Good Bye Shenandoah

Today was my last day hiking in Shenandoah.  I entered the park Friday morning - just as Memorial day weekend was getting started - and am leaving today, a day after the crowds have left the park and gone back to their jobs/regular lives.

I got a wake-up call on my first day.  I heard through the grapevine that another hiker ("Sasha") had been taken to the hospital b/c he had been either bitten or stung by something and had collapsed and temporarily lost his vision.  I had spent some time with him and his hiking partner ("Miss Maggie") over the last few days, and it was scary to hear about something like that happening to someone I kinda knew.  Needless to say, I was watching my steps very closely for the rest of the day.

The next day got off to a bit of a strange start.  About two hours into my hike, I come to an overlook with a truck and some pretty happy hikers behind it.  Apparently, there was a former hiker who has putting together a documentary about thru-hikers, and he wanted to get interviews - and he knew the best way to get people to cooperate was through their stomaches.  He had cookies, bagels, soda and lots of beer.  A few other hikers and I got a little carried away with the beer, and when I eventually left, I had a little bit of trouble hiking straight.

I also saw lots of wildlife while I was in the park.  I lost count of the number of black bears I saw - six or seven, I think.  Tons of dear too.  They were not the normal kind who run off as soon as they hear you.  They lived their lives in a national park, so they are not as scared.  Another hiker said he almost bumped into one while hiking.  And I also saw my first rattlesnake too.  I saw it today.  Fortunately, I heard it before I saw it - but it still gave me a scare.  He was curled-up and not interested in moving, so I had to leave the trail to safely walk around him.

From AT 2012

It was kinda strange hiking in Shenandoah.  There were tons of families and day hikers sharing the trails with us, instead of just the normal crowd of thru-hikers and section-hikers.  And the trail was pretty easy too.  Because the trails get more traffic, I think they are also maintained a little more too.  It made it easier to cover more distance.  Hopefully, the transition to non-NPS trails will not be too difficult!

Look What I Just Ate

A few days ago, I was running out of food and I was still a ways from town (Waynesboro, where I am now).  I checked out my guide book, and it said that there was a small town near the trail with a convenience store and a B&B which served free lunch to thru-hikers.  Done!

So, I eat my normal trail breakfast (in this case, it was summer sausage wrapped in tortillas), head down the mtn early enough where I can hit the grocery store and then go to lunch afterward.  I knew I had a good-sized lunch coming my way, but I had spent the last couple days thinking about milk and cookies.  So, I get to the store and I want to buy everything in the store and consume it at once.  I resisted this temptation, though, and resigned myself to the milk, some Kebler fudge cookies and a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich.

From AT 2012

I ate the sandwich. I ate the cookies.  And I would have had all of the half-gallon of whole milk (gotta load up on the fat and protein!), but I told myself that that would be going too far.  I felt pretty good.  I've never eaten that many cookies in one sitting before - an entire bag!

My mistake was then going on to the B&B and having lunch there.  I finished maybe half of what they gave me and then I experienced some "cookie sickness".  I felt pretty awful after that.  How could food DO this to me?  I learned my lesson, though.  I think...

My Knee's Triumphant Recovery

Almost two weeks ago, my left knee started hurting.  At first, it wasn't too bad: just the downhills.  I could massage it a bit and shake it around and it still got me where I wanted to go.  Then, it got worse and worse and worse.  It started to affect me on the uphills and then eventually on the flat parts too.  When it got really bad, I just had to stop b/c I couldn't take another step without a sharp pain radiating out of my knee.

I thought it would go away, that it was just part of getting into hiking shape - but it didn't go away.  After a couple days, I started decreasing my mileage and when that didn't work, I took a day off.  The next day, I felt better, but I could tell it was still there.  I was guessing that the pain was happening b/c I had been sleeping in shelters for a few days, on the hard floor - which was causing my knee to bend at awkward angles during the night.  So, after some nights back in my hammock and even a night in a hotel bed, when the pain came back, I was truly depressed.  How could this still be happening?!

I started to think worst-case scenarios.  Maybe I've got some sort of arthritis-style joint issue and by gritting my teeth and hiking through the pain, I am causing permanent damage.  This is so foolish!  I should be in a doctor's office right now, getting this looked at.  But my stubbornness wouldn't let me go there yet.  I told myself I had three days to fix this before I took some serious time off from hiking and got some advice from someone who knew what they were talking about.

So, that first day was pretty awful - I barely made it to my intended destination for the night.  The second night was no better - worse, in fact.  I couldn't even make it to the shelter I was aiming for.  I just stopped halfway up the mountain, sat down and limped over to the nearest tree I could hang a hammock on.  I was truly dejected and was planning my escape from the trail for the following day.

The next day, however, went differently than I expected.  I did two things different.  First, I did NOT stretch my legs.  I normally do this to make the walking easier and help avoid injuries (so I thought).  Second, I walked much slower than I normally do.  I got caught walking behind some slower hikers and instead of passing them like I normally would, I matched their pace.  And I felt great.  No pain at all - for the entire day.  I felt so happy. Maybe I will make it after all.

From AT 2012

The day after that, I did the same thing.  I forced myself to walk slower than I wanted to.  I told myself it didn't matter how far I made it - with a hammock, I can camp anywhere that there are trees.  The most important thing to do is walk "correctly."  And even with this slower pace, I still did one of my longest days on the trail: 22 miles.  And, what's more, forcing myself to walk slower gave me the freedom to enjoy what I was walking through instead of just pounding out the miles.  It was a revelation.

So, yeah, I think I'm back on track again.  And I'm also enjoying the experience more too.  Yay!

Where Have I Been?

I'm on a desktop computer (with something newer than IE 5.0) for the first time since hiking, so I've finally gotten the chance to put together a spreadsheet with my progress so far.  If you want to see where I've been this whole time, take a look at it.  It's on the right, under "Progress" --->

Of Mice and Men

One of the things you will hear if you talk to anyone who has spent some time on the AT is that you need to worry about mice more than you need to worry about run-ins with bears.  Up until a few days ago, this didn't really ring true for me.  I had no real experience with mice - if they were around, I wasn't aware of it.   I have heard tons of stories of peoples' food being eaten, their tents knawed-through and their backpacks ripped open, but to me these were just stories.

As I mentioned in my last post, i've been having knee issues - so, the other day, I decided to take a "zero" day, a day in which I hike no miles.  The first night, the shelter was full.  Five other hikers and I, vs the mice community beneath the floorboards.  I didn't hear anything - perhaps it was bc we had a strength in numbers.  But the second night, I had the shelter all to myself.

Just as the sun was setting and my eyelids were getting ready to close up shop for the day, I see a streak of white fly down the wall a couple feet from my head.  What was that!?  I turned my headlamp on and I see the white flash a couple more times before it slows and I can see that it is a tiny mouse.  Where'd you come from and what do you want?  All my my food is tied up and hanging.  There's nothing for you here.  But, apparently, there was.  One of the hikers from the previous night had dropped a marshmello and this guy had found it, along with some other miscellaneous scraps of food which had been dropped.

Despite my knowledge that all of my food was safely tucked away and that there were no scraps to be found on my person, I never felt fully comfortable with this critter sneaking around my temporary home.  Everytime I was about to drift off, I would hear something scurrying nearby and bolt upright to see what it was.  At least once during the night, I felt something crawling on my sleeping bag and my involuntary reflex was to kick and send this inquisitive little fellow flying accross the shelter.

It was a night of little sleep, and it gave me another good reason to sleep in my hammock instead of the shelter.

Growing Pains

The first week of my hike flew by without issue: body was working fine, gear was holding together and the weather was pretty good.  The second week, however, gave me some trouble.

Last wednesday morning, I woke up to a light drizzle.  Nothing too bad: as long as I hike hard enough, my body heat is enough to keep my clothes dry.  Several hrs in to my hike, though, and the amt of rain started to go up and the temperature started to go down.  By the time I finally convinced myself to pull out my rain jacket, it was already too late: my shirt was soaked and my hands were too cold to undo any of my buckles or zippers.  Luckily, the next shelter was only another hr or two away, so when I got there I was able to dry off and jump in my sleeping bag.  Another, older hiker was a little worse off: thinking he was going hypothermic, he sent another hiker ahead to start a fire for him.  He turned out alright, but you can never be too safe.

From AT 2012

Then, a few days later, I ran into another issue: occasional, sharp pain in one of my knees.  I've tried stretching, massaging, advil, and lowering my mileage, but so far it hasn't completely gone away.  I had some knee issues two years ago which eventually went away, so I am hoping the same thing will happen this time as well.  I think it is just my body getting used to the stresses of walking for 8 to 10 hrs a day.

I sure hope things get easier!

Still Alive

I have a lot that I wanted to write, but I cannot because the place that I am staying at has just a single, slow computer and there are a number of people waiting for it.

For now, I'll just say that it's been a challenge so far.  The weather has been a little hotter than I thought it would be, which makes me hike pretty slow most of the time.  I've actually hiked a pretty good distance - something like 140 miles - which is quite a bit further than I was planning on going during this first part.  My feet are still blister-free, but they ache pretty bad - so, I might slow down for the next few days.  Everyone else out here has been hiking for the past couple months, so some people have flown past me.  And when they get to town, they eat quite a bit more than me too.  I haven't developed the hiker appetite yet, although I did manage to finish two double cheeseburgers and fries yesterday - which I was pretty proud of.

From AT 2012

And civilization has been pretty scarce too.  This is the first chance I have had to get on the internet.  The guidebook said this place had wifi, but they've just the one wired internet connection.  I was hoping for more libraries and wifi hotspots, but I'm not too sure about those any more.

Hope everyone is doing well!