Long, Nonsensical Post

This is Luke blogging from Waynesboro, VA (852.5 miles from Springer Mountain, GA and 1325.8 miles from Mount Katahdin, ME).

Mom did a great job with the post, didn’t she? I thought Caleb’s was great, too! Thanks for all the comments, too! I’m a fan of my own blog…

Like always, it feels like so much has gone on since I last got on here to update this. I’ll do my best to fill you in on the events of the last couple hundred of miles.

I hung up with mom in Pearisburg because Caleb chatted up a nice senior citizen on her way out of the library and she ended up offering us a ride back to the road 2.5 miles past the town. The 80-year-young lady went out of her way to swing us by the Laundromat where our clothes were in the dryer (our request) and the Radioshack to show us where her son worked (not our request) before dropping us off back at the trailhead, the whole time telling us stories about her family and different times she met her favorite actors. Sweet, sweet lady...

The big news coming out of Pearisburg was that we were meeting my cousin, Michael, and his friend, Matt, in close to 50 miles to hike with for a couple of days. Michael, who attended culinary school at Johnson & Wales, promised me that we would eat well while we hiked with him and he was not joking. Caleb and I woke up and hiked half a mile to where we planned to meet, and were greeted with eggs, sausage, pancakes, orange juice, smiles, and hugs. We ate until we could eat no more. Unfortunately there was a 2,200’ climb that directly followed this morning feast and it took us a few hours to make it to the next shelter down the trail. A few hours…what does that mean??? LUNCHTIME!!!

One reason the climb took so long was the extreme heat. The guys brought beautiful sunshine with temperatures in the 80s. Another reason the climb may have taken some time was because Michael was carrying 20 hotdogs, approximately 8 pounds of baked beans, and at least a couple pounds of condiments. An hour into lunch, all these things are gone. NAPTIME!!!



After naps, we have decided to cut our initial goal of 16 miles a day during their hike with us in half. Now, with only five miles downhill left on the day, the hike seems manageable and we pack up camp and continue the hike. After walking through some cow/donkey pastures with several obstacles over fences, we set up camp. No supper is needed…we are still stuffed from lunch. Matt hangs his super comfy hammock, while Michael, Caleb, and I sleep under the stars as it is a beautiful night with no thoughts of rain. Another thru-hiker, Sam the Jam, stumbles upon our campfire and sets up camp with us. We sleep great.

In the morning Uncle Huss (Michael’s Dad) finds our campsite before I am out of my sleeping bag. Matt takes the car, with our packs in them, ten miles down the trail to meet us later in the day. Michael, Huss, Caleb, and I had a beautiful hike along a ridge where we encountered our first rattlesnake! It was right on the trail and we did not notice it until it rattled at Michael, who was hiking second in line. Apparently Caleb stepped right over it and did not notice…kind of scary. Later in the day, we found Matt who had found a sweet camp spot next to a creek. We took a shower in the creek, (Michael) grilled hamburgers, and drank a few beers before falling asleep under the stars again. All in all, a great time with a few great guys! Thank you guys for coming out to hike with us…(p.s. – you should post your pictures, more on that later…)

After the guys left, it was hard to get back into the groove of a thru-hike. We wanted to take more breaks and eat lots of food. We didn’t mind too much, though. Any schedule we have for ourselves is artificial. We are just trying to enjoy our walk.

And enjoy the walk we have! The section between where the guys left us and here has been our favorite section of the trail. Dragon’s Tooth, McAfee’s Knob, and the Tinker Cliffs were the most picturesque/awesome/fun twenty mile stretch of the trail, in my opinion. These unusual rock formations offer remarkable views of the valley below. With the hot weather, we took off our shirts, took naps on the rocks, took in the views, and got sunburns.

Time and time again, we are reminded of the kindness of people towards us and what we are doing. One evening, Caleb and I stopped at a road a few miles before the shelter we were planning on staying at. We were tired, unmotivated, thirsty, and hungry. A car full of young guys drives by and yells at us. We don’t think much of it, but a few minutes later the same car comes back and pulls off the side of the road with one of the guys hanging out the car window. We thought the guys were going to throw something at us. They screeched to a halt and the guy holds out two ice cold beers and tells us to take them. We were so happy and they offered us more beers and a ride. We declined both but were cheered up enough to head on to the next shelter. People do little things like that all the time for us.

We stopped in Glasgow, VA several days back to resupply to get us to where we are now. It was an adventure. We hitchhiked into town with a driver that was really nice but also really drunk. If done again, we definitely would not have ridden with him, but it was not apparent at first how drunk the guy was or how curvy the 6 miles of road to Glasgow would be. We were so relieved to safely arrive at the Dollar General Store in Glasgow. We ate, resupplied, made phone calls, and were ready to head back to the trail. As we were walking back to the road to hitch back to the trail, it started pouring down rain. We’re in the pouring rain and no one is giving us a ride. Eventually a man in a truck pulls over. I jump straight into the back of the truck while Caleb talks to the guy. The 71-year-old guy asks, “You ain’t got no gun or knives or nothin’ on ya, do ya?” Caleb assures him we don’t, and the guy says he’ll give us a ride, but that I have to stay in the back. I’m soaking wet in the back for the ride, but happy to have a hitch. I didn’t expect to be dropped off two miles short of the trailhead, though. Caleb says the guy was freakin’ out during the ride and nervous that we might have guns or knives and said he was going to drop us off a little early. So, he dumps us off in the rain short of the trail on the side of a highway, close to dark, and then Caleb realizes that he has left his camera in the cab of the guy’s truck.

Low point of the trail.

We regroup for a second, get another hitch, and we have good news!

Let’s backtrack for a second…For a few days prior to Glasgow, there had been postings at all the trailheads about a blind hiker from Michigan that was hiking the A.T. and got lost in the woods. He had been missing for a week when we were in Glasgow and all the thru-hikers were thinking that there was little hope for the guy.

Well, the car that picked us up had a Michigan license plate and it turns out that it was friends of the blind hiker who was now found! They were on their way to the hospital to visit the hiker! It definitely put our bad day into perspective and made us enjoy the rest of the day.

The camera is an ongoing story, though, with some exciting twists and turns that we will update you with later. But, I’ve bought a new camera and will become the cameraman for the rest of the trip. Pictures will be up soon.

I’m tired of sitting down and feel like I’m not making any sense, anymore. Blakeley and Laura have visited us in Waynesboro, VA and have shown us an amazing time here for our zero day. They are some cool ladies. I will write more about our time here in Waynesboro, VA on that in the next post, too.

Thanks for everything, you guys.

NoseHose