Sorry for the long delay. It's hard to blog when you hike 12 hours a day. After spending a wonderful Thanksgiving break, getting back on the trail was tough. I gained a few pounds back that I had lost, but my legs had already started getting used to the comforts of society and my "trail legs" had wandered off. The first few days back on were hard, slow, and discouragingly tough. I was trying to catch up to my friends, but was having a tough time making up the miles. As I reached my first town since getting back on, Daleville, I got two texts; one good news and one bad news. The good news one was from my friend Sharpie who lives in Blacksburg and said that it would be great to meet up when I came through his area. OhMEGA and I hiked with him and his wife, Bubs, and had a really great time hanging out with them. I was really looking forward to seeing them again.
The second text however, was from my friends who I was trying to catch, Scramblin Man and Tumbleweed, saying that due to a hip injury and the cold, they were getting off of the trail for the season and will finish it in May. This was a major bummer. After hiking about 1400 miles basically solo, having them for company was a major plus and something to look forward to. By the time I was able to reach them they were already back home in Florida. I miss having their company out there, and even when they were ahead, I felt like I wasn't completely alone in the woods. I hope they're doing well and recuperating.
I was able to meet up with Sharpie and Bubs as well as my friends Kate and Michael. Hanging out with them felt like spending time with family, and it was a wonderful break. I even got to see the Blacksburg Christmas parade! I'm very gracious for the hospitality they showed me and it was really nice to spend time with them.
Hiking on, I ran into some nasty cold weather though. It's snowed a few times, but I got two days of solid rain with the rain on the second day turning into snow as a cold front plummeted the temperatures. As I was climbing a tall mountain that day, I stopped for 2 minutes to open a Snikers bar, and my fingers were so cold, I was having trouble. A few moments later I started shivering because I stopped. I realized then that hypothermia was a serious risk at this point, and when I reached the shelter at the top, I called it a day at only 10 miles. It was the right call however, as hiking on could have been a dangerous.
In an attempt to see how stupid I can be, I decided to try and do a 24 hour hike. I wanted to see how far I could go in a single day. I had already done the 44 mile 4 state challenge, but I wasn't completely drained after doing that and could have gone further. So I did. Starting from Partnership shelter near Mt. Rogers National Recreation Area headquarters, I left at 3:30 in the morning and started hiking. I had a full moon, so it was nice conditions (not considering it was hardly 20 degrees out) and I hike all day. I climbed up multiple 1000 foot climbs during the day, and up Mt. Rogers and Whitetop mtn, the highest and second highest peaks in VA (the trail doesn't summit either). At elevation there was more snow accumulated, and much of it had turned into ice which slowed me down and made the hike more difficult. I kept hiking well into the night, but at 2:40, with 50 minutes still to count towards my 24 hours, I needed to sleep and pitched my tent. My legs still had something to give, but I was extremely sleepy and generally tired and had to stop short. In the end, I did 58.1 miles. I was really hoping to do 60, and had the trail been more forgiving, I probably could have. Oh well, I'm not going to try that again for a while.
I reached Damascus (where I am writing this), and got an awesome care package from Chuck, a nice hiker I met in SNP. He hooked me up with some awesome dehydrated meals and a charger for my phone. I can't wait to make it down to Georgia to meet up again with him and his son. Since the hostels in town were closed due to the cold, I was going to tent in town, but while doing laundry, a nice guy who had also hiked, Larry, offered to let me crash at his place. He had another hiker living with him who had been sucked into the awesome trail town of Damascus, and it was an unexpected break from the cold weather. It was very generous of him and I'm very grateful for the hospitality the trail continues to show.
I look forward to meeting up with some friends soon and have a resupply package from ohMEGA that I'm looking forward to picking up too! Hopefully the weather can hold and the hiking will be good. It's going to be probably just me out there, but there's still 450 more miles of adventure waiting for me! Happy trails!
P.S. If you want a postcard, send me an address and I'll try to get you one! ohmega1e7@gmail.com
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