2016 Finish Line

Went to bed hoping for a dry night and to roll into Damascus. It was not meant to be. About 11:30 pm the full on thunderstorms hit us and it rained harder than the other three nights it rained.  It came down for a long time. Funny to see the headlamps all pop on as we checked our tents. Tom was in a hammock and he had to adjust his overhead fly too keep rain out.  Michael said he saw his flip flops floating by and water got under his tent, giving him the waterbed effect. Travis was so confident he left his clothes out to dry. 😃. 

Again, it all subsided by morning. I am personally happy to report I had exactly the right amount of food for the first time..well, with some slight help from Ratatouie the mouse!  We packed up all our wet stuff and off we went. Amanandhisdog kept traveling with us down the Creeper Bike trail that was also part of the AT. We missed a turn to get back on the AT where it separated so we stayed on the trail. A mile out, Tom and I found another connector and did one last mountain climb to Cuckoos Knob. The other went to the ice cream store! It took us about an hour round trip and then we all rolled in to Damascus. The Tampa 5 and our new friend hit Hey Joes for some nachos and big burritos. Fantastic!

And this concludes the Hiking Adventure of 2016.  It was strange and yet still wonderful.  The plan was just right in terms of time and miles per day. We had multiple people hit the century mark in hiking miles, and I hit 500! We had a few 'rookies' who stood up to the challenge.  There were no injuries beyond a few blisters - nothing debilitating. For my faithful readers who know my many foot woes. Only two small blisters on the left foot!  Best year ever!  We had lots of rain but never during the day when hiking.  It's too bad the plan did not work for all, but there were other factors at play. It would have been nice to finish with the 15 who started but it was clear they were more in it for the mileage. I have heard from Scott and Beeper and they finished the trip one day ahead of the Tampa 5. I hear the people of Ed may have finished 2 days ahead. Insane to me!  I would not plan for so many again as it is too hard to manage. Future trips if held, will ideally be  4-6 people with like minded hiking goals. It is not safe to lose 10 people along the way! Cell coverage is weak to at the least, so communication is key out there! Happy everyone made it safely!

SpeciL appreciation to the Tampa 5 - Travis, Michael, John, and Tom (and me) who stuck together throughout and made this trip fun, funny, enjoyable and friendship building. Ciao for now!

500

Oh yeah, crossed my 500th AT mile! Hard to believe. My dad would find it really hard to believe for sure based on the outcome of the early miles we did..and how they went for me.

Having Travis and John cross over 100 miles and previous 100+ milers - Brother Don, Curtis, Cori, Bryan, Madeline - so far is really cool to me. Really cool.

Last full day, storming up Straight Mt!

Rain stopped and we had a nice morning, not pulling out of camp until after 10 am. We figured we had about 10 miles today, and maybe 7 left for Friday. The day was not too bad, mostly down. Gave us a chance to give Michael his trail name. Turns out he is not much for climbin' but he is great going downhill - like Olympic Gold Medalist Bode Miller, thus his name 'Bode'. So once we go down we have to go back up. Seemed harmless. But no. Crushed us! Does this climb to Straight Mt look tough?

We are moving right to left. It was really tough to make it to Saunders Shelter. Then Bode lead us all the way back down to the Creeper Trail, which is a well known Mt biking trail into Damascus.  Although tough, it was nice to have a 10 mile day. We hit this cool bridge where we crossed the Creeper. Now you see us:

Now you don't:

We rolled into a riverside campsite. Beautiful. Can hear the river rushing by. We were able to do the full river dunk and everyone feels clean. Good fire, good food, good friends. Oh, and we met up with our new friend again. I call him Amanandhisdog. Truly, he is a great guy and has stories about literally everything.

Here is our campsite river:

Enough with the rain, thank you..ah, mouse!

Been in this tent now for 9 hours. Rained on and off all night, sometimes hard. It's still raining a bit now. It's 6 am. It rained so hard I got the occasional splash back up under the tent through mesh vents. The seams are so saturated I got the occasional drip on my sleeping bag. Fun! I'm pretty darn sore from all the down hill yesterday. More to come today as we keep losing elevation.

I'm laying here very hungry now. Dreaming of a double Starbucks Pikes Roast bold VIA coffee, double Cinnamon and spice oatmeal, and possibly some cocoa I didn't have last night! Heck, a morning slim Jim is not out of the question.

Guess I will bust out the parka, get out of this tent, and challenge myself to getting a wet fire going.

My only view is Michaels tent:

Ok, got the fire going, thanks to the idea of throwing a tarp over our wood. Bet we are the only fire up here this morning! Went to get the food bags down (hung in the trees so the Bears don't get it) and what do you know - mouse! Yup, a good leader takes one for the team! 5 bags hung together and mine is the only one tore in to! Turns out mice like M&Ms too as I had them in my trail mix. All those food bag options, and that mouse went through 4 plastic layers to get only my trail mix bag! Funny..happy to share. There is some mouse out there this morning laying by some tree, napping, watching mouse TV - full as a tick! 

Last comment for now, we have been getting entertained by one story after another by a fellow (solo) hiker named Chris and his dog Raleigh. Said he came up here to get away from people yet he has one story after another. It always intrigues me when 'out here' the people you meet who know something about everything. Lots of campfire experience I guess!

Raining hard on Lost Mountain

I must say it again - what an awesome night on Mt Rogers. Pretty windy and a little rainy but not a real big deal. I did wake up to my tent puffing in and out with each gust. I feared it might go over so at 3 am I went out and checked the stakes..and wow what view over the Grayson Highlands. 

We woke up to breakfast and off we went down the mountain, once again comparing notes on breakfast choices, lunch choices, dinner choices, and where do we think we will find water! Add to that now, wondering what happened to the other 10. We took our time sliding down a rocky trail to the 'Elk Garden' at 4400'. Along the way we saw more wild ponies and a couple white tailed deer!

A side note is that this is all the George Washington Jefferson National Forest we are in.

Another side note is that I finally got an ATT signal in this area and got to call home and finally post some blog entries. We took a long lunch break then headed back up the side of Whitetop Mt, a Mt that got us going up and coming back down! A hard climb, a long open grassy rocky area, then back down - a long 3 mile, 1500' drop. We lounged in a meadow under a tree and made small talk with a thru hiker. Then pulled it together to push a mile, get some water, then climb up Lost Mt. This camping/shelter area is weirdly packed with people. We found a spot and setup. A nice fire, great Mountain House food, and conversation with a man and his dog. The skies opened up and the rain came about 7:45.

It is weird to be in bed.

It looks like we hav e about 16 miles to Damascus. The pace has been great, as we have been doing around the planned daily distance of 12 miles. No one is hurting too bad. It should be a light day tomorrow, and then a short morning on Friday.

I know many have not had MountIn House dinners. The debate is hot here. Lasagna is an overall top choice, but noodles with chicken farnered high praise from Travis. A number of us have enjoyed the Beef Stroganoff. Pretty crazy! As for any breakfast or dinner meal that involves eggs - don't do it!  Biscuits and Dumplings also get low scores!

Headed to Mt Rogers and Rhododendron Gap

  Some catch up info.  Michael for sure found his trail legs on Tuesday. He is rock in' on the downhills. Tom's tri training is paying off. He's got this. Every one seems ok.  Oggie got his trail name - Mowglie.  Something to do with being barefoot and shirtless .  Ed's name is Billy Goat. Has to do with his climbing prowess. 

Turns out this is the tough day (Tuesday). Climbing down and across some big long open Highlands during the afternoon. Headed up toward Mt Rogers. Got a little sunburned. Wisely loaded water as we approached the Mt. It was a very rocky climb up and over but what a spectacular view! After about 300 stone steps up we came to a cool crack in the rocks. Came out the other side and headed down to Rhodendron Gap. The feet were sore!

We saw wild ponies! That's a first. Lots of good camping to be had here. We had water so we were good. Then JB wandered toward a rock and found his self proclaimed Shangr-la! One of the best camping spots for sure. It was a little small but no sign of the other 10, so we landed. Amazing sunset and views. Stars so close you could touch them. Climb up on a rock and state out at the multimedia-layered awesomeness of the mountains stretched out below us. We are at 5400'. We will sleep very well. 

Hurricane Mt

Left the falls after a great rest and headed to Hurricand Mt. Up about 1500'. Didn't turn out to be too bad a hike. We get to the Hurricane camping area but not enough space and too early to stop.  So we kept heading up. The Tampa 5 was ready to stop at the top - we were already ahead of schedule. The other 10 wanted to go 2 miles down to the Fox Campground. They went ahead. Unfortunately no good camping at the top so we followed to the Fox.  The Fox was spacious - great!

Today (Monday) Madeline, Ed, and the other Ron hit the 100 total AT miles mark. Woohoo!

No rain overnight, we water up, pack up, and up 3 miles to 5000' and Pine Mt.

We rested at the top and had a great view over a gap.

Team pictures!

The Tampa Team (without me):

The Pierson Clan:

The  Parry clan:

Me:

No bears (yet), just rain..annnnd a waterfall!

0% chance of rain. About 1 in the morning I hear a train come through our campsite..followed by heavy rain. Closed up the front of my tent but first noticed about 4 headlamps as everyone did the same. The morning campfire stories suggested our tents survived. Mr Eds tent for 4 needed some quick fly work. Ed apparently jumped out to care for it and kicked his camp pillow, not to be discovered until he was back in bed! Then he missed a spot as he had a drop hitting him in an area that made for a very funny, morning story!

Before we left yesterday, an old timer hiker told us about 3-4 aggressive bears !in the area we planned to camp. Nice job friend! No bears to be seen or heard but I did dream about one outside my tent!

This morning was going to be a big climb up High Mt but in the end it wasn't too bad. We have come about 16 miles and are now at Comers Falls. A welcome lunch spot where we can dunk heads, stand in the cold water, reload drinking water, and 'chill'!

Happy Birthday Ed!

Before we get to the birthday, there was the first day of hiking! The second day for Team Beeper. We all managed to meet at the Mt Rogers Outfitter in Danascus and we pulled out of town by noon. Team Beeper greeted the other 11 at the Mt Rogers HQ bldg. this is our starting point. We did have one drop (Mollie P) and one replacement - Eds friend Ron.

Our first 7 miles today were a really nice, gentle hike to start, mostly in the 2500-3000' range. One little up but all good. We even decided to push on another 2 miles we were moving so fast. As expected, the kids were leading the way. Pretty effortless. Good news is there were just a few small blisters and nothing serious.

We found a great camp area big enough for all tents, a campfire, and a 'dining room'. It was there that Karen busted out a bunch of little Debbie's and we sang and celebrated Mr Eds birthday!

The birthday boy: 

We are off to bed by 9:30. There seems to be some concerns over tomorrow's hike where we are headed straight uphill to begin and then straight back down. It will be fine...well, it's not optional so off we go!

Adventure 2016 - GO!

Alright...here we go! The 2016 AT Backpacking Team is set! This year will be unique for the size of our team. Before last year, the largest group was 4. Then last year it jumped to 9, which was really fun. This year we welcome back Gogo (Madeline Parry), Beeper (Bryan Parry), Fish (John Bast), Flat Tire (Travis Bell), and myself, Bad Wheel!  Atlanta friend Scott Roberts (Stretch) is back after a two year hiatus. To add to the team we have Neighbor Michael DeMarcay, Tampa friend Tom Schumacher, college buddy Ed Pierson, and a bunch of teenagersish kids - Karen and Oggie from Clan (Beeper) Parry and Mollie, Ian, Quinn, and Lily P from Clan Pierson. 15!!  I will surely miss my brother Don and his kids Curtis and Cori, who have been around the last couple of years. I look forward to their return to the team!

 Last year we ended at Damascus, Va. This year we will park there and shuttle up 64 miles to the Mt Rogers HQ and hike south back to our cars. Clan Parry are being over-achievers and starting a day earlier, adding an extra 11 miles. Which means as a write thi, while we drive north to Asheville, they are about to put in and start their hike.

We are all pretty jacked up with Trail fever and ready to go! Today we will hit REI, and then stay in Asheville. Further planning will be done over craft beer and good food by the Tampa 5'.

Here is a picture of the terrain this year. We will be challenged!