Day 61, July 15, 2014

11.9 AT miles.

Some days wanting to complete miles overwhelms the mind. Today I'm grateful to say I'm glad I slowed it down.

The morning was foggy and humid and my bag, pack cover, boots and clothes were wet. I had a pair of socks that were mostly dry, a soaked pair and a completely dry pair. It's always a good idea to keep a pair of clean/dry socks in the bank! I opted for the mostly dry pair and hung the drenched ones on my pack. I put on dry clothes and quickly switched to placing my previous days wet clothes before departing the shelter. If I would have placed dry clothes on, they would be wet in a matter of minutes. They were slightly cold but I began walking. My body heat warned me up and I made it to the historic halfway point. IHOP and I posed for a picture. 

We arrived at Pine Grove State Park ready to conquer the half gallon challenge. I arrived and my group informed me their was one left. I thought they were joking and sure enough there was only one Coconut half gallon of ice cream left (-a pint) left. The prices were reasonable and I ordered two burgers and fries. I got me a $.75 nest tea out of the vending machine. This was around 10:15 a.m. We waited for the AT museum to open at 12 p.m. and it was worth the stall. 

I spent an hour or two in the museum and it was remarkable. Benton MacKaye, Myron Avery, Ed Garvey, Grandma Gatewood and Gene Espy were amazing pioneers. Their stories each phenomenal and exceptional to the history of the Appalachian Trail.

After we toured the museum the Hershey Ice Cream truck arrived. I had approximately 9 miles to hike and begin processing my options. I quickly realized hiking would be horrendous after eating that much ice cream. We did some estimations and quickly realized it was approximately 2-3 cups of sugar, 2400 calories and overwhelming amounts of lactose. Your pancreas would be extremely upset with you as well. We also realized that the typical family ice cream which they were selling as a "half gallon was a pint short. They are 1 and a half quarts. Needless to say noone went back for the extra pint! The ones who participated were great sports. Most finished.

I walked my remaining miles and arrived at 5 p.m. I picked a top bunk at James Fry Shelter. Relaxed and completed chores. Another fire and beautiful evening.

AT midway.

Pine Grove.

AT museum.

Gene Espy.

Check out the chucks! We are spoiled with our gear these days.

Gma Gatewood.

Go girl!

Mr. Ed Garvey.

A "trail blazer."

Total AT thru hikers by decade. +2,000 miles on the AT. Excited to be amongst the great!

The AT visionary.

The framework.

AT museum and free peaches!

Half gallon challenge competitors. Starting in orange going left: Tuna, Meticulous, Black Beard, Growler, the German and classy.

Tuna going in...

Da ice cream in the beard.

We did it! Good job Growler! 

Sassafras root tea. Yum.

Day 60, July 14, 2014

15.8 AT miles.

I left the pavilion and arrived at Quarry Gap Shelter. I met up with plenty of my AT friends to stay awhile til noon. The shelter was marvelous and the landscape beautiful. The rhododendron blossoms on the ground as I approached the shelter were picturesque. 

I ate a quick lunch at Birch Run Shelter. I hydrated, grabbed a resupply of water and pressed on. I finally had someone to push me mileage wise. Tuna and I did a four mile an hour pace or maybe even 8 miles in two hours. We were booking it!

At about 3:30 p.m. rained settled in til my arrival at Toms Run Shelter around 5:15 p.m. I arrived at the official halfway point for 2014 drenched. Hero took IHOP and my picture. What an ecstatic achievement!

Toms Shelter was a neat place with a soothing stream running in the distance. Evidently one of the shelters burned down in 2013. There were 12 people at camp and 5 of us slept in the shelter. They also had a nice covered pavilion that allowed us to dry multiple people's clothing.

I whipped out my fire making abilities and started a fire. We found a few pieces of dry wood under the shelter and I had some extra toilet paper. Tuna and Hero also assisted. I dried my boots the best I could.

Tuna found a baby ring snake and grabbed it. It was a foot and a half long. I asked if I could hold my first snake ever. He said sure and I felt like a boss :)! Everyone but Tuna and I went to sleep.

While Tuna was heading to his hammock for sleep Hero said in a concerned voice from his hammock, "hello!" "Who's out there?" I died laughing and Tuna said what's up. We both laughed forever and realized Hero was sleep talking :)! We shared the story with many others and begin adding to the story. We had people dying laughing as Tuna shared the story and added, "Go away you bear." And also, "Momma, please help!" Hero is hiking with his mother Honey Buns. They are two amazing people and they have an excellent sense of humor.

The fire was nice and I slept sound.

 

Rhodadendron beauty.

Rhodadendron in the air!

Birch Rub at noon.

My man Tuna!

Tuna jogging!

The Forest.

Official 2014 AT halfway point. Ihoppin it.

Day 59, July 13, 2014

I left Tumbling Run Shelter at 8:30 a.m. I had to drink 2 liters of water before leaving camp and also pack out 2 liters. The nearest water would be 10 miles from camp.

I made it to Caledonia State Park. My plan was to enjoy the pool and take a shower. It was $5 for the pool, shower, laundry in the shower and outlets. The first thing I saw was the Water slide! Boo yah! I was so excited! I went to the shower room and lathered up with hand soap. Yes we can be hiker trash, but you have to always be resourceful :)! I washed my clothes in the shower and dirt continuously fell out of my clothes and socks. I wiped down the shower and hung my clothes on the fence to dry. I went for the water slide and that was my appearance to the pool! It was awesome but chilly. Being a big kid on the AT is one of the most amazing things to enjoy. I mean think about it, kids are always having fun, and we as adults need to be big kids more! It was overcast much of the day. I laid my sleeping pad and sleeping bag out and began blogging. The sun peaked out at 2:45 p.m. which was crucial. I kept a pair of clothes dry but was mentally preparing to dry my clothes in the bathroom hand dryer if need be. The sun came out and all my clothes dried out.

Lots of other hikers strolled in and I left at 7 p.m. when the pool closed. We heard about a vegetarian trail magic that was .2 miles further still in the park. I arrived and the Church group was amazing. They had been there since 9 a.m. They had four grills going since they arrived and grilled veggie burgers, baked potatoes and corn. When I arrived they still had blessings of corn, humus, gluten free chips, cherry tomatoes, carrots, celery, salad, pineapple, coconut milk, granola, etc. All was organic and from Whole Foods. They sodas and all were made with real sugar and were from whole foods as well. No corn syrup, etc. they also had 12 volt drill batteries to charge phones, weight scales, veggie recipe books, 3d maps of the trail with 3d goggles, they had the freakin works.

We stayed til 8 p.m. and a nasty storm began rolling in. We gave back my helping Ray Sterner and his wife load up. Ray was a neat guy that worked at the Maryland John's Hopkins applied physics lab. He was also an amateur astronomer and told me about the time he met the guy who discovered Pluto which then was a planet. He told me more stories about his awesome professional experiences he had with military research and other cool interesting projects. They thanked us endlessly for helping them load and we thanked them tons as well. It was just a continuous grateful relationship for all parties. They left us with breakfast of apples and juices. We stealth camped on the picnic tables to avoid the wild storm. We had planned to hike 2.2 more miles to avoid the storm, but knew staying in the pavilion was our best option. Stealth camping is when you tent camp or in our case throw out sleeping pads and bags where you "weren't suppose to." However, you have to think smart and utilize self preservation to stay safe, etc. in this case it was to take our chances with a ranger asking us to leave.

The pavilion was large and we were in the back. The ranger did a drive by at 11:30 p.m. and he either didn't see us or acted like he didn't see us so we could stay safe. Some other hikers told us the next morning they were asked to leave their pavilion and continue on. So maybe we lucked out :)!

Approximately 10+ AT miles hiked.

I met some hikers who were hiking for an awesome cause as well!

Nathan and Bennett! Please help them if possible.

Hikers with a cause :).

Rock maze!

Rhododendron.

Caledonia State Park.

Water slide!!!

Gabe Cisneros aka "Tuna." Splash!!

Stealth Camp.

Day 58, July 12, 2014

Pennsylvania! Mason Dixon! Miss the South already :)!!

13.2 AT miles hiked.

I headed out of Raven Rock around 9:40 a.m. I made it to Pen Mar County Park at ~11:20 a.m. Approx. 4.6 miles.

Pen Mar Park was beautiful. I began my hike into Waynesboro, PA for a small resupply. I tried hitching for 2.5 miles with two other ladies and had no luck. However, the weather was nice and the road was a steady descent. Upon making it to Wal-Mart, I saw the Old Town Buffet. I went in to check the prices and realized it was a China Buffet. The price was $6.49 and I could not resist. I had two full plates, a plate of fruit/chocolate pudding and a ice cream. I headed to a Wal-Mart for a resupply for about 4 days. I left Wal-Mart under $20. I'm getting the hang of re supplies instead of trying to get everything!

I was able to score a ride out of Wal-Mart from a nice elderly couple. They took me and the other two girls back.

Upon arriving back to Pen Mar County Park I took the time for a history lesson. A nice volunteer informed me on the neat heritage of Pen Mar.

I walked down and met up with other thru hikers. Members of the Legion, Boy Scouts and the Free Masons shared their cook out with us. Unfortunately, I was full from the buffet and only had a slice of watermelon. They shared blackberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, hot dogs and cookies. We shared our thru hiker stories with them and expressed out gratitude.

We were fortunate to also wait out an afternoon thunderstorm under the park pavilion.

I hiked another 8.6 miles starting about 5 p.m. I was also later treated to a Pepsi and cold water at Old Forge Picnic Area by a man named Cory. His family had just finished their cookout when i arrived. I thanked him for his generosity and kept moving. I drank the Pepsi when I arrived to Tumbling Run Shelter. The two cabins here were nice and well kept. As was the camping areas. I'm not saying other states don't take care of the trail, but Pennsylvania is making an impression with their shelters and campsites!

Day 2 no watch. I feel more free and not tied to linear time. It's a good exercise that takes away unnecessary stress.

Pen Mar Park.

Mason Dixon. Trying to stay on the southern side, but have to go north!

Tuna and I. Every playground we test all the obstacles!

I stayed on the right where it said "no storing."

Update August 22, 2014

I want to apologize for being unable to keep my blog current. I appreciate each and every one of you following my journey. Also, I assure you that I am journaling every day, it is just proving difficult to transfer it to my blog. However, I will ensure you that I will have my everyday account up as soon as possible.

Quick update... I went to NYC for 4 days. It was an amazing experience for me. I had never been to the Big City. Also, my childhood friend Tim Jeffereys was an awesome host for us in Brooklyn.

The last two days has been wet. However, in the past 8 days we have completed 158 miles. We are moving and feeling sore to say the least. We are keeping a good eye on our bodies to ensure prevention of injury. I will do 19 miles and reach the Vermont border tonight. 

I plan to arrive in Hanover, New Hampshire on August 29-30. This will allow a month for New Hampshire and Maine. My Mt. Katadin summit day should be October 1st. This allows two weeks for bad weather and days off if needed.

Upon completing I may take a day or few days making my way from Maine to Boston, maybe Baltimore then the Carolina's. I should arrive to Damascus on or around October 10-15. This will allow for completion of my last 466 miles by Thanksgiving which was my beginning goal.

I hope all of you are well and I look forward to continuing to share my story with you in hopes that you will be fully prepared to conqeur the AT yourself, or just go out and enjoy it when ya can.

I can't wait to see you guys and until then, Ima get back to hiking :).

Much Love,

Smooth D

Day 57, July 11, 2014

Today was a great hike at 18.8 AT miles. Slightly rocky but level for the most part.

The Washington Monument was spectacular. It was quite astonishing.

Today I took my watch off and it's a whole new experience.

Bed at 9 p.m.

Maryland AT.

George Wasington monument.

Day 56, July 10, 2014

Zero.

Rested again and spent time with great friends. The Dahlgren Backpack Campground is a nice place. I took a shower and rested up.

The body feels wonderful. I felt slightly guilty for taking two zeros but it turned out to be a good decision.

Tuna and Meticulous' set up