Rednecks, Rain, and Rivers

I woke up the next morning to pouring down rain and decided I would wait it out and zero again. Unfortunately, the rest of the locomotives pushed on and we made a plan to meet in a couple days when I could catch up. I slept the rest of the day and got some much needed natural sleep energy. I woke up late that night and decided to grab some dinner and a few beers with a couple other hikers. We ran into a character named Redneck who was clearly homeless and not a hiker and he joined us uncomfortably. The whole time he was making hints that he wanted us to buy him a beer. I was extremely uncomfortable as he talked about hiking out with us the next day. When he asked me if I was also on food stamps, I had had enough and I left quickly with my friend Oyster. I missed my friends. I left quickly the next morning to try to catch them that day instead of taking a few days to catch up. As I walked out of town, Oyster caught up and we headed down the Virginia Creeper trail that the AT meets up with. As we walked, we talked about how thankful we were that we made it out of town without Redneck. Not 20 minutes later, he comes walking down the trail towards us. My whole body froze as he walked up saying he had been looking for us. He asked if we could come back to his camp and help him pack up his stuff. I looked around, there was a seldomly used road but it was across a raging river. There was no way out so we kept moving down the trail towards his campsite. I got my phone out and took a picture of him before loudly exclaiming that I couldn't believe I had service out there even though we were SOL in getting a call out. My other hand was gripped firmly around the knife in my pocket, not knowing what was going to happen when we told him we would not be hiking with him anywhere. The most uncomfortable hour of my life finally ended when we got to a campsite with many tents. I let out a sigh, relieved that there were others in the area. As he veered off towards his massive tent we quickly said we were going to do our own thing and kept moving down trail. I didn't stop the rest of the day in fear he would come up behind. After 20+ miles I decided he probably couldn't walk that far with a school backpack and a duffel bag strapped to his chest. Unfortunately,  I hadn't caught up to my friends yet and I spent a terrible night alone in the forest. I got up the next day and moved quickly trying to get to them. We entered the most gorgeous part of the trail so far, the Grayson highlands, which still has wild ponies roaming around. I got to a road where some hikers were congregating. They were headed back to damascus for a hiker open mic night and I decided to join. It was incredible to see so many people I hadn't seen in a long time and there were so many talented hikers.  After getting back to town, I got a text from my friends and realized I had only been two miles behind them when I got to the road. I kicked myself but vowed to catch them early the next day. We finally were reunited at the partnership shelter, which is close enough to a road to order pizza. I had finally made it back to the locomotives and I vowed to never let them leave without me again. It poured on us the entire next day until we got into a town to resupply and decided to dry out in a hotel for the night. We got out early the next morning because it was our first marathon day. Lemon and Shay are from Boston and knew a few people running the Boston marathon that same day. Lemon was also at mile 20 of the race when the bombing occurred. As she described the chaos and pain that the entire city felt that day, I knew I wanted to hike the marathon too. We moved fast and kept our spirits high, though the trail was muddy and soggy from all of the rain the day before. Nearing the end of the day, we got to a river where the bridge was now submerged at least two feet and had rushing water flowing over it. We knew we would be swept away if we tried to cross here alone. I went into outdoor ed mode and yelled over the loud river for everyone to unbuckle their packs and get in a line behind each other. As one large group we moved slowly across the massive waves, Shay directing us. We made it across safely and felt elated that our team work had worked! We hiked on, soaking wet but in great moods. We got to our destination and made dinner together before crawling into the shelter just as the rain and thunder hit that night.
We did a few more big mile days and it was definitely beginning to wear on us. We went to Woods Hole hostel and had an amazing organic dinner that they grew on the property. The next day we got up early and slack packed back into Wood hole hostel where they were going to a concert in Radford. They invited us to go and we jumped at the chance to do something normal. We saw Rising Appalachia who were wonderful! We danced all night and even got to meet the band and get their autographs. We crawled into the hostel bunks late that night and fell asleep immediately.  We had an amazing breakfast the next morning before hitting the trail and resupplying in a town not far. The weather has been cold and rainy and I'm pretty sick of being soggy all of the time. Sometimes it even rains when the sun is out which does not compute in my west coast brain. Hoping things turn around and we get some nice weather soon. Mile 635! More than a quarter of the way done and having a great time with great people.

Three States Down! Does That Mean I'm Done?

We left Mike and Peggys the next morning but were reluctant to actually start hiking again. After hanging at the trailhead and a second trip to the Hawg and Dawg, we decided to zero instead and made our way back to the cabin. The next day we finally made it out of town. About 12 miles, in a torrential downpour and freezing temperatures, we were miserable and decided to bail. Back to Mike and Peggys we went. That evening we went to a movie and got to walk through a drive thru for milkshakes!  Not kidding ourselves the next day, we decided to slack pack southbound so we could spend yet another night with Mike and Peggy. We finally got out of Erwin TN for good the next day and ran into some good friends along the way. We got down to yet another hostel and decided to escape the thunderstorm that had rolled in out of no where. We found ourselves at a place called the beer wash, a drive thru beer shop/bar. I won a free beer by sinking a quarter into a special glass! That night we got a special treat and were lucky enough to watch Ha Ha do her stand up routine. She killed it, our abs hurt as we walked back to our beds. We got the most amazing breakfast before hitting the trail just as it began to rain the next day. Luckily it cleared up in the afternoon so we sat with our feet in the river and foraged for wild ramps to use in our dinners later. We tried unsuccessfully to make a fire before giving up and crawling into our tents. The next day we all hiked together and had a blast sharing stories and making inside jokes. Our group became known as the locomotives and the five of us reveled in the fact that we had found such great people. The next morning, we moved quickly through an active bear zone but then slowed down and took many breaks for the rest of the day. Later, we came upon some sodas and granola bars left out for us by a church group and took one last break before making camp. We set up in a gorgeous meadow and battled the wind all night long.  We got moving fast the next morning,  knowing we would hit damascus that evening. I dreamed of milkshakes and burgers as I hiked 6.5 miles in an hour and a half before hitting the TN/VA border and crushing three states. We got to town sore but happy and hit up the dollar general for some ice cream right away. After running a few errands we checked into our hostel and were lucky enough to get put in a huge teepee he had in the backyard. Overnight it rained and the teepee was a little leaky so we moved inside for the next night after a well deserved zero day. We are now making dinner for each other and planning our next section. Heading out of Damascus tomorrow! Mile 470 and three states down!

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The Man, The Myth, The Legend, Loner Boner

We left Hot Springs late in the day after some coffee and pastries. It may just be my mindset but it was an incredibly perfect day. We had perfect weather, I was surrounded by perfect company, and the hiking was great! We got to a secluded camp and set up for the night before sitting around the fire way passed hiker midnight (9pm). The next morning I woke up early to the most beautiful sunrise but still ended up being the last one ready.  We planned to stop for some instant coffee at our next water stop but missed it by a mile. We were out of water so when we saw a sign that said Milkshakes 0.6 of a mile down the road, we went. We enjoyed coffee, milkshakes, and fudge before heading back out to the trail. That day we were on an exposed ridge line for a while and the views were incredible! Some of the best we've seen all trip. We kept going and found a campsite covered in garbage and very exposed to the wind. Tired we all looked at each other and knew we could do better so we trudged on. Off the trail we saw what looked like a campfire ring and some flat area so we went to check it out. Upon further inspection,  we found two gravesites belonging to the Sheltons,  a couple of union soldiers who were ambushed and killed in the forest by the confederacy while traveling home for the holidays. We decided camping there might be disrespectful, and incredibly eery, so we set up a 100 yards away where it was still flat. It began to rain as we made dinner together and we were subjected to communicate from tent to tent. I fell asleep that night toasty warm listening to the rain hit my tarp. Around midnight, I woke up with one of the most frustrating sensations a hiker can feel in the middle of the night, I had to pee. I begrudgingly crawled out of my tarp. Immediately I felt a very eery feeling. I saw the graves in the distance, blanketed by creepy fog. I decided to make this quick and took off running. Heart pumping I found a good tree. Off in the distance a quiet cough echoed. My heart stopped as all of the scary things that could happen to me ran through my mind. I've never moved faster than when I ran back to my tarp and dove in. Cozy in my sleeping bag again, I imagined the ghost of an old soldier spooning me in the night. I did not sleep very well from then on. We got another amazing sunrise that next morning and started moving. Somewhere in the day we heard about some weather that was coming in. Not planning to sleep at a shelter that night, we had to adjust our plans and ended up getting to a shelter at 3pm. The rain came in hard for about half an hour then stopped and turned into a lovely evening. We were kicking ourselves for stopping so early but it was nice to relax. We even had the added bonus of staying in the shelter with Loner Boner, a man somewhere in his seventies who has thru hiked the AT on three separate occasions. In and out of his slumber he would throw out one liners of advice like he had been a part of the whole conversation. The best we heard was "it's okay to lose toenails! It's when you start losing toes that you've got to worry! Then you have diabetes or leprosy!" (Yes, the exclamation points are necessary). We fell asleep around 7:30 as the sun went down and soon realized how grateful we were to be in a shelter. A torrential downpour began and raged for most of the night. There was intermittent thunder and lightning and a thick fog that made visibility less than 20 ft. in front of you. Halfway through the night the clouds cleared up and the freezing cold set in that lasted until the sun came up. We were told of some trail magic that might be happening in a few miles so we had a bit of motivation to stuff our gear into our packs with frozen fingers. We spoke of the pancakes and hot coffee that might be awaiting us the whole wag down. As we came to the street we looked around frantically for signs of pancakes but there was nothing there. Defeated, we sank into the concrete and whined about our lack of pancakes. The temperature was getting colder and colder and the wind was whipping us but the pavement was warm and our day was derailed. I checked the local weather and got an alert about a freeze warning that was in effect that night. With no hopes of making it to the shelter in 18 miles, we reevaluated our options. We decided to hitch into Erwin TN to escape the freeze and then slack pack the 25 miles we missed the next day. Upon getting into town,  we met Lou, the owner of the Hawg and Dawg who fed us and helped us find somewhere to stay for the night. He put us in touch with Mike and Peggy who gave us directions to their place. As we walked up we noticed the brightly colored beehives in the yard followed by a huge chicken coup and a grand garden. We all got more and more excited as we walked up closer to find their incredible friendly dogs, Jessie and Roc. Mike told us to go inside all did grab a beer, so we did and enjoyed it while listening to the sounds of the Nolichucky river and the many beautiful wind chimes in the area. This place had everything, and outdoorsy persons dream home! We got to take over a small cabin in their yard where Peggys parents had stayed before the house was built. We had a wonderful evening sharing stories with Mike and Peggy before drifting off to sleep in the nice, warm cabin. The next morning, we prepared for our slack pack and Cara and Todd prepared to go home. We heard a small knock at the door and I opened it to Peggy with five easter baskets full of candy and peeps (she knows hikers well). We were all so touched by her kindness and had tge best start to the day ever! We got on our shuttle and a deep feeling of dread hit my stomach. My friends were leaving us today.  As we hugged goodbye it didn't seem like enough, I wanted to squeeze them to death or carry them in my backpack. But life is inevitable and they drove away with hopes of winning the lottery in order to return to the trail. Blaze runner, Lemon, and I headed up trail and had the most amazing day. We made it the gorgeous 25 miles before five and returned to Mike and Peggys where we were greeted by Peggys sister and mom who were visiting for Easter.  Her sister offered us some amazing coconut cake and we sat by the fire with her mom chatting about our hiking stories. Mike brought us a Yingaling and we tried to keep our eyes open long enough to finish it. We returned to our cabin and fell asleep watching Airplane. Today we head out, a little sore and not wanting to leave the oasis Mike and Peggy have made for us here. Mile 342.9