Back in the Saddle

Wow, does it feel good to be back!  I didn't realize how much I enjoyed being out here until an injury sidelined me and sent me home for a week to rest.  Surprisingly, I settled in at home fairly easy and was fortunate enough to see some friends that won't be there when I return...  But like I said, I'm back!  I picked up the trail right where I had left off, which was right outside Harper's Ferry, WV.   I was prepared to hike alone, away from any group, because I assumed that everyone I knew was ahead of me!  However, I wasn't hiking an hour before I ran into three older guys I hadn't seen since Damascus, VA!  Buffalo Bobby, Trolley Stop, & Guardian.  Funny how things work out.
My days hiking have been long and fairly easy.  I've managed to average over 20 miles a day since I started back.  The trail through PA so far has had it all - meadows, rock mazes, rocks, strolling trail through rhododendrons, etc.  The terrain in southern PA isn't near as brutal as the terrain in the northern part of the state.  The ankle-busting rocks await me...  The rocks are so bad, we hikers call this state Rocksylvania.
The trail through Pennsylvania is famous for its rocks but there is also another topic that Pennsylvania is famous for: The Half Gallon Challenge.  All up and down the trail, from Georgia to Maine, hikers have invented "challenges" to help keep things interesting and rewarding.  Such challenges are the 4 state challenge (cross the state borders of VA, WV, MD, & PA in 24 hours), the pancake challenge, and of course, the Half Gallon Challenge - which is quite possibly the most ridiculous challenge ever - to eat an entire half gallon of ice cream at the midpoint of the trail in Pine Grove Furnace State Park.  I had been dreaming since Georgia about attempting this challenge with cookie dough ice cream but got stuck with banana split.   It took 1 hour 15 mins. but I got it all down... but not with plenty of gagging and stomach pains.  I got my wooden spoon that says "Member of Half Gal. Club"!
This evening I'm staying at the historic Doyle Hotel in Duncannon.  The hotel is over 100 years old.  The Doyle is a thru hiker staple and it's almost assumed hikers will at least stop in to check things out when coming through town.  The owners and operators, Vicky and Pat, really love hikers!  Vicky took my picture to add to the hiker binder for 2011 and I could tell that they both enjoy serving up good food and cold beer to all the hikers!
All in all it's so good to be back and I look forward to the second half of this journey!  "Only" 1,042.5 miles left!  ;-)

Half Gallon Challenge... Blah!

Turn of Events

No rain, no pain, no Maine.  That's the thru hiker mantra!!   I've hiked through the rain and the pain, so technically I should see Maine... right?  Right?!
Remember me mentioning in the "Epic Buffet" entry that I thought I had sustained a groin pull? Come to find out that is not true, but I have sustained what I'll just refer to as a "guy injury".   In short, it feels like someone has swiftly kicked me in my nuts, even though no one did.  After spending part of the night in the emergency room, the doctor has given me orders to rest for about a week and ice my testes.  I now find myself unwillingly back in Delaware.
As you might imagine, I'm not too fond of this new situation.  However, I know that if I want a chance of finishing this hike without jeopardizing my own health, I must rest for the time being.  Of course, it's just hard to do that.
At the beginning of this hike, I hated my body and my body hated me.  Needless to say, I've hiked through pain (and the rain).  Pain that shot through my knees back in Georgia.  Pain that radiated from my heels because they had been rubbed raw in Virginia.  I have mere aches now-- good pains, if you will, compared to when I started hiking down in Georgia.  However, this pain was different.  I'm used to "pushing" but stopping before I'm doing damage to my body.  After over 1,000 miles, you know your limits.  Yet, the pain I was experiencing felt as if my body was already damaged.
Nothing to do but wait it out and resume hiking in a few days... I miss it already.  "It" is everything from the views to the friends I've made.

Rays of sunshine after a thundershower in Shenandoah

Milestones

How is a huge goal attainable?  A goal such as hiking 2,100+ miles from Georgia to Maine?  One word: milestones.
There's days where my milestone is the next shelter or a stream or a road crossing.  Sometimes, it would be the next town or the next state border.  You would be surprised how little I think of Maine or Mt. Katahdin.  I must deal with each day as it unfolds, as it's often that my daily plans change.  But I always remember that little goals lead to big goals!!
I've accomplished several milestones within the last 24 hours.  The state of Virginia-- all 550 miles --is now behind me.   I passed the 1,000 mile mark.   I made it to the mental halfway point, Harper's Ferry, WV.  I should be guzzling that champagne right now!
It's customary that when thru hikers reach Harper's Ferry that they stop by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) and have their picture taken!  I was number 483 for 2011.  The ATC then archives these photos.  I enjoyed searching through the archives for past hikers that I know or talked to when I was planning my hike.
For those that don't know, the ATC oversees the entire trail for protection, maintenance, and conservation.   The ATC needs all the help it can get to preserve the AT and the surrounding areas. Everything that the AT has given me is difficult to put into words.  There is still over 1,200 miles of trail remaining, and I'm sure the AT will surprise me with revelations on the next half of this trip!
Hiking on into Maryland tomorrow for a short 42 miles and then it's on into Rocksylvania!   :-)

The "Epic Buffet"

To celebrate me reaching the half-way-but-not-half-way point, my friends Skyline and Rodman came to visit me just shy of Harper's Ferry, WV. They met me at the Bear's Den Hostel to pick me up and take me out to dinner at the fabulous buffet at the race track and casino over in Charles Town, WV. I was looking forward to seeing them because I can "talk trail" with them and they not have glazed looks on their faces. Someone that understands just how hard thru-hiking can be! Yay!
They arrived just in time too, because "The Roller Coaster" was firmly kicking my ass-- so much so that my beloved trail nurse (Sparkplug) confirmed to me that I've pulled a groin muscle. Fun times to be had on The Roller Coaster for sure... Oh, so you may be asking yourself "what is The Roller Coaster?". Well, it's 13.5 miles of trail that ascend and descend over 10 peaks. None of the peaks go over 1,500 feet in elevation, but the climbs are very steep, super rocky, and have tons of roots to trip up your feet. Skyline tells me that the ATC was forced into making The Roller Coaster because the trail used to be on the road in an affluent area and people in their mcmansions got tired of hikers ringing their doorbells asking for water. **face palm** Glad to know that the state of Virginia is making me work to get to that West Virginia border.
Ok, back to this "Epic Buffet" (that's the real name). This buffet was out of control! I consumed BBQ ribs, chicken, and salmon, green beans, mac n cheese, hush puppies, salad, roasted mashed potatoes, prime rib, cookies, and creme brule. All three of us left satisfied and full!
On a sidenote, we hit a deer on the way back and miraculously there was no damage done to the van. However, even after all that I ate, my brain still acknowledged my hiker hunger because I thought about how I haven't had venison in awhile... Mmmm... venison..

Shenandoah

I have a love / hate relationship with the Shenandoah National Park.
The wildlife in the park isn't so wild.  The AT crosses Skyline Drive 24 times in the park!  I could hear traffic most of the day.  I was often within 0.1 mile of Skyline Drive.  The trail is a lot more populated in the park with day / section hikers. The trail itself was poorly maintained in some sections; so bad that I was bushwhacking for a short stretch. The spur and circuit trails were often more maintained and lead into more "wilderness-y" areas...  Also, there's fewer views on the AT than on Skyline Drive!  That's just wrong...
However, I saw my first rattlesnake and five black bears in Shenandoah!  I also saw tons of deer-- fawns and bucks in the velvet.  Surprisingly, Shenandoah is a wildlife mecca!  I also got to meet some really nice new people due to my newly slowed pace.  I wanted a change from hiking around the same people day in and day out.  For instance, Pigeon was doing trail magic for her friends Skid and Flame and I saw her a total of three times in the park.  I took my time, engaging her in conversation and waiting around to see what other hikers would take the short side trail to the parking lot where she was set up.  She reminded me of my love for Alaska with her "Alaska Makes Me Happy" t-shirt.  Pigeon told me of her time spent in Alaska as a nature guide of sorts and her cross-country drive from DC.  This woman rocks.
Aside from the wildlife and new people, I got to hike stretches of the AT that I had already done (no, I wasn't going to skip them!).  For me, re-hiking sections of trail already completed was a cool experience.  I tried to pinpoint places where I had stopped to pick and eat apples from the apple trees near Compton Peak.  It was difficult to pinpoint these places because of the overgrown summer vegetation and some places were scorched due to a wildfire in March.  But I think I nailed it...
Finally, the end of Shenandoah means that the end of Virginia is right around the corner!  I've been in this state for almost 40 days and over 500 miles!  On the whole, Virginia had some gorgeous scenery and diverse scenery at that. I walked through meadows, blossoming mountain laurel tunnels, over countless fence stiles and stream crossings, and boulder scrambles.  Virginia was nice and didn't really get old but I'm glad to be moving on to new territory!

The "Why" Factor

Yes, the dreaded "why" question.  Why are you hiking the trail?  Why are you out here?  It starts where... Georgia?!  And goes to where... Maine?!  It's going to take how long?!  That doesn't sound like fun...  Or whatever variant of the "why" question the person can come up with.
People hike the trail for a lot of different reasons.  Some are out here to prove themselves or to others.  Some want an adventure.  Some have had "hike the AT" on the to-do list for years.  Others decided a short time before leaving (like me).  Some want to simply get away or find peace with themselves.  And the list goes on and on...  When answering the "why" question, most hikers by now have fabricated a canned answer that is hopefully easily understood by those that can't quite wrap their mind around hiking from Georgia to Maine.
For me, hiking the trail was a dream acquired less than one year ago.  I've always had an adventurous and spontaneous spirit.  One day last summer, I remember I wanted to go for a hike.  I don't know why, I just did.  I had a calling...??
I discovered the AT and decided to do a short section hike last summer.  On that section hike, I fell in love with the trail, the scenery, the community the AT can harbor, and the personal discoveries, satisfaction, and ties to nature the trail can offer.  Before I knew it, I had acquired gear and had hiked multiple sections along the AT before the year 2010 came to a close.  The rest is history.
However, it wouldn't be 100% true for me to say that the reason I'm thru hiking is because of a whim I had last summer.  Since I started my hike, a few reasons for hiking have been added to the list.  For me, I discover new reasons for thru hiking as the hike progresses, while other reasons remain steadfast.  I wanted an adventure and a challenge.  Check and check.  I wanted to see spectacular scenery.  Check.  I wanted to see more of America via foot travel.  Check.  I wanted to discover things I didn't know about myself.  Semi-check.
If you had asked me back in Georgia why I was attempting a thru hike, I probably couldn't have given you a clear answer.  And to be honest, I still probably couldn't give you a clear answer.  Even after 850+ miles. It's just something I felt I wanted (and dare I say, have) to do. I look forward to discovering why I am out here.  Until then, I hike on...

James River footbridge (the longest foot-use-only bridge on the entire AT)

The Virginia Blues

I certainly don't have them.  But other hikers are certainly feeling the affects of the Virginia Blues.  I know of several hikers that are calling it quits.  In fact, one hiker put their whole pack, contents and all (including a Kindle) in the hiker box and bought a bus ticket back to NYC.
By now, hikers have been in this state for almost a month, the views have gotten hazy from the humidity, the summer heat is turning on full force, the bugs threaten your sanity, and the "green tunnel" seems like it will never end.  Plus, I've noticed that if a hiker is dependent on other hikers, they have a hard time continuing on the trail if their friends drop out or can't keep up.
All of that and more plays in to the Virginia Blues.  It's been said more than once that hiking the AT is more mental that physical.  Reason being?  It's easy to get frustrated and discouraged when ascending 3,000 feet up a mountain in 95 degree heat, only to have the view from the top shrouded in haze as you gasp for your breath while sweat just drips off your body.  Sounds fun, right?
That's not to say that I haven't had my fair share of "trying" days out here.  This past week it was over 90 degrees during the day with suffocating humidity.  And it's not really the dirty aspect.  Once you're dirty, you're dirty -- it's fine.  But the heat is another factor for a hiker's feet.  My feet are wet all day from sweat and it's easy for them to develop "hot spots."  Therefore, it looks like someone has taken a cheese grater to my heels.  The adhesives on band-aids, mole skin, athletic tape, etc. don't stand a chance from my sweat.  I was in some horrible pain for a few days until I ran into a friend by the name of Hollywood.  She gave me an ACE bandage to wrap my ankle / heel area with to prevent the friction from making a raw gash again.
Hiking on with a smile!   I'm enjoying the new scenery Virginia is showing me and all that is to come.  :-)