Lots and lots of stuff to tell.

Woods Hole, Christina's new trail name, these feet weren't made for walking, Don't get Ticked on. 

I got a call from Melissa on Wednesday. She tells me the following story about her stay at Woods Hole and beyond. She called from some Schuert / Faust family friends home. The call was put out and these Trail Angels went and picked them up and opened their hearts and home to our weary travelers.  She was staying the night in a warm bed for once with Jordan sound asleep on the floor. Woo Hoo. Hot showers, washing machine, TV and a chance to truly relax for a bit.

Quick Trail name Change. Christina is now Coconut. Julia Child's wasn't working for her and after much debate among those that make this decision; Coconut was the trail name winner. For a refresher:

Hollywood: Melissa
Coconut: Christina
And last but certainly not least, our tail wagging buddy

Backtrack / Tripwire: Jordan the wonder dog.

On to a breakdown of places, miles and dates:

On Thursday the 19th, they overnighted at Jenny Knob. 591.3 NoBo. Next day they hiked to 617 NoBo and broke off the trail to hike the mile to Woods Hole Hostel. They overnighted at the hostel on the 20th. Next day they did a Nero into Pearisburg, Va. Overnight in Pearisburg, Va on the 21st. Back on the trail, and another 21 miles to a campsite at 648.8 NoBo. Mileage totals got blurry in the conversation but we now know that they have shot up past the 700 mile point in on the 26th in Daleville, Va. 714.3 NoBo.
 
She told me the following story over the next hour of chatting on the phone:

Hollywood was in misery by the time they made it into Woods Hole Hostel.  They had to be there by a certain time to catch the Family Style Dinner. They were trying to rush and, when they had service, called the hostel to tell them they would be showing up. The owners apologized that there were no other vegetarians and the meal cooking was already under way. Hollywood almost broke down she was in so much pain and now disappointment. They had no food at all left in their food bags so she couldn't make a meal even out of what they had left. No snacks, nothing. The owners said they may have a frozen pizza but that was the best they could do. So, tired, hungry, and sore on they trekked into Woods Hole Hostel. But not all was lost. I've said this is one of the favorite places to stay while on the trail and here's why. The young couple that run the place ended up whipping up a nice vegetarian Quesadilla for her. The personality of the owners and camaraderie of meeting up with many trail friends made the pain and long 26 miles of hiking less onerous. Guitar music, non trail people staying at the hostel, friendly folks in their late 20's running the hostel. She couldn't say enough good about Woods Hole. So if you plan on visiting Va. or hiking the AT. Make sure this place is circled on your maps.


They were out of food because they had planned on making it further on the18th and overnighting at the hostel to hike the 10 extra miles into Pearisburg for resupply, then back on the trail. Instead they barely made it to Woods Hole, spent the night, got full tummies and hiked on to Pearisburg. They resupplied and still intended on going further. But after some drinks with a friend they had met up with that day on the trail, the friend told them she decided to overnight in Pearisburg and get a hotel room. The floor was offered and accepted. Pirates of the Caribbean III was on, and it felt real nice to just stop and slack for a day. They have been go, go, go the entire time. And in true fashion, the next day was a catchup day of over 20 miles again.

Before continuing, lets take a moment at mile 682.6 NoBo. Here is the Audie Murphy Monument

If you do not know who Audie Murphy was, I strongly urge you to do a little catching up on one of America's truest heroes of all time. 





Now back to the story:





That began the torture tale for Melissa. Coming out of Pearisburg, they had heard there was Trail Magic at 648.8 NoBo from 4p-7p. They had a late start on the trail and, partly due to Hollywood's feet, they had to take a bunch of breaks. When it came on to 6:30, Hollywood told Coconut to forge on and let her fall back so she could try to catch the Trail Magic. Melissa literally crawled into the trail magic. Christina saved her a plate as she arrived. They had intended on going further, but the Trail Magic was at a campsite and they decided to stop there. Among the things given away at trail magic was Peach Tea. It was delicious and Melissa had three glasses of it. Little did she know there was caffeine in the tea.

There are six hikers in Jordan's current group of people. They have been hiking together on and off and today they met at the trial magic and decided to stay. So they set up camp, a fire was lit and just as they got settled round it, on comes the rain. So into the tent she goes with Jordan by her side. She catches up in her journal, writes post cards and then tries to go to sleep. No sleep for you. Next she feels water coming into the corner of the tent, she fires up the headlamp to find out what this is all about. Now it's Midnight, and there has been ZERO sleep so far after a grueling 21 mile day. So while finding the source of the wetness she discovers a tick. She tosses it out of the tent and checks for more ticks. She finds two more ticks and is now all creeped out. She lays down plastic because of the water is coming in but she still can't sleep. She gets less than 4 hours sleep that night and wakes to over an inch of water sitting inside the tent.

Everything is soaked. Mattress pad, sleeping bag, the tent, and her pack. A total washout. And while packing up, she finds two more ticks. Needless to say, Hollywood is now in rough shape. She broke down for a few minutes, then dried the tears, finished packing up, and they got on the way. During that day she was able to lay out the tent and bag to dry when they took breaks. The tent got dry, but her sleeping bag and Thermarest pad were still wet by the time they made it to the shelter on the 24th. So she puts the Thermarest and bag near the fire to dry. At bedtime she inflates the Thermarest and puts it and her sleeping bag into the tent.

Midway through the night, she wakes up sleeping on the ground, her Thermarest has deflated. She re-inflates, goes back to sleep and a few hours later, Deja Vu, pad is deflated again. It must have been damaged while drying by the fire. The next day, they got started early because Hollywood wanted to make it to an outfitter to see if she can get the pad repaired. Not a half hour into the hike they are soaked in sweat from the humidity. Even with it so humid, it starts thundering so they put on the rain covers and trek on. The hike that day included two very steep 1500 - 2000 ft inclines that are more normally seen here in New England. Tough hiking in high humidity, thunder and showers. The downhill sides it rained and gave them mild relief. Obviously would rather have had the rain in the uphill part. They got off at 686 NoBo to meet with the friends I told you about at the start to this story.

But now every night, no matter how thorough she is with her Jordan tick check, she feels creeped out in the tent. She was keeping one leg out of the bag to stay cool but now she feels she can't in case a rogue tick jumps off Jordan and onto her. She plans on getting a summer bag now that the weather has warmed up. They

Melissa's feet are a MESS. The soles are plenty tough, but she has some other Podiatric problem. By days end on these long hikes she can no longer walk on the balls of her feet. The problem has become so severe that she tries to compensate the last miles of the day. Not walking on the balls of her foot is leading to an almost daily twisting of the ankle. She really twisted it bad three days ago. It's to the point where she is seriously thinking of seeing a foot doctor in one of the next towns. But despite twisting her ankle daily, now wearing an ace bandage for support, and constant pain in her feet, they forage on. Foot soaks in icy mountain water, massages, new boots, nothing is making the problem lessen.  What doesn't kill you serves to make you stronger. Any that knows Melissa knows she isn't going to let a think like pain stop her from continuing the trail.

Tailwind and I are in total agreement that she needs to upgrade to a full boot that goes up over the ankle. She has been through three pairs of hiking shoes so far, multiple pairs of socks and several sets of insoles, all to no avail. I think at least if she got some ankle support, those last few miles walking on her heels would be less likely to turn into another twisted ankle day.Despite the pain, she also is enjoying every night hanging out with the people. The trail itself is still fun overall, but this week has been a really rough one.

They have already picked up or forwarded the Daleville Food drop and are back on the trail. They have been celebrating every milestone to try and avoid the 'Virginia Blues'. Virginia encompasses 550 miles of the trail and it can get awful monotonous looking at the same scenery for that much hiking. By the time you read this they will probably have beaten the first 1/3 of the Appalachian Trail.

Backtrack's issue with his leg was only temporary. He's walked it off over the past week and is fine. On one of their hiking days, they were on a ridge and he was dong his typical back and forth track between the girls and, while running back to momma, his rear feet slipped out from under him and he slid down the trail past Melissa. He eventually caught his grip and was chasing them back up the trail, no harm done.  

So there you have it, One third of the trail down. Some down times, but lots and lots of good times too. This was a long read, I know. Melissa was so descriptive of the events, I wanted to relay them to you in as much detail as she told me. Keep up the positive posts on her Facebook page and thank you for your kind comments.

Woods Hole Hostel, Overnight in Pearisburg and back on the trail again.

The gang stayed at Woods Hole Hostel on Friday. It is like the Ritz Carlton for thru hikers. Melissa got a foot massage, the showers had real hot water, actual bathrooms not privy's, real laundry service, and of course, mail drop. Please check out the link to learn more.

The current caretakers, Neville and Michael are earthy people who offer sustainable gardening, meditation, massage therapy, communal dining, do beekeeping, and a offer a whole host of other services. The Hostel was established in 1986 by  Tilly and Roy Wood. The farmhouse itself was built in the late 1800'.
They keep Tilly and Roy's dream alive offering not only a bunkhouse and food for thru hikers, but welcoming people in general looking to get back in sync with nature.

Much fun was had by all. Just as an example, breakfast for them consisted of  sweet rice with yogurt and elderberry jam, egg scramble, and homemade bread with homemade apple butter. It is considered by many who have thru hiked and stayed there to be one of the if not the best places to overnight or zero while hiking the trail.

Plans were to blow right through Pearisburg, Va. but they were waylaid in town to resupply. Today is a 23 miler to try and catch up. If my calculations are right that should put them into Baily Gap Shelter 650.4 NoBo at the end of the day today.

Last week was a week of drizzly days and rain filled nights. They went through days and days of putting on weather gear because it is drizzling, getting hot because of the high humidity after the rain stops, taking the rain gear back off again, and putting it back on again a short time later because it started drizzling again. Every night has been rain, but Melissa prefers rain at night rather than daylight. Her legs are all chewed up from bug bites.

But the weather has turned again and they are back to the sun filled warm spring days in Virginia.

 This is the Baily Gap Shelter here: As you can see, it looks like many of the other shelters on the trail. Three sides, a roof and many mice. 

 I haven't had seen their Trail Days Pictures yet, but when I do, I'll set up a slide show for you to enjoy. I did find a few of Melissa and Jordan at Trail Days on the web though:  

They have exploded way past 600 miles and are still truckin strong. I do have an injury report to give however. Jordan seems to have developed a slight limp. Melissa noticed it Thursday. But when she took off his pack to let him walk with less weight, he turned into Tripwire the puppy and was running through the woods and all around like there was no problem. The next day after putting his pack back on him, after their mid-day stop on the top of a mountain, Backtrack seemed to have had his limp recur. Only time will tell if this is just a 'walk it off' issue, a superb fakeout by Jordan to get his mom to carry his load, or a real problem that needs to be addressed.

Melissa has also turned her ankle over for the second time. She had soaked it after the first time a week or so ago and it was just feeling better when WHAM!! it rolled over again. But injuries are common on the trail and unless you have something break or are gushing blood, you suck it up and keep packing on the miles. The trail teaches you to ignore pain early on, and twisted ankles, bunk knees, achy legs, sore backs, etc.. are par for the course. If it turned out to be serious, Hollywood is smart enough to either zero a few days or come off the trail if need be. So do not worry too much for her my faithful readers. Same thing for Backtrack.

I have my marching orders for the next shipment: 10 days food to the Howard Johnson Express in Daleville Va. Again, I don't know if it's is just a pickup or if they are staying the night there. They have been putting on so many miles and changing plans to suit it that even they don't know where they will wind up at the end of the days hike. The Woods Hole shipment did make it in time for them to pick up. Cookies are always a sweet treat to find in the food cache. By the way, Myles and Liz, when you read this, Melissa asked me to see if you can dehydrate4 some regular food for putting into the care packages in lieu of cookies, dehydrated fruit, veggies and meals would be appreciated even more if you are able to do it.  

Just think of it 52 days on the trail and they are at mile 650. That isn't including the miles to get to Springer Mountain, and all the miles they hike off the trail to fetch water, set up camp, go into town, etc.. Their overall per day average will start to climb quickly now that 20 mile days are becoming more common. A quick text from her this morning gave me her location and they had a nice 10 mile stretch of completely flat ground to enjoy between two relatively steep gap sections.  

They are putting on so many miles that they have left all their friends in the dust. Everyone who hikes the trail does it at different paces for different reasons. The group had met up with and kept pace with six to ten people they were kind of building a pack with. But when several decided to quad zero for Trail Days and others just couldn't keep up pace, they have long since waved goodbye to them. But for every trail friend left behind, there is a new one is gained. And in typical Melissa fashion, she will get to know as many as possible and expand her vast worldwide list of friendships even further. 


This was another long one, but there was a lot to catch you up on. Until next check in, keep the positive thoughts going for them, feel free to comment and be sure to keep sending words of encouragement to them on their Facebook pages as well as here on the blog.

Signs, Symbols, Runes and Readables. A Slide Show. Pearisburg Va.

They are somewhere near Pearisburg, Va. 627.3 NoBo. I got a text about the next food drop. Her battery was almost dead in the only spot where she had four bars signal. Ahh well.  They will be picking up the food drop I sent there tomorrow and hopefully hit a hostel for a recharge of batteries and catch up with the hectic world of reality outside trail life.

They did 23.8 today and they hope for another 20 tomorrow. The U.S. Postal Service is now racing them. We hope the food drop gets there before or during the day tomorrow. I sent it out Tuesday morning, so it will be close. Fortunately, if it doesn't, Hollywood has made enough food to keep Back Track going until and she can bounce the food drop forward from the hostel if they miss it. They will have to go a little off the trail to pick it up, so we are hoping the bubble proves it's power.

The next food drop is 10 days worth to Daleville, Va. at 714 NoBo.   


And without further ado, I present a slide show of varoius writings encountered along the way: As with all the slide shows I put up, if any of the pictures interest you, click on it, and it will open the picture in a larger view:

Chatfield Shelter. Quarter way mark tomorrow.

The group is back on the trail and closing in on the quarter way mark. Tonight they are at the Chatfield Shelter. Trail Days is over and the work begins again. This is at 535.2 NoBo. Just outside of Atkins, Va.

They will definitely hit the quarter way mark Mile 545 NoBo tomorrow.

The shelter is dedicated to Louise Chatfield. She was a conservationist from North Carolina who helped organize the Piedmont AT club in 1965. It was previously known as the Glade Mountain Shelter. It was dedicated to her shortly before her death in 1986. Oddly enough, she never actually stayed in the shelter that was named in her honor. She was famous locally for battling a large power company that intended to drown a beautiful, nearby valley which is now a park and many other conservation efforts. She was carried  by stretcher to the shelter for it's dedication. I was able to get the backstory from a book about trail names and a story on whiteblaze from someone who got the story from Louise' granddaughter. It sleeps 6 and has a privy.

 I look forward to a call to find out if she got new shoes and what else she may have replaced / upgraded / repaired. Sending out a 9 day food drop for Jordan at Pearisburg, Va. They expect to be there in five days so this one is a rush job. They will be past the 600 mile mark when they pass through Pearisburg. So they seem to be taking it a bit slower these next few days, hoping to average a meager 16.5 miles a day. :-) I'll fill you in more on the place they may be staying at. From what I'm reading the the AT Guide, it is full service, showers, internet, hostel, camping, laundry, shuttle, food, and most importantly, mail drop. I didn't see pets so I have to wait and find out if they are just picking up mail or actually staying there before any more details or links. Hopefully there will be some Trail Days pictures to share. And on that same note, many more pictures are flowing in on the Appalachian Trail Days website. It looks like a great time was had by all.

While at Trail Days a few Jordan stories

Since the crew is at Appalachian Trail Days and out of touch for thew weekend, I though I'd share a couple Jordan stories. But before I do, I wanted to let you know that pictures from this years event are already starting to make their way onto the Trail Days page. As they start to stream in we can play a 'Where's Waldo' gave with Backtrack, Hollywood, and Julia Childs.

And on to the stories:

When the group stop for extended breaks and meals, Back Track loves to dig himself a spot in the cool soil to lay down in. Pete found this out while on the trail the first week with them. They had stopped for a bit and Tail Wind pulled some stuff out of his pack and spread out some food to eat.
Suddenly it starts to rain dirt. Pete looks around and sees Jordan digging in. He didn't care where the dirt flew, all he knew is he wanted to get to that cool cool soil.
This became a recurring theme in Jordan and Pete's relationship. When he rejoined them on the trail for Christina's birthday, they got to a rest spot, Pete pulled out some food and suddenly, like rain from the heavens, comes the dirt. It got all over Pete's food, he looked around, and there he was, digging in again.

The second story is how Jordan's trail name has gone from Tripwire to Backtrack. While they have been hiking, as you may have read several times in the blog, Jordan got his trail name Tripwire because he was constantly running ahead, then back behind, each time trying to take Hollywood out along the way.
They have now discovered that if Christina walks a short ways ahead of Melissa, Jordan will just run up to Julia Child's back, turn around, run back to Hollywood, turn around again before getting behind her and head back up the trail toward Christina. By pacing themselves a short distance apart they have eliminated the most of Jordan's Tripwire moniker. However, since he runs up and back so much while they hike, he well deserves his updated trail name of Backtrack. When they setup camp at night, J-Dog is the first one out. He sleeps nice and sound. He will have done the trail NoBo AND SoBo by the time his human companions finish their NoBo adventure.

As a side track, Melissa's mom and I hiked Mt. Major today separately. We planned on going together. She is training to join the crew for a week when they get up here in New England somewhere. I had bowed out last night due to a bum knee, but this morning felt bad leaving her in the lurch.

So I headed up hoping I could catch her either on the way up or when she descended. I got to the parking lot, saw her car was still there so I hiked the blue trail to the top. I looked around for her, but we never saw each other. I headed back down on the orange trail. When I got to the bottom, I figured she would have long since gone because she got started earlier than I.


But her car was still in the lot. So I hung out in the parking area for a while and after a bit, here comes Liz, full pack and all out of the woods. It turns out that she got started much later than she had expected and she was literally 10-15 minutes ahead of me the the entire time. We exchanged stories about the same people we had met while hiking up and down. She had descended the much longer, but less brutal on the knees, yellow trail. That explained how I got up to the top after her but to the bottom before. The added fact that I wasn't wearing a pack didn't hurt either.

Hollywood was able to use what little signal she had today to have a nice talk to Tyler. As we have all said to her, a call to her hubby is top priority if there is limited air time or weak signal. I'm sure the three of them are whooping it up with all their new-found and trail weary friends at Appalachian Trail days as I write this. Party on you hearty thru hikers. Drink up all the calories you can because, come Monday morning, you'll work them back off real fast.

Damascus, Va Appalachian Trail Days

This upcoming weekend in Damascus, Va is Appalachian Trail Days . Damascus hails itself as 'Trail Town U.S.A.'. This event is a huge get together of past and present A.T. hikers. It features a huge parade of hikers through town. It is a combination reunion, festival, trade show, and town wide party.  All kinds of equipment vendors will be there and Hollywood plans on picking up her replacement pair of hiking boots.
The current ones have been a bane to her feet the entire hike and new ones are very much needed. They plan on doing a double Zero to catch up with all their friends they've met along the way. This is the 25th anniversary of Trail days.  Melissa will be picking up a food drop for Back Track at Sun Dog Outfitters.
They are going to get back on the trail and see how far north they can hike before Christina's boyfriend drives up to meet them and bring them back to Trail Days. I expect Troutdale, Va 508.7 NoBo will be their step off to come back to trail days.
They are within spitting distance of the quarter way mark at 545.3 NoBo. Damascus is 464.2 NoBo. The troop was shooting for the quarter way mark, but 81 miles in three days is 27 miles a day. Atkins, Va is at mile 539.5 NoBo and it would be another drop of point for a ride back. But since they are trail tried and turning on the speed, I wouldn't put it past them.
There won't be any cell coverage in Damascus plus the whole idea of Trail Days is for hikers to meet with hikers so we will be in a contact blackout for a while. I have enough info from our last conversation to keep things going on the blog. The past four posts were made from just the first 10 minutes of an hour talk we had on Sunday.
I promised a breakdown of dates, places and mileage from Erwin so here goes:
Erwin, Tn: 339.3 NoBo on 05/02/2011
Campsite at: 346.7 NoBo on 05/03/2011

Clyde Smith Shelter: 366.1 NoBo 05/04/2011
Overmountain Shelter: 380.4 NoBo 05/05/2011
Campsite at Upper Laurel Fork: 403.0 NoBo 05/06/2011
Left trail for an overnight in Hampton, Tn: 416.8 NoBo 05/07/2011
Vandeventer Shelter: 431.5 NoBo 05/08/2011
Abingdon Gap Shelter: 454.2 NoBo 05/09/2011

Congrats on hitting the big 500 mark tomorrow or Thursday. Go team.

So many pictures, so many stories, and so little time.

I'm going to start putting some slide shows up of the trip over the next few days. Hollywood and Julia Childs have uploaded a ton of pictures while they are in Damascus. I'll break them up over the posts so the blog loads as fast as possible for you.
I'll start with our Hero Jordan and all of his buddies he has been meeting and playing with on the trail. They are only very roughly in order. I will have to wait for Melissa to reorder them to exactly match their progress along the trail. Kiwi, Torque, Giuseppe, several more we haven't met and a lot of their humans.

Happy Birthday Julia Childs

Christina's birthday is tomorrow, May 10th. So I have a cool birthday story to relate. 

Christina's dad, Pete 'Tailwind', and his wife Margaret came up to meet with the girls to celebrate Christina's birthday with her this past weekend. 

They brought her fresh strawberry shortcake Friday night and homemade chocolate cheesecake Saturday night. Also had Margaritas and Guacamole and Mexican food for dinner. She much enjoyed all!

Pete relayed the following about hiking down to meet up with the Kickin Cousins. 
"It was great! hiking SoBo on Friday to meet them heading NoBo was a hoot - 3 miles carrying a 8 pound tray of fresh strawberries in one hand, a bag of fresh asparagus in the other (Julia needed fresh ingredients ;-) and of course wearing m...y full pack. Gave trail magic to all NoBos I encountered on the way - which was many. Meanwhile, Margaret hiked in to the campsite on crutches with 2 broken bones in her foot. One of the NoBos I met, on learning I was not really a SoBo but heading to meet someone, said "they must be real special if you are backtracking. No one backtracks." He was right on both points!"

Happy birthday Christina, I know you'll have lots of birthday wishes both on and off the trail.  

Pack weight adjustment and it's repurcussions.

Hollywood has been getting grief about the weight of her pack. Among the things people talk about around the campfire is the weight of each other’s backpack. Melissa and Christina both have an average pack weight of 40 lbs.  Their ‘base’ weight; the amount your pack weighs before water and food was 30 pounds.  The discussion was had while in Hot Springs, and Melissa was advised by many people to go through her pack to find stuff she didn’t need.

So while they were in Erwin, Melissa pulled everything out of her pack and did a shakedown to see just what she has been carrying but never using all along. There were extra clothes, long johns, pieces and parts of the first aid kit, unused food, a book, and a whole host of other things that added up to 7 pounds that she didn’t use very much but she was hauling with her every mile of the trail. After trimming out the seven pounds, her clothing now comprised one set of trail clothes, town clothes, and rain gear.

I can imagine many of you can see the punch line coming. When they left Erwin, and got back to hiking, they were only eight miles in it when it starts pouring hard. Immediately Hollywood’s trail clothes were soaked through. They stop at 4:00PM because of the rain, and start to set up camp. It was at that moment Melissa remembered there are no longer any dry clothes in her pack.  Plus, she had sent home her book because they have friends now to hang out with on the trail and she hasn’t read the book in weeks.  Now she is shivering in the rain soaked clothes, with nothing to do until 10:00 which is her normal bedtime.

The next day she gets up very stiff from sleeping in her bag without warm clothes. She packs up, gets loose and starts hiking and is able to walk her clothes dry. But when they set up camp that night they find out that it was expected to be below freezing. Remember, she sent home her long johns. She anticipated another cold night of misery.

Here is where the bubble kicked in. Hollywood discovered that her rain gear worn around camp makes for a very warm experience. She slept nice and warm even though the temp dipped down to the freezing point. When I asked her if she wanted any of the clothes back in case this happens again, she said no. The positive of dropping the weight far outweighs the occasional night of chilly or boring camp due to weather or cold.

Seven pounds is a great amount of weight loss when you’re putting on 20+ miles a day. When she called me last night, May 8 2011, they were staying at the Vandeventer Shelter 431.5 NoBo. 

This is a typical shelter along the trail. You can see why Melissa prefers her tent. She had expected to be arriving here on the 12th. But made it on the 8th. I can guess two days of slack packing made all the difference.

Tonight, if the mileage stays steady, I imagine they will either camp at an off trail campsite at Double Spring Gap. 451.3 NoBo. Or the Abingdon Gap Shelter 454.2 NoBo. This shelter looks just like the one above. 

In tomorrows post, I'll go over the places they stopped from Erwin, TN up to the Vandeventer Shelter. After that will come a description and links to Appalachian Trail Days in Damascus, VA. It's kind of a Burning Man for thru-hikers. They will Double zero and I'll be sending Jordan a food drop there.

Definition of Common Trail terms:

Definition of Terms:

1. Slack Pack or Slack Packing: Whenever you are not carrying your full pack. Nothing or a day pack is considered.
2. Nero: Do less than a full day’s mileage. Typically 10 miles or under. Typically Your Nero is a half day and you usually nero when coming into or out of town .
3. Zero: Any time you stay in town or at a Hostel or Shelter for over 24 hours. There are double-zero’s and triple zero’s all with the same core definition. IE: Christina and Melissa will be pulling a double zero when they hit trail days.
4. Yellow Blaze: Any time you get a ride for any stretch of the trail.
5. Purist: Someone that is really strict about trail rules. Always North Bound, no going SoBo when you’re a NoBo hiker, no slack Packing, blue blazing, aqua blazing, yogi-ing, or section hiking.  100% the toughest way to go.
6. Ultra light: Hikers that carry the least amount of weight possible to survive. Typically 8-10 pound packs.
7. Blue Blaze: Trails that detour the peaks but are included as miles when you get to the end. Our gang refuse to Blue blaze. they are purist to the point of hiking the trail with all the peaks and valleys included.
8. South Bounder:  Hiking the trail exclusively southward. You can be a SoBo Thru-hiker but and a purist. But only if you don’t take and NoBo detours.
9. PEG: Pointless Elevation Gain. Anytime you hike a big mountain but there is no view when you peak.
10. Aqua blazing: Skipping the trail by taking a boat.
11. Yogi-ing: You beg food out of others pack food. Some ultra lighters have made an art of yogi-ing to keep their pack weight down.
12. Hiker Midnight: 9:00PM.
13. Section-Hiker: Hikers that hike the AT in sections over a longer course of time. Technically every thru-hiker is a section hiker until they complete their first thru-hike. But they are only referred that way if they come off or are forced off the trail for some reason..

This is all they could come up with sitting around the fire. As I learn more, I'll add them to the list and refer back to it.

OATMEAL PIES

Melissa called me just as she was opening her shipment from Erwin, TN. Oatmeal Pies!! Was her exclamation. Rachel ‘Rabbit’ had given me some Little Debbie Oatmeal Pies to send along with some other treats and a letter in the Erwin shipment. She was very excited to open up the box and find little gifts for her along with Jordan’s food. Oatmeal Pies are among her favorite foods, and they are perfect to hike with. Little weight for a delicious snack. FYI: If you want to give send her something let me know, and I’ll make arrangements to get it from you and put it into one of Tripwires food shipments.

She has been completely out of range the entire time since Erwin and only had a sketchy signal in Erwin. She had to use the time to catch up on some ‘normal world’ stuff so this was the first time she was able to give us a full rundown. If you decide to hike the A.T. , make sure your provider is either Verizon or Sprint. They have the best signal all along the trail.

I have lots of mile marks to put up on the trail, plus she caught us up on the different campsites and shelters she stayed in from Erwin to last night. I will spread these out over the next few posts to make for easier reading and to keep a better flow to the blog.

Right now, Christina’s parents visited with them and Pete ‘Tail Wind’ was back hiking with them for the weekend. They 'Slack hiked’ the Sat and Today. That is when you drop some or all of your pack and send it to the next stop, so you can hike without much, or any, pack weight. Margaret carried the packs forward so all they have needed to carry since Friday night was water filter, bottles, and food enough to get them from point A to B. Jordan carried their food and water gear so they were able to carry almost nothing while putting miles on this weekend.

They put on their highest mileage day on Friday. 23 MILES!!! And that was with full packs. They have only slack packed Saturday and today. They expect to put on even bigger days, with pack weight, once they hit the Virginia stretch of the Appalachian Trail. VA is very level throughout the entire state, so GAP will no longer be a foul word they have to deal with very much.

So there you have it. I will be posting a simultaneous post with this one giving you some common trail terms. Many people have asked what the terms I’ve already used in the blog mean, so when Melissa called tonight for a few minutes, I wrote up a good list of definitions. Everyone gathered around the campfire helped.

The next post after definitions, I’ll relay an ironic experience Hollywood had coming out of Erwin.

Greetings from Erwin, TN and beyond

Our troop of travelers did 70 miles in 5 days to arrive in Erwin, TN on Monday night. After a brief overnight at Uncle Johnnies Nolichucky Hostel and Outfitters, they were back on the trail Tuesday. I didn't get a call so there are few details. But they are out of  Erwin and headed north again.

If they stay on track Mileage wise, they should be around the Clyde Smith Shelter 363.9 NoBo by days end today. The link takes you to a picture of this grand spacious shelter. That makes over three HUNDRED miles in just over 30 days. Considering there has been a zero day and several short days, they have kept up an incredible pace. They are in Carter county in the great state of Tennessee. These next couple days are almost all uphill. They will be gaining close to three thousand feet in elevation before topping out at Roan High Knob at 6275 Ft of elevation. When they left Erwin on Tuesday, they were at 3070 ft elevation. If they skip Clyde Smith they will hit Roan high Knob Shelter. This is the highest elevation shelter on the trail, has a real door so is fully enclosed, and an upstairs. It is known as one of the coldest shelters on the trail.They are in the Roan Mountain State Park.

I bet few of us could do 10 miles on straight roadway let alone up and down mountain ranges day after day. That is some very impressive mileage. I'll get a call in the next few days to get the next food drop location and hope to have another long post to provide you with more stories along the A.T.  For now, we just have to marvel at the speed they are trucking through the trail.

So much has been made about the awesomeness of Trail Magic along the way. I think if our readers are going to be unable to join the gang along the trail, a great way of supporting them without having to put in all the miles is to prepare and set up a Trail Magic location. The AT meets the road at so many locations it won't require a lot of hiking in to set up. All you need is some snacks, water, and a big smile to greet the weary hikers as they come in. Please think about starting one. They should be up in New England by July, and that would be the perfect time to enjoy the outdoors and perk up the spirits of some trail weary people. Even if you don't catch Hollywood, Julia Childs, or Tripwire, the satisfaction in helping out the cause will be plenty. Melissa wanted me to post this up to encourage even the most slothful of us to get out and join in on the fun.

More news and adventures on the next call in from the trail.