Passed the 500-Mile Mark

 Stats: Saturday night 4/30, MM 543.8

(96.5 new miles, 552.6 total miles)

I hit two milestones this week: passed the 500 mile mark, and I’m now 25% of the way through my hike! If I can keep my miles up I’ll finish in September as planned.

Last Sunday on our way to the drop-off spot, we passed a Trail Magic spot that I’d be hitting in about 5 miles. It was good to know I had that to look forward to. When I got there, they were serving hamburgers and hot dogs. As I walked up, they called me by my trail name (how did they know that??) and handed me a V-Fusion energy drink in my favorite flavor. I found out that after Mary dropped me off, she went back and told them I was coming and left the drink for me. It was a nice surprise.

The group serving the trail magic had hiked the AT in 2010, and were from Michigan and Minnesota. They came down just to provide Trail Magic for the weekend, breakfast and lunch Friday through Sunday. Much appreciated!

I continued on after that to the Abingdon Gap shelter. After 11 miles I was ready to stop for the day due to a later start and spending time at the Trail Magic stop. I met up with Lambeau, High Top, and Spirit. Nice hiking day, no rain and warm temps.

Monday morning I hiked another shorter day (11 miles) to Damascus, the most popular trail town on the AT. I made reservations at Hiker Inn for the night, thought I’d check out the town everyone talked about. Basically, it had some outfitters, a few hostels, one place open for breakfast, and one place open for dinner. I guess that many places don’t open until Trail Days, a big festival in mid-May that brings thousands of people and many vendors into the town. Overall the town was not what I expected – thought there would be more activity.

Ran into Shimona (who remembered Mary from her first trail magic spot), High Life, Grumpy, Fugitive, Olive Oil, Mud Puppy, Five-Star. Had dinner with Grumpy and High Life, both of them also stayed at Hiker Inn.

Tuesday was a very good hiking day, very nice weather. Left Damascus and hiked 17 miles to a campsite right past the Lost Mountain Shelter. The campsite was in a heavily wooded area, kind of like a black forest look. When I got to the campsite no one else was around except One-Shot. Then Hammer, Squid, and Tumbleweed showed up. Plenty of room for everyone.

Wednesday started out good weather-wise. Hiked through Grayson Highlands State Park, which is well known for the wild ponies that live there. They walk right up the trail and into your campsite, not wild at all and not afraid.

Although one of the horses had a colt with her, and one of the hikers had a friendly dog with him who wanted to see the colt. Mom got a little excited and stepped in the way to protect her colt. We all backed up a bit.

The highlands were beautiful, pictures don't capture it all. Rugged beauty, with the rocky terrain, ponies, and some cattle in the fields. 

Talked to a friend of mine from home – his son was hiking in this area a few weeks ago and ran into an AT through-hiker named Maria. Yes, it was the same Maria I camped with my very first night on the trail, and she remembered me. It’s a small world!

Hiked through some rain and a thunderstorm, we took shelter for a bit and it cleared up so we kept going to the campground. Met up with One Shot, High Life, Hammer, Tagalong, and 3 other people. The campground had beautiful grass for camping, and we got set up before it rained – more rain was forecast to come through. It rained overnight, heavy, but I stayed dry. The only thing that got wet was the underliner, but my tent was dry. Very thankful for that!

Thursday morning we set out for a campground called Bobby’s Trail, about a 17-mile hike. It was a fairly dry day, just a little drizzle. When we got there, found that the spring was dried up so no water, and it was a bit trashy – people had left some garbage there. So we kept going another 3 miles to Trimpi Shelter for the night. Another unplanned 20 mile day.

Two of the hikers wanted to head out at 3AM so they cowboy camped – no tents, just sleeping bags on the ground. I decided to stay in the shelter because not many people were there. A short time into the night it started to rain; we heard the guys scrambling to get inside the shelter and out of the rain. It only rained for about 20 minutes, but that was enough for them.

Friday started out for another 17 mile day, to Chatfield Shelter. Saw my first deer, some rabbits, and squirrels. Passed by Mt. Rogers Visitors Center, picked up some Pepsi and candy Trail Magic. The shelter was close to the trail, and only 6 of us stayed there that night – four in the shelter and 2 tenting.

That night we heard dogs barking in the distance, then rustling in the trees and branches breaking; something was coming our way. Very weird to hear something coming toward you out of the woods. It was the dogs, we heard the guys in the tents telling them to get away, then the dogs continued on.

Saturday morning I had a short 4-mile hike to Atkins, where I reserved a room for the night to have a nearo-day. Enjoyed a huge burger for lunch with One-Shot, rest, and a good Mexican dinner. Also received a much-welcomed package from Mary. Not looking forward to Sunday because they are calling for an all-day rain, and it may be raining on and off for a few days. I’ve been blessed so far to be mostly dry – only spotty rain here and there while hiking. Seems that is about to end. But as I’ve heard, rain is a part of the adventure.

I’ve seen the most animals since getting to Virginia, probably because it’s also warmer and spring is here; everything is getting much greener. It seemed to change overnight from winter to spring.

It seems like I’m going uphill way more than downhill, although I know I must be doing both about the same. With all the hills, I’m very thankful for my poles. They have kept me from falling many times, definitely come in handy.

Thank you for praying for me, and for all your encouraging comments. I am very blessed and thankful for all of you being with me on my journey, and I’m doing well overall thanks to your prayers. God is keeping me safe and well. Please keep praying, especially for the knee; it is now hurting a little more on the uphills than it did before.

I had more pictures to share, but with texting Mary doesn't always get them. So she's working on a way for me to upload them, should have that ready by next time.

Until then, have a good week!