Buena Vista

Yesterday we had planned to do about 25 miles. It was raining so that kind of put a damper on the day. When we stopped for lunch after about 12 miles, Michael asked me if I wanted to go into Buena Vista, VA to see a movie. His short shorts weren't keeping his hands warm and we were kind of low on food to make it to Waynesboro. Although I wanted to see a movie, I felt like I had been spending too much money in towns already and I knew Gaylyn wanted us to hike 5 extra miles every day. So I told Michael if he really wanted to then go ahead, but I was gonna go the 25 miles.

We both crossed the road that goes into Buena Vista and after going up some switchbacks and taking some water breaks, Michael was nowhere in sight, so I figured he had turned around to hitch into Buena Vista.

I continued hiking and the weather began to get worse. It became cold, foggy, and super windy. After about an hour and a half of climbing a mountain, I began to regret my decision to not go into Buena Vista (I mean, at the very least it would've been a good view). I soon passed a group of hikers going south. One of them told me there was a hot dog stand up ahead. I only thought, "haha very funny kid."

After about thirty more minutes of hiking through the cold, wind, and fog, I saw something in the distance. At first I thought it was a mirage, but then I started to think, " Oh wait...could it be? A hot dog stand?" It was more than a hot dog stand! It was a buena vista! It was Fresh Ground Leapfrog Café!

I went over to his setup, but he wasn't there. There was a sign that said he was resupplying and would be right back. So I waited thirty minutes freezing my butt off, but still he had not come. I contemplated pushing on the next 7.7 miles to the shelter, but there was no way I was gonna miss Fresh Ground. I decided I would wait 30 minutes more because I couldn't camp there since Michael had the tent and for all I knew, he was in the movie theater eatin' popcorn. I thought I had made the worse decision to not go into town. I was cold, low on food, and thought Fresh Ground would stay in town since the weather was bad.

My luck soon changed, Michael showed up about 45 minutes after I had gotten there. It turns out he had just been prairie doggin' it, so he was going a little slower. He too was regretting his decision though to not go into town. We decided to camp there though so that if Fresh Ground didn't come back, we would at least catch him the morning. Soon, another a hiker showed up, Prometheus, and then another. Then, 5 minutes later, we hear a car honk. Fresh Ground!!!

He saved the day! We helped him unload the groceries, set up some stuff, and then he gave us some hot dogs. We all sat in his car to get warm. Then all of us (minus the one hiker that left) all ate tacos by lantern light. It was awesome! We got to hangout with Fresh Ground, and then in the morning, he made us banana pancakes, potato slices, coffee and hot chocolate! It made a miserable day pretty incredible, and will definitely be one of my favorite memories on the trail.

In addition, since it took forever for me to type all this up while sitting on the Priest, the cloud I was in went away for a little, and I got to see the view!

God is good!

Big Day

This is from yesterday:

Well today was a pretty productive day. We left the shelter around 9 this morning to begin our descent into Glasgow where we needed to resupply. Shortly after I began hiking, a couple trail runners caught up to me. One of them, Gobbler, thru-hiked two years ago. He gave me some advice about the trail and then before we parted ways, he gave me two energy gels which was all he had on him. He then came running back a few moments later from his car with an apple and banana which he gave me. He knew how rarely we hikers get fresh fruit out here so he wanted to help me out as best he could. That made my day. Thanks so much Gobbler!

It's incredible how friendly and willing people are to help out here. Thanks everyone for your encouragement and I hear that many people following our blog want to know how they can help us out in some form or fashion. We'll let y'all know soon.

So after I passed Gobbler, we made it down to the James River., crosses the longest footbridge on the AT, and then got a hitch into town. We ate lunch at some Italian place, got subs to pack out, resupplied at a local grocery store, then got a hitch back to the trail. We then began out 10 mile climb back to the mountains around 4:30. When I got to the shelter (Punch Bowl Shelter) at 8, I was surprised to see so many tents out. Turns out there's a hiking club doing a weekend trip so Michael and I will not be in the shelter, which is great since it's supposed to rain tonight. Also, we're tenting right next to a pond so hopefully the frogs will settle down soon.

Lookin' forward to doing 25 miles tomorrow in the rain after today's 25.1 in the sun!

The Guillotine

We had another great day in VA. Did 23.7 to Thunder Hill Shelter, highlight of the day was the guillotine!

Another day in the woods

We hiked out 18.5 miles today to Bobblet Gap shelter, had some great weather and some nice hiking! Broke in my short shorts too! Now we are sitting by the fire with Snoman and Not it.

Great Shelter

After Waffle House, we headed to the nicest shelter we've stayed in yet. It had wifi, a tv, a microwave, two large comfortable beds, and even a privy with toilets that flush. Needless to say, the Holiday Inn was the nicest place we've stayed in for a while. I had 4 pillows to myself last night!

Also, thank you to Lindley for meeting us at McAfee Knob the other night and bringing us Big Macs! That was awesome!

Headed to Chickfila in 7 days! Hopefully the rest of our hiking buddies will catch up. Good luck with finals everyone in school!

Waffle House!

About to kill some All-Star Specials! We walked 724 miles for this Waffle House. Shout out to Greg Ehmer!

Mcafee's Knob what what

And then there were two. Matt and I are alone now, the group got split up. We took a zero in Pearisburg to let a few guys go to the hospital, and that's where we lost four members. One to tendonitis, one to a stress fracture, one to some fluid in her knee, and one because his sister was injured. Then two days ago we lost patches and carjacker, they stayed back because patches had some bad migraines. Needless to say spirits were a little down, but luckily our new friend Lindley picked us up and got us some great fish tacos and ice cream! And today we hit the 700 mile mark! And now we are sitting on Mcafee's Knob, one of the most scenic spots on the AT!

We are Hippies

This morning, we woke up and did some sweet yoga with the hostel owner here at Woods Hole. It was awesome!

And this is a homemade quart milkshake! Organic!

I think I've got my trail legs...

I just broke a few milestones for hiking miles.
First marathon day... Check.
First 30 mile day... Check.
First 40 mile day... Check.

It might have been stupid but me, Tarzan, and Patches just pulled a 45.2 mile day into Woods Hole Hostel.
We did it in 13 hours and 20 minutes not including breaks.  We finished at 4:30 in the morning and right when we got in it started pouring rain. Thank you Virginia for your much easier terrain! This hostel is great! All of their food is grown here, even the meat.  This morning we had homemade bacon from one of their pigs, and I'm not exaggerating when I say it might have been the most delicious thing I have ever tasted.
Now we are just going to chill today and wait for Matt and the rest of the crew to come here today. They have to do 21 miles so it may be a little.

About to Eat Mor Chiken

You know it's a good day when you're only 13 days from a Chickfila and 7 from a Waffle House!

A day in the life of Michael's stomach

We are sleeping at mile 565 tonight at Chestnut Knob shelter. Luckily this one is stone and has four walls because it is supposed to rain tonight! The hiking has been great, today we took a two hour nap in the middle of the day. We have been hiking in good weather and through scenic farmlands and mountains.

Also, this is a list of everything I ate today! This gives you an idea what our average diet is like.

Breakfast:
Poptarts... 800 calories
Almonds... 170 calories
Cheetos... 150 calories
Oatmeal... 280 calories
1400 total

Snacks:
Mangos... 455 calories
Snickers... 280 calories
Cheetos... 150 calories
Almonds... 170 calories
Clif shot blocks... 200 calories
1255 total

Lunch:
Tuna salad... 100 calories
Flour tortillas... 260 calories
Soda (from trail magic)... 150 calories
Salami... 240 calories
Nutella... 200 calories
Peanut butter... 380 calories
Honey... 30 calories
Pepperoni... 140 calories
1800 total

Dinner:
Salami... 240 calories
Bear Creek chili... 780 calories
Cheetos... 300 calories
Almonds... 170 calories
Peanut butter... 460 calories
Zebra cakes... 660 calories
2530 total

Grand total:
7065 calories!


I've been out of school a little while so if my math is wrong forgive me.

Ponies!

We went through the Grayson Highlands, which is now my favorite part of the trail! Hot sunny weather, beautiful views, and even wild ponies! I even rode one of them! Last night as rough weather but we made it through (soaking wet) and are at partnership shelter tonight near Marion, VA. When we hitched in to town, we tried for about half an hour to get a ride and got nothing. We even tried standing on each others shoulders (there were 6 of us). Finally we put our one girl out alone and a five guys hid behind the hill. The first car that saw her stopped! And we all piled in to a tiny 5 seated, needless to say the guy picking us up was a bit surprised to see all of us guys running into the car haha.

Virginia is for hikers

Made it out of Damascus yesterday and we are having some great weather! So nice, I had to sleep under the stars. We choked down on some larabars that Mr. Godbee sent us, thanks so much! Now we are chillin on a bald, taking a snack break and enjoying the awesome views. We are hiking with Hawaiian Panch, Carjacker, Tarzan, Coffee Pot, and Nickelodeon.

The Road to Damascus

Only Jacob Moxley would night hike 4.7 miles carrying 2 boxes of pizzas and a gallon of Gatorade. Thank you sir. You are incredible.

After about a 17 mile hike going up and down mountains and around a pretty lake, we got to Vandeventer Shelter Friday night where we knew Jacob would be meeting us to hike with us for the next couple of days. We knew Jacob would be there late so we went to bed a little after dark. At 10:30, we were rudely awakened to two pizzas and a gallon of Gatorade. It was the best rude awakening one could ask for. We shared some of the pizza with the other hikers in shelter (Rash, Gummy Bear, and Larry Boy) and caught up with Jacob for a little bit before going back to sleep.

In the morning, we saw a beautiful sunrise over clouds on top of a lake. It was really cool. Then we headed out to do about 22 miles with Jacob (man he's a fast hiker). Jacob plowed through at about 4 mph pace (light speed). It was great to hike with him, catch up, and hear about Marine Corps life.

Our 22 mile day, we were fortunate enough to get trail magic twice, 1st lunch and 2nd lunch! A guy named Nomad decided to get off the trail in Erwin to buy a van and do trail magic up and down the trail. Thank you Nomad!

The next day we crossed into Virginia (home for the next 550ish miles)! We made it to Damascus, had lunch, then Mr. Smith showed up to take Jacob back to his car. Thank you again Mr. Smith!

Since then, we've been chillin' in Damascus. We took a zero yesterday. We hung out by the river, ate a lot, and ate some more.

Side story: the other night, Gummy asked us if we had any plans for Katahdin. We said we didn't really have any yet, but then Rash piped up in his thick southern accent and said, "I know what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna cry like a bitch then go get me some lobster." Sounds like a pretty good plan to me.

We're headed out today! Shout out to everyone in the ATL. Sounds like it was a great weekend. Go Braves!

"Bob Peoples gives his boots blisters."

Sorry for the delay in updating the blog. Here's a couple posts to cover what we've done.

We woke up April 4th to a beautiful sunrise at Overmountain Shelter. We had been told that the section of the trail we would be doing that day was the prettiest section in the south. Sure enough, it was.

We hiked over Little Hump and Big Hump (two balds with 360 degree views of the mountains in NC). We had clear skies and could even see the Black Mountains which contains Mt. Mitchell, the highest mountain east of the Rockies. Shortly after leaving the incredible views from Big Hump, we left North Carolina for good.

Most of the 20 thru-hikers from Overmountain were headed to Mountaineering Shelter which sleeps 14, so we wanted to get a spot. We had set out early because we had to resupply and get a package Brie had sent us to Roan Mountain, Tennessee. After about 30 minutes of standing by the road trying to get a hitch into town, a friendly lady who owns the Greasy Creak Hostel gave us a ride. She dropped us off at Bob's Dairyland where we ate lunch. Bob had hikers in mind when he created the Holy Cow Burger. We both had it. It contains 15 oz of hamburger meat, 6 slices of bacon, some ham, a couple onion rings, 3 slices of cheese, lettuce, and tomato. Then we had some ice cream. Needless to say, it was incredible.

After lunch, we walked over to the post office to pick up Brie's package. Thanks Brie! While at the post office, a nice lady in a red punch buggy offered us a ride to the grocery store and back to the trail, which saved us a lot of trouble. In all, going into town only costed us 2 and a half hours, and while hiking the next 10 miles to the shelter, we discovered we were ahead of 5 other hikers which easily allowed us to get a spot in the shelter.

The next day, it began to rain before we started hiking. It wasn't a hard rain but it was constant, got us wet, and cold. It quickly turned into a pretty miserable day. Not as miserable as Smuggles' day though. He randomly threw up and passed out for 20 minutes. When he woke up, he was wet and coming close to hypothermia. To make matters worse, he was the last one in the group so no one would walk upon him to help him out. To make matters even more worse, while doing his business, the branch upon which he was sitting broke. Rough day for Smuggles. Anyway, as I was getting closer to the shelter for lunch, some of the rain on my jacket was beginning to freeze and drips of rain from the leaves were turning to icicles. It was pretty cold. When I got to the shelter, I had to warm my hands up for 20 minutes before I had enough finger strength to mess with my food. We all left the shelter one by one knowing that with the easy terrain we could be to the hostel, Kincora in about 2 hours. So I popped my headphones in and left the dry shelter shivering. Hiking at brisk pace, I slowly began to warm up and thanks to James Taylor, all I could think of was Oh Mexico (apparently it's like 100 degrees down there).

Soon enough, we all made it to the hostel, owned by Bob Peoples. We took hot showers and Bob took us into town to get some food. Later that night, we got to hang out with Bob Peoples. He's incredibly smart man in probably his 70's who has a couple PhDs and has hiked many trails in Europe and South America. He told us of all sorts of knowledge I had never heard before. It was great to stay at his hostel and get to meet him. He's a very well respected man along the AT.

Another post coming soon.

- Matt

Super Trail Magic

Thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Smith for taking us in for Easter! We got clean, ate good food, and had a great time. We got to go to their church with them and watch them sing in the choir while we sat in the pew with their friends the Williams'.

Also, Mr. Smith and his friend, Charlie Williams came and met us at Overmountain Shelter last night and grilled out half-pound burgers, sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, chips and salsa, Yoohoos, Mtn dews, and ice cream sandwiches for all of us hikers there! It was so good! We knew there would be at least 8 thru-hikers there, but it turned out that after the Mr. Smith and Mr. Williams left, at least 10 more hikers showed up! Fortunately the Overmountain Shelter can hold at least 60 hikers comfortably.

Thanks again Mr. and Mrs. Smith! Y'all are incredible!