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: