Enterprise so we could slack pack during the day while being able to enjoy hanging out in the college towns of Blacksburg and Radford in the evenings. In a piece of amazing good luck, the car rental place was out of mid sized cars so they upgraded us to a Chevy Tahoe instead. If you aren’t familiar with it, it’s the type of SUV that makes you say ‘Merica when you see it as the term land vehicle might be a better description. Despite the fact that you could fit an entire college football team into one of these things we still somehow managed to fill it up with all of our gear. There were more than a few exclamations stating how amazed we were that we lugged all of that stuff on our backs for the last three months instead.

We split up so that Owl, Studebaker, Foxy, and myself would hike north, pick up the car, and then pick up Wiki and Lorax who would be hiking the section ahead of us. By the time were dropped off at the trailhead it was drizzling pretty good so we donned all our rain gear and headed out. Studebaker warned us that she was slow and then promptly dashed off. Well, actually she just hiked at her normal speed but the results were the same. We didn’t see her again for the rest of our hike but periodically over the next thirty minutes Foxy would come running back, give us a quizzical look as if asking us what we were doing all the way back here, and then sprint back to Stude.

The weather cleared up for a while until the end of the day when it didn’t so much rain as we walked through a cloud and it condensed all around us. It was also at that point that thunder started to roll though so Owl and I separated to “Only one of us is going to die from a single lightning strike” distance and continued on. We eventually descended below the cloud and not only did things dry up, it was as if we had entered the valley of Spring. Throughout most of the hike none of the trees had leaves and things were fairly brown. In this valley through it was filled with wildflowers and green leaves. It reminded me very much of the winter where one side of a mountain would be covered in snow and the other side would be bare.

About the only other thing of note from today’s hike was we encountered a deer graveyard where there were at least seven or eight deer carcasses decomposing. We speculated that was where some of the locals cleaned their kills from illegal poaching so we got out of there pretty quick. Oh, and apparently Stude and Foxy encountered a loose horse on the trail but Foxy chased it off. So if you need to be defended from wild steeds, I know of a dog for you!

We were surprised at the car drop off point by Lorax and Wiki. Apparently they had decided not to hike that day and had just hung out at the hotel instead. We then all piled in to to Tahoe and headed to Sharkey’s in Radford. It should say something of our states of mind that we now don’t even flinch at the notion of going to a resturaunt without showering first. For that matter, Owl and I hadn’t showered in the last six days…. But it was two for one burger night so really it was all about priorities. After that it was back to the hotel where it was two people to a bed with Wiki on the floor and Foxy laying wherever she wanted to. Hey, it was still more spacious than most of the shelter floors we’ve crashed on.

Miles Hiked: 7.9
Miles Left: 1596.9
Ending Location: Mile 588.4, Road Crossing I-77, Camping at Fort Bastion

While I had physically caught up Owl at Fort Bastion I was still nearly eight miles behind him as far as the Appalachian Trail was concerned. This presented some logistical issues with how to proceed. One interesting idea several of us started to throw around the night before was to rent a car from Enterprise and then spend the next week slack packing. Since today was a Sunday and the rental place wasn’t open this left me a free day to simplify thing by squaring up my miles. That way I could start next week at the same location as everyone else.

Definition: Slack Packing

To hike without a full pack. The most common form this takes is when a hiker is dropped off at a trail head, hikes for the day, and then is picked up in the evening. Two or more hikers can also slack pack each other by having one car and then hiking in different directions so one hiker drops their friend off and then has their friend drive them home. Since most of your pack is normally filled with camping gear and food a common side effect of slack packing is realizing how overrated shelter, warmth, and basic nutrition is compared to only having to carry around five pounds of water and supplies…

The plan we had agreed on the night before was for Tru Brit to slack pack me to the highway and then I’d stay another night at Fort Bastion. Feeling a bit nervous about missing my ride I woke up early which was a good thing. It turns out Tru Brit only cooks so many eggs and sausages for breakfast and when they run out they are gone. You can imagine how long they last around a bunch of hungry hikers. Shortly after breakfast I was dropped off on the trail and started hiking for the day.

It was a very different experience slack packing compared to normal. It was as if I could run up the mountains. In reality I didn’t end up hiking much faster than my usual two mile a hour pace but by the end of the day I was feeling great which was a new and enjoyable experience for me. One surprising thing about the trail today was there was a lot of road walking, which with it being the weekend also meant a lot of trail magic. I felt kind of guilty taking any of it since I was “slacking off”, (haha get it? #Groan #BadPun), but I may have grabbed a soda. That being said I’m not yet a hardcore through hiker yet because when I came across some Twinkies lying along the side of the highway with no indication saying they were trail magic vs general trash, I did not pick one up and eat it. I’m sure at some point road Twinkies will tempt me but today was not the day. About the only other thing of note was the trail passed through the town of Bland Virginia, which I have to say is a painfully accurate name that the town council should probably consider changing,

Since I had an early start and only hiked seven miles, I made it back to the Fort with plenty of daylight left. I used that time to chat with the other hikers and update my journal. Several other bored hikers were painting buildings or stripping trees that will be used to make cabins. There’s certainly plenty of opportunities for work for stay there. Later that evening we all ordered pizza and then sat around the fire some more. It was an interesting experience but by the end of it I was ready to move on.

Miles Hiked: 14.8
Miles Left: 1604.8
Ending Location: Laurel Creek, VA 615, Camping at Fort Bastion

I woke up this morning to a beautiful day. With the exception of some mud it was as if the storm yesterday never happened. According to the topographic map it was supposed to be easy hiking so my plan was to meet up with Owl at Fort Bastion later that night.

Now one downside of Chestnut Knob shelter is there’s no water source. Well I later found out there was some water behind it that wasn’t listed in the guidebook but that wasn’t till a couple days later when I was complaining about my experience there. Since I hadn’t planned on staying the night I started off with only about 400ml water. I wasn’t concerned though since there was another water source about two miles down the trail. Imagine my surprise then when that turned out to be a muddy trickle.

Long story short I spent a good chunk of today worrying about my water and in a state of mild dehydration. The irony of this happening the day after I had to deal with too much rain was not lost on me. It was to the point that when I arrived a road crossing and there wasn’t trail magic I was really angry! About seven miles into my hike I hit the trailhead to the Davis Farm Campsite which allegedly had water. I had doubts though since former hikers had scrawled graffiti on the sign saying to avoid it at all costs. Not having many choices I reluctantly left my pack on the AT and headed down it with only one water bottle. I had been warned it was a long detour and those warnings turned out to be correct since it was a very steep climb down the mountain. Luckily the water source was good. I suspect a local farmer maintains the campsite since it had a spectacular view of several farms and it was very well kept up. I ended up spending nearly an hour there sucking down water and just enjoying the scenery. It was a surprisingly pleasant experience though I wouldn’t recommend it for any hikers who don’t have to refill.

Back on the AT proper the rest of the hike was fairly uneventful. Stopping by Jenkins shelter I refilled my water bottle yet again and made jokes about the privy which really was just a toilet seat in the middle of a clearing, no walls or any type of privacy. After that all that was left was to hike down to the road to be picked up by Tru Brit who ran Fort Bastion.

Fort Bastion was an interesting place. For seven dollars a night you can camp there, hang out, and then grab breakfast in the morning. Tru Brit also runs cheap shuttles all over the place so it’s a very affordable place to heal up or serve as a base of operations while slack packing. The current accommodations were fairly sparse but Tru Brit used to build rustic cabins and was in the middle of building a full scale compound from the felled trees around his property. Hikers could learn how to strip trees and build log cabins if they were so inclined. Apparently the end goal was to erect a wall around the whole place and turn it into a real fort at some point.

This is the part where I struggle with what to put in a public blog, especially one I’m writing while on the trail. I think I’ll just sum things up by saying that Fort Bastion was not on the hippy side of the spectrum of hostels I’ve visited while hiking the AT.

Owl had been staying there for the last couple of days and it was really good catching up with him again. While I had been pulling 13 mile averages Owl had been burning rubber and even had a 24 mile day! I guess this goes to show I’m the slow one 🙂 The night ended with everyone swapping stories around the bonfire. It was fun and I’m glad I stopped by here vs camping in the woods.

Miles Hiked: 9.1
Miles Left: 1628.7
Ending Location: Chestnut Knob Shelter

Today was the first time on the trail where I had to deal with drenching rain. That’s a bit of an accomplishment for someone at around the two month mark, but I’ve been very lucky with the weather so far. The day started out dry as I left the shelter but the weather reports forecasted storms so I was prepared when it started drizzling. The rain started and stopped throughout the morning which meant I spent a good amount of time putting on and taking off my rain gear. I didn’t want to leave it on since the weather was warm and there was a lot of up. To put it another way, it was a balancing act of deciding if the rain would soak me more than my sweat. Gross, I know. I was in this position when it once again started raining around 10:30. I went from damp to soaked before I could even get my pack off to grab my jacket. Luckily with the heat and the exercise I wasn’t cold but after that I didn’t bother with rain gear at all.

After that point the rain did not let up and more disturbing, thunder started to rumble in the distance. To sum things up, I was climbing a mountain, far from civilization, by myself, soaked to the bone, in the middle of a thunderstorm. My mom would have been very unhappy with me!

Side Note: Hi Mom!

I did run into a couple other hikers in similar circumstances. Happy and I ended up having to shout at each other to make ourselves heard over the storm when she was asking if I had seen her friend Alaska further down the trail, (Alaska had stopped to eat a soggy lunch). Most of the time though I was by myself which was a bit scary and exhilarating at the same time. I didn’t use the strap for my hiking poles so I could throw them away from me at a moment’s notice and spent much of the time counting the seconds between the lightning flashes and thunder booms. It was also a new experience since I couldn’t check the gps on my phone to see where I was at or take pictures since everything was so wet the touch interface would not work. Near the top of the mountain the terrain opened up into pastures and balds. Standing in the treeline, looking out at the fields I would need to cross on top of a mountain in the middle of a thunderstorm, I went “Nope” and just chilled for a while waiting for it to pass.

I hiked the last bit of the mountain with Happy and Alaska who by then had caught up to me. We ended the day at Chestnut Knob shelter which was the best shelter possible to ride out the storm in since it was a converted fire warden’s cabin so it had four walls and a door just like a real house. It was packed with other hikers in similar circumstances as us but became steadily less full throughout the day as the rain would briefly pause and a group of people would venture out. The allure of making more miles was strong, especially since I was still trying to catch up with Owl, but seeing other hikers head out only to have the skies open up on them tempered my enthusiasm. The best decision I made was to take out my sleeping bag, climb into it, and then change out of my wet clothes. At that point since I had stopped moving I had been getting quite chilled so I greatly appreciated the fact that I still hadn’t switched out my winter bag for a summer one and I still had my full winter jacket. Eventually around five I gave up whatever fantasy I had of heading out that day and settled in for the night. It want ideal since that meant Owl was now two days ahead of me but trying to push those miles would not have been a fun experience.

Knot Maul Shelter which is the one I started out the day at