2017 July - Day 2- Hemlock Hollow Inn to Jerry's Cabin Shelter

Note:. This is a previous section hike I wrote up and never posted. We have big plans for summer of 2019, so I am getting caught up on our section hike records.

July 16
Miles Today - 10.5

Total Miles on Section Hike- 27.2

   Hemlock Hollow Inn is a great Hostel, clean, a beautiful location, and a good selection food for resupply and to heat and eat. I woke before Sage and walked down to the main building for coffee and breakfast. I decided a Totinos pizza would make a fine breakfast, baked it in their pizza oven, and sat on their deck by the stream. The wifi worked well, it was a very pleasant morning. I checked the weather...and the forecast was looking great for the next few days, no more downpores.

It was now after 9am, and still no sign of Sage, so i picked out a breakfast sandwich for her. The owner of the hostel suggested hot chocolate too...and gave her breakfast on the house.

   We left our cabin at the hostel, walked down the road to a little church, and arrived less than 10 minutes later.

     I was trying not to expect much.  Proximity was about the only nice thing i can say about the service..id recommend getting a ride elsewhere for any hikers looking for a place to worship. The people were nice and friendly, but the teaching and preaching were poor. But the worst teaching by far was saved for the kids, who sang this song:

    " I wish i had a little red box to put my Jesus in.   Id take him out and *kiss kiss kiss* and put him back again"

    In the next verses...they put satan in a black box....take him out...stomp stomp stomp...and put him back again. Preacher goes in a blue box, and receives hug hug hug. 

    A few points:

    One...if you have Satan in a little black box....DONT TAKE HIM OUT!

     Second.....Jesus is the omnipotent God of the universe, the second person of the Triune God....not a puppy. Of the many attributes of God, cute is not one of them.

      Third....im fine with the third verse. Sadly,  most preachers should watch out for stomp stomp stomp when taken out of their little blue box.

    We have visited numerous churches during our section hikes, i dont like posting negative comments, but i also do not want to inadvertently aim a hiker in the direction of that church.  I dont know the Greenville TN area...but im sure you can find a better option if you are in the area.

     We were dropped back on the trail at 1245, well rested and ready to go for a walk.

    The day started with a 2300 ft climb. 

  We took a break after 3 miles at a shelter. We definitely made the right call stopping yesterday, i cant imagine how hard this climb would have been at the end of a 20 mile day yesterday.

  

  

  

   

Ahh....frozen pizza...a feast after a day of hiking. And good internet...I like this hostel.

They keep Satan in a little box at this church and hand the box to kids to open. Recommend taking your kids to a different church.

Rain. Very rain.

Nice view and a GSM cell signal. These things often go together.

A Sagearoo in it's native habitat.

I love it when the train ends and you see blazes going up the side of rocks. There is still a bit of work to do before the AT is ADA compliant.

We skipped the bypass.

We met our friends at a very unique hostel and they joined us for the rest of the hike.

Sage and the boys left the Dads behind. They would occasionally stop and wait on us.

2017 July - Day 1 - Laughing Heart Inn (Hot Springs) to Hemlock Hollow Inn (Log Cabin Dr)

July 15,  2017

Total Miles Hiked Today: 16.7

     We arrived at Laughing Heart Hostel after 11pm the night before. We decided to crash for the night and just start in the morning. This messed up our daily hiking plan, but we were just too tired to do the planned night hike. 

   Walking through town, we took the opportunity to grab a couple of breakfast sandwiches and cold drinks. On the far end of town, we walked across the bridge and started the AT along the river. 

Woohoo!...we're back on the AT. It felt great to be walking north out of Hot Springs, continuing where we left off last May. 

  Of course, the problem with town stops is that you descend down to the town..enjoy the visit..and then you have to climb back into the mountains. Phew....it wasn't a hard climb according to the map, but my lungs told me other wise. 

   We were presented with multiple nice views of town as we climbed. There was a musical festival going on, so a band could be clearly heard as we climbed away from town. 

  After our first 4 miles, it was time for a foot break. We sat down, took off our shoes, ate a snack, and let our feet dry out. Of course the air was so thick with humidity, I'm not sure we dried out much. But even moist air is better than leaving your feet in wet socks inside of wet shoes. 

      A couple miles down the trail, we climbed to a small pond in the woods, we pressed on, with the sound of thunder in the distance threatening a wet hike. I had a cell signal (unusual for Tmobile in the monntains), so I checked my weather radar Rain everywhere, some of it heavy. Except for right where we were hiking. Considering that it was upper 70s/ lower 80s and I was soaked through with sweat, a good rain sounded appealing. 

     We were about 3 miles away from Spring Mountain Shelter when the rain hit. It hit fast, and it hit hard. We got absolutely soaked. It felt wonderful. Shortly before the rain, cold wind gusts hit and cooled us down. Then, all the sweat was washed away. Sage broke out her rainjacket....I left mine in my pack, not wanting to waste a drop of the wonderful shower. There was no lightening nearby, so I wasn't worried at all about the storm. 

  The trail quickly grew very muddy, which slowed us down a little bit. We pressed on, not particularly comfortable, but at least I wasn't hot anymore. 

  Eventually, the rain stopped, but the humidity still hung in the air. It was a bit cooler than before the storm, so overall, the rain blowing in was definitely preferable to no rain. 

   Sage led the way up the climbs, I definitely felt out of shape compared to the last time I did these kind of climbs last may. I struggled to find a pace I could maintain up the climbs, it seemed like I was always running out of breath. Quite a contrast from the condition we were in by the time we hit Hot Springs last May. Last year, after about 14 days on the trail, we were hiking machines. This year...ouch...Section Hiking is hard. 

   Sage spotted a bright red salamander on the trail. She seems to be better at spotting things than I am...perhaps it is because I give her extra time to look around as she waits on me during the climbs.

   We arrived at Spring Mountain Shelter, the air was thick with humidity, there was no breeze, and a cloud of bugs surrounded the shelter and were crawling all over the picnic table.  We had already hiked 11 miles at this point, and if the shelter had been appealing, we would have been tempted to stop for the day. But after swatting flies and getting bit a few times, we quickly ate a meal, and hiked on down the trail. My hiking app (Guthook) meantioned "Mom's Store" at the next road crossing as a good place to grab a snack and a cold drink. With visions of a large fountain drink in my head, we pressed on to Allen Gap.  We walked up the road a bit, and found a store that looked like it hasn't been open for 30 years. Apparently it was open earlier this year, but it was closed when we showed up. With sadness...we turned around, no cold drink in hand, and went back to the trail.

     At this point we had two options. Press on to do a 20 mile hike, or get off the trail after 16.7 miles and spend the night in a hostel. It was late Saturday afternoon, we were soaked to the bone, and if we stay in the hostel we could get a ride back to our car so we could go to church Sunday.

     I rolled my eyes at the thought of staying in hostels 2 nights in a row...what kind of hikers are we? But....we were absurdly wet, and it would be good to get to church in the morning. So we got off the trail and walked down to the hostel. We met a  section hiker from Florida who was also walking down to the hostel, so we chatted as we walked.

   Hemlock Hollow has a nice stream that flows through the middle of the property. There was a good supply of food to heat and eat, as well as resupply options for the trail. We grabbed cold drinks, some food, and settled into our bunks. Even after a shower, and with a fan blowing on us, it took all night to fully dry out both our gear and our bodies from our very wet first day back on the trail.

Day 3- Rod Hollow Shelter to Bears Den Hostel

Note:. This is a previous section hike I wrote up and never posted. We have big plans for summer of 2019, so I am getting caught up on our section hike records.

Mar 4
Miles Hiked: 10

We ate a quick breafast of ramen and left by 0745, hoping we could finish the last 17.5 miles to the car and sleep at home, warm in our beds. This ambitious plan was fued by hubris and a serious underestimation of the Rollercoaster.

I texted my wife and said "50/50 chance we will be home a day early."  Lol....i had no idea.

Shortly after leaving Rod Hollow, the Rollercoaster begins. The first climb was demanding, but we made it up. I though "Hey...that wasnt bad...we've done much harder climbs than this." Then we went down, and did it again, and again...and....

    A bit after 3pm in the afternoon, i stumbled into Bears Den Hostel, sat down in a comfy chair in a warm room...and knew we would be spending the night. It had only been a 10 mile day, but in those 10 miles we climbed 3k feet and descended 2.5k feet. We grabbed a couple bunks and waited eagerly for their signature Ben and Jerrys and Pizza dinner special.

    My recommendation: Bears Den Hostel is simply too clean, too warm, too pizza and too ice cream to hike past. Sure...youre a tough guy, you can hike right past and do the Rollercoaster in one day. And as you do that, all the other hikers will be at Bears Den enjoying their pizza, a shower and a comfy chair.  I made my choice...and i have no regrets.

Day 2- Jim and Molly Denton Shelter to Rod Hollow Shelter

Note:. This is a previous section hike I wrote up and never posted. We have big plans for summer of 2019, so I am getting caught up on our section hike records.

Mar 3
Miles Hiked 18.4

Snow! We woke to a nice blanket of snow.

After cooking some breakfast and chatting with Overload, we got a late start at 0845.

Overload was a faster hiker, but we caught up to him 4 or 5 times throughout the day during his breaks.

Just before dark...after almost 10 hours of hiking, we walked into Rod Hollow Shelter, tired and ready for a hot meal. The temperature was already down to the low 20s. No problem, i thought...because i have this new Kovea canister stove with a remote fuel line. This allows the canister to be inverted, which works much better than a typical screw on the top canister stove.
    But i was wrong. The stove would light, but the canistet was too cold...after a minute or so it would stop feeding fuel down the line.  Every time this happened i had to remove the canister and put it inside my jacket to warm it up. I also had to look a very hungry Sage in the eyes and tell her we may not have the hot meal as planned. It was a very hungry look in her eyes.
     I finally got the canister to flow, and then played the delicate game of moving the canister close enough to thr flame to heat it, but far enough away to avoid an explosion and the associated shrapnel to the face. Apparently i struck the right balance, as we boiled some water and really enjoyed our rice and bean meal with Chili Cheese Fritos. Thanks Andrew Skurka for a great recipe.

Link here

The temperature was dropping fast, and with a forecast for the teens, we went for the warmest setup we could. That meant Sage slept in the shelter with her 15 degree down Marmot bag, AHE Jarbridge underquilt as a blanket on the top, and her foam thermarest pad.  I hung my hammock to see how well my 20 degree Hammock Gear top quilt and zero degree Underquilt would do in the teens.

Both of us slept warm overnight, i even had to unzip my jackets to keep from overheating. My thermometer showed 17 degrees in the morning.

Day 4- Bears Den Hostel to Blackburn Trail Center

Note:. This is a previous section hike I wrote up and never posted. We have big plans for summer of 2019, so I am getting caught up on our section hike records.

Mar 5
Miles Hiked: 7.9 miles
Total Miles Hiked on this Section Hike: 43

I woke up, clean, warm and ready to make some pancakes. I had stash of Recees Pieces in my food bag, so i added those to the pancakes. Lots of coffee, a nice plate of pancakes and we were out the door. Moving at warp speed.

    Overload hiked with us the whole day, and i dont think we were slowing him down. I had lots of energy, and powered up the rest of the rollercoaster section. 

    During our hike, we met some Chinese day hikers from McLean and we chatted with them about hiking the AT.

   The two ladies in this picture both had High School Freshman girls at home, and asked to pose for a picture with Sage, the AT section hiker.

    Overload took it as a personal challenge to give us trail names. He proposed "Santa" for Sage and "Frosty" for me, since we do alot of winter hiking. Not sure those names are really working for us...but it was a good attempt.

    Trail names are an important part of the AT culture. You are lame if you give yourself a trail name. Maybe we will get our trail names during our next big section hike. 

Day 1- 4H Center to Jim and Molly Denton Shelter

Mar 2nd
Miles Hiked: 7.5 miles

We managed to escape the Balt/DC area before the Thursday evening rush and arrived at the Blackburn Trail Center by a bit after 4pm.  Chris, former caretaker of the Center, agreed by phone to give us a trail shuttle down to the 4h Center and was waiting when we rolled up. Glad i kept his card from a year ago when he gave us a ride. 
    On the ride to our starting point 43 trail miles south, Chris told us how the rollercoaster section was built years ago to replace a lengthy roadwalk on the windy narrow road we were driving. Ugh...while not everyone likes the Rollercoaster section of the trail....it has to be better than a roadwalk.
     Later on our hike we learned that Chris knew his stuff...he helped create the Rollercoaster  (something he didnt mention to us during the drive). Chris is now retired and lives in Harpers Ferrry, but he is still involved in the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club. Its folks like him and many others clubs and people that keep this great resource, the AT, maintained and available for us all.
    We were dropped at the 4h center at 5:30 pm, climbed up the familiar Blue blaze trail to the AT, and started hiking North.
     With 7.5 miles to the first shelter, we came expecting mulitple hours in the dark.  Night hiking is actually quite enjoyable. Even with a late start, you can often put in nearly a full dat of miles, and still get to sleep well before midnight. As section hikers, it helps us to get 4 days of hiking out of a 3 day weekend.
    This section of trail is in a very developed area, at times it feels like you are hiking through backyards. But the trail was smooth, the climbs were not absurdly steep, and we rolled into the Jim and Molly Denton Shelter by a bit after 10pm.   It wasnt that late, so we had the option of going an addition 5.5 miles to Manassas Gap shelter.  But the Denton shelter looked very nice, so we dropped our bags and called it a night.
     Before we turned in, we met "Overload", an AT hiker who would accompany us for the rest of the trip.

Rocky Mountain Shelters to US30 / Caledonia State Park

Feb 19th
Today's Miles: 3.5 Miles
Total Miles on this hike: 18.5

Today was a short day. After retreiving our food from the big blue toolbox (installed as a bear box to protect our food), we hiked back to the car. It was a downhill hike, and the whole group was feeling much better after a night of rest. 

We were also hurrying so we could get breakfast before church.

    Timbers Restaurant. A short walk west from the AT, and even shorter for us since we drove.  My breakfast was delightful, and the bacon was as good as any i have ever eaten.

    We visited a Reformed Baptist church in  Chambersburg, and after a great worship service, we drove back to Penmar to get the other car. The weather couldnt have been better for a February hike, and all said and done, Eve hiked 18.5 miles for her first overnight backpacking trip. 

    It was great to have our friends join us on the trail, and i hope we'll get out for another hike soon.

Deer Lick Shelters to Rocky Mountain Shelters

Feb 18 - 10.2  Miles...Only 10.2 miles. Felt like many more. 

 

After a breakfast of honey buns and 2 cups of coffee, i was ready to move on down the trail.  Sage and I were brave enough to not deploy our tarps overnight...but we had them above our hammocks in snakeskins just in case our weather optimism was misplaced. Our friends had the wisdom to set up their shelter regardless of weather estimates.  Sage and I enjoyed the stars, and managed to avoid getting rained on...so score one for optimism. 

     The trail was smooth and level...we were flying down the trail. What a great stretch for a first hike. I was feeling like I'd chosen well...beautiful weather, easy trail, Eve will certainly enjoy her first multi day hike with conditions like this.

We broke camp, and had an easy 2.4 mike hike down to the Tumbling Run Shelters.  

Eve and Sage beat us there and  were waiting by the creek that runs nearby. "Do we have time to go wading?" I had planned to move on, but how can you pass up a request to go wading in Pennsylvania in February?  So while the girls explored the creek, we sat down to make an early lunch.

    I had a homemade beans and rice freezer bag meal that looked tasty, so i boiled 2 cups of water, poured it into the bag with my dehydrated food, and waited. The sun was bright and warm, i sat their soaking it in.

   We called the girls back, enjoyed our meal, and got back on the trail. 

Tumbling Run is a beautiful location with the unfortunate problem of being too close to a State Park. It was quiet during our lunch visit, but I tend to prefer shelters that are not so accessible to teens in cars. Good lunch stop, but not sure it would be my pick for an overnight.

After a stop at a water faucet about 150 yards away to refill water bottles, we kept going.     The trail was smooth and easy, other than a climb coming up in a few miles, this was looking like a very easy day. We rolled into Tumbling Run Shelter and were very impressed. Every piece of gravel was in the proper location. No trash, anywhere. This shelter was obviously very well maintained.  While at the shelter, we took a brief break and met a retired couple. The wife offered us fresh made Korean Sushi (apologies to any Korean readers, I forget the proper term)...and it was incredible. The girls didn't eat much, but David and I chowed down. I showed a bit of restraint in case the couple had not eaten yet...but I could have easily eaten everything they had. It was one of the best bits of trail magic yet...beautiful shelter and fresh homemade Korean food. 

 Then the caretaker showed up, and we chatted for a bit. He recommended taking the Blue Blaze up to Chimney Rock, and said the White Blazes were very steep. Sage and I are not above an occasional Blue Blaze, although I think Sage leans more toward the purist side than I do. I let Sage make the call and she said "take the trail."   Bit mistake. the Trail was very steep.  We should have cheated and taken the easier Blue Blaze path.

   After a very steep climb, we finally made it to the top. From Penmar to this climb, we had hiked some of the easiest sections of the AT so far. All was forgotten on this climb. Perhaps it was because we climbed it later in the day, but for whatever reason, it seemed harder than the map indicated.

  The girls  and Dads enjoyed the view from the top, but most of all, we enjoyed knowing that there wasn't much more climbing left for the day. 

According to the map, we really didn't have much effort left before the next shelter. But the trail kept dragging on, and we were very tired after the climb. So we moved pretty slow from Chimney Rock to the shelter.  Many breaks were taken. 

We stumbled on from Chimney Rock, and nearing dark, we made it to Rocky Mountain Shelters. After a brief debate about whether we should continue on to the car only 3.5 miles mostly downhill, we decided we were too tired to continue, and hiked down to the shelter. 

     Sage was very motivated to have a campfire, so in spite of my aversion to smoke, I agreed. After a very pleasant fire, we went to sleep in the shelter. As it burned down, it nearly smoked us out of the shelter. My aversion to campfire smoke continues...I think I'l say "no" the next time. 

     Today was a very long day...probably a bit too long for a beginning hiker. But we made it.