Appalachian Trail - Day 065 - Nr Blackburn Trail Center to Sandy Hook

Day: 065

Date: Wednesday, 28 June 2023

Start:  Nr Blackburn Trail Center (AT Mile 1013.8)

Finish:  Sandy Hook (AT Mile 1027.3)

Daily Kilometres:  27.1

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  1733.9

Weather:  Overcast, mild and humid.

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Bacon, egg & cheese bagels and fries.

  Lunch:  Chicken & bacon subs.

  Dinner:  Spaghetti, Italian sausage & meatballs/Pork burger & fries, ice-cream.

Aches:  Nothing to report.

Highlight:  Checking in at the Appalachian Trail Conservancy Headquarters in Wiseman's Ferry, symbolically the halfway point of our journey (though a few miles short of that), being recorded as hikers #1021 and #1022 passing through for 2023, and having our picture taken for the yearbook.  We also asked to see the yearbook for 1986 and found Dave's picture taken when he passed through exactly 37 years and 5 days ago.

Lowlight:  None really.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

In anticipation of a shorter day and a motel stay tonight, we got going earlier, at 6:00am, and walked six miles further along the wooded ridge in mild overcast and breezy conditions to a busy road.

We turned eastwards, off the trail, and walked 0.3 miles along the road to a service/gas station that we knew served hot food.  The breakfast bagels were delicious, but we could have done without the nearly 30 minute preparation time.  It had started drizzling very lightly as we arrived, so once we got our breakfast we ate it sitting on the concrete forecourt watching the morning rush hour.  When we were loading up to walk back to the trail, a local we had chatted to, offered to drive us back, an offer we gladly accepted.

Back on the trail we continued along the ridge on trail that had some long rocky technical sections that were hard work and slow before descending steeply to the wide Shenandoah River.  We crossed it on a long bridge and then climbed up to the historic town of Harpers Ferry where we made our way to the headquarters of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (see above), a big milestone on our journey north to Maine.

From there we walked down to the centre of town past some very old buildings and had some lunch in the tourist area.  We then rejoined the AT and crossed the Potomac River just upstream from where it meets the Shenandoah River on a pedestrian path attached to a long railway bridge.  There were many tourists looking around the impressive scenic and historical location.

Once across the bridge, we left the AT and joined a road which we followed up to the motel where we had booked accommodation, arriving around 3:30pm, and checked in.  Later, after very welcome (and much-needed) showers and some hand laundry, we had dinner at the restaurant across the road and bought some supplies for tomorrow before having an early night.

Appalachian Trail - Day 064 - Brook (AT Mile 994.1) to near Blackburn Trail Center.

Day: 064

Date: Tuesday, 27 June 2023

Start:  Brook (AT Mile 994.1)

Finish:  Nr Blackburn Trail Center (AT Mile 1013.8)

Daily Kilometres:  34.8 (Ascent 5456', Descent 4823')

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  1706.8

Weather:  Very warm, overcast and very humid with a heavy thunderstorm and rain around midday.

Accommodation:  Tent 

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pop tarts 

  Lunch:  Hot dogs, potato salad & snacks.

  Dinner:  Trail mix.

Aches:  Dave - very tired; Julie - nothing to report.

Highlight:  At around noon, when we were due a break and Dave was totally over "The Roller Coaster" (see below), we reached a trail junction sign with cardboard attached pointing to Bears Den Hostel (which we hadn't been intending to visit) saying there was "Trail Magic" there today.  It was only 0.1 miles off the trail so we went to investigate.  As we arrived in the grounds of the magnificent stone hostel (circa 1930), the "Trail Angels" were packing up the BBQ and food in anticipation of a thunderstorm that was imminent.  We just got into the pergola and sat down when the rain started and soon became torrential with lightning and thunder.  What timing!  Despite the weather, the "angels", who had met when hiking the trail in 2012 and had stayed in touch, prepared us two hot dogs each and gave us potato salad, chips and other goodies as well as cold drinks.  It was a much-needed boost.

Lowlight:  "The Roller Coaster" is a named 14-mile stretch of the trail with a reputation for being tough.  As the name implies, there are a lot of ups and downs, but what the name doesn't tell you is that the difficulty is magnified by how rocky and technical the trail is.  Today, it was also very warm and humid, and it was tough, especially for Dave.  Every step seemed to involve a high knee lift and careful foot placement and he was bathed in sweat with it running off the end of his nose like a leaking faucet.  Although it was pleasant forest and had a couple of good views, it was a very draining 14 miles.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We were hiking by soon after 6:30am on a very still, warm and humid morning, somewhat apprehensive about "The Roller Coaster" (see above), the start of which we reached after two miles.

Not long after that we met Phoenix, a fellow thru-hiker we have stayed in touch with, who was slackpacking in the opposite direction and we chatted for a while.

Initially, "The Roller Coaster" didn't seem too bad, but it gradually wore us down as the day wore on.  Fortunately, there were a few milestones reached to offset the enervating hiking during the day - we passed the 1,000 mile mark of our hike, and we left Virginia and entered West Virginia - both very significant.

We were also the very lucky recipients of some perfectly timed "trail magic" at lunchtime (see above), which powered us (maybe an exaggeration) through the last four miles of "The Roller Coaster" in mid-afternoon.  Although the rocky technical trail continued to challenge in places, the last part of the day was much more pleasant as we travelled along a lightly wooded ridge as the evening approached.  There was even some sunshine.  Because we had spent nearly two hours at the Bears Den Hostel eating and avoiding the thunderstorm, we walked until 7:30pm, which is quite late for us, and found a nice camping spot near a viewpoint on the ridge. We just had trail mix for dinner, having eaten so well at lunchtime, before getting into the tent for some much-needed rest.

Appalachian Trail - Day 063 - Chester Gap to Brook (AT Mile 994.1)

Day: 063

Date: Monday, 26 June 2023

Start:  Chester Gap (AT Mile 972.1)

Finish:  Brook (AT Mile 994.1)

Daily Kilometres:  36.0 (Ascent 4232', Descent 4137')

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  1672.0

Weather:  Overcast, very warm and very humid.

Accommodation:  Tent 

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Breakfast sandwiches & choc chip muffins 

  Lunch:  Turkey, bacon & salad rolls

  Dinner:  Rehydrated meals 

Aches:  Nothing reported

Highlight:  The severe weather forecast for the afternoon - strong winds, thunderstorms, heavy rain and possible tornadoes - that had us considering what our back up plans should be, never materialised.  Not even one drop of rain (so far).

Lowlight:  Indications were that we should be able to get an Uber back to the trail this morning, but we could not. We ended up walking to the main road and hitch-hiking for about half an hour before getting a lift with a kindly young Hispanic woman on her way to her cleaning job.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We hoped for an early trip back to the trailhead using Uber and, after eating our Dunkin' Donuts breakfast from across the road, we tried booking one at 7:00am, but with no luck.  We then reverted to Plan B (see above) and got back to the trailhead at 8:00am, a little later than hoped, but not too bad.

There was a severe weather warning out for the afternoon and we did wonder whether we should have played safe and stayed at the motel for another day, but decided against.  The weather did seem a little ominous, with a heavy cloud cover and high humidity, but was otherwise OK.  Our plan was to go from shelter to shelter for the day, reassessing the weather forecast at each before continuing on.  Conveniently, there were shelters at approximately 5, 10 and 15 miles.

We reached the first, which was a "model" shelter with a deck, chairs, shower and horseshoe pitch soon after 10:00am and took our first break.  The hiking had been sweaty, but the trail was mostly good and Dave's new boots seemed to be doing the job.

We made good time to the next shelter through forest that varied from having dense undergrowth to little at all.  As usual, an undulating trail, but nothing too difficult.  We had our lunch there and checked the forecast which seemed less ominous though all of the warnings were still in place.

By the time we reached the turn-off for the third shelter, the bad weather should have arrived but all we had was cloud and humidity.  We decided to just keep going, passing through Sky Meadows State Park which had some welcome open meadow sections.

After the Park and after crossing a busy road we began our last few miles of the day and met a day-hiker who gave us each, and two other thru-hikers there, a can of Coke, which was much appreciated.

Just before 7:00pm we reached a stream with a really nice tentsite alongside and set up camp.  It had been a reasonably long day, but had gone well.

Appalachian Trail - Day 062 - Front Royal Day Off

Day: 062

Date: Sunday, 25 June 2023

Start:  Chester Gap (AT Mile 972.1) but staying at Front Royal.

Finish:  Chester Gap (AT Mile 972.1) but staying at Front Royal.

Daily Kilometres:  0

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos from our walk around town today.

Total Kilometres:  1636.0

Weather:  Warm, humid and sunny.

Accommodation:  Motel 

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Macca's big breakfast 

  Lunch:  Turkey & bacon rolls

  Dinner:  Chimichangas, rice & beans/Carnitas, rice & beans.

Aches:  Nothing new.

Highlight:  None really.

Lowlight:  None really.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

Our day was spent relaxing, drying gear out, planning, eating and resupplying.  We rose late, walked to the nearby McDonald's for breakfast and then planned our next couple of weeks hiking.

After lunch, we walked up to the town's outdoor store on a very warm sunny and humid day and bought a few things we needed along with some new boots for Dave.

It's a long story, but Dave's new boots from a few weeks ago were half a size smaller (11.5 vs 12.0) because he felt his feet were slipping around inside the previous boots (which had to be replaced because they were old and the sole was starting to separate from the upper).  Anyway, it seems that he needs size 12, given heel blisters and hammered big toes, and the store today just happened to have some, which he bought.  Same brand, Lowa, though different model.  Fingers crossed!

In the evening, we walked down to a Mexican restaurant for a very tasty (and big) dinner then finished our resupplying at the adjacent supermarket before returning to our motel.

We had been toying with having a second day off here, to let Dave's feet and, more generally, his body recover. Finally, however, we decided that now he has the new boots and the heel has had some rest, to return to the trail tomorrow.

Appalachian Trail - Day 061 - Neighbour Mt Trailhead to Chester Gap

Day: 061

Date: Saturday, 24 June 2023

Start:  Neighbour Mt Trailhead (AT Mile 949.0)

Finish:  Chester Gap (AT Mile 972.1) but staying at Front Royal.

Daily Kilometres:  38.1 (Ascent 3753', Descent 5381').

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  1636.0

Weather:  Overcast and misty early, then clearer with a heavy rain shower mid-afternoon and late humid sunshine.

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Turkey salad sandwiches 

  Lunch:  Ham salad sandwiches 

  Dinner:  Cheeseburger & fries, choc chip cookies.

Aches:  Dave - struggling with sore heel; Julie - nothing to report.

Highlight:  It was great to have some views again after our climbs and we particularly enjoyed our midday break on on a rocky ledge on South Marshall Mt with an excellent vista and a close up view of some hawks(?) riding the wind right in front of us.

Lowlight:  Getting drenched again in a mid-afternoon downpour which turned the trail into a river and lakes.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

The final stop on our culinary tour of the Shenandoah National Park was to be more low-key with a visit to the Elk Wallow Wayside which was supposed to open at 8:00am but did not offer hot food until 11:00am.

It was only four miles from where we were camped, so we packed up and started hiking on a misty morning, after it had rained all night, at about 6:20am. We timed it perfectly, arriving at the Wayside at exactly 8:00am, just as the store opened, and bought ourselves some cold food for breakfast and lunch.  

Although the weather seemed to be clearing up, everything was still very wet and we sat at a damp picnic bench outside the store and ate our breakfast before we continued hiking northwards. The trail wasn't too bad all day and, although we climbed a number of mountains, the grades were manageable.  We made reasonable time, although Dave is still struggling with a recovering heel blister that has made him even slower!

It was nice to have some.views again and we stopped a number of times to take them in (see above), but the trail was mostly in the "green tunnel".  Sadly, we seem to be past the best of the wildflowers though there are still a few around.

We didn't see many thru-hikers today, but there were plenty of other hikers out and we actually met an Appalachian Trail Ridgerunner, hired to hike the trail and make sure hikers were safe and using good camping (leave-no-trace) practices, and had a brief chat.

Around mid-afternoon it suddenly got cooler, the sky darkened, and we had another heavy downpour (a la yesterday).  Suddenly, everything seemed wet or damp again and we were very glad that we would be in a motel tonight.

Around 4:30pm we exited Shenandoah National Park and an hour later emerged into farmland before reaching a highway from where we planned to travel to Front Royal where we had a motel room booked for two nights.  Although Uber seemed to be an option, despite patchy phone reception, we decided to try hitching for a while first.

After about 10 minutes, a pick-up that had just passed us by returned and offered us a lift into Front Royal so long as we were willing to ride in the tray.  We agreed and had a fast breezy ride into town where we were delivered directly to our motel by the very friendly contractor.

It was already nearly 7:00pm, so after checking in Dave walked across the road to buy some take-out dinner while Julie had a shower then, after dinner and despite the hour, Julie walked a block to a laundromat and did our laundry.  One less chore for tomorrow.

We completed two months on the trail today and are looking forward to a day off tomorrow (Dave, in particular, in the hope that it will help the troublesome heel heal).

Appalachian Trail - Day 060 - Big Meadows Lodge to Neighbour Mt Trailhead

Day: 060

Date: Friday, 23 June 2023

Start:  Big Meadows Lodge (AT Mile 926.8)

Finish:  Neighbour Mt Trailhead (AT Mile 949.0)

Daily Kilometres:  36.0 (Ascent 4170', Descent 5295')

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  1597.9

Weather:  Cloudy and foggy most of the day with some heavy rain in the afternoon and some late sunshine.

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Western omelette & chips/Sausages & eggs 

  Lunch:  Roast beef salad roll/Turkey salad roll

  Dinner:  Noodles & chicken 

Aches:  Dave - very tired and blistered heel still a problem; Julie - nothing to report.

Highlight:  For our last hour of hiking for the day we had some sunshine dappling our forest trail.

Lowlight:  For about 30 minutes before we were planning on a 30 minute mid-afternoon break at a picnic ground with some shelter, there was a heavy downpour that turned the trail into a river and saturated us both.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

For the next leg of our culinary journey through Shenandoah National Park we planned to stop for breakfast at the Skyland Resort dining room, about eight miles from the Lodge where we stayed last night.  Knowing that they stopped serving breakfast at 10:00am (and closed the dining room for two hours), we knew that we had to make good time.  We left the Lodge at about 6:15am in foggy conditions with a light drizzle and hiked along.the saturated trail.  The going wasn't always easy, with many long rocky sections, and the viewpoints the trail passed were all white-outs with nothing to be seen as a reward for the climbs.  As time ticked by, we became a little worried that we would not make it in time, but arrived with 20 minutes to spare and got a table in the large crowded dining room.  The food was good and our waitress, easily identifying is as thru-hikers, kept refilling our Diet Pepsi glasses.

After breakfast we bought some lunch to take with us from the adjoining Starbucks and set our northwards.  Disappointingly, the trail continued to have many jagged and long rocky sections which not only slowed us down, but were very hard work.  There was also occasional drizzle and no views, to complete the picture.  At a picnic ground where we planned to have lunch, we found some limited "trail magic" on offer - Coke and Twinkies - from a German tourist/hiker.  We deferred eating the lunch we had bought earlier and chatted with the other thru-hikers there, one of whom thought she was making good time until she asked us when we started the trail and found out it was ten days after her.

From there we set out for another picnic ground five miles away at Thornton Gap where we planned to have a very late lunch.  Sadly, it rained torrentially for about 30 minutes (see above) before we got there and we both got very wet.  We ate our lunch in the breezeway of the toilet block while it continued raining, but not so hard.

The trail became easier after the Gap (it's all relative) and the sun even made an appearance as we covered our last miles for the day.  We didn't get quite as far as we wanted, leaving us 23 miles tomorrow to get to the road to Front Royal and a day off on Sunday, so we are hoping for some kinder trail.

It clouded over ominously, and thunder could be heard, as we set up camp and prepared dinner but, fortunately, it did not start raining until we finished eating and were in our tent.

 

Appalachian Trail - Day 059 - Hightop Hut to Big Meadows Lodge

Day: 059

Date: Thursday, 22 June 2023

Start:  Hightop Hut (AT Mile 906.4)

Finish:  Big Meadows Lodge (AT Mile 926.8)

Daily Kilometres:  36.0 (Ascent 4232', Descent 3894')

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  1561.9

Weather:  Cold, overcast, occasionally foggy with showers, some heavy.

Accommodation:  Room in a lodge.

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pop tarts 

  Lunch:  Ham & cheese sandwich/Turkey & cheese sandwich, chocolate muffins.

  Dinner:  Meatloaf & vegetables, homemade fudge.

Aches:  Dave - sore heels still; Julie - nothing reported.

Highlight:  Had to be the hot shower in our room at Big Meadows Lodge after another wet and wintry day on the trail.

Lowlight:  Maybe climbing successive mountains during the day knowing that there would be no views to be had because of the weather.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We very quietly packed up and left our crowded shelter before anyone else stirred at 6:30am.  It had rained most of the night and it was hard to tell whether it was still raining or just dripping from the trees as we set out along the wet trail through saturated vegetation on our continuing journey through Shenandoah National Park.  There was a lot of debris on the trail all day from yesterday's and last night's weather, ranging from leaf litter to whole trees down.  If the rain didn't get us wet, then the low overhanging vegetation did.

When we managed to get reception, we checked the weather forecast which confirmed yesterday's forecast that it was going to be another wet day.  Accordingly, our plan was to get to Big Meadows Lodge, 20 miles away, and get a room to dry out, despite their high prices.

We took our breakfast break after six miles at a wet and dismal picnic area near the trail, which had a toilet block, always a popular amenity with thru-hikers.  Despite the weather, there were a few people there setting out on some of the local walks.

After breakfast, our next goal was the Loft Mt Campground, another six miles on, where we hoped to buy some lunch.  We reached there soon after noon and bought some sandwiches which we ate on chairs outside under cover in the foggy drizzly weather.  It was very quiet, with little movement in the campground and few visitors to the store, not what they would have wanted on the second day of summer (though the girl in the shop wasn't complaining).

We saw very few hikers during the day, and only one or two identifiable thru-hikers.  We would guess that many have abandoned the trail for a few days, though three of the other thru-hikers from the shelter have also booked into the Big Meadows Lodge for tonight.

Knowing that the Lodge had an expensive dinner menu, our afternoon goal was to get to the Wayside diner, about a mile before the Lodge to buy an early dinner and some after dinner snacks before the diner/store closed at 5:00pm.  This meant another eight miles of hiking, without a break, during which there was one very heavy downpour and increasing amounts of light rain.

We reached the diner around 4:20pm only to find that their kitchen was not operating because of an earlier power failure (probably due to yesterday's weather).  Curses!  Fortunately, Plan B was the expensive restaurant at the Lodge, so we bought some after dinner snacks and walked the mile to the Lodge in a cold gloomy drizzle.  On check-in, we pleaded that we were poor hikers and they found us a twin room that was about US$80 cheaper than Julie has been able to book by phone (so that covered the cost of dinner).  The room is fine and we turned the heaters up full blast, put a fan on, and spread all of our gear out to dry.  Even with pack covers and dry bags, in the weather we have had things get damp.

We had a nice dinner downstairs in the dining room and will have an early night, aiming for an early departure in the morning (when it is forecast to still be raining).