This is the last I saw of our intrepid hikers.
I stayed home, looked after the fridge and sent my little comrade, the alpaca. He tells the story from here.
Day 1. The campground host at Matthews Arm (Shenandoah National Park) was kind enough to catch us early that morning with a forecast. Another storm on its way, should be through by about mid day and potentially worse than yesterdays storm which caused us to delay our departure. The good news was that the storm would bring about a cooling change in the weather and in a day or two it looked to be sunny and pleasant. We left Buster in charge of things in the RV and walked the two miles to Elkwood wayside for a breakfast stop. Nice.
The packs are a little heavy but legs, feet, backs ect. seem to be holding up well.
Seven miles, one bear sighting and three mountains later, our hikers are truely showing their ages and poor fitness levels. Where is that hut?? We were down to our last litre of water (each) and needed to get to the hut to refill our water bottles. Bone weary, our sweaty hikers arrived at our first overnight stop. Great spring, filled all the containers up and rinsed our clothes and selves, then ate a big pasta and salami dinner. No sign of that storm.
Anticipating sore backs and various aches, a short hiking day was planned for day 2. We woke to rain, plenty of rain. Around mid morning the rain let up and we headed down the mountain to Thornton Gap, looking forward to real restrooms with running water and a snack shop. However, there was no shop and the available water required purification, but we had a nice breakfast stop before tackling a two mile climb up Mary's Rock (1300 ft to 3500 ft). Not so extreme as we experienced in Utah (or Nepal) but a rare joy hauling the big packs all the way up in the rain. We arrived at our second hut after only 4.5 miles fairly early in the day and just as it stopped raining.
That is me on the sleeping mat.
This hut was a delight, complete with fireplace and, had we access to any dry wood, we could have actually dried our soaking clothes. The nearest water source was 0.3 miles (0.5 km) down a steep hill. Quite an enjoyable walk down to the spring without the big pack, but uphill, with over 14 lbs (6.4kg) of water hanging from the arm, was less so.
All food, or anything that could possibly smell like food, must be hung ten feet up on a pole to prevent bears, raccoons or other critters getting to it. The food was fine but yes, indeed, a bear lurked around the hut at night and our guess, based on the evidence, is that he was a big one. Mice run all over the huts at night and partially shredded our toilet paper roll.
It rained all night and Day 3 saw our hikers in wet socks, wet shirts, wet undies - well the only dry gear we had was our ponchos. Six and a half miles later it was still raining and we checked into a room at Skyland Lodge. It is supposed to be a holiday, not basic training camp.
The trekking pole is good for a little rest when we are exhausted.
Following a nice, hot meal, a beer, and a comfy bed at the lodge, Day 4 started with everyone refreshed and in dry, if not clean, hiking clothes. Eight miles later we arrived at our first planned "luxury" stop, which was Big Meadows campground where they have a laundry facilty, showers and a small camping store. We got to use our new lightweight tent for the first time, and it was great to have clean clothes again.
Chris resting her feet and nagivating
Day 5 looked like a nice hike...no outrageous mountains or anything in the way, so we were on our way to another hut about 8 miles further along the trail.
Who thinks of making these trails in the mountains? The Appalachian Trail stretches over 2000 miles (3220 km) from Maine to Georgia...why didn't they make a trail along the coast or somewhere flat, like the great plains. However, the scenery is spectacular along the way and walking in the forest is much cooler than in the sun.
We arrived at the hut, only to find the spring was dry, so we walked another mile or so to Lewis Mountain Campground where there was plenty of water and joy of joys, beer. Another night in the tent and we made the decision to turn around and hike back to the RV. Our original intent was to hike to the southern end of the park and hitch back to the RV or something. We started worrying about the "or something" and decided walking to the RV would be easiest.
Phil near a trail marker.
By this time the hikers were somewhat fitter. In perfect weather, we were able to hike over 12 miles from Lewis Mtn Campground to the Hawkesbill Mtn Hut, which had a good spring and stunning views of the valley. Next day was a big one...15 miles to Pass Mtn Hut (the first hut we stayed in back on Day 1). The two miles down Mary's Rock was not really any more fun down than up.
Finally, our last day, and it looked like we'd survived...hadn't run out of food or taken too much and all the gear worked well. We'd purchased a new hiking stove and cooking pots, plus a UV water purifier (truely wonderful thing), as well as new sleeping mats and of course the tent.
About three miles away from the RV we nearly had a disaster...a rattlesnake!! Chris was about one step from stepping on it when it started rattling...what a loud and scary noise. We tripped over ourselves backing down the trail until we were far enough away and the rattling stopped. Now what? We needed to get past it. We all (the snake, Phil, Chris and I ) stood around for a while and finally the snake decided to cross the trail. When it was a few feet clear of the trail we went running past. Stopped for a photo, but it started that rattling again, so we took off. What a comedy act...never thought they could move so fast with those packs.
Everyone was pretty happy to see that RV where we'd left it, and Buster is glad we came back.
Plenty of miles left on the AT for another time.
