SNP Wed 10-7-09

Official start of our 13.2 mile day was 8:45am. We hit the trail head after a yummy breakfast and for the first 3 miles I was able to keep up with everyone. It's pretty chilly out so I'm hiking in some long sleeves and my rain jacket to help block the wind. The problem was, when we stopped, I'd get chilled b/c my shirt was soaking wet from all the sweat and the wind would whip right through me. So needless to say, stops were very infrequent. The next 3.5 miles felt like they were all up hill climbs (Hazeltop and Bearfence Mt.). The climb up Hazeltop Mountain, WOW.... slow, steady, and up hill climb. It wasn't bad, in fact it was graded really nice, but it was a looooong constant climb. I finally saw what the term "GREEN TUNNEL" looked liked. I've heard so many people refer to the AT in VA as the green tunnel and for good reason. Not many views, but lots of trees. The boys took off, James complaining that he was a slow hiker (my ass!) was the first one up the mountain. Rylan was next. So it was Lori and I making our way up and up and up. I hope I didn't slow her down, she says I didn't, but maybe she was being polite?

Anyways, we finally make it up Hazeltop Mountain, Bearfence Mountain and Lewis Mountain and she says she's going into the Lewis Campground wayside to grab lunch. I tell her I'll wait for her at the campground. I pull out my fleece, throw it on and lay on a hill side in the sun and fall asleep. My snoring wakes me up 25 minutes later and I catch some RV campers in the next campsite staring at me like I'm some hiker trash hobo. HAHA! I wave hello and they just continue sipping on their hot coffee and staring. Not very friendly, oh well. So I get up, go over to the picnic table. I pull out my food bag, knowing I have to eat something to give me some energy, but not feeling hungry at all. I finally decide on some beef jerky and combos and I drink the last of my water. I get up to go to fill up my nalgenes with water from the campground pump and wonder how in the hell am I going to be able to keep up with these fast hikers. My 38 lb pack feels like 100 pounds on my back, my trail legs haven't shown up today, and I'm not sure I have what it takes to finish the 6.9 miles left to get to camp. It's a horrible day of hiking for me. I rarely get these but when I do, it messes with my head all day long. I'm stressing and just then, James, Rylan, and Lori come up. All in great happy moods. This is exactly what I need, to be surrounded by positive people. Without knowing it, they lift my spirits up. I apologize for being slow and they tell me not to worry, it's not a race, and that we have all day. Ahhhh... the stress gets lighter. James says we only have 5 more miles and Rylan grins and says, "no way, more like 4 miles." Now, I KNOW we have 6.9 to camp, but I play along. Hoping their right, the stress gets even lighter. I'm smiling now, I check out the profiles and realize, most of the 6.9 is either flat or down with just a couple of climbs. Off we go for the last part of our day. Lori and I talk ALOT during this section, we learn all about one another and each others family. We talk about everything from Boy scouts to Boob jobs. Great conversation! We make it to the South River Picnic area (our camp) around 4:45pm and and let me tell you, that last .1 miles was a BITCH. After a loooong 13.4 mile day, the last thing I want to see is a steep climb up, who cares if it's just .1 miles up, it's still an up! haha! Just then, James comes up from behind. He missed the turn off and continued down the trail for about a mile. Oops!

As soon as I get to the grassy area, about two feet off the trail, I drop my pack and just laid their for a good 10 minutes. I see that there's a water source and real bathrooms. I finally get up, pull out some dry warm clothes and head up to the bathrooms to change. I feel like a brand new person in my dry camp clothes and warm down vest. Off to find a camp spot. In the Shennies, you are not allowed to camp at designated picnic areas, so we just walked down the blue blaze trail a bit and stealth camped :) I found some perfect trees and had an awesome hang set up to make up for the crappy set up the night before. By now, I'm energized enough to climb back up to the picnic area for some water and then head down .1 miles to cook dinner with everyone. We finally got some good quality chilling time and I got to meet Gadget, he's a pretty famous fast hiker that started about 15 minutes before us and got to camp at 2pm! He IS fast. We were at lunch around 2pm. Anyways, what's amazing about this guy, is he's a fellow hammocker AND about 60 years old. I hope I'm in that awesome shape when I'm 60. Anyways, he's hiked the entire AT before and has come down to hang out with Rylan for the day.

During dinner, I was in awe at James' ultralight set up. He has made pretty much all of his cooking gear and it looked really cool. He even showed me his ultralight, ultra warm gloves from New Zealand made out of possum hair. Seriously. haha! Anyways, during the middle of dinner, Ed comes down the trail. He was with the rest of our group. They started out at 9:30am, three of them. But, alas, Ed was alone. Seems as if the other two in the group could only do about 6 miles before they bailed out. Let me tell you, this AT hiking/backpacking thing isn't for everyone. Some can handle it and some just can't. I'm lucky to be among the group that can. It's hard work, but very rewarding. It does something to me emotionally, spiritually, I don't know, it just does something to me that makes me want to come back. I'm glad I made it to camp, those were some hard earned miles to get here. Tomorrow is a new day.

So Ed comes up, he makes camp and just as we are finishing up, he is starting his dinner. We chat a while before everyone goes to bed. Ed and I decide to bear bag our food together. After a couple of tries, he makes and awesome bear bag toss and we store up our food for the night. I climb up to the restrooms one last time and then hit the hammock and am asleep by 8:30pm. I sleep so good I don't even wake up til the next morning. :)

I wake up and walk back up to the bathrooms to change back into my hiking clothes. Everyone is setting up for breakfast at the picnic table so I hurry and pack up my pack and go sit with them for a quick breakfast. I feel it, I have a feeling it's going to be a great day today. I think I finally got my trail legs. We will see.... Til next time GET OUTDOORS!!!