Mid-Virginia (Mile 1800)

I have some catching up to do. Here goes - mid-Virginia was fantastic.

We were served a curveball on Halloween: Snow. Already. Way sooner than we anticipated. Fortunately it didn't stick around for too long but from then on it just got colder and we learned to move faster.

The thing that really got us through the cold was the people. We received some incredible trail magic from a fellow hiker: a paid stay at Woods Hole Hostel near Pearisburg, VA. This was the nicest hostel we've been to on the trail and I highly recommend it to anyone in the area. From what I remember reading while I was there, the original cabin was built in the late 1800s and has been restored beautifully with salvaged wood from other historical buildings. The resident farmers/hostel owners/massage therapists/yoga instructors/artists (yeah, they're busy) are a couple of awesome people that are great to talk to and learn from.

The stay was so appreciated - Thanks Rockstar!! An incredible gesture from an awesome person.

Another hostel on the trail had a beautiful station wagon (the "Dragon Wagon") depicted below, which shuttled hikers to a family style all-you-can-eat restaurant called the Homestead rumored to be the best on the trail. (Other hikers were legitimately sorry for me that I didn't go.) Sometimes you finish hiking in the dark and are just too tired for anything besides poptarts and bed.

Some more trail magic occured going into Blacksburg, VA. We met up with Marathon Man - an incredible event because we had last seen him 3 months prior in Maine and he had caught up to us despite our missed miles. He is an impressive hiker. The next morning, our water filter broke and we didn't have any clean water. Fortunately there was a road 3 miles away from our camp, and were given a ride by a really generous hiker into Blacksburg, VA, where the kind people at Back Country Ski & Sport replaced our filter free of charge. After finishing a meal downtown, we were approached by some VT students that provided a place to crash, brought us fishing on the New River, and drove us back to the trail the next day.

With this kind of support, how could you quit?

First half of Virginia (Mile 1404)

Just to be clear, the mileage in the title is our distance from the northern terminus of the AT and no longer reflects the distance we have covered. We have hiked about 1100 miles so far.

Today we decided to only hike a couple miles and decided take the rest of the day to hang out in the woods. We stayed in a hiker pavilion built by the boy scouts in Glasgow, VA last night and picked up a care package from my lovely and generous friend Nicole at the post office. The shelter is wonderfully built and maintained but the town is small and it was hard to get a hitch back to the trailhead. We didn't start hiking until 11 and decided against pushing it 17 miles to the next water source (apparently it's dry in this area).

I have too many stories to share from Virginia already. Our best experience on the trail so far happened last weekend. We met a rad hiker named Stef and hiked with her for a few days in Shenandoah National Park. She took us to a folk, funk, and bluegrass music festival called Festy at a brewery a few miles from the trail. We spent the weekend getting down with the locals in the valley and it was incredible. 

Now we are back up at high elevations and have been climbing more and walking around on ridgelines overlooking miles of Virginia wilderness.

Our only worry is the encroaching cold weather, particularly in the high elevations of the Smokies, but we can get through it! Less than 800 miles to go!

Giardia!!

Well I guess it had to happen at some point: I got really sick and had to leave the trail for a short period. Giardia, a parasite that lives in some freshwater ponds and streams, is the most likely culprit.

One fortunate thing about my sickness was that we had some interesting experiences trying to figure out what to do. We ended up going to the nearest free clinic in Goshen, NY since I have no health insurance. There is a large farming community in the surrounding area and this clinic was started by one doctor who was treating migrant workers out of a trailer near one of the farm camps. Now they have a network of clinics spread around the eastern part of the state and provide free health care to anyone in need. They took care of me and helped me get medicated and back on the trail within a few days.

The terrain in New York was much easier than anything we experienced previously and we were able to comfortably do 18+ miles each day for a while. From my understanding this is one of the only good things about this section of the trail; easy terrain. There isn't much for scenery besides that, so after I got sick we decided to skip ahead to Harper's Ferry, WV to get back to the mountains and avoid too much snow in the Smokies. We are hoping to go back and cover the mid-Atlantic states after Springer (the southern terminus of the AT).

Connecticut and the start of New York (Mile 740)

It has been a while since I have posted an update. Sagacious and I have been focusing on making miles recently and haven't spent much time in towns.

The rest of Massachusetts was fun. We had a couple opportunities to sleep indoors - in a church in Cheshire, MA, on the porch of trail legend Tom Levardi, and in a beautiful cabin at Upper Goose Pond near Becket. The cabin even included a pancake breakfast cooked by the caretaker in the morning. I'm so grateful that places like this exist.

The land in Western MA is incredible. One of my favorite spots was Sages Ravine right on the border of CT. It is beautiful and mysterious. I will definitely be returning there.

All of Connecticut was wonderful - scenic and largely flat so we got through it relatively quickly. We'll see how New York goes!

Trail Magic in MA (Mile 612)

Finally made it to Massachusetts! I crossed the border a couple of days ago (and slipped in the mud and skinned my knee as is apparantely traditional with border crossings). That wasn't be an indication of what the state would be like, though.

We met back up with our Canadian friends right before we crossed into MA. As we were hitching into Williamstown we got picked up by an incredibly generous Williams College professor named Phil. When we discovered that the gear shop we were planning on camping behind had recently closed, Phil decided to take us back to his house and he and his wife Kathy provided showers, food, laundry, and beds to sleep in. What trail magic!! We learned that they are active volunteers in their community and they open their home to students and guests for all sorts of occasions. The kindness of this couple and other trail angels we have met can be overwhelming.

Onward to Mt. Greylock and the rest of MA!

Vermont Vortex (Mile 540)

Whoops! I haven't hiked much the past couple of weeks. Vermont is too good for words and it is sucking me in with its farm fresh food and good vibes.

I did some restoration work on a home  foundation for a couple days and slept in the barn of a trail legend and ate like a king. One night was an all out party with Miss Janet, Baltimore Jack, and Dan (the aforementioned legend) all in attendance. I feasted and laughed with some of the best people I have met on the trail.

A couple days earlier I jumped off a bridge and was invited inside the house of a fantastic woman who cooked me breakfast.

Tonight I'm sleeping at one of the nicest hostels on the trail - the Green Mountain Inn in Manchester - eating ice cream and hanging out with friendly people while Craig recovers from some minor sickness. I got to watch the sunset over the mountains with a horse grazing in front of me. Life is good.

Despite my many off days I have still hiked some of my longest days (22 miles!!) and plan on picking up the pace through southern VT and Massachusetts.

Hello Vermont!! (Mile 445)

Wow... I made it through The Whites all in one piece. I was even blessed with good weather and incredibly smooth terrain for the last couple of days. It was certainly a challenging stretch but a rewarding one that part of me is already missing.

After Pinkham Notch I climbed over Mt. Madison and got to sleep on the floor of an AMC hut and eat like a king in exchange for doing some dishes. It feels great to work for something necessary and tangible rather than to stockpile money for some possible future purpose (or some past purpose that hasn't quite worked out yet like a college degree). The stretch after the hut was amazing - 13 miles or so of ridgeline over Mt. Washington, the tallest peak on the east coast, along with some other 5000 footers.

Luckily I got through the toughest parts before getting stuck with some rainy days. It was raining with strong winds through most of the Pemi Wilderness and I felt like I was going to get blown off of Mt. Guyot. It can be a little sucky to work so hard climbing a peak just to be socked in with fog and rain, but such is life in New England sometimes. At least it is an adventure.

Yesterday I walked into Hanover, NH (the trail cuts right through downtown) and I have been taking advantage of the trail magic here. It's off the hook. I am staying with two trail angels named Betsy and Grey Beard who are definitely some of the most generous people I have met in my life. They let Sagacious (Craig) and I stay with them for two nights, did our laundry, and gave us a ride. In town we got free donuts and pizza, not to mention all of the free samples at the farmers market. All that we have been asked to do in exchange is to pay it forward in the future. The people we have met on the trail are like the people at our church - they not only recognize that people should be living differently and treating each other differently - they actually take action on their beliefs and make differences in the world.

I have to take more pictures of the trail over the next couple of days. It's unbelievable how much easier it has gotten. Pine needle paths, switchbacks, and miles without elevation gain or loss are finally daily occurences. Life is good.