Stealth Site North Of Hogwallow Gap to Front Royal VA

Monday, 6/8

AT Miles = 8.5 / 959.6
Other Miles = 0 / 35.8
Total Miles = 8.5 / 994.4

As predicted, it was a sweaty and sticky night last night. I didn't
sleep very well, yet at the same time sunrise seemed to come awfully
fast. I was up and out PDQ, especially since I had eaten the last of
my breakfast cereal yesterday and all I had for breakfast this one was
a blueberry ugly (Man, I have to find a source for uglies, they are
GOOD!).

The trail in the north end of SNP is easy walking, with more downhill
than up going north, so I made really good time this morning. I
reached the northern park boundary, and soon after was at Tom Floyd
Wayside Shelter. I stopped here so I could get water at which turned
out to be WAY down the hill, so that I could wash up a bit before
getting to the road and trying my luck at hitchhiking into town.
There's no point in being any dirtier and smellier than is absolutely
necessary.

When I left the shelter I left a note for Gator on top of the sign at
the turnoff for the shelter, telling him where I would be staying in
Front Royal, leaving him my cell number, and asking to get togehter
for dinner tonight. From here it was less than 3 easy miles to Rt 522,
where I got a ride to the Quality Inn after 4 or 5 minutes of standing
with my thumb out.

This is a pretty nice motel with a pool and a laundry on-site. I've
cleaned up, walked to the post office, walked to the grocery store,
and done my laundry. I relaxed for a couple of hours watching "Get
Smart" on HBO, then Gator and I went out for dinner at a local
restaurant that was quite good. I never had time to relax outside by
ther pool, but the weather forecast for tomorrow looks hot and muggy,
so I might zero here and try the pool routine tomorrow.

So, I've hiked the length of Shenandoah National Park. I had looked
forward to this for a long time, as it is a rather big milestone in
the hike. It was somewhat of a disappointment to hike. The park is
really all about the Skyline Drive. That's where all the great views
are. In many places the trail skulks along down in the brush and
undergrowth, while I could look up and see the cleared area where the
viewpoint off the Drive was just above the trail. I could even hear
people talking at the overlook. But I could see nothing buried down in
the bushes below. On the other hand, it was wonderful being able to
stop at the waysides and lodges throughout the park and get cold
drinks and hot food and ice cream and such. I guess like most things
in ife, there is both good and bad in it.

Oh, here's a little story I forgot to tell you before. A few days ago
-- I don't remember exactly which day or exactly where -- I stopped at
one of the shelters for my mid-morning break, and went to use the
privy. I opened the privy door only to discover a big Black Snake had
taken up residence there. My best efforts to convince him to leave
were for naught, as he coiled himself up in the corner and refused to
budge. Long sotry short, we ended up sharing the privy in an uneasy
truce.

--
~~~~~
Allen F. Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

A Request

A request to all my fellow Abbey fans out there:

I'd really like to get a paperback copy of Monkey Wrench Gang to read
while hiking. When I was home a couple of weeks ago I checked my local
used book store, but alas, no joy. If somebody out there has a copy
they would be willing to part with, I would be more than happy to
reimburse postage. Just to be clear, I am looking for a regular
paperback edition, not a trade paper copy. Bulk and weight are very
important.

So, if anyone thinks they can help me out, please let me know.

Thanks!

--
~~~~~
Allen F. Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Pass Mountain Hut to Stealth Site on Unnamed Peak North of Hogwallow Gap

Sunday, 6/7

AT Miles = 18.0 / 951.1
Other Miles = 0.4 / 35.8
Total Miles = 18.4 / 985.9

Today was another easy day, more or less. I was camped with a bunch of
people at Pass Mountain Hut including Gator, Slag Line, Couscous,
Hulk, and Bookworm. We all decided that we would hike the 7 miles to
Elkwallow Wayside in the morning and get both breakfast and lunch
there. I usually get up early and am used to tiptoeing around trying
to be quiet as most of the other hikers are still sleeping, but this
morning most everybody was awake and I was the 2nd one to leave about
a quarter to seven. By 9:15 I was at the wayside and ordered a muffin
with egg, cheese, and bacon on it. I let that settle for a while, then
about 10:30 I decided it was late enough to have the first lunch of
the day and I ordered a bacon cheeseburger, fries, and a blackberry
milkshake. Yum!

A bit before noon I finally tore myself away, shrugged into my
backpack and bid farewell to the hikers who were still sitting at the
picnic table outside the wayside. I hiked the next ~ 5 1/2 miles to
Gravel Springs Hut, where I stopped for my second lunch and to refill
my water bottles. This hut is a very short distance from a trailhead
parking area on the Skyline Drive, and as I was walking over to the
spring to fill my water bottle a couple who had walked down from the
parking lot with their dog were letting the dog play in the spring.
Yuck! I yelled out "Don't let your dog play in the spring, please!"
and they scurried back up the trail without acknowledging me.

Gross! Spring water spiced with dog slobber and bacteria. Well, I went
back to the shelter and sat for another 10 minutes to let the spring
flush itself out and settle a bit, then I went back and filled my
water bottle. I treat all of my drinking water, though I wish I had a
filter for this fill up!

Back at the wayside I had discussed today's planned stopping point
with Gator and Slag Line, and we all planned to stop at a spring shown
on the map and in the guidebook at Hogwallow Flats. I left Gravel
Springs Hut with Gator for the 3 1/2 mile walk to Hogwallow Flats,
stopping to take in the view from the top of North Marshall Mountain
on the way.

Well, we never saw any spring at Hogwallow Flats, and we knew for sure
we had missed it when we came to the Skyline Drive crossing north of
it. The next sure water was another 6 or so miles away, and while we
could have pushed on that far it would have been an unpleasant way to
end the day and would also have left us way too close to town this
morning. Getting into town at 8:00AM is no good because you can't
really check into a motel that early in the morning and that leaves
you dirty and smelly and laden with a backpack as you go about town
doing your town chores. So, we crossed the road and pushed on up the
trail a ways just looking for a spot big enough to set up for the
night. We found the spot shown in the picture in the previous post and
while Gator and I were setting up for the night Slag Line showed up.
He hadn't seen the apparently invisible spring at Hogwallow Flats
either.

Since we were dry camping I didn't have enough water to take my usual
bandanna bath, and I think sleeping is going to be difficult tonight.
My body is coated in sticky sweat. I hate that.

--
~~~~~
Monkeywrench
Allen F. Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Stealth Camping With Gator & Slag Line

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Rock Spring Hut to Pass Mountain Hut

Saturday, 6/6

AT Miles = 15.3 / 933.1
Other Miles = 0.8 / 35.4
Total Miles = 16.1 / 967.5

What a nice day! I even saw a bear while eating breakfast in the dining room at Skyland. The bear was just outside the window. The waitress told me that yesterday morning a bear took a fawn in the same spot. That must have freaked out some of the guests!

I didn't leave Skyland until after 10:00, when the weather was finally beginning to break and the sun was making itself felt. I hiked in a very leisurely fashion northward. I even took the side trail to Mary's Rock overlooking Thornton Gap. I don't think I've taken a side trail that didn't lead to either a shelter, food, or water, since the sidetrail to the summit of Mount Rogers, weeks ago.

When I reached Byrds Nest #3 a maintainer named Dick (I think) was there cutting the brush arfound the shelter. We chatted a bit and he told me he cares for three (or maybe it was four) shelters, including Pass Mountain Hut, where I am now. Since he was going to be coming here, he offered to slack pack me. Slack packing is hiking without a backpack; he was offering to transport my backpack here in his truck and allow me to hike the five miles or so unladen. A generous offer but I had decided way back at the start of this hike that I would not slack pack, so I thanked him but refused his offer.

It is funny how hiking "only" 15 miles in a day feels almost like a day off. It takes away the feeling of pressure to cover miles, and makes the day so much more relaxing. The downside is that I also feel guilty that I am not working harder to make forward progress. I actually feel guilty that I didn't push really hard on Thursday and Friday in order to get to Front Royal this morning before the post office closed. I think this is a bit of a character flaw on my part, as I am not supposed to be trying to get to Katahdin as fast as possible. I took 10 days off, and I am only 7 days behind my original schedule, and that schedule includes no zero days whatsoever. Not bad, methinks.

There is no shelter or campsite at the right distance I want to cover tomorrow, in order to get myself situated the right distance from Front Royal to get there around mid-day on Monday, so I will be searching out a casual campsite tomorrow afternoon. If I do 16 or 17 mils tomorrow, that will leave me about 10 miles outside of Front Royal.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Reply to Comments

It is DSaturday morning and I am sitting in front of the fireplace at Skyland Lodge. The place I camped last night is only abolut 4 miles south of here, so I walked here this morning and had breakfast in the dining room. I had not intended to come here, but last night Midnight, the ridge-runner, mentioned that on weekends they serve a breakfast buffet here. Well, when I got here they told me it was not busy enough this weekend for the buffet, but since I was here I had breakfast anyway. So now I am relaxing waiting for the sun to burn through the clouds and fog, and I figured I would take a few minutes and answer a couple of the questions that have been asked in the comments of my blog.

Ridge-Runner - A ridge-runner is someone employed by one of the trail clubs to spend their time on the trail and provide information and guidance to hikers. In Shenandoah National Park there are two ridge-runners. They move up and down the trail and meet and talk with any hikers on the trail. They can answer questions hikers may have, they try to educate people on Leave No Trace ethics, and they can remind people to follow camping restrictions and the like. They have no enforcement authority, but they usually are able to contact park rangers or whatever other authority is needed if there is a real need.

Not every part of the trail has ridge-runners. There is one to cover the entire trail in Georgia, and only during the spring. There are a couple in GSMNP. There are two here in SNP. I believe there are some in New Jersey. They are several in the 55 miles of trail in Connecticut, which is heavily used by weekenders.

In addition to ridge-runners, in some locations there are summit caretakers and site caretakers. For example, in Vermont the Green Mountain Club employs caretakers at some of the higher summits to encourage people to stay on ther marked paths and not trample fragile alpine plants. The GMC also has site caretakers at some heavily used camping spots, which have been very successful in keeping people from camping in fragile areas.

Monkeywrench - Here is the sort of long version of the story: I am a big fan of the late author Edward Abbey. A number of years ago I discovered an email dikscussion list dedicated to Abbey, and have been a subscriber and active participant on the list for many years. Abbey is the author of "The Monkeywrench Gang". Every year there is a weekend gathering of members of the email list community, and at most olf these gatherings a flag with a monkeywrench on it is flown. I have never yet made it to one of these gatherings, but back in 2006 when Jodi and I went to Tanzania to bicycle tour and to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, one of the members of the email list community made me a monkeywrench flag which I carried to the summit of Kili.

When I decided to attempt this thru-hike of the AT I wanted to carry the monkeywrench flag, but the flag was too big and I asked the same person to make me a much smaller flag. I fly this little flag from the suspension line of my hammock, where it serves to denote the foot end of the hammock where the entrance is.

So, way back in Georgia, at the beginning of my hike, someone noticed my little monkeywrench flag and said "Hey Monkeywrench," and that became my trailname.

And by the way, Bob, I knolw very well what a monkeywrench is. ;-)

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Big Meadows Lodge to Rock Spring Hut

Friday, 6/5

AT Miles = 3.7 / 917.8
Other Miles = 0.4 / 34.6
Total Miles = 4.1 / 951.4

I seem to have developed a strange relationship with the comforts of modern life. Living in the hot, sticky, dirty, wet world of the trail, after a while I fantasize about the comfort of a hot shower surrounded by gleaming white tile, crisp white sheets, and climate control. And boy, oh boy, that shower really does feel just as good as I imagine. And that first real meal accompaqnied by a crisply cold martini is wonderful. But the lustre soon wears thin.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself last night. I even tried to stay awake late enough to see Conan O'Brien in his new role as Tonight Show host. I actually was still conscious when he walked out on stage, but fell asleep about 30 seconds later.

For all the reasons I detailed yesterday, I hung around the lodge all day today. My biggest activity was to walk the mile down to the camp store to buy some food for the next few days, then walk back to the lodge. I read the newspaper, finished reading my book, and went completely out of my mind with boredom. There is also something about being alone in a place populated by vacationing families and groups of friends that is dedcidedly lonely, and I suffered from a strong bout of homesickness. That will be gone tomorrow when I start hiking again, but for tonight it is presenting a bit of a struggle. I debated not mentioning this, as I don't want Ken to think I'm a sissy, but I do try to be honest in this blog so there it is.

So I left the lodge late this afternoon and walked the 4 easy miles to this shelter. The rain still hasn't stopped, and there is a heavy fog. Right now I am sitting on the edge of the shelter floor writing this entry. When I finish I will cook my dinner, then head off to the tenting area and find a spot to hang my hammock. There is a ridge-runner named Midnight here tonight, so I better follow the rules and not camp next to the shelter.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Baldface Mountain to Big Meadows Lodge

Thursday, 6/4

AT Miles = 11.8 / 914.1
Other Miles = 0.5 / 34.2
Total Miles = 12.3 / 947.3

I did indeed get hit with a thunderstorm yesterday afternoon. I was sitting at the picnic area after eating dinner reading the New York Times on my cell phone (I just love technology!), and finally I looked up and noticed the sky was getting darker. I quickly put my pack back together and scrambled up the trail towards the top of Baldface Mountain. It felt good to be able to put the hammer down even after already hiking 19+ miles. I made it a couple of miles up the trail, constantly searching for a place to set up for the night and listening to the boom of thunder get closer and closer. Finally there was an area off to the side of the trail that had a more or less open understory and I searched out a spot that was in no way perfect but would serve. I got the tarp up just before the rain started, then set up the hammock under the tarp and got everything sittuated for the night.

I pitched the tarp low and tight to protect the hammock from the wind-driven rain of the storm. While it was storming this was comfortable, as the wind drove fresh air in under the tarp and into the hammock. Later on when I woke up in the middle of the night, and the storm had finished and the air was calm, it was a humid hell inside the hammock. I got up and adjusted the tarp wider to let in more air and then went back to sleep.

When I got up this morning it was quite foggy and the sky was pissing rain. As the morning went on the rain picked up a bit. I hiked the 12 miles to Big Meadow Lodge by 11:45 and by the time I got here it was raining quite steadily.

I couldn't check in until 3:00 so I stunk up the restaurant while I ate lunch, then I hung around in the common room reading the paper until I could check into my room. This is supposedly a "Superior Room With View", but the only view is of the inside of a cloud.

A couple of days ago Tom asked if I am now hiking with all new people or if I know some of the other hikers. Since I was off the trail for 10 days I don't know most of the people that are currently in this section of trail. On Monday night I did meet two hbikers that I met earlier in the trip; Spirit and Tiger. I think I met Spirit in the Smokies, and I remember meeting Tiger the night before arriving in Erwin, TN. Of course the reason I met them again is because they are hiking more slowly than I am, so I am ahead of them again. Of course I've met a bunch of other hikers, and they are all pleasant enough to share aqn evening with, but nobody that I've made any particular connection with. That's fine with me, as I like hiking alone and doing what I like, when I like.

Shenandoah National Park is well known for its deer, and they are everywhere. Since there is no hunting innational parks, they are quite tame. Most of them will bound away when I get within 10 or 15 yards, but some of them don't bother to move until I nearly could touch them. On Tuesday afternoon I was hiking up a hill and came up on a deer walking up the trail ahead of me. I was moving faster than she was and as I got closer and closer I started to wonder if she was going to move at all Finally she moved to the side of the trail and I walked by within a couple of feet.

I haven't seen any bears, though I have talked to three other hikers who have.

A bit of logistics: I am currently about 45 trail miles from Front Royal, my next town stop. If I leave here bright and early tomorrow and puit in a couple oflong days I could be in Front Royal Saturday evening. But I have mail in Front Royal, and the post office won't be open until Monday morning. Ideally, I would like to get to Front Royal on Monday morning, retrieve my bounce box from the post office, and have all afternoon and evening of Monday to process my photos and shop and stuff. So what to do?

Well, the weather forecast says tomorrow is supposed to be quite wet. I have to check out of this room by noon, so I will hang out here until then, then I will have a leisurely lunch and hang out in the common areas of the Lodge until either the rain stops or it is late enough that I have to leave to make it to the next shelter/camping area which is about 3 1/2 miles from here. Then I will do two easy days to get me positioned close to Front Royal, then a final short day into town on Monday morning.

Hey, did you notice I passed the 900 mile mark yesterday? Harpers Ferry is about a week away. Harpers Ferry is the spiritual, though not the actual, half-way point. Harpers Ferry is just a bit past the 1000 mile point, and is also the home of the Appalachianm Trail Conservancy. Man, 1000 miles. Who would ever have thought I could hike 1000 miles?!

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Yee-Haw!

Wild thunderstorm right now. Quite the thrill ride! I am snug and dry in my hammock.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Calf Mountain Shelter to Baldface Mountain

Tuesday 6/3 & Wednesday 6/4

Tuesday:
AT Miles = 21.5 / 881.0
Other Miles = 1.7 / 33.1
Total Miles = 23.2 / 914.1

Wednesday:
AT Miles = 21.3 / 902.3
Other Miles = 0.6 / 33.7
Total Miles = 21.9 / 935.0

Sorry for doing the double entry thing to you again. I was really tired last night and the plaqce I was camped didn't lend itself to keyboarding.

On Monday night I was figuring I would hold myself to the 13 miles to the next shelter on Tuesday, but it seems I got my hiking legs back and I was cruising up the trail Tuesday morning. I was at Blackrock Hut (all the shelters in Shenandoah are called huts for some reason) at 12:30. That was very early, and it wasn't a particularly pleasant location. Also, I looked in my book and saw that Loft Mountain Campground, a drive-in campground, was only 7 trail miles away. The weather was hot and muggy and the camp store has cold drinks and junk food. Reason enough to keep hiking!

So I hiked on and arrived at the camp store about 3:30. A soda, some junk food, a shower, and a beer, and next thing I knew it was quarter to five. According to my guide book the Loft Mountain Wayside, about a mile and a half by trail from the campground, closed at 5:30. I desperately wanted to go there and get a bacon cheeseburger, so I took off at top speed and got there before 5:30. Needn't have worried, as they actually don't close until 7:00PM. So I relaxed in the air conditioned snack bar and had a bacon cheeseburger, a BLT, and a chocolate milkshake. I also spent some time chatting with another thru-hiker, Slag Line. Finally, I filled my water bottles and headed back up the very steep half mile side trail that connects to the AT. I hiked a short distance north on the AT and passed the spot from which I took the picture in yesterday's blog entry. It was beautiful with the setting sun in the west and I searched out a spot just down the trail which was just big enough to squeeze
my hammock and tarp into.

Sometime around midnight I woke up to the flash of lightning and the sound of thunder. The wind poicked up and had the trees my hammock was hung from swaying in different directions. It was quite a ride as my hammock bounced up and down and twisted this way and that. All that fury, and only about a half dozen big fat rain drops on my tarp.

I looked at my book last night and discovered that the Big Meadow Lodge was only 23 or 24 miles away, and decided that if I could I would get a room there for Thursday night. This morning I tgried calling the resrervation number a bit after eight, when I was at a place that had decent cell service. Well, the service is somewhere out west and is open at 8:00Am mountain time. Damn!

so I hiked on and around 11:00, when I was at an overlook on Little Roundtop Mountain, I called and got a reservation. Score! I am all hot and sweaty and sticky now, but tomorrow night I will be living in the lap of luxury and enjoying it for all it is worth.

Right now I am sitting at a picnic table in a picnic area that is a tenth of a mile off the AT. It is almost 4:30 and I have hiked a bit over 19 miles so far today. My plan is to relax here for a bit, cook my dinner (since there is water here), clean up a bit, then finally fill my water bottles, head back to the AT, and hike a couple more miles up Baldface Mountain and find a place to hang my hammock for the night.

From here it is 13.8 miles to the trail that leads from the AT to the Big Meadow Lodge. If I hike a couple miles tonight and cut that down to 12 or less, I can easily make it to Big Meadow before noon tomorrow. Hopefully my room will be ready and I can check in and take a shower before heading to the dining room to eat lunch, but if the room isn't ready my stinky self will be in that dining room anyway.

I have just a couple of chores for the afternoon; laundry and a small bit of food resupply. The rest of the afternoon and evening is to be spent enjoying some good food and drink and hopefully taking in the advertised live entertainment in the lounge in the evening. Yeah, this hiking thing is tough!

Well, there are thunder storms moving through the area right now. I hope I don't get dumped on until after I cook and eat my dinner, and ideally not until I've got myself set up someplace for the night. Please, just a few more hours!

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Sunset Over Shenandoah

How I ended my day. Tired tonight. More tomorrow.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Three Ridges Overlook to Calf Mountain Shelter

Sunday 5/31, Monday 6/1

Sunday:
AT Miles = 11.1 / 845.0
Other Miles = 0 / 31.1
Total Miles = 11.1 / 876.1

Monday:
AT Miles = 14.5 / 859.5
Other Miles = 0.3 / 31.4
Total Miles = 14.8 / 890.9

Sorry for combining two days together. It is Monday afternoon now and I am sitting at the picnic table in front of Calf Mountain Shelter.

Yesterday was strange. I woke up in my bed at home, spent hours in airports and airplanes, got a shuttle from the airport from a 74 year old retired truck driver, and at 2:00 in the afternoon found myself standing next to the Blue Ridge Parkway where I got off the trail 10 days before.

When I started hiking it felt like I had forgotten how to walk. I was so clumsy! My knees felt wonky and my legs complained at having to do work. I think I probably should have done more than just sit on the couch and eat for the ten days I was off the trail!

I was figuring I would probably hike 6 or 8 miles yesterday, but after about the five mile mark I didn't pass any water until about mile 10, and I didn't have enough water for dinner and breakfast, so I couldn't stop. After getting water I walked about another mile until I found a place to set up camp for the night, I was pretty tired and I didn't have the energy to write this blog. After cooking dinner and hanging my food bag, I was ready to crawl into bed by 8:00.

It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon. Most of the evening was calm, but around sundown the wind came up in the way that it does when a summer storm is approaching. I had pitched the tarp over my hammock high and wide to let any breeze in, and I started to wonder if maybe I should get up and pitch it low and tight in case there was a storm coming, but the sky was still clear so I decided to wait. A couple of hours later I woke up and the air was dead calm. Maybe it was just the air cooling in the evening that caused the winds; I don't know.

I was awake at 6:00 this morning and the routine felt rusty, but I was ready to hike in just under an hour, which is typical for me. I went through Rockfish Gap about 11:00 this morning, then walked into Shenandoah National Park. That makes me feel like I have attained another milestone. I only walked 14 miles and change today, but after the long lay off it felt like quite a day. And seeing that I didn't start hiking until 2:00PM yesterday, I have hiked about 25 miles in the last 24 hours. That's pretty cool.

My old boots died so I am hiking with my second pair. They have only a very few miles on them so they are being pretty tough on my feet. I may very well keep tomorrow's mileage on the short side as well.

I think right now I will grab my book and go swing in my hammock and rfead for a bit. That seems like a very civilized way to spend a bit of time on a beautiful summery afternoon.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Getting Ready To Get Back On The Trail

Man, I can't believe how long it's been since I've hiked. For over a
week I have been a total sloth, and it's really making me a cranky,
hard to live with, person.

Well, on Sunday I am heading back to Virginia and come Sunday night I
should be hanging in my hammock somewhere along the AT. I just booked
a flight to Charlottesville, VA, and have arranged to get a shuttle
from there back to the Three Ridges Overlook on the Blue Ridge
Parkway, which is where I got off the trail last Thursday morning. My
flight doesn't touch down in Charlottesville until about half noon, so
it will be well into mid-afternoon before I get hiking. Since it's
about 14 miles from the overlook to the first shelter north, I expect
I will be hanging my hammock somewhere other than a shelter or
campsite. No worries, all I need is a couple of trees and I'm good.

I drove out to the Blue Hills and walked the 4+ miles around Ponkapoag
Pond this afternoon. Oh boy, was that strange! My knees were wonky,
and my calves ached by the time I was done! I sure hope I can get back
into the swing of hiking without too much difficulty.

Tomorrow I am driving down to Connecticut to visit Anju and the baby
again, then hustling back to Boston in time for Friday night Date
Night with Jodi. On Saturday I'll shop for food for the hike through
Shenandoah National Park, and get my pack squared away. I will also
head to the post office and send my bounce box off to Front Royal, at
the northern end of SNP. Then on Sunday morning Jodi will drop me at
the airport and I'll be on my way.

I got an email today from CuppaJoe and Paulman. They are in Front
Royal taking a zero day. I feel like I should be there as well, and
that I am somehow behind schedule. That's silly, and I know I am
making good time and right on target to make it to Katahdin sometime
in September, but I struggle everyday with this feeling that I am
falling behind just becausse I haven't been hiking for a week. I ope I
can put this unease to rest soon, as it sure could ruin a hike!

--
~~~~~
Monkeywrench
Allen F. Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Why I'm Home

Off The Trail

Well, best laid plans and all of that...

Jodi was supposed to drop me back on the Blue Ridge Parkway today, and
I was going to resume my hike north. But I got a call from Anju early
this morning telling me that she had delivered her son, and my new
grandson, Anthony. So a change of plans has occured. I drove back to
Bethesda with Jodi today. Right now I am at my in-law's house, and
tomorrow I will be flying home to Boston. On Monday or Tuesday,
whichever suits Anju better, I'll drive down to Connecticut for a
visit.

I am thrilled that Anju and the baby are both fine, and excited to
soon them soon. At the same time I am already missing the trail. I
guess that's a good thing, as it reassures me that I am not burning
out on the trail, and makes me even more confident that I will finish
the hike, barring some unavoidable injury.

So, you may not hear from me for a while. I'm not exactly sure how
long I'll be home. Maybe until next weekend. I have to figure out how
I am going to get myself back to the spot on the trail where I got off
last Thursday.

Grandpa Monkeywrench
--
~~~~~
Allen F. Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Zero Day in Waynesboro

Friday, 5/22

AT Miles = 0 / 833.9
Other Miles = 0 / 31.1
Total Miles = 0 / 865.0

As I think I mentioned yesterday, I talked Jodi into staying over an
extra day before driving back to Bethesda. It was a wonderful day. In
the morning we went to the post office so I could pick up my bounce
box, then to ther grocery store, and finally out to the outfitters so
I could buy stover alcohol and a couple of other small iems.

When we pulled into the outfitter's parking lot I spotted Sir Richard
with a few other hikers. I haven't seen Sir Richard since Atkins, and
was surprised to see him here in town. It turns out that he has
suffered from shin splints so has been in town for three days, and is
heading back out to the trail tomorrow.

After finishing our shopping, Sir Richard joined Jodi and I and we
drove out to Staunton and walked around a bit until we found a nice
pub out at the old train station where we spent a couple of hours in
coversation and having lunch and a couple of beers.

Once we were back in Waynesboro we dropped off Sir Richard back at the
YMCA lot where they allow hikers to camp for free, so that he could
finish his resupply shopping. Jodi and I headed back to our hotel
where I tried to get my gear organized (there's still lots of
organizing to be done), and I spent some time in the hot tub and the
swimming pool. Aah, this thru-hiking gig is hard work!

In the evening, by prearrangement, we picked up Sir Richard again and
we all drove back to Staunton for a wonderful meal at the best
restaurant we could find. The meal was accompanied by much good
conversation. I am really glad Sir Richard got to meet Jodi, as I have
of course spent hours talking about her during evenings along the
trail.

All this luxury has to come to an end, and tomorrow after lunch Jodi
will drop me back on the trail and I will get back to my other life of
no showers and one pot meals. I should hike through Rockfish Gap and
into Shenandoah National Park sometime on Sunday.

--
~~~~~
Allen F. Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

More Photos

http://www.allenf.com/gallery2/main.php/v/AT2009/DalevilleToWaynesboro/

--
~~~~~
Allen F. Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Harpers Creek Shelter to BRP Three Ridges Overlook

Thursday, 5/21

AT Miles = 8.4 / 833.9
Other Miles = 0 / 31.1
Total Miles = 8.4 / 865.0

I was up at the crack of dawn this morning, and on the trail before
7:00. My goal today was simple and straightforward; hike the 8+ miles
to where Jodi was to meet me before 11:00AM, when she was due to meet
me.

Between me and Jodi was Chimney Rocks and Three Ridges Mountain, a
2000' climb. Well, Three Ridges Mountain was not only steep, but quite
rocky. I can power up a few miles of steep trail, but the rocks
required slowing down and picking my way up in order to stay safe. It
was frustrating because I started to fear I would be late and Jodi
might worry.

I kept pushing hard and actually managed to reach the rendesvous point
by 10:30. Just before that I finally had decent cell phone reception,
and I got a call from Jodi telling me that she was pretty much
hopelessly lost. Well, Jodi is an intelligent and resourceful woman,
so she managed to get herself straightened out and headed in the right
direction, but it did mean that I had to sit there for an extra hour
or so thinking about how hungry I was.

When Jodi arrived I was, of course, thrilled. After over two months it
was wonderful to see her face and hear her voice in person rather than
over the phone. We drove into Waynesboro and hit the drive-thru at
Wendys even before checking into our hotel, then we went out to lunch
and ate again. After an afternoon of doing laundry, swimming in the
indoor pool, and soaking in the hot tub, we drove out to Staunton and
had a great dinner at an Italian restaurant. Oh, and over dinner I
talked Jodi into staying over an extra day, so tomorrow I will be
zeroing here in Waynesboro!
--
~~~~~
Allen F. Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Seeley-Woodworth Shelter to Harpers Creek Shelter

Wednesday, 5/20

AT Miles = 14.4 / 825.5
Other Miles = 0.2 / 31.1
Total Miles = 14.6 / 856.6

Today was a short day at only a bit over 14 miles. Just like short
weeks at work, short days on the trail often seem to last forever.

The views from Spy Rock in the morning were fabulous, then I dug in to
climb The Priest, which seems a strange name for a mountain. I stopped
at The Priest Shelter on the way up to do some of my laundry and to
eat lunch. After lunch I finished the climb up and then was faced with
four miles of steep downhill coming down the other side. Oh, my aching
feet!

I did see a deer at one of the switchbacks on the way down, and she
stood still long enough for me to take several photos. That was pretty
cool.

At the end of the day I crossed the Tye River and climbed a thousand
feet in two miles to get to Harpers Creek and the Harpers Creek
Shelter. Since I had stretched my food supply out from 4 days to 7
days, all I had left for dinner tonight is some cashews and raisins,
and a foil pack of tuna. Yummy! I saved a half a bowl of granola and
one granola bar for tomorrow. That should get me the 8 miles to where
Jodi is meeting me, then it will be into town where I can eat all I
want!

--
~~~~~
Allen F. Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Brown Mountain Creek Shelter to Seeley-Woodworth Shelter

Tuesday, 5/19

AT Miles = 15.8 / 811.1
Other Miles = 0 / 30.9
Total Miles = 15.8 / 842.0

Cold! Damn, but it was cold last night! The temperature dropped to just above freezing down in the hollow where we were camped. That would have been fine if I still had my warmer seeping bag and my heavier long johns, but those were sent home back in Pearisburg. I slept alright until about 4:00AM, when I woke up with feet feeling like ice cubes and definitely feeling the cold penetrating through the bottom ofmy hammock.

You'd think, that being the case, that I would have been up and about early. Well, you'd be wrong. When it's cold it is really hard to get out of the sleeping bag, so I didn't get started on the day's hike until nearly 9:00AM.

The first five miles were all uphill, so I was soon thoroughly warmed up and stripped down too running shorts and running shirt. It was a gorgeous day for hiking; sunny and dry and cool. I sat atop Cold Mountain for over an hour eating lunch, admiring the view, and having a long cell phone conversation with my daughter, Anju. It did my heart good to talk to her. Boy, how I miss her!

I also talked to Jodi, and we firmed up plans for her to come scoop me off the trail on Thursday and transport me back to civilization for a brief visit. Jodi will be in D.C. for her nephews bar mitzvah, and she's borrowing her sister's car and driving out here to see me. Hurrah! It's been over two months since we've seen each other and I miss her dearly. I am SO excited!

When I left Daleville I planned to resupply on Monday, but I've ended up stretching my supplies to last until Thursday. Well, they won't really stretch quite that far, and I just ate my last supper. Tomorrow is going to be pretty lean, and I plan to eat everything in my food bag tomorrow -- which isn't much -- with the exception of some cold cereal for Thursday's breakfast and maybe a granola bar.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Blown Out Boot

$180 and they lasted two months to the day!

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Johns Hollow Shelter to Browns Mountain Creek Shelter

Monday, 5/18

AT Miles = 18.3 / 795.3
Other Miles = 0.4 / 30.9
Total Miles = 18.7 / 826.2

So, kind of a mixed day. Today is the two month anniversary of the day I started my hike; that's certainly a high point. But there were other, both high and low, points to the day.

Yesterday afternoon I met an older hiker named One Stick at the shelter 4 miles south of where we both eventually ended up for the night. One Stick was in pain. He had been having problems with his leg for many days, and by last night his leg was swollen from his knee clear down to his ankle.

This morning while I was getting ready to eat breakfast One Stick was leaving camp, and he told me he was hiking back (thru-hikers never, ever, hike back) to the road to hitch into Glasgow and wait for his wife to drive down and bring him home. One Stick was very emotional and working hard to hold back the tears. It was hard talking to him. On a selfish level, being forced to get off the trail due to an injury is in the back of every hiker's mind, and I felt almost like I wanted to stay away from him so I wouldn't "catch" it. So yeah, I am a creep.

Later on in the morning I met Foot Note as he was hiking soiuth and I was hiking north. He was radiating contentment and satisfaction, and he told me he was within 50 miles of finishing his flip-flop thru-hike. After chatting for a few minutes I congratulated him and shook his hand.

So, I was planning an easy 9 mile day today. I slept late, took my time eating and breaking camp, and even washed a pair of socks so I will have clean, dry socks to hike in tomorrow. It was almost 9:00 when I left camp. The weather today was perfect, cool, dry, and sunny, and the trail was both easy hiking and interesting, offering views back to the James River and out over the surrounding mountains. I found myself at my planned ending point at 1:00, and it was just too nice a day not to keep hiking, so I continued on to the next shelter. My right knee is still a bit tender from yesterday, but it felt okay hiking and my feet are better than they were yesterday.

Oh, I blew out the side of one of my boots. I was hoping they would last a few hundred more miles. Jodi, I hope you're reading this. Bring my other pair of boots when you come down!

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Cornelius Creek Shelter to Johns Hollow Shelter

Sunday, 5/17

AT Miles = 21.6 / 777.0
Other Miles = 0 / 30.5
Total Miles = 21.6 / 807.5

After Trail Angel John left last night, Andrew and I were left at the shelter.
We decided to have a fire for the evening, and when I say we, I mean that I sat on the picnic table bench while Andrew buillt a fire. We discussed all the usual topics, and managed to solve about 90% of the problems in the world. Now all that is left is to implement our solutions.

At one point just a few minutes before dusk, we spotted a deer hanging ou at the edge of the trees just to the side of the shelter. We stared at each other for a few minutes, then the deer finally decided to wander off into the woods.

Around 9:00 or so the rain that had threatened all afternoon finally arrived, with a vengeance. It was raining hard enough that I sat in the shelter until nearly 10:00 beforee the rain eased enough that I could make a dash for my hammock and get tucked in all nice and cozy.

It was still raining when I woke up this morning so I went back to sleep and tried again an hour later. Well, it was STILL raining, but not as hard. Due to the rain I got a late start. It was a long day, and I pushed hard for 21 miles. I have now crossed the James River, which feels like an accomplishment.

I have been pushing really hard lately, and I need to ease up. My feet are taking a bating, and I did something to tweak my knee today. It's quite sore now. I've taken some ibuprofen tonight, which I rarely do.

Last night's storm was caused by a cold front coming through. The temperature is in the 50s right now, and the forecast is calling for the temperature to fall below freezing tonight!

This shelter site is hopping with people. There is a big group from some private residential school camped here. They must have gotten really wet in last night's storm, as when I got here there were sleeping bags haqnging from the trees.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Bobblets Gap Shelter to Cornelius Creek Shelter

Saturday, 5/16

AT Miles = 18.3 / 755.4
Other Miles = 0.2 / 30.5
Total Miles = 18.5 / 785.9

It was warm and very muggy last night. Given that, I didn't expect to sleep very well, yet I did.

I was up and out early this morning. I always seem to be the first one up in the morning so I have to tip toe around eating breakfast and packing up.

Soon after leaving the shelter the trail crosses the BRP two times. At the second crossing an older couple were pulled over at the overlook and we chatted for a few minutes. They were very impressed when I told them I had hiked over 700 miles, and they asked to take my picture. See, everyone really does get their 15 minutes of fame!

The rest of the day was hike, hike, hike. It was pleasant enough, just nothing special to report. In this section the BRP swings east to go to Peaks of Otter, while the AT stays west, so I wasn't crossing the road during the day.

I stopped for first and second lunch -- I eat lunch twice every day when I am hiking -- and when I left from the 2nd lunch around 2:00PM I could hear thunder in the distance. It was getting closer and closer. I was still 5 miles from the shelter, and the first 4 of those 5 were a steady uphill. I hiked quite hard -- it was very sweaty work -- and managed the 4 uphill miles in 1:30 and the last dowbhill mile in 20 minutes, expecting the skies to open up every minuite. Well, the rain still hasn't arrived.

There is a weekend hiker named Andrew here tonight. After I cleaned up, set up my hammock, and did other chores, we were sitting and chatting when another man walked around the shelter from an unexpected direction. Apparently there is a side trail from the BRP (about 0.3 miles away) to the shelter, and John asked us if we would like some trail magic. Well, of course we would! So John and Andrew both walked back to John's car parked on the BRP, and a few minutes later came back with a two burner Coleman stove, a soft-sided cooler, and a backpack. John then proceeded to fire up the stove, warm up the griddle, and cook us eggs and sausage and pancakes. He also had a full gallon of orange juice. John kept cooking just as long as we could keep eating. Being the only thru-hiker here, I easily ate Andrew under the table. Then we all sat around and chatted about this and that. What a wonderful way to spend the evening! Thanks, John.

I asked John why he was doing this and he told us that his son, Snakebite, hiked the trail a coujple of years ago and had told him about all the wonderful things people did for him, so John was tgrying to pay some of that forward. A great guy.

Andrew is just here for the night, but he said he packed some extra food just so he could give it to any threu-hikers he met, so he gave me a bag of gnocchi along with some fresh cheese and sauce mix. That sounds like a great meal and I will eat that tomolrrow night.

So I had been planning to hitch iknto the little town of Glasgow on Monday to resupply, and have been worried because all that is listed in the book for Glasgow is a small convenience store and a Dollar General. But now I think I have enough food to wait until Tuesday when I can hitch into Buena Vista, which has a real grocery store.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Daleville to Bobblets Gap Shelter

Friday, 5/15

AT Miles = 18.5 / 737.1
Other Miles = 0.4 / 30.3
Total Miles = 18.9 / 767.4

I didn't want to hike today. It rained cats and dogs last night, and it was cloudy and warm and muggy this morning. Just lying in bed watching TV really appealed to me. But I am trying to get up to Shenandoah NP by Memorial Day weekend, and I'll never get there sitting in a motel room.

I was lucky and talked the motel clerk into bringing my bounce box to the post office, so saved myself a long road walk. I was off around 9:30. The trail leaving Daleville just follows along the right of waqy of I-81 north for a couple miles, which makes for a very strange walk.

Eventually the trail worked its way out of town, through some farm fields, and up into the hills. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to make the 18 miles I planned, since I got such a late start. But once I started walking I was feeling good and after two short days I made great time.

This afternoon I reached the point where the AT meets the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP), and then parallels it north. It felt like an old friend, as way back in '97 (?) I did a bike tour along the Skyline Drive and the BRP as far south as the James River. That's quite a ways north of here, but being alongside the BRP again felt nice. I even had a nice chat with some people at one of the overlooks where the trail comes out of the woods and crosses the road.

I haven't seen any turtles the whole hike so far, but today I have seem three. I also saw a rabbit, and quite a large black snack; all actually on the trail.

It is quite muggy and heavy tonight. I expect it's going to be a hard night to sleep. I am hoping to do another 18 mile day tmorrow. Till then...

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Lamberts Meadow Shelter to Howard Johnson Express, Daleville VA

Thursday, 5/15

AT Miles = 9o.4 / 7`8.6
Other Miles = 0 / 29.9
Total Miles = 9.4 / 748.5

Quite a crew of thru-hikers showed up last night, and joined myself and the two Marines already at the shelter. Everybody was talking about the AYCE buffet at Pizza Hut in Daleville, and they all decided to get up at 6:00 so they could be there by 11:00.

It was strange not being the only one awake early in the morning, as I am usually tip-toeing around trying to be quiet and not wake everybody else while eating my breakfast and breaking camp.

I was on the trail by 7:00 and in Daleville a few minutes after 10:00. The two section hiking Marines agreed to join us for the big feed, and arrived just a few minutes after me. By 10:30 the whole crew was assembled, and when the restaurant opened at 11:00 we were very disappointed to find out that they did not do a buffet!

All was not lost as we repaired next door to a Mexican restaurant that had lunch specials. Several margaritas, and boat load of chips and salsa, and a couple of lunch platters later, I was sitting sated and happy. The two young Marines said they had to hit the road home andleft. A bit later I asked for my check and was informed by the waitress that "thos two guys that were sitting on the end" had already paid everybody's tab. Wow. There were about a dozen of us so that must have cost them a couple hundred bucks. Thanks Bulls-Eye and friend (sorry, I only remember one trail name).

When I left the restaurant I headed across the road and got a room at the motel. After showering I walked up the road to do my shopping, then wasted the rest of the afternoon and evening staring at the TV. It's amazinf how enjoyable TV is when you don't get to see it much.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

New Photos

New photos here:

http://www.allenf.com/gallery2/main.php/v/AT2009/PearisburgToDaleville/

--
~~~~~
Allen F. Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Catawba Mountain Shelter to Lamberts Meadow Shelter

Wednesday, 5/13

AT Miles = 8.4 / 709.2
Other Miles = 0 / 29.9
Total Miles = 8.4 / 739.1

I purposely made it a very short day today. It was actually quite difficult. I slept an extra hour late. I took my time making breakfast. I walked slowly.

I got up to McAfee Knob about 9:30, and I hung out there until 11:30, then I mloseyed on to the Tinker Cliffs and hung out there until after 3:00, then finally walked the last mile or so to this shelter.

The highlight of the day, other than the great views, was nearly getting run over by a deer. I was at a place where the trail comes around a large rock outcropping, and as I came around one way the deer was coming around the other way. That was one startled deer!

Tomorrow it's off to Daleville. We are only about 9 miles away and the plan is to be there when the Pizza Hut AYCE buffet starts at 11:00. Then I'll get a motel room, do my shopping for the next leg of the hike, shower, wash my clothes, and enjoy all those town luxuries like flush toilets, TV, a bed with clean sheets, etc.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Seven Hundred

So did you notice in my last entry that I have reached the 700 mile mark? Sa-weet!

Only 26 more miles and I will have walked 1/3 of the trail.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Brush Mountain to Catawba Mountain Shelter

Tuesday, 5/12

AT Miles = 18.6 / 700.8
Other Miles = 0.2 / 29.9
Total Miles = 18.8 / 730.7

Last night was an awesome night. I had a few brief showers blow over me, then the moon came out orange through the clouds. It was so bright some of the birds even started singing! It got quite cold and around 3:30 this morning I took the down sweater I use as a pillow and put it on inside my sleeping bag.

I spent the day hiking up and down mountains, clambering over rock ledges, and strolling through cow pastures (one even had a bull watching over his harem). The weather was perfect, cool and sunny.

I nbroke my "unbreakable" lexan spoon while digging Nutella out of the jar at lunch time. That gave me something to think about as I hiked this Afternoon, as I tried to think of various schemes to splint my spoon back together until I can buy a new one in Daleville. BNut as it turned out, I don't need to. A formeer thru-hiker out for a section hike stopped by the shelter here, and she gave me a spoon. Score! That is what is known as "trail magic".

I've got a really short day planned for tomorrow, and intyend to spend most of the day just lazing about at McAfee Knob and along the Tinker Cliffs. Then on Thursday another short day into Daleville so I'll be there early and will be able to make the most of my town stay.

I am here with three section hikers from South Carolina tonight. They should be fun company.

Oh! Since I ate so much at the Hiker Feed yesterday I didn't have to cook my dinner last night, so I am having TWO dinners tonight.Now that's living large!

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Laurel Creek Shelter to Brush Mountain

Monday, 5/11

AT Miles = 18.5 / 682.2
Other Miles = 1.0 / 29.7
Total Miles = 19.5 / 711.9

Today was about contrasts. I started the day with my mood matching the weather; cold and wet. But I ended the day feeling absolutely wonderful.

After hiking in a steady cold rain for hours, I managed to arrive at the Hiker Feed in Craig Crek Valley just as it was starting at 2:00PM. Lots and lots of food, drink, and wonderful company, and a warm fire to sit around as well. I stayed there for three hours, and never stopped eating. Beer, soda, hot mulled cider, chips, cookies, cakes, an amazing lasagna cooked in a dutch oven, fruit salad, hummus and pita bread, homemade brown bread, quesadillas, and some kind of berry dessert cooked in another dutch oven and topped off with ice cream! And on top of all that, by the time I finally left at 5:00PM the sky had cleared and the sun was out.

I was feeling so good, both physically from the infusion of real food, and emotionally because it's just wonderful when people do something nice for you just because they can, that I cruised the four uphill miles to where the Audie Murphy monument is on Brush Mountain, then walked about another mile until my watch said 7:00Pm, and I found a place just off the trail to hang my hammock and climbed in for the night.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Bailey Gap Shelter to Laurel Creek Shelter

Sunday, 5/10

AT Miles = 14.6 / 663.7
Other Miles = 0 / 28.7
Total Miles = 14.6 / 692.4

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

It didn't rain last night, and the sky cleared this morning! The sun came out! It was a glorious day! Thanks, Mom!

In honor of Mother's Day, I would like to note that this hiker never would have taken place if it weren't for my Mom . Not in the sense that sher planned it, or always wanted me to do this, or anything like that, but rather because she raised me to believe that I could pursue my dreams and if I tried hard enough, I could attain them.

The plan was for this blog entry to be headed by a photo I have on the photo gallery of my web site of my mother from back in the day. Unfortunately I couldn't get it to download to my cell phone.

In any case, my Mom is a pretty remarkable woman. She's suffered the loss of a child, and she has raised a husband and three sons more or less to maturity. I shudder when I think back on the stuff we put her through while we were going through our teenage years. But she never gave up on us. And Mom is always proud of the things I do, in the way that only a mother can be. She even thinks I'm a good writer!

So Mom, thank you for being my mom, and I hope you had a wonderful Molther's Day!

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Rice Field Shelter to Bailey Gap Shelter

Saturday, 5/9

AT Miles = 16.4 / 649.1
Other Miles = 0 / 28.7
Total Miles = 16.4 / 677.8

Water. The theme for today was water.

A series of storms rolled through last night. Storms with wind and rain and lightning and thunder. Five storms came through while I was in my hammock last night. The first one had winds coming in such a way that they lifted my tarp straight up and allowed the wind-driven rain to lash straight into my hammock. Fortunately that one didn't last too long, and my sleeping bag as a water repellant outer shell. After the rain I just wiped it down with my bandanna, and it stayed dry.

The other storms all woke me up, and there were some exciting moments, but for the most part I stayed dry and comfy, with the exception of some spray driven in under the tarp by the winds.

I left camp at 8:30 and at 9:00 another storm came through and got me soaked, but once it passed I dried out quickly.

There was LOTS of water on the trail today. Many, many sections of trail were running in several inches of water. It is amazing just how much raiin fell last night. After a few hours of slogging through water, things really got interesting when I got to what is usually a small stream that one would hop across on a coujple of rocks, but today it looked more like a white water river. It roared like the Colorado River pouring through the Grand Canyon (editor's note: the author has no idea what the Coloroado River sounds like going through the Grand Canyon. Please forgive his flights of fancy)

There was nothing else to do but take off my boots and socks, put on my sandals, and ford the raging stream. It was challenging and fun, but doing it with nobody else around is a bit uncomfortable since there is nobody to help if anything goes wrong.

There was also a couple places with blown-down trees where I had to take my pack off and crawl under dragginbg my pack behind me.

Then after lunch, there was an even bigger and deeper stream that had to be forded.This one had water up to my thighs, and it was nearly waist deep on some shorter hikers.

So I am at the shelter with a bunch of other hikers. It is raining again. There is so much water the ground all around the shelter is flowing in water. I am really happy I use a hammock and not a tent. I don't have to worry about trying to find a spot that is both level and dry.

I will be retreating to my hammock soon, and read my book and listen to the radio, and leave the overpacked shelter to the shelter dwellers.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Holy Family Hostel to Rice Field Shelter

Friday, 5/8

AT Miles = 6.8 / 632.7
Other Miles = 1.5 / 28.7
Total Miles = 8.3 / 661.4

As usual, it rained last night. It didn't matter, though, as I was sleeping on a mattress in the loft of the hostel at Holy Family Church in Pearisburg. By the time I left there this morning the rain had stopped and it was only overcast.

I met a hiker at the hostel with the trail name Western. Do you remember me writing about the morning after I camped at the pond, walking two miles to the shelter at Chestnut Knob planning to cook breakfast there, and the hiker I met there who ignored me when I said good morning? Well, I am 98% sure that hiker was Western, and he wasn't really ignoring me. Western is deaf so he never heard me.

Western does crazy things like hike 30 or 35 mile days. He is hiking the International Appalachian Trail (IAT), which means that when he gets to Katahdin he is nowhere near done. The IAT continues up into Canada and ends on the Gaspe Peninsula (OI think).

But back to me. That's what this blog is all about, after all. I left the hostel and walked back inbto downtown to get breakfast at Marsha's. I was lucky enough to meet a section hiker named Thistle there, and after breakfast he and his wife gave me a ride to the post office and then on to where I got off the trail on Tuesday afternoon. That saved me about a mile of road walking.

I only walked a few miles today. I wasn't feeling all that great after eating that big breakfast, and hauling the Food Bag From Hell (TM) up the steep hill out of town was tough work. When I got here to Rice Field Shelter I discovered something I haven't seen in a long time; a view! So I ate my lunch, enjoyed the view, then decided to hang my hammock and kick back and read my book for the afternoon.

I've finished dinner now and the sky is looking like it is getting ready to rain again tonight. If it's still raining in the morning I will be glad that I didn't go on and camp somewhere tonight, as it will be good to have ther shelter to cook and eat breakfast in out of the rain.

There is going to be a big hiker feed about 35 miles up the trail, on boith Sunday and Monday. I hope to be able to take advantage of that on Monday.

From where we are now I can hear the trains running along the tracks through the narrows along the New River. There's something magical about the sound of a train whistle.

I'll get back to making decent miles tomorrow, but I am going to try to hold my mileage down a bit for the next few days and see how my feet do. I still feel some hot spots on my left foot and I don't want it blowing up on me. There is a competitive side of me that finds it hard to hold back and let all the kids go on ahead. They make it look so easy!

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Yet Another Zero

Thursday, 5/7

AT Miles = 0 / 625.9
Other Miles = 1.7 / 27.2
Total Miles = 1.7 / 653.1

A double zero. If I was going to do this I should have done it in a
nice little town like Damascus. But my feet chose this place to go on
strike, so it's here that I am staying for yet another night.

I spent two nights at the Holiday Motor Lodge. It was a much nicer
place than the $35 per night price might suggest. Sure, it hasn't been
redecorated since about 1975, but it was very clean, the shower was
hot, and the heat and AC worked. What else really matters? Just the
same, after two nights there I just couldn't justify paying the money
for a third night, so I packed up my stuff this morning and moved over
here to the Hiker Hostel at Holy Family Church.

Before doing that, I packed up some stuff to be sent home; my 20
degree sleeping bag, my mid-weight long underwear, and balaclava and
gloves, and my fleece shirt. Then I took the box over to the post
office and sent it on its way. I went through all the food Jodi sent
me for the next leg of my hike, along with whatever I had left in my
food bag and some stuff from my bounce box, and figured out what few
items I still needed to buy. My original plan had me doing a 5 day leg
from here to Catawba, then resupplying there for 2 more days to
Daleville. Instead, I've decided to just pack food for 7 days and skip
the side-trip into Catawba. Because of that I did need to buy just a
few things, so I went to the Food Lion which is conveniently across
the street from the motel.

So, I have a food bag with seven days food in it. Seven days food
nowadays is WAY more than seven days food was back in Georgia. It is
almost scary how much food I need to eat nowadays, but after getting
all run down a couple weeks back, I realized I needed to do whatever
is necessary to eat better. I looked at myself in the mirror after my
shower the other night, and I haven't been this skinny since high
school! My ribs show like some of those ponies up in the Grayson
Highlands. My food bag must be at least 15 pounds, and when I stuff it
in my backpack it feels like I am hauling a barrel of bricks.

So anyway, I sorted out my food, packed my food bag, and as always I
had a bunch of stuff left over (oatmeal, instant breakfast, powdered
milk, granola bars, stuff like that that comes in boxes of multiples)
and now I actually have more stuff than will fit on my bounce box. I
also discovered that I forgot to include my down jacket in the box I
mailed home to Jodi, so I still need to do that. So I put on my
ridiculously heavy backpack, stuffed all the leftover food that won't
fit into my bounce box into one of the bags from the grocery store,
and picked up that, my hiking poles, and my bounce box, and started
walking. It is 1.7 miles from the motel to the hostel. You might think
that after hiking 15 - 20 miles up and down hills every day that a
mile and a half would be nothing, but there is something about
walking on the road that makes it feel like torture.

The hostel is a nice place as hostels go, but it is located way out at
the end of town, at the edge of a residential neighborhood. I walked
1.4 miles round trip to get to a Subway where I got two grinders, one
for a mid-afternoon snack and one for dinner tonight. In the morning I
will eat some of my extra oatmeal before I leave here, then I'll start
walking back through town. There is a breakfast place downtown where
I'll stop for another big breakfast, then it will be of to the post
office to mail my bounce box up to Daleville and to get a box to mail
my down jacket, a book I've finished with and want to keep, and a
couple of maps I no longer need, home. Finally unburdened off all my
extra possessions, I'll head back out onto the trail.

Today is the seventh straight day of rain. Not in the sense that it
has been raining non-stop for seven days, but it has rained sometime
during every day,and I think it has rained every single night. The
forecast calls for a 60% - 70% chance of rain every day until next
Tuesday, when it should simply be mostly cloudy, so I imagine by the
time I reach Daleville in a week I will be miserably wet again, but
right now I am looking forward to getting back on the trail.

The little group of people I was camping with most nights are all several days ahead of me now, so I will be socializing with a new group of hikers now. It's a bit sad to lose contact with people I've been hiking with for several weeks, but it's also good to be meeting other people. It's all part of the trail experience.

--
~~~~~
Monkeywrench
Allen F. Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Zero Day in Pearisburg

Wednesday, 5/6

AT Miles = 0 / 625.9
Other Miles = 0 / 25.4
Total Miles = 0 / 651.3

I took a zero day in Pearisburg today. My left foot is really a mess.
It felt okay this morning when I walked in my sandals a couple blocks
down the street to get breakfast, and then a couple more blocks to the
laundromat. But by the time I got back to my motel it was hurting and
I was limping.

It was cool and overcast this morning, but I went out wearing the
running shorts and shirt Jodi sent along with my other warm weather
gear, since all my other clothes were destined for the washer and
dryer at the laundromat. I imagine I looked like a moron walking down
the street dressed like that; it certainly felt inappropriate for the
weather conditions.

Observation: It is amazing just how nasty my socks smell after a week
of alternating two pair of soggy socks in my boots!

I find town days exhausting. I'm not quite sure why that is. I had a
large pizza for dinner last night. When I called to order it I asked
for a 20 oz bottle of root beer, as root beer has no caffeine. Well,
they didn't have any root beer so I settle for Pepsi. Big mistake! all
that caffeine had me awake until nearly 2:00 this morning. Just the
same, I was awake at 6:30.

After doing my laundry I stopped by the post office again. Back last
November I ordered the full set of maps and guidebooks for the trail
from the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC). They shipped most of
them back in January or February, but the ventral Virginia and Vermont
/ New Hampshire sets were delayed until later. Well, I'm in Virginia
now and I need those central Virginia maps. A couple weeks ago I sent
them an email asking them to send the Virginia maps to me here. I
never got any response to that email so last Thursday while I was
staying at the motel in Atkins I called them. Well, they claimed
ignorance of my email ((what's the point of publishing an email
address if you don't monitor it), and told me the Virginia maps were
ready but the guidebook was still not printed. I asked them to send
the maps to me here and send the guidebook, which I don't use and
don't really care about, to my home address whenever it's ready. They
agreed and I expected the maps when I picked up my other mail
tomorrow. The maps weren't at the post office yesterday and I stopped
by this morning to see if they had yet arrived. Alas, they had not. I
should have called the ATC today but got distracted with other chores
and before I knew it, it was too late.

I did handle some issues with my credit card today. It's amazing how
much time little chores like this can eat up. I also did some work
updating the website for the hiking club I belong to, the Connecticut
Section of the GMC -- www.conngmc.com --, with the latest newsletter
and activity schedule. I also posted my latest photos to my website.
The link is:

http://www.allenf.com/gallery2/main.php/v/AT2009/DamascusToPearisburg/

I spent a good part of the day struggling to remotely connect to my
computers at home. It seems Microsoft, in its infinite wisdom,
actually broke one of their products with an update to another of
their own products! In order to remotely connect thru their WHS server
an RDP client add-on for IE is required. But when Microsoft released
WinXP SP3, they actually disabled that very add-on. Since the little
Netbook I bought came with XP SP3, it is impossible to connect to my
WHS box from this computer.

Well, I spent hours googling this and that and reading a lot of
discussions of this problem, and finally discovered that if I
uninstalled IE7 and reverted to IE6 (IE7 is actually just an update to
IE6, so if you uninstall IE7 you 'magically' find yourself with IE6),
the RDP add=on will be visible and can be enabled. Whew! So long story
short I finally was able to connect to my home network and get all
that work done that I mentioned before.

So suddenly the day is pretty much done. I still haven't gone through
the food resupply that Jodi sent me to figure out if I need to do any
shopping to supplement it or not. I'll do that first thing in the
morning. Since it's ben raining all afternoon, I put my boots on to
walk around the corner to Dairy Queen to get a couple of cheeseburgers
and etc for lunch, and found myself limping the entire way there and
back. There is no way I am hiking out of town tomorrow. I think I will
get my stuff organized tomorrow so I can send a box of stuff (my cold
weather sleeping bag and my heavy, warm, clothing) home tomorrow, then
I might check out of the motel and walk the couple of miles over to
the hostel at the Catholic church. Or maybe I'll be lazy and just stay
here. It is nice to have my own room and my own shower that I don't
have to share with a couple dozen other people.

Since I have all this time to think and write tonight, here are a
couple of little stories from the trail. I few days ago I was hiking
along in the morning and apparently there was a bird sitting on the
ground next to the trail. I had actually walked by he or she but when
I was swinging my trekking pole forward I must have nearly struck the
bird with the end of my right pole. The bird exploded out of the
undergrowth and flew right between my legs. Of course this all
happened in an instant and I had n for a whileo idea what it was; I
just heard, saw, and felt something exploding between my legs. I
jumped straight up into the air, which is quite a feat while wearing a
backpack. Once I realized it was just a bird, and the first rush of
adrenaline faded a bit, I stood and laughed a hearty belly laugh for a
few minutes.

Yesterday morning, while hiking in the rain, I stopped to pee. I was
preoccupied with what I was doing when I looked down and noticed that
the base of the tree I was peeing on was moving. Looking closer, I saw
a mass of what must have been a couple hundred earth worms, just your
everyday common earth worms, assembled at the base of the tree. I've
never seen or heard of earth worms behaving like this. I didn't take a
picture because after peeing on the poor worms I felt I had already
exploited them enough, so I left them alone to do whatever they were
doing in the rain.

Oh, one more thing. I don't remember if I mentioned this before or
not, but I passed the 600 mile mark a couple of days ago. In the last
seven days getting into town here in Pearisburg, I've hiked more than
120 miles. My legs can do that fine, but I think my feet need me to
cut down the miles a little bit. I think I am going to try to hold
myself to 16 - 18 miles per day.

--
~~~~~
Allen F. Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Wapiti Shelter to Pearisburg, VA

Tuesday, 5/5

AT Miles = 16.6 / 625.9
Other Miles = 0.8 /25.5
Total Miles = 17.4 / 651.4

Just before sunset last night the sky actually cleared up, and we were
treated to a bit of a view of the sunset. It was a sucker punch,
though, as during the night the wet weather rolled back in and it
rained all night, sometimes quite heavily. I was up at 6:45, and true
to form it took almost exactly one hour to eat breakfast, pack up, and
be ready to leave.

For most of today's hike I had only showers and that penetrating fog
to deal with. I was moving a bit slower than usual because my left
foot is pretty beat up. Blisters and sire spots make it painful pretty
much with every step. I reached Doc's Knob Shelter about a quarter
after eleven and stopped for half an hour to eat lunch, then pressed
on towards my goal of Pearisburg.

There is supposed to be wonderful views of the valley Pearisburg is in
from a spot named Angels Rest atop Pearis Mountain. All I saw when I
got there was the inside of the cloud. On top of that, it started
raining very heavily and I was a sodden mess even with my rain gear
on.

The trail descends steeply from here along a long series of
switchbacks, and by now my foot was hurting badly enough that I gave
up all pretext of toughness and exclaimed out loud every once in a
while. Finally, finally, I reached Pearisburg. The trail goes through
the edge of town and in order to get into the center of town where all
the businesses are I had to walk almost a mile along Main Street,
which out here at the fringe of town is a four lane road with no
shoulders and a 50 mph speed limit. Walking along the gutter in the
rain getting splashed with filthy water by every passing vehicle
pretty much capped the day for me.

I'vwe got a room in the cheapest motel in town, and it is just exactly
what you'd think the cheapest room in town would look like. Still,
even though it hasn't been redecorated since apparently the 70s, it's
clean and it provides me everything I need to get dried out and regain
my enthusiasm for the trail.

Wow, I looked at myself in the mirror when I got out of the shower
this afternoon. I am skinny! I think I need to do some serious eating
while I am here. I am going to take at least one zero day here.
Hopefully that will be enough to let my feet heal up. If not I may
have to take an extra day off before I get back out on the trail.
Without healthy feet this hike would be impossible.

--
~~~~~
Allen F. Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Helveys Mill Shelter to Wapiti Shelter

Monday, 5/4

AT Miles = 24.0 / 609.3
Other Miles = 0.5 / 24.7
Total Miles = 24.5 / 634.0

It rained again last night. It was still raining when I got up at 6:30. Well, it's not the end of the world. I guess I'm getting used to being damp. I can't even pretend anything I own is actually dry anymore, there are just varying degrees of wet.

But all was not lost. I caught some good radio last night. The local NPR station plays Swing music from 8:00 - 9:00, then some really good jazz from 9:00 to 11:00.

But back to this morning. I got up and pulled on my rain jacket, then walked out and got my wet food bag down out of the tree where it hung overnight. I cooked breakfast in the rain, packed up my gear, and started hiking.

I made an executive decision and decided that I am going to get to Pearisburg tomorrow rather than on Wednesday. In order to pull that off I need to walk about 40 miles in two days, so I walked 24 miles today and will attempt the other 16.5 tomorrow. I've never hiked 24 miles before, and my feet are complaining big time. I've also raised a blister on the little toe of my left foot. I hope I didn't sabotage myself and make myself incapable of hiking the miles tomorrow. I am really looking forward to being clean and dry and sleeping in a bed that isn't damp and smelly.

I am camped tonight at a nice little shelter with three section hikers. Section hikers tend to have amuch wider repertoire of conversation than thru-hikers do, who tend to talk about food whenever they aren't telling fart jokes, so I am enjoying the evening immensely. We've got a fire going and there is a real chill in the air tonight so that is very welcome.

Four more thrus just showed up, so the evening promises to get even more interesting.

I think this is going to be an ibuprofen night, only the second of the hike. It should help ease the ache of my feet and hopefully they will heal up a lot overnight.

Sorry, I know this has been a bit incoherent. I am really tired tonight and finding it hard to organize my thoughts. You'll hear more from me once I get settled in Pearisburg, hopefully tomorrow night. I am planning to take a zero day (or maybe even two) there. I should have a bunch of maikl waiting at the post office, and will be switching out all my cold weather gear for the summer gear Jodi has sent to me.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

LaurelCreek to Helveys Mill Shelter

Sunday, 5/3

AT Miles = 9.2 / 585.3
Other Miles =] 3 / 24.2
Total iles = 12.2 / 609.5

I went to bed last night and searched for something to listen to on the radio. I was camped way down in a low gap, and I could get only two FM stations, nothing on AM, and some Spanish language stuff on the shortwave bands. So my choices were either Christian evangelization, or NASCAR. I chose NASCAR and listened to the something-or-other 400 for a couple of hours.

I woke up this morning at 6:30 to the sound of a steady rain on the tarp. I decided to try to wait it out and snoozed on and off until 8:00AM. It was still raining, but not as heavily. I got up, packed my gear, ate a Pop-Tart, and set off to hike the 7 miles to Rt 52. I felt so much better than yesterday! The 7 miles flew by in less than 2 1/2 hours. When I reached the road I wasn't sure exactly which road was 52 and I wasted a bit of time walking up this road and down that one, but I finally saw a woman getting out of her car in front of a small church and she confirmed wqhich road would take me to Bland, where I needed to go to buy food and stove fuel for the next three days.

It is 2 1/2 miles down the mountain into town. I walked about a half mile or so before I managed to get a ride the rest of the way. My driver pointed out where the grocery store was, then dropped me off at the Subway as I requested. Yummy! That was good.

I left the Subway and walked back into the center of town where the grocery store is, and did my shopping. My guidebook says that Bruce's Market sells stove fuel by the ounce, but when I asked the clerk had no idea what I was talking about. Uh oh. So now I had food for the next three days, but no way to cook it. I was down to about 1/2 ounce of stove alcohol, so I couldn't leave town until I found some fuel somewhere.

There is a NAPA Auto Parts store across the street from the market, but they were closed on Sunday. Then I tried the Citgo station around the corner and they had Heet gas-line antifreeze, which is nothing more then methyl alcohol and makes great stove fuel. Saved!

I made one last stop at the bank to get some cash at the ATM so I won't have to worry about that chore when I get to Pearisburg, then I headed out of town and back up towards the trail. For whatever reason, I couldn't get a ride on the way back and had to walk the entire 2 1/2 uphill miles back to the trail. Why wouldn't somebody want a smelly wet hiker and all his smelly wet gear in their car? Right, I don't know either.

So I got out of town and hiked a few miles into the woods to this shelter. This makes a rather short day but looking at the book there is no place with water for the next ten miles, and I got here too late to try to add another ten miles onto my day. That being the case, I will hang my hammock out behind the shelter tonight. It is nice to be camped at a shelter so I can get in out of the rain to write this enail, and to cook dinner and do other chores.

I am thinking about buying a bigger tarp for my hammock, so that it will no only keep my dry when I am sleeping, but also provide enough covered area so I can cook aqnd eat. I lie being able to camp between shelters as the shelters are not always spaced a convenient distance apart, but lately every time I do I end up skipping breakfast because I am not willing to squat in the rain and cook.

If you want a laugh, go online and check the extended forecast for Pearisburg, VA. I have been wet for three days now, and it looks like there is no end in sight. I dream of being dry.

I should be in Pearisburg on Wednesday. I have a lot of mail waiting for me there, and I plan to take a day off. I'll go to the laundry and get everything clean and dry. Simple pleasures.

So Ken, I was a manly man last night and slept out in the rain instead of going to the motel. What have you been up to?

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Campsite at Pond Near Chestnut Knob to Campsite at Laurel Creek

Satrurday, 5/2

AT Miles = 16.6 / 576.1
Other Miles = 0 / 21.2
Total Miles = 16.6 / 597.3

So, a miserable day. It had to happen sooner or later, I guess. There is no special reason why this day should have been such a negative experience, but it was.

The sky stayed dry until after I went to bed last night. I woke up around 11:00 or so to the sound of rain, but rain at night while I am tucked snug in my hammock is no big deal. What is a big deal is the dense fog that rolled in after the rain stopped. Boy, how I hate that fog. I blows through my hammock and gets everything wet. It condenses inside the undercover, which then gets the bottom insulation wet. It condenses on my sleeping baga, making that wet. It condenseson the netting on my hammock, and it condenses on the underside of the tarp. Since the hammock gets rolled up inside the tarp for packing, that just makes the hammock even more wet.

So I woke up in a foul mood. It was raining when I got up, so instead of making breakfast I packed up and planned to hike the two miles to Chestnut Knob Shelter then cook breakfast there. I hiked through the dense fog until I got to Chestnut Knob. As I approached a hiker was just returning to the shelter, I presume from fetching water. I said "Good morning" and he looked at me, said nothing, then walked into the shelter and closed the door. I don't know what that was about, but it seemed like something my day would be better without, so instead of stopping I continued on down the trail.

It was foggy and the rain continued on and off all morning, so I stopped briefly to eat a couple of Pop-Tarts, a candy bar, and some gorp, and pushed on until I reached Jenkins Shelter, at about 12 miles, around 12:30. I was feeling beat so boiled enough water for a couple of cups of tea, and to make the instant oatmeal I should have eaten this morning. Once I consumed that, I started in on lunch. I spent a good hour and a half eating and sipping tea, and was starting to feel a little bit more optimistic.

I toyed with the idea of pushing the next 12 miles to Rt. 52 and hitching into Bland so I could spend the night at the motel, but two things stopped me. First, there was no way I had 24 miles in my legs today. Second, I know this would disappoint Ken and I couldn't stand to lower myself in his esteem. So I stuyck with my original plan and hiked on another 5 miles or so to this spot at Laurel Creek where I am camped. It's a nice spot, except that it is right next to a road. I can't be seen from the road, but I hear cars go by every half hour or so. That makes me a bit nervous. I have a (not so) hard and fast rule never to camp next to a road, but accordning to my book there isn't another place to get water or to camp between here and Bland. What's a boy to do?

So I set up my hammock back behind a thicket of rhododendron. Like last night, I am fortunate that the rain has held off while I set up camp, washed my hair and took a bandanna bath, cooked and ate dinner, and now while I sit and write this. Soon I will pack everything up and climb into my hammock with my radio and my book. Maybe I will be fortunate like last night, and there will be something interesting to listen to. Last night I listened to some great jazz on an NPR station. But tonight I am down in a hole so I might not be so lucky. There is no phone reception here so this isn't going to get sent until tomorrow at least.

Oh, at one point this morning I was hiking up and down every stupid bump on Chestnut Ridge, and I passed a sign that said "VIEW." In my foul mood I said "@#$%^ VIEW" rather loudly, then a moment later four local day hikers rounded the corner in front of me. If they had heard me, they were nice enough not to let on. We chatted for a few minutes, and that did more than anything else today to help me cope with my bad mood.

Here's hoping tomorrow morning is dry. I have seven miles to hike to the road, then I'll hitch into Bland to shop and the grocery store, and hopefully to get lunch at the Subway in town. After I hitch back to the trail it is only three miles further on to the next shelter. That's my goal for tomorrow. Then on Wednesday I should get to Pearisburg where I have a bunch of maikl waiting. I plan to take a zero day there.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Atkins, VA to "Spring Fed Pond"

Friday, 5/1

AT Miles = 21.2 / 559.5
Other Miles = 0 / 21.2
Total Miles = 21.2 / 580.7

Happy May Day!

Hey, I am half way to half way! I have now hiked more than 1/4 of the miles from Springer Mtn to Katahdin.

After a big breakfast at the restaurant this morning -- two eggs, two pancakes, two sausage, two bacon, two biscuits with gravy, home fries, coffee, orange juice, and water -- I set off a few minutes before 8:00. After crossing under the highway the trail spends several miles traversing farm fields and overgrown meadows. It was really nice. At this low elevation everything is in bloom and the trees and shrubs were full of birdsong.

I climbed up onto a ridge and again was high enough that spring hadn't quite arrived, but then descended back into the lowlands and for another few miles the trail threads through farm country. I must have climbed a dozen stiles over farm fences. At each one I thought to myself that this is the perfect opportunity to fall, break a leg, and bring my hike to an end. Luckily, that didn't happen.

I was feeling good today after all that food and a good rest, and I reached my intended destination, Knot Maul Shelter, 14 miles into the day at 1:30. I ate lunch there and contemplated the sky, which had treated me to rain showers on and off all morning. One minute it would look dark and menacing, and the next bits of blue sky would appear. Finally I decided it was simply too early to call it a day and around 2:00 I saddled up and moved on.

I hiked a couple more hours until I came to a Forest Service road. Checking my book I could see that I should come to what is listed as "spring fed pond" in about 2 miles of uphill hiking. I decided that was my destination. Well, the uphill was of the heart attack inducing kind. At least, it felt that way at the end of a long day. It took about 20 minutes longer than I thought it could possibly take, but I finally arrived here and found a nice spot in the woods just behind the pond to hang my hammock and call home for the night. The sky has looked like rain is imminent ever since I arrived here, but I've got camp set up, cooked, ate, and cleaned up from my dinner, and once I finish this I will crawl into my hammock and listen to my radio or read my book until sleep overtakes me, which won't take long.

It looks like I will be in Bland sometime Sunday morning. Unless the weather is a total washout, I plan to get into town to resupply then get back out and move on to the next shelter.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Appearing Elsewhere

I've mentioned Sir Richard now and again. Here's a link to one of his blog entries where he mentions some of the folks we've been hiking with lately:

http://richdoestheat.blogspot.com/2009/04/wednesday-15-april-2009-bald-mountain.html

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com