Look Ma, Halfway!

The last time we spoke, I was headed off to an Old Crow Medicine Show concert in Charlottesville, Virginia.  Since then, I've hiked about 150 more miles, crossed the 1,000 mile point, made it to the unofficial halfway point in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, and am now spending a zero day with my brother in Washington, DC.  Let's discuss.

Sunday, May 24--mile 897.6
Cousins Matt and Caroline dropped me off back in Waynesboro, where the rest of my group had spent the night and were waiting to get shuttled back up the trail.  After a big ordeal where we tried to figure out how to best attach 5 backpacks to the roof of the car so they wouldn't fall off while driving, we headed out.  The first day out of town is always hard, and we were all moving pretty slowly.  The 12:30 pm start time didn't help us too much, either.  We ended up only going 11 miles, and we camped by a ranger station (an act we're not entirely sure was legal. shh, don't tell).  It was a little bit creepy, with an old bear transport cage and a few dog cages surrounding our tents.  The dog cages served as a good spot for bear bagging for the night, though!

Monday, May 25--mile 922.1
The Shenandoahs are an interesting place to hike.  Fairly frequently, you run into camp stores and waysides where you can stop in and get snacks or cold drinks (read: beer) partway through the day.  This was one of those days.  We ended up taking a long break at a camp store in order to refuel before hiking the rest of our 25 mile day.  This was my longest day yet at that point, so I ended up being pretty exhausted by the end of it.  We decided on big miles so that we would only be 2 miles away from another lodge and restaurant in the morning.  A big breakfast was on all of our minds.

After getting to camp, we went to get water from a nearby stream and made a little (read: big) bear friend.  He was about 30 yards downstream, and he could not have cared less that we were there.  Most black bears will scare pretty easily, but throughout the Shenandoahs, they tend to be a bit more accustomed to people and will stand their ground more.  We decided that bearbagging definitely had to happen.  Nobody got a visit in the night from our new friend, though, so all was well.

Tuesday, May 26--mile 938.5
We hiked those two miles in the morning to Big Meadows Lodge and sat down for a very large breakfast and about 2 gallons of coffee each.  After this special treat, we hiked on until lunchtime, when we ran into another lodge.  Let me tell you, it is very difficult to pass up REAL food along the trail, so into Skyland we went.  Getting a full day of hiking in with two meals at restaurants is kind of a weird feeling that you don't get to experience anywhere along the trail other than in the Shenandoahs, so despite the weirdness, we indulged.

We all went to a shelter that night, and since it was supposed to storm, I was actually considering sleeping in the shelter instead of my tent--something I NEVER do.  However, as I was getting into my sleeping bag, about three mice started running all around the shelter, and it was game over for me.  Not even my pocket shot of whiskey that I packed in helped to calm me down, and I rushed out to set up my tent for the night.  I will take a soaking wet tent over mice running around my face any day of the week.

Wednesday, May 27--mile 958.5
I hiked out from the shelter in the morning with Hip (aka Dirty Mike), and we went a couple of miles in before deciding to actually go off-trail to an overlook.  Most of the time, thru-hikers pass up these views, even if they're only .1 or .2 off-trail, because we want to get our miles in for the day without doing anything extra.  This time, however, the tiny extra bit was TOTALLY WORTH IT, because the views were incredible.  It was early enough in the morning that the sun hadn't cleared the fog from the valley beneath us yet, and it just felt like we were on top of the world.  It made me realize that I need to slow down more and take the time to enjoy views like these.

We passed another wayside in the afternoon, and even though I told myself I wouldn't, I ate lunch there anyways.  Like I said, it is so hard to pass up real food when you get the chance, but it never fails to make me feel less than wonderful when hiking on afterwards.  Mistakes were made.

Despite the afternoon hike being miserable due to my lack of self-control around food, the evening made up for it with the decision to camp by a beautiful overlook.  We ate dinner looking out over the view and drank beer and ate Poptarts while the sun set, in true hiker trash fashion.  It was quite lovely.

Thursday, May 28--mile 984.6
This was my first marathon day!  Hip and I made good time in the morning and caught a quick hitch into nearby Front Royal to resupply for the next couple days.  There was a grocery store right on the outskirts of town, and we actually managed to make it a quick in-n-out visit, which never happens when I go to town.  We were quite proud of ourselves.

Around lunchtime, we made it to a shelter that actually had a solar shower!  This was the point at which I realized I am a true thru-hiker, because I passed on this opportunity.  I knew I was going to be hiking 5 or 10 more miles that day, so I didn't quite see the point in showering.  It appears that I have officially reached the point of having zero standards about anything, especially about how covered in dirt I may be.

Papalu, Squabbler and I hiked the remaining 10 miles past that shelter to complete my marathon!  I don't believe I have ever been as physically exhausted as I was that night.  I was basically a zombie for the last 5 miles, but I really wanted to get them in!  I was proud of myself for pushing through, despite my desire to stop short.

Friday, May 29--mile 1010.9
Because one marathon day wasn't enough, I decided to do a second in a row.  But let's make things a little more interesting, shall we?  This day's hike was completed entirely in my Tevas.  Since it's started getting hotter, I've actually been getting blisters from my boots, so I figured I'd try something a bit different.  This may have been a mistake.  The blisters from my boots are doing fine, but now I have a whole new set of blisters from my sandals.  Backpacking is fun and never hard work and it never hurts at all.

I was especially proud of myself for this day, because half of it was the dreaded Roller Coaster--13.5 miles of tightly packed ascents and descents.  On a day as hot and humid as this one was, it was particularly miserable.  One little bonus in the middle of this hell, however, was the 1,000 mile mark!!  Every 100 mile mark is a cool milestone, but 1,000 felt especially amazing.  I don't know if you realize this, but 1,000 miles is a lot of miles.  The more you know.

With about 3 miles left in the Roller Coaster, there is a hostel you can stop at that includes a personal pizza and a pint of Ben & Jerry's with your stay.  Papalu and Squabbler had been planning on doing the full 26 miles that day, but once they reached the hostel, the pull of real food and air conditioning was too strong, and they stopped for the night.  Chimney, Tomki, and Hip were also planning on staying there for the night.  Salmon and I, however, went a little bit crazy and decided to keep on keepin' on.  Salmon was actually way ahead of me at this point, with the crazy idea of hiking all the way to Harpers Ferry that night (this didn't end up happening).  Anyways, I passed on the pizza and made my way towards the end of the Roller Coaster.  Shortly after the end of that hilly hell, I crossed the border into West Virginia!!  Not two minutes up the trail from there (short enough that Country Roads was still playing on my phone), I came around the corner to this absolutely incredible view with the sun setting in the background and suddenly got very overwhelmed because I am a huge emotional sap.  Everything just felt so right in that moment, and I was extraordinarily happy to be in that place and on this journey.

Even though the sun was starting to set, I took my time at this overlook and soaked it in for a few minutes.  I still had 4 more miles to go, so I started booking it once I headed out of there.  This was my first time night hiking by myself, and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a bit scary.  There are a ton of deer in this area, but at night, I automatically assumed that every time I heard a large animal crashing through the woods, it was a bear.  Thankfully, none of the deer were bears, and I made it to the Blackburn AT Center just fine and shortly after 9:00.  None other than Trailboss, who built the stupid Roller Coaster, was there with his wife overlooking the center.  As much as I wanted to punch the guy in the face before I met him for making the trail so intentionally hard, my opinion instantly changed when he welcomed me into the center.  He gave me a cold soda, homemade pumpkin bread, and a large slice of watermelon, and he showed me a couch on the enclosed porch that I could sleep on for the night instead of having to find a spot to set up my tent in the dark.  Not quite the sadist that I imagined him to be.  It was the perfect ending to my second marathon day in a row.

Saturday, May 30--mile 1022.8
Otherwise known as the day that I reached the unofficial halfway point of the AT!!  Salmon ended up also being at the Blackburn Center the night before, so together we ate oatmeal and drank coffee that Trailboss provided us in the morning before heading out.  Did I mention that Trailboss is the nicest man ever?  After hiking for a couple of hours, we ran into some delicious trail magic!  The parents of another thru-hiker we know came down from Ohio to visit and decided to provide some magic while they were around.  We stuffed our faces with brats, cookies, chips, and Powerade before making our way to Harpers Ferry.  The last few miles into town are always the slowest, but we finally made it to the ATC Headquarters!  Salmon and I hung around the headquarters and waited for the rest of the guys to show up.

My brother Michael lives in DC, so he came in for the afternoon to visit (and feed) me!  A couple of hours later, my wonderful professor/mentor/friend Heather, who used to teach at OU but now lives in West Virginia, also came to visit!  This was a super fun treat for me.  Thank you SO MUCH for coming to see me, Heather!!  We all ate dinner together and ran into just about every hiker that I know in Harpers Ferry, INCLUDING KYLIE!!! I didn't think I was going to get to see her, but as we were wrapping up at dinner, I looked over the balcony and saw her walking down the street.  I very rudely interrupted whatever conversation we were having in order to run to the side and yell down to her.  It was very Romeo and Juliet of us.  It was a lovely evening of reunions and socialization. Michael and I drove to DC for the night so I could shower for hours and sleep in a decent bed.  It was a great day to celebrate making it (basically) halfway!

So today is a zero day.  I'll be headed back to Harpers Ferry on the train here in a few hours, and then it'll be back to the trail in the morning!  I'll be in Maryland by tomorrow night and Pennsylvania by the next.  Time is flying!  I have to get off trail in mid-June, so at this point, we're just going to see how far I can make it.  I've heard that big miles are pretty easy to get in PA, so I should be able to get 200+ more miles in before it's time for me to go.  I can't believe that cutoff date is coming up so quickly, but we'll talk (read: cry) more about that when it is actually that time.  Until then!!!

Old Friends, New Friends, and Side Trips

Thursday, May 14--mile 770.0
This was my first day back on the trail post-Oklahoma visit, and it was quite honestly very rough.  After ten straight days of being off-trail, transitioning back into this lifestyle took me a couple of days.  It was good being back hiking with Kylie, though!  We had a pretty nice day for weather, and there was at least one good view.  Getting back into the swing of things is never easy, but it could have been a much worse day.

Friday, May 15--mile 788.2
Just one night back on the trail was enough for me to accept this as my current lifestyle again.  Mentally, this day was much easier than the one before.  Unfortunately, even ten days off from hiking wasn't enough to alleviate my knee problems, and they started really acting up again.  It's always frustrating when this happens, because I feel like I should be able to fully enjoy the beautiful days like this one, but the constant pain really detracts from my ability to do so.

Kylie and I ended up night hiking for awhile because we had gotten a late start out of camp that morning but wanted to get more mileage in before quitting for the day.  We went a couple of miles past the shelter where most other people around us were staying and found a little spot to camp on the side of the mountain that we assumed would provide a good view of the sunrise in the morning.  Despite running generally north to south, the AT often switches which direction it's headed in, so we made sure to check that we were actually facing east at this point in time before setting up camp so that we were ensured a view of the sunrise.

The rare moment where there was someone around to take a picture of the two of us together

Saturday, May 16--mile 806.4
As it turned out, night hiking and camping on the side of the mountain was one of the best decisions we had made so far on the trail, because this morning produced the most beautiful sunrise I've ever seen in my life.  Kylie's alarm went off at 6:00 am, and our immediate reaction was to ignore it and go back to sleep, as we are often wont to do.  This time, however, I managed to lift myself out of my sleeping bag enough to unzip my tent and glance outside.  Thank goodness that I did, because I immediately came completely to and yelled out to Kylie, "GET UP NOW.  IT IS SO BEAUTIFUL."  We were up high enough in elevation that the clouds were all down in the valley below us, and the sun had already started to turn the sky a beautiful shade of pink.  It legitimately felt like we were on top of the world, and it completely took my breath away.  I got out of my tent, grabbed my stove and a Poptart, and settled in to stare out at the glorious view for the next full hour.  I would have stayed there for days if this sight had remained the same.  I couldn't get enough of it.  I sipped on my coffee and ate breakfast until we finally decided it was time to hit the road.  Everyone else we ran into who had come up the mountain that morning also said that view was their favorite of the entire trail so far, so we were definitely not misguided in our opinions.

We hiked for the rest of the day and made it into the little town of Buena Vista (pronounced Byoona Vista--I wish this was a joke).  We got really lucky catching a hitch into town this time, as the road into town had only sporadic traffic.  Right as we were coming to a good place on the side of the road to hitch from, a guy with a pickup drove by and immediately stopped for us.  It was perfect timing!  After eating dinner at one of the three restaurants in town, we settled in for the night.

Pictures don't even slightly do it justice.

Documenting my new favorite coffee-drinking spot in the world

Sunday, May 17--mile 812.7
In the morning, Kylie headed back to the trail.  She had a friend coming to hike with her for a couple of days, so the two of them started that way after a big Hardee's breakfast.  I also had a friend coming to hike with me for the week, so I stayed in town for a few more hours and waited on Connor to arrive.  Connor and I went to the same schools while growing up in Clemson, and he is the only person I know from home who also came to OU for college.  He just graduated from OU in May, and he's getting ready to move to Madison, Wisconsin for his new big-boy job.  For some reason, he decided to subject himself to a week of torture on the AT before heading out there.  Early in the afternoon, he arrived in Buena Vista and we headed out to the trail!  We only got about 6 miles in during the afternoon, and we met Kylie and her friend at a campsite in a beautiful meadow by a spring.  It was a nice, leisurely day, and it was a welcome change to have an old friend out there with me!

Only slightly excited to see a familiar face

Monday, May 18--mile 827.0
Otherwise known as the day that Connor started to hate me.  Just kidding...I think.  Most people ease into their backpacking trips with a few 8-10 mile days in order to get their bodies used to things, but I kind of forced Connor straight into a 14+ mile day.  Luckily, the terrain in this part of Virginia is easier than most of what we've encountered on the trail so far, but 14 miles is still 14 miles.  Connor was a champ, though, and made it to the end of the day with only a moderate amount of blisters on his feet.  Oops.  Sorry, dude.  We also encountered a rattlesnake right on the trail, so if Connor wasn't dealing with enough from his feet falling off already, I'm sure I really made his day by screaming in his ear when the snake started rattling louder than a jet plane.  It blended in really well with the trail, so I was not expecting its warning to come from right ahead of me at all.  If I could jump on cue as high as I did when that snake started rattling, I'd probably be much better at basketball than I actually am.

The day probably would have been easier on both of us if it hadn't started pouring in the afternoon, but ya can't have it all.  We got to scramble up slippery Spy Rock during the downpour in order to have at least 270 degrees of the 360 degree view that is normally available from up there.  It was really pretty despite the thick rainclouds covering the other fourth of the view.  The rain eventually let up for the most part, and we settled in for the night at a shelter.

Sliding back down Spy Rock

Tuesday, May 19--mile 840.8
With Kylie's friend no longer hiking with her, she headed off in the morning to get big miles for the next few days.  We said goodbye until I catch back up, so hopefully that ends up being before I get off of the trail for good!  It was a pretty sad moment.  I mean, Kylie and I have been together since BEFORE SPRINGER.  What is the AT without her?!  I knew it would be a different experience from there on out.  Connor and I headed out shortly thereafter and started down The Priest, one of the steeper descents for NOBOs.  I was pretty concerned about the effect that this would have on my knees, but it ended up being better than expected.

On our way down the hill, Connor and I were taking a snack break at one of the overlooks.  Another hiker came around the bend, and we started chatting with him.  We were going through the typical questions--when did you start, where are you from, etc.  When I mentioned that I hail from Oklahoma, he says, "Wait.  Oklahoma?  I've been looking for a girl from Oklahoma."  Now, my immediate reaction to a stranger saying he's been looking for me is to get very creeped out and to avoid said stranger, so I started concocting a plan in my head to do just that.  However, a few sentences later, I realized what he was getting at.  My cousin Maghie, who lives in South Korea and teaches English there, had told me that she had a friend there doing the same thing who was going to be hiking the AT this year, too.  This was the guy!  Our paths had finally crossed!  Sometimes I forget how small the AT hiking community really is, but this was still a pretty crazy coincidence.  It is a very very very small world out there, guys.  And now that I know who he is, I am not creeped out by Fireman anymore.  We've actually been hiking together for the most part ever since!

The end of this day was a more unusual one than most.  We ended up hitching to Devil's Backbone Brewery, an incredibly hiker-friendly establishment and definitely my favorite business on the AT so far.  For some reason, they welcome hikers into the restaurant and allow them to mingle with all of the other freshly showered and clean-shaven patrons.  Apparently we don't manage to scare all other customers away, though I'm not exactly sure how.  We all consumed our fill (or slightly over our fill) of great food and beer, and we played cornhole until way past hiker midnight (in other words, until 11 pm).  The brewery lets hikers camp for free in the field outside, so we set our tents up there and eventually called it a night.

We might have completely taken over the entire bar.

Cornhole gets feisty.

Wednesday, May 20--mile 856.6

As I mentioned before, Devil's Backbone is the most amazing hiker-frequented establishment that I've experienced on the trail.  In the morning, they invite us back inside for a $5 hikers-only breakfast.  This is no cold cereal and yogurt breakfast, either.  Tony, the incredible and accommodating chef, whipped up some bacon and egg wraps, fried potatoes, orange slices, and fresh salads.  There was also an unlimited supply of freshly brewed coffee.  Oh, and did I mention that after we were all done with breakfast, the owner himself provided us all with a ride back to the trail?  This place is seriously unbelievable.

The hike for the rest of the day was beautiful!  We enjoyed perfect weather and great views.  Connor did a great job of getting big miles in as usual, and we made it almost a full 16 miles!

Waking up at Devil's Backbone--in a word, glorious.

Thursday, May 21--mile 861.7

We just had an easy 5 miles into town this morning!  The hike flew by, which was a good thing because it was much colder than usual and raining.  I found a new group of guys to hike with since Kylie left, so we all went into town and ate at an all you can eat buffet for lunch.  Afterwards, we got free showers at the YMCA and hung around and did errands until we were able to check into the hostel we were staying at for the night.  Connor got a taxi back to his car in Buena Vista, so he headed out mid-afternoon.  It was so great having him around for a few days!  I think that somehow he managed to make it through without developing a great and permanent hatred for me.  If your friendship can survive a week of backpacking together, it can survive anything, so I think we'll be good to go from here.

The guys and I (otherwise known as Dirty Mike and the Boys) stayed at one of the three Lutheran churches in Waynesboro for the night.  This particular one offers a free dinner to hikers on Thursdays, so we had good timing on that front.  They also let hikers sleep there for free any night of the week.  They were very accommodating, despite the 10:00 curfew.  That is one thing none of us were expecting to experience on the trail.  Free is hard to pass up, though.

Friday, May 22--mile 887.5

Because Dirty Mike and the Boys have been super welcoming in letting me into their group, they included me in their plans to attend an Old Crow Medicine Show concert in Charlottesville on Saturday!  Waynesboro is the closest trail town to Charlottesville, so we wanted to be able to still be in town for the following day.  This meant that we made plans to southbound slackpack for the day.  We all got dropped off 25.8 miles up the trail with smaller daypacks with just snacks and water in them.  Having a pack that weighs next to nothing makes it much easier to get big miles in.  I'm not saying this was an easy day--26 miles is still 26 miles, and my feet still wanted to fall off at the end of the day.  But we still managed to finish them all by 5 pm or so!  I have cousins who live in Charlottesville, and they were kind enough to meet me at the trail and put me up for the night.  A home cooked meal and a hot shower are always welcome in my life, so this was much appreciated at this point.  I enjoyed the two aforementioned activities and headed to sleep nice and early.

Did someone say rock scramble?

It was a beautiful day for a slackpack.

Saturday, May 23--no mileage change

Today has been an incredibly enjoyable zero day in Charlottesville!  Matt and Jodi got my day off to a wonderful start by asking my favorite question in the world: "Pancakes or waffles?"  (Waffles, for those of you who were wondering.)  After a delicious breakfast, we went to the farmers' market, played with the kids at the park for a while, and then had lunch downtown.  We're going to a crawfish boil this afternoon, and I'll be meeting back up with the boys later for the concert!  The AT itself is an incredible experience, and I love it a lot, but these side trips really add to the enjoyment of the whole thing.  It's nice to get off trail and experience some of the nearby trail towns and events.  So, a huge thanks to Matt and Jodi for letting me intrude for a couple of days!! It's much needed and VERY much appreciated.

Wagon Wheel, here I come!

AT to Oklahoma and Back

Well howdy!  I bet y’all thought you weren’t gonna have to read another of these dang blogs, huh?  It’s been a quick minute since my last post, but we’re back in business, baby.  I feel like so much has happened in the past four weeks and I just want to share every last detail with you!  Just kidding.  Scared you for a minute, huh?  “Great, yet another post where Lara rambles on and on way longer than she should about stuff I’m not sure that I actually care about.”  Well don’t you worry, my dears, I’ll keep it pretty short and sweet.  Mainly because so much time has passed between posts that I’ve kind of forgotten what’s happened over the past month.  Let’s see what we can remember, though…

Monday, April 20—mile 436

Kylie and I left Rachel and Gerrad’s house for the last time in the morning.  They drove us through Chick-fil-a on our way back to the trail, though, so my chicken biscuit did a pretty good job of balancing out the sadness of knowing I wouldn’t be seeing that pair during this trip anymore.  Apparently Kylie and I were a bit disoriented after our day in town, because we made our first wrong turn that morning (just kidding, it was not entirely our fault…BLAZE THE TRAILS BETTER, SOUTH VIRGINIA TRAIL MAINTAINERS).  We got to see a pretty cool waterfall once we got back on track, but we got forced on our way pretty quickly due to some rain moving in.  The clouds had lifted by early afternoon, however, and we got to enjoy a nice lunch at Wautauga Lake with beautiful weather and views, but more importantly, picnic tables and bathrooms with running water!  The rest of the day ended up being pretty tough because a stream that we were counting on had run dry, so all ten or so of us in the group had completely run out of water by the end of the day.  The icing on the cake was a delicious half-mile hike down what was basically the steepest hill we’ve encountered on the trail yet to get down to the only water source for miles.   We all ended up camping halfway down the hill at a gap because none of us wanted to continue all the way back up and onward to another campsite after refilling.  Oh, and the extra icing on top of that other icing (ugh, I really hate icing) was that I had forgotten my spoon at Rachel and Gerrad’s house that morning, so I got to eat my dinner with sticks that I hastily grabbed off of the ground as it started pouring and I was scrambling to get under my vestibule.  Nothing like a little twiggy ramen to end the day on a high note.

Picnic lunch at Wautauga Lake

The prettiest of lunch spots

Tuesday, April 21—mile 456

We finally hit our first 20 mile day!  Other than the mileage, it was a pretty uneventful day.  We were able to frolic around a beautiful meadow in the afternoon, which is always a nice change from the tree-shrouded sections.  And just let me take a moment to mention that this section of trail was actually handicap accessible.  As one of my friends from back home so wisely noted, “the 20 day was strategically placed, huh?”  We’re not gonna focus on that little detail though, right guys? Right?

Wednesday, April 22—mile 470.7

Otherwise known as “BYE FOREVER, TENNESSEE” day.   We finally crossed the border into Virginia!  The town of Damascus was only a few miles past the border, so we made it in fairly quickly afterwards.  Damascus is probably the most talked-about town on the trail, as it hosts Trail Days for a weekend in May each year.  Trail Days is a huge festival for AT hikers where a ton of outfitters and current and former hikers come together for a weekend of gear resupply, reunions, and drinking.  Lots of drinking.  Many current hikers will hitch rides back to Damascus if they’ve already passed through in order to partake in the festivities.  I will not be doing so.  I wasn’t planning on it anyways, but Damascus has forever equated itself in my mind with, well, Hell.  After getting into town, Kylie and I ate lunch and then resupplied for the next few days.  We had previously decided not to stay in town—there was a campsite just about a mile out of town that we wanted to head to just to save money instead of staying at a hostel.  So, we got our chores done and headed out of town.  We even joined back up with Wookie!  The three of us got to the campsite and settled in for the night….and then Kylie and I proceeded to get sick all night long.  This definitely ranks pretty high up on my list of “worst experiences of my life.”  We’ll leave out the completely unnecessary details and jump ahead to the next day…

Virginia, before disaster struck

Thursday, April 23—mile 468.8

Yes, you read that correctly—we lost miles from the previous day.  Kylie and I backtracked into Damascus in the morning in order to post up at a hostel and lay in bed and eat Saltines and drink Gatorade all day long.  The people at Woodchuck Hostel, by the way, are the nicest and most hospitable business owners I have ever met.  They let us trudge through their doors and instantly put us into beds and just let us be for the entire day.  I imagine I came across as the least friendly person on Earth—I showered upon arrival and then slept for about the next 20 hours, ignoring everything and everyone around me.  I would occasionally wake up, eat a cracker or two, take a sip of Gatorade, and go back to sleep.  In summary, it was pretty much the most fun ever and totally how I wanted to spend my day!

Friday, April 24—mile 487.3

After spending all of Thursday recovering, Kylie and I decided that we were ready to get back out on the trail, but we didn’t want to fully jump back into things.  We got on board with several other people who were slackpacking and decided that was the best route for us to take, as well.  Slackpacking means that you leave your full pack behind, borrow a small pack just to carry snacks and water for the day, and get dropped off at the mileage you want to reach for the day.  Then you hike southbound for the day back to where your pack is being held.  It was a good way to ease back into the hiking game, and it meant that we could have one more night in a real bed.

Saturday, April 25—mile 502.7

We got dropped off at the point we had slackpacked from the day before and became NOBOers again.  It ended up being a pretty tough day for the two of us.  First thing in the morning, Kylie was feeling really sick again.  As the day went on, she started feeling better and I started feeling way worse.  We have really good timing.  Eventually, we both felt okay instead of terrible, which is about all you can ask for sometimes.  We went through Greyson Highlands State Park, where the wild ponies are!  That was a fun experience for everyone except for Sullivan.  He got a bit too close to a baby pony and mama got mad and delivered a swift kick to the poor pup.  Luckily, his pack caught most of the blow and he was just scared out of his wits, but not injured.  We also passed the 500 mile mark!

PONIES!

And I would walk 500 more...

Sunday, April 26—mile 521.7

My journal is pretty lacking for this day, so not much must have happened worth noting.  We did encounter some trail magic, though!  A couple of men were posted up with snacks, sodas, and homemade banana bread, which was heaven in a loaf.

Monday, April 27—mile 531.6

We did an easy 10 miles into town this morning.  We got the luckiest hitch of our life from a man who was just happening to be dropping a couple of other hikers off and was headed back to Marion afterwards.  It was perfect timing, and he was so nice and accommodating!  He said he tried to pick up hikers as much as possible because they remind him of his son, who is currently serving in the Peace Corps in Ghana.  We got dropped off at a café where I had THE BEST MAILDROPS EVER waiting for me from the wonderful Nick Sparks and that delightful mother of mine—the hugest of shoutouts to y’all for helping to quell my extreme hiker hunger with such tasty goods.  I didn’t even have to resupply thanks to those guys, so that made my day in town much simpler.  Kylie and I then went to eat lunch at a KFC.  I modified this in my journal with “ew but yum,” which I think about sums things up.  It’s safe to say my standards for, well, everything have gone down quite far since being on the trail.  We caught a hitch from there to our motel from a man who said that his son thru-hiked last year, so he always stops for hikers who are thumbing it.  Hitching is always a humbling (and demeaning) experience, so it’s really a treat when people like that are so accommodating.  We were able to do laundry and sleep in a real bed.  It was good timing, since temperatures got back down below freezing again at night.

Tuesday, April 28—mile 549.2

My mood on the trail is usually largely dictated by how nice the weather is, so this ended up being a great day for Lara! The sun was shining and temperatures were warm. I even got to wear short sleeves for the very first time on the trail!  We encountered some trail magic left in a box on the side of the trail. I snagged some tasty chocolate almonds without a second thought as to who might have put them there or what poisons they might be laced with (spoiler alert: I survived).  If I ever disappear at some point in my life, it'll probably be safe to assume that it was because someone offered me free food and I instantly got in their van.  The AT has made me probably a bit too trusting of strangers and the food they leave behind.  Anyways, a large group of us camped together that night and we had a big family dinner circle going on around the campsite.  I really lucked out with the bubble of hikers I ended up with--they're a supremely awesome group that I completely adore.  It could have just as easily gone in the opposite direction, so I definitely appreciate that it worked out this way!

Loungin'

Wednesday, April 29--mile 566.5

According to my journal, I was quite bored for most of the day.  This isn't too rare of an occurrence, though.  I mean, think about it.  Every single day, we're all basically doing the same thing over and over.  Wake up. Eat. Pack. Eat. Walk. Eat. Walk. Eat. Eat. Eat. Sleep. Repeat.  It's easy to think that every day is going to be beautiful and full of excitement, but that's simply untrue.  Some days are just normal, uneventful, monotonous days.  It's just like real life.  Not every day can be a good one.  This day did actually end up being a bit out of the ordinary, however, because I actually got to see the sunset!  Most nights, I am in my tent asleep or about to be asleep before the sun goes down.  This night was no exception, but one of the guys who hadn't gone to bed yet hollered out to the rest of us snug in our tents "There's a great sunset if anyone is interested!"  Turns out that we were all interested, and we proceeded to poke our heads out of our tents like gophers and collectively "woahhh"ed.  It was definitely worth the effort of (halfway) getting back out of bed.

Worth it. 

Thursday, April 30--no idea what mile or what happened today because I didn't journal. Enough said.

Friday, May 1--mile 603.1

Kylie and I had a short walk to the road to Bland this morning.  We tried unsuccessfully to catch a hitch for 30 minutes or so until a lady who could see us from her window at her workplace decided to take pity on us and offered us a ride into town.  She took us to a restaurant where we could get a large, delicious breakfast.  We were taking turns ordering our food as usual, thanks to our furry four-legged friend not being allowed inside.  This process continued until the nicest man walked by and told us that we could get our food and sit inside of his barbershop with Sullivan until we were done.  He told me that after he turned 70 this year, he decided to do one nice deed for another person every day.  We were so glad to be the recipients of his kindness!  After eating and resupplying, we got a hitch back to the trail from a fellow hiker who was just doing sections in the area for the weekend and continued on with our day.  We made it past mile 600 and stopped for the night with the rest of our regular crew.

Saturday, May 2--mile 623.8

Again, not exactly sure what happened during the day because apparently I decided that keeping up with my journal was too much work.  I guess we'll never know what the morning of May 2nd contained.  Anyways, we made it to Woods Hole Hostel for the night, which was memorable enough that I don't need my journal to recall it.  This "little slice of heaven" is located on a beautiful farm about half a mile off of the trail.  Michael and Neville, the owners, practice sustainable farming and have free range animals and organic gardens.  They cook up a hearty dinner from scratch for the hostel guests each night, and let me tell you, they are wonderful cooks.  Getting to sit around the table like an actual family was a treat enough as it was, and having such delicious food was simply amazing.  We had a great night at the hostel that included a game of Cards Against Humanity, so it was a nice mix of activities.  

Woods Hole

Sunday, May 3--no mileage change

In the morning, several of us took some time to do yoga before heading out for the day.  Kylie and I ended up getting a ride from Neville into nearby Pearisburg, where we each got retrieved by our people who were taking us home for the week!  I decided about a month prior that I missed the heck out of my friends in Norman and randomly bought a plane ticket home for graduation weekend.  I had a few more days at this point until my flight, but my knees had been acting up so badly again that I decided to take some extra time off to allow them to heal.  My mom picked me up in Pearisburg and took me back to her house in Clemson, where I hung out until it was FINALLY time to go to Oklahoma.  

Skip ahead to now.  I had the absolute greatest time in Norman; I really did not want to leave again.  I got a bit too used to real life again and thinking about going back to the trail was getting weird.  But, I headed back to the east coast and here I am staying the night with Kylie and one of her friends in Roanoke, Virginia until we head back to the trail tomorrow morning!

That note leads me into another major update: I am no longer going to be attempting a complete thru-hike of the trail. Going into this hike, I had no real plans for afterwards other than a vague plan to go back to grad school in Spring 2016.  Since being on the trail, however, I made the decision to return to OU for this coming fall, and therefore imposed a deadline on my hike that was not there from the beginning.  Now, it might have been possible for me to complete the whole trail in time, but this would mean that I wouldn't have the option to be leisurely anymore.  If I wanted to take a cool side trip somewhere, I probably wouldn't be able to.  And I decided that I didn't like that much pressure.  Add another level to this decision: my knees started throwing a temper tantrum again.  It appears that I will not be able to escape this issue, so I need to 1) not hike like a maniac and irritate them even further, and 2) be prepared for the possibility that they're going to push me off of the trail for good at some point.  While we're at it, let's throw another reason for me to not hike the whole trail in there: family.  There are a couple of family obligations happening this summer that I was going to avoid by being mid-hike.  One is my mom's family reunion in Alabama.  We have these every couple of years, so I didn't think it would be too big of a deal if I missed it.  But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that family should come first.  I feel particularly sensitive about this issue after losing my dad so unexpectedly--you truly never know when your last chance to see someone is.  I'd rather spend some extra time with my family than worry about completing the trail.  The second family gathering is up in Canada where my dad grew up.  We haven't been up there since he passed away, but we've been planning a memorial service/spreading of his ashes for July.  Originally, I did not want to attend this service because I felt like it would make things feel too fresh again.  Besides, what better way to deal with your problems than by ignoring them?  Anyways, I realized that I was being silly and selfish and that I really needed to go to that this summer.  Soooo here we are.  No possible way for me to finish the trail by mid-August when you factor in Oklahoma, Alabama, and Canada.  I'll still be hiking until late June (knees willing), and then I'll hike through the White Mountains in New Hampshire with my mom once we return from Canada in July, but that is where my Appalachian Trail adventure will conclude!  I don't feel any qualms about my decision.  It's easy for people to judge when you switch from being a thru-hiker to a section hiker, but I am 100% certain that I'm making the right decision.  I still get the experience of being on the AT for months at a time, but I'll also get to do these other very important things with my summer.  It's kind of a win/win.  Also, not being concerned about mileage meant that I got to skip ahead and catch up with Kylie after I got back from Oklahoma instead of returning where I left off and starting back alone.  So really, I couldn't be more pleased. 

Happy trails, for as long as they last!  Also, sorry for lying about this being a short blog post.  I really meant for it to be, but then I got carried away...like always. Oops.