Trail Letter 7: 4/12, 4/13, and 4/14

23.7 windy miles today. After 6.5 miles we arrived at a shelter where we met 4 slackpackers: Tupperware, Loafy, Dorothy, and Greg. Slackpacking is the practice of leaving your pack with someone, then at a road crossing they either shuttle you back to town or your pack back to you. In general, we TN Studs decided slackpacking was cheating, so if one of us does it he will be heavily ridiculed.

The Trail led us through the Virginia highlands today — imagine a desertous looking terrain with more foliage, raging winds, and wild ponies. The views were fantastic — I can see why it was one of your favorites, Colin. The wild ponies were very friendly — one of them used me for a salt lick for about 10 minutes. The insane wind blew my hat off a number of times and absolutely ruined the crow’s feather it was sporting. I’ll need to find another.

We’re sharing this shelter with Smokey and Phoenix — they’re not too talkative and Phoenix — the woman — seems to be having a bad day or something. Supposed to be bad weather tomorrow, but we’re used to it by now. Oh yeah there were tons of people camping in the Highlands — it must be the weekend or something…

4/13

30.6 frigid miles today. Woke up to low 30s, and perhaps freezing as my water bladder’s bite valve was frozen. All day long sleet peppered the forest — it sounded like bathtub bubbles popping.

Feezel and Bigfoot were still staying warm in their sleeping bags, waiting for the sun when I had all my stuff packed up, so despite their persuasions to wait until it warmed, I bid them adieu. It didn’t matter, either, because the sun stayed behind a curtain of clouds all day, and the temperature stayed cold.

I have been feeling like my body is finally starting to man up to the daily beating I’ve been giving it, so I wanted to test my new carriage out — hence the 30+ mile day. I left camp around 7:30 (I think) and hit the Partnership Shelter at 6:15. So 30+ miles in 10.75 miles is roughly 3.75 mph, which is a racing pace. I have to prepare for our four-state challenge, when we’ll hike 50 miles in a 24 hour period.

It helped that my pack was super-light after sending home my tent, pants, and some other stuff. The cold’s making me question sending the pants and gloves home, but “That which does not kill me makes me stronger.”

There is a ton of hiker trash here at this shelter — including a bunch of people we passed in the Smokies but who passed us during our 4-zero day week.

I saw a HUGE doe today — quite possibly the biggest deer I’ve ever seen. She jumped over the trail about 25 feet in front of me… majestic creature.

4/14

25.5 Christmasy miles today. I’ve been having back pain when I sleep — ever since I started, really — that causes me to wake up many times throughout the night. This morning it was so frustrating that I just sat up and I leaned my back on the shelter wall. I don’t have a watch, so I didn’t know what time it was, but it was still pitch black outside. Hit & Miss woke up and started rostling around, so I figured it was late enough to start the day…

I was ready to roll at the same time Hit & Miss were, so I asked them if I could tag along — we had almost 12 miles until Atkins, VA. They let me, and it was good to talk to other thru’s in a little more depth. We hit Atkins and ate at a restaurant, then I bid them adieu and continued.

The weather was a mirror image of yesterday’s — at the foot of the mountain, the sheet was bouncing off the leaves, then as I ascended and eventually crested the mountain, the sheet became hail — and lots of it. Finally, as I descended, the hail turned into snow, and the Pop rocks and soda sound was transformed into complete silence….

Walked through some cow fields today, and the snow dusted pastures with iced mountaintop background was nothing short of spectacular. Here it is, April, and it feels like Christmas is tomorrow….

There’s a really interesting crew here at the shelter — Little Miss Sunshine, Nighthawk, Erin, and Catfish’s buddy (can’t recall the name). Everyone’s real friendly and this is one of the most comfortable shelter environments I’ve experienced, despite the freezing weather.

Feezel and Bigfoot are somewhere behind…