Digital Wilderness

Now that I’ve posted all my journal entries from the trip, it’s time for a wrap-up.

It was a great adventure, even if we didn’t hike as far or camp as much as expected. We experienced the park like most people never will and I marked two items off my life to-do list. I was very disappointed in the section of the Appalachian Trail that we hiked, but I don’t think that’s representative of the whole. Or maybe it is… I’m going to check into that. Actually, it was more the whole southern district of Shenandoah National Park that was the disappointment. We didn’t see or hear many animals in the south, nor were there many spectacular views. The central district was much, much better.

As I wrote before the trip, I thought we could easily do 20 miles a day. In reality, that did not turn out to be the case. I think we could have done the 20 miles without packs, but have 30 lbs or more strapped to your back changes things a little. I didn’t take that into account.

Also, I was dumb enough to think we didn’t need to be conditioned to do the trail. Sure, I hike locally on occasion, but I’ve only done 15 miles in one day before. Mindy and I should have hiked more often and longer distances before we hit the trail.

Thankfully, I held up fine physically. I only had one blister, at the base of my big toe on my left foot, and that didn’t effect my walking at all. Though the pack hurt my shoulders, it wasn’t a lasting discomfort. Once I took the pack off, they were fine. My legs were never sore and neither was my back. I was worried that my back would cause me the worst pain, but it didn’t hurt at all.

One area that I need to work on for next time is food/cooking. This is three-fold. First, we never got into a regular routine for our meals. I munched on snack bars throughout the day and didn’t fix an actual meal but for a few times. I bet we would have had more energy and been able to hike further if we had three “real” meals throughout the day.

Second, I packed too much of the wrong type of food. I brought backpacker meals, the freeze-dried kind, along with the snack bars. If I had thought more about it, I’m sure there were many other meals I could have bought at a grocery store that would have been less expensive and more appetizing.

Third, the pots I brought were mostly useless. They weren’t stable on the stove and took up too much room in the pack. For the next trip, I’ll get “flatter” pots, something to measure with and a plate to eat from.

As far as hygiene, I was well prepared. I didn’t find myself wanting something I didn’t have. While I probably didn’t smell like roses, I at least felt fresh each morning and clean enough for bed at night.

One thing that surprised me is how much I relied on my trekking poles. I haven’t really used them effectively for my shorter local hikes, but I could not have made it out of the canyon without them. Along the way, I think we also summited four mountains – Bear Den, Little Calf, Turk’s and Pollack’s Knob – and they helped with that as well.

All in all, it was good to be out in nature for a week, and away from the office. It was a good learning experience for future trips. Maybe I’ll hit the section of the A.T. in the Smokey Mountains next time – as long as it’s a scenic trail.

Thu, 19 Oct 2006
Miles Today: ~10
Total Miles: ~27.5

This morning we awoke to perfect weather, just like last night. It wasn’t cold at all and there was a freshness in the air. By now, we were much more efficient in tearing down camp and packing up the gear, so we were on the trail a little after 9am, the earliest start so far. We headed south on the A.T., towards Hawksbill Mtn. On the way, we came to an open place in the trail and had a breathtaking view of the valley below bathed in fog. It looked like a white-capped sea brushing up against the mountain sides. We couldn’t help but take a few moments to enjoy the incredible view.

We continued on to Timber Hollow Overlook, where we decided to change our plans. Rain was once again in the forecast and we really wanted to hike a scenic canyon trail, so we decided to hold off on the plans to summit Hawksbill Mtn and instead hit the canyon trail first. We backtracked a bit until we hooked up with White Oak Run Trail, once of the most scenic trails in the park based on what I had read. The 5 miles White Oak Run Trail met up with the 3 mile Cedar Run Trail to form a circuit hike that included at least 6 waterfalls. We had only hiked a very short distance along a stream so far, so we were looking forward to having a watery companion for a hike.

Down we went into the canyon. And down…and down. The trail followed White Oak Run almost the entire distance, so we had no fears of running out of water. The waterfalls were as relaxing and satisfying as we were hoping they would be.

Along the way, we met up with many other hikers. Considering we had only encountered a few in the previous days, the crowded trail was quite a change. What really surprised us was how old some of the hikers were. Some were young like us, but they was no shortage of older couples. Considering how steeply the trail dropped (or rose, depending on the direction traveled), we were impressed at how fit these elders seemed. I hope I’m as fit when I reach their age!

Several hours later, we reached the bottom of the canyon. I was getting a bit tired at this point, but my back, legs and shoulders were holding up so far. We rested for a few minutes, then took the connecting trail over to Cedar Run Trail. This trail followed Cedar Run for most of it’s length, so we were again enjoying the scenic and peaceful sounds along the trail. We knew we would be descending out of the canyon, but we had hoped this ascent wouldn’t be as dramatic as White Oak Run’s.

It was. Hiking out of that canyon was one of the most physically demanding things I have done. I’ve done steep ascents like this before, but never with 30 lbs of weight on my back and not after a descending so steeply for so long. I prayed practically the entire way for strength to make it out. Because we were in a canyon, there was no place to camp, so we had to make it out. When the skies began to cloud and darkness began to fall, we began to wonder what we should do. just when we were making plans to hike in the dark, I heard cars in the distance. The road! With renewed vigor, we slung on our packs and plowed ahead. Step after step, drenched with sweat from the rather hot day, we trudged along, listening as the sounds of the road grew louder. Finally, as a few drops of rain fell, we saw the signs marking the entrance. We had made it!

Exhausted, but thrilled with our accomplishment, we plopped down by a tree and discussed our next course of action. We thought about heading to the nearest campground, but we’d need to get the car to make it there since it was too far away to hike this late in the day. I hitched a ride with a nice couple from Michigan back to where we had parked the car then drove back to picked up Mindy. I learned from my drivers that storms were expected overnight, and since we were heading home tomorrow anyway, we decided to forgo the campground and head back towards the interstate.

We’re gonna sleep well tonight!

Wed, 18 Oct 2006
Miles Today: ~3.25
Total Miles: ~17.5

Today was the opposite of yesterday. Where everything was miserable and gloomy then, today was perfect. It was weird being in a hotel last night…

Amazingly, and for the first time that I can ever remember, I wanted to get up earlier than my traveling companion(s). Usually, I’m the one sleeping in and not caring about missing a free breakfast, but I told Mindy I was getting up at 8:30 for the continental breakfast. She groaned and said she’d be up later.

After checkout, we wanted to kill some time, figuring the trails would still be too wet. It was expected to be sunny with a high of 75 (Relient K anyone?), much different from the previous day, and the trails should dry up nicely by late afternoon.

To kill some time, we decided to visit some local caverns. They were everywhere in this area, so we had plenty of choices. However, after driving to one and calling the others and learning they all cost more than we were willing to pay, we went looking for something to waste some time. We didn’t look long. There was an advertisement on the radio for a pirate-themed corn maze – Maize Quest – and we had our answer.

This was an interesting maze, different from the few I had done before. Rather than simply finding your way from the entrance to the exit, we were given a sheet with puzzles and clues. Our goal was to make it through the maze, searching for stations and collecting answers along the way. Each clue contained a letter which may or may not have been part of the “secret” word. Other stations told us which letters were part of the word. Interesting twist on the standard mazes I had done before.

The maze killed enough time, so we grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed back to SNP and the A.T. This time, we were going to do it differently, though. Rather than pick up where we left off in the southern district, we picked a more interesting sport in the central district. We drove part of Skyline Drive, actually getting to see some views for a change, and made our way to Stony Man Mtn. The A.T. intersected a park trail here, and it was this point that the A.T. reached it’s highest point in SNP. We left our packs behind and climbed to the summit of Stony Man. Awesome view from the top! We were on the western side of the ridge for a change, so we could see the valley and towns below.

After enjoying the view for a bit, we hiked back to the parking area, picked up our gear and started south on the A.T. Our plan at this point was to head towards Hawksbill Mtn, the highest peak in the park. Fall had definitely hit this section of the park more so than the southern section, and the leaves on the ground were much thicker. We lost the trail at one point and did some trailblazing. You know those movies and books where the protagonist gets lost in the woods or elsewhere, then sees a stag/dear/unicorn/etc. which shows him the way? Well, that happened to me. As we were stumbling around searching for the trail, I saw two deer grazing. They started walking away, so I following them. A few minutes later, there was the trail! Pretty cool experience.

We hiked until dark and set up camp at Pollack’s Knob. We should reach the summit trail easily tomorrow. We also plan to leave the A.T. tomorrow. Since we’ve barely seen any views along the way, we’re going to hike some of the more interesting park trails instead. There’s a loop trail down into a canyon that follows a stream and has plenty of waterfalls.

The weather is fantastic tonight, and we finally got to see the sun set. I “enjoyed” some mint chocolate chip astronaut ice cream, too. Wasn’t too bad; tasted a little like fudge from Gatlinburg, though really dry. As Mindy has noted before, we didn’t see or hear many animals at night in the southern district, but they’re definitely active here. This very friendly buck startled me as I was searching for a camping spot. I walk right up on him, not even noticing he was there until he slowly walked off.

It’s amazing what a difference coming 60 miles north made. Looking forward to the trail tomorrow!

Tue, 17 Oct 2006
Miles Today: 2
Total Miles: 14.25

Wow, what a miserable night and day! We woke to a constant rain, gusting winds and a wet tent. The rain started around 9pm last night and didn’t let up until noon today, only to start up again a couple hours later. We, and our gear, were not prepared for all this rain. I had checked the weather forecast Sunday morning, right before we left, and the prediction was for showers. This was more than just showers. It was extremely foggy out, too.

We discussed our possibilities – stay in the tent until the rain stopped then move on, pack everything up now and hike on in the rain or go back to the nearest road and head into town. The tent was getting wetter the longer we sat, and the rain showed no sign of letting up, so we ruled out staying where we were. (My cell reception was touch and go, but I managed to get a signal for long enough to reach my brother and find out the rain was expected to continue for several more hours.) We thought about hiking on to the next hut, nine miles up the trail, but considering our gear was water-logged (greatly increasing our pack weight) and the rocky, leaf-covered trail was now wet and slippery, we decided the safest option would be to head back to the road.

We packed things up as best we could and and hiked back down Turk Mtn. to the nearest road crossing. At this point we weren’t sure what to do. Not many cars were on the road due to the rain and fog, but we tried hitching a ride into town, which was about 15 miles down the road. With no luck initially, we started walking south, heading towards parking and overlooks where we may have better luck. An hour or so later, we gave up on thumbing a ride and called for a cab. Cell reception was spotty, so we had to keep hiking along the road until I got a signal, but eventually we were able to get in touch with someone.

While waiting for the cab, several cars pulled up to the overlook where we were sitting. Figures! One couple was from Germany and talked with us for a few minutes. They had flown into Atlanta then made their way up the East Coast, stopping at Virginia Beach, D.C., etc. on the way, before heading over to SNP. They started at the north end of the park and were now heading south. I felt sorry for them since they couldn’t enjoy any views on this day.

The cab arrived sooner than expected. By this time, the rain had let up, so it wasn’t too bad sitting out waiting for it. As the cab headed south on the road, the fog grew thicker, at one point being so thick we could barely see 20 ft. in front of us. The cab driver said this wasn’t uncommon and that there had been several major accidents on the interstate, 80-100 car pile-ups, because of the fog. I vaguely remember hearing about one of them in the early- to mid-90s. Now I can see why.

After we were dropped off at the car, we decided to head back up the interstate a few miles to Staunton (pronounced Stanton) and stay at a hotel for the night. We hung up the tent and such to dry, did some laundry, ate a good meal and relaxed the rest of the night.

It was a disappointment to be forced off the trail, but I think we made the best decision in the end. The local news reported the area had about an inch of rain, and the fog stuck around most of the day as well. It wouldn’t have been any fun hiking in the rain with heavier than normal packs, we wouldn’t have been able to see much with all the fog and our gear would have been wet for days to come. Not sure what tomorrow holds in store for us. With all the rain, it may still be too wet to hike. The good news is the temperature will be in the middle 70s, which should help dry things out at least.

To be honest, the trail has been a disappointment so far. It’s been great to be out in the wilderness, away from the hustle and bustle of city life, enjoying the fresh air and nature. But the trail itself has not been what I expected. The seemingly endless climbing, rocky trails, poor views (of radio towers, powerlines, etc), no spectacular views of the mountains and valley… Maybe it would be better to drive through the park and hike selected trails, trails with more rewarding vistas…

Mon, 16 Oct 2006
Miles Today: 9
Total Miles: 12.25

Horrible night’s sleep! Neither Mindy nor I slept well. My problem was that I was too hot in my sleeping bag. That, and the seemingly constant wind throughout the night that gusted enough to wake me up at times.

I woke up around 8, Mindy soon thereafter. We cooked breakfast, our first meal along the trail. I had Scrambled Eggs with Bacon Bits from Backpacker’s Pantry. Horrible! Yuck! The stuff was nasty. I was looking forward to the meal, too. I have a different brand of eggs with bacon from Mountain House that I’m hoping will be better.

By the time we got things cleaned and packed up, it was already 10:30. Much later start than I was anticipating. I took us a while to get our bags repacked, though, something that will come easier as the days go by.

We hit the trail with our goal being Blackrock Hut, approximately 16 miles away. Easily accomplished…or so we thought. Our goal going into this trip was to hike around 20 miles a day and hit the huts and shelters along the way. What we didn’t take into account, what we couldn’t have known, was the condition of the trail we would be hiking. Rocks everywhere, that made the going rough on the feet and prevented my hiking poles from fully serving their purpose. Also, the trail was very much not flat. Instead, it felt like we were hiking uphill most of the day. I thought the trail would wind along the ridges with a few ascents and descents along the way. Instead, the trail seemed to purposefully climb to the top of each mountain then descend to the gap. This was going to be a good workout for us. To make matters worse, we were running low on water. 7 miles in and we hadn’t run across any streams or other sources of water yet.

Finally, we reached Calf Mountain Shelter around 1:30. We had never planned on staying at this shelter since it was only seven miles from the start, but it was a welcome sight. There was a spring nearby, so we fill up on water and rested for a bit. I had expected to reach the shelter by noon, so we couldn’t rest for long.

Thankfully, the trail descended for a while after the shelter, and it even followed a stream for a bit, a nice and relaxing change from what we had been seeing. So far, the A.T. wasn’t offering any great views of the park, instead leading us by powerlines and radio towers. I was disappointed in what I was getting from the trail so far.

The downhill portion of the trail didn’t last long as we found ourselves ascending most of the rest of the day. So far, we’ve summited Bear Den Mtn, Little Calf Mtn, Calf Mtn and one peak of Turk Mtn. Our camp tonight is on Turk Mtn. We didn’t make it to Blackrock Hut as expected, but with darkness coming, we had to stop for the night.

At this point, it’s pretty clear that we won’t be able to do the full 100 miles of the A.T. in SNP that was intended. Instead, we’re shooting for the 50 miles of the southern district of the park.

Physically, we’re holding up okay. Mindy’s feet are hurting and my shoulders are hurting (from the pack), but nothing a good night’s rest won’t cure. 9:45 – time to turn in.

Sun, 15 Oct 2006
Miles Today: 3.25
Total Miles: 3.25

First night along the trail. So far, so good!

Mindy met at my place at 9 this morning and we were on the road soon after. Seven and a half hours later, we arrived in Waynesboro, VA. We made good time. Google Maps estimated the trip at 9.5 hours, but we took a slightly different route and didn’t run into any traffic. We stopped once in Beckley, VA for a meal, our last “real” food for a while.

We picked up our backcountry permit at the Rockfish Gap entrance station to Shenandoah National Park, parked the car at the nearby visitor’s center and hit the trail by 5. We didn’t want to waste any time since it would be dark soon. We hiked a good 3.25 miles, until 6:30, then set up camp. The hardest part about setting up camp was finding a tree to hang the packs from! We couldn’t find any trees that had suitable branches, and the rope kept getting stuck. Camp was setup and the packs hung by 7:30, and it was dark. Lots of time to kill – too early for bed by far.

The trail itself has been okay so far, though it’s rockier than I expected. I’ve seen four deer, all within 30 ft. or so. Very friendly, very much not scared of people. We passed three people so far – one trail runner and 2 hikers, all heading south. I wonder how crowded the trail will be further in.

Along the way, thoughts of an old friend popped into my head. Andrea Schmidt (now Glaze) was a good friend during my Georgetown College days, there for me during some rough times involving girls. Anyway, the reason she popped into my thoughts was because we had gone hiking several times and during one of those hikes, she walked with her hands above her head for a distance. After I looked at her funny, she said the blood was pooling in her fingers, so she put them over her head to let the blood flow. Guess you had to be there…

To kill some time, since there was no way we could go to sleep at 7:30, we played some cards, namely Phase10. Mindy won both games we played – as usual. She beats me at almost everything, the exceptions being bowling and chess. I’m determined to beat her at least once this week.

Well, it’s almost 9:30 now, so I’m going to try to get some sleep. The temperature is supposed to dip to 30° tonight. I should be warm in my new sleeping bag, but the morning could be rough. Sunrise at 7:30. Yuck!

Mindy and I survived our wilderness adventure and are back home. The trip didn’t quite turn out as we expected, but it was still a memorable adventure. I kept a journal throughout, and took plenty of pictures, so I’ll be sharing more details throughout the coming week or so. Stay tuned…

As for now, I have 3000+ articles on Bloglines to read, 13 video podcasts and 6 DVR’ed shows to watch and a ton of emails to read and answer. Ugh…

Two days from now, Mindy and I will be on the road to Virginia. At this time of the day, we should actually be in VA, nearing Rockfish Gap, the entrance station for the southern end of the AT in Shenandoah National Park. Our plan is to hike a few miles in and set up camp for the night. We’ll tent the first night and hopefully pick up 3-sided huts and shelters the rest of the trip. These are spaced about 20 miles apart, so as long as we can keep up that pace, we’ll have a solid roof over out head.

Wow, are we really going to do this?!? It still seems unbelievable.

The biggest concern I have is the weather. I can handle the 20 mile hikes, the several days without a shower, not being fully prepared, having to put up with Mindy for a week. If it’s cold and rainy, something we have no control over, it’ll be a miserable time.

According to weather.com, here’s the forecast for the week:


Sun, Sunny, 59°/34°, 20% chance of precip.
Mon, Mostly Cloudy, 60°/45°, 20% chance of precip.
Tue, Few Showers, 57°/49°, 30% chance of precip.
Wed, Cloudy, 69°/50°, 20% chance of precip.
Thu, Showers, 69°/50°, 40% chance of precip.
Fri, Showers, 69°/46°, 40% chance of precip.


Thankfully, the temperatures look like they’ll be perfect. It’s the rain that has me a little concerned. To be optimistic about it, at least they’re not predicting thunderstorms. Showers may not be too bad, especially if they don’t last long. Be praying the weather will be great for us!

What a fantastic day for a hike! Mindy and I loaded up and strapped on our packs and hit some trails today – Boone Cliffs and Middle Creek Park – in an attempt to prepare ourselves for the great adventure that starts next week. Hiking 20 miles a day is one thing, but hiking 20 miles with 30 pounds on your back is another entirely. We wanted a trial run to get a feel for the packs and Mindy needed to break in her boots. We hiked approximately 5 miles in 2.5 hours. I know we can’t keep up that pace the entire day, but it’s a pretty good pace to reach our goal of 100 miles in 5 days.

So far, so good. Looks like I’m going to have room in the pack for everything I think I’ll need, without breaking the 30 pound barrier. My boots that I’ve had for many years now are still holding up and should be fine. There were two issues that I need to work out, though. One involved the pack being uncomfortable on my right shoulder. I adjusted every strap that would involve the shoulder, but I think rearranging the contents and redistributing the weight will help solve that problem.

The other issue involved my canteen. When I hike, I usually carry a canteen slung over my shoulder/chest. However, with the big pack on, I can’t comfortably wear it any more. It digs into my next and hits my thighs when I climb. I’m going to look into getting a camelbak so solve the problem. My pack has a compartment built in for the bladder, so that would help things out, though it wouldn’t hold as much water as the canteen.

Wow, only a week until we leave! Looking ahead to the weather…not good. The temperatures look great, with highs in the lower 60s and lows in the lower 40s. That bad part is they are predicting rain Sunday through Tuesday at this point. Hopefully those predictions will be wrong and the rain will get out of the way before we get there.

This week will be spent getting more food and the remainder of supplies that we’ll need, repacking the bag and building some stamina for the trip. Yeah, I’m gonna try to go running again.

With my upcoming wilderness adventure fast approaching, I thought I’d post of list of gear that will help me survive this adventure.

Backpack

Sleeping Bag

Sleeping Pad

Tent

Stove

Cookware

Food

Water Purifier

GPS

Trekking Poles