Virginia... and Vacation!

Hey Everyone --

 

Since we last blogged we hiked a few 20+ mile days through some of the most beautiful country we've seen yet, the Grayson Highlands of VA and surrounding areas.  We saw the famous Grayson Highland Ponies and Jeff even caught an awesome picture of the elusive Eastern Red Newt.  Hiking in VA so far has been easier than NC and TN, and I hope it stays that way at least for a little bit.  I have yet to find a pair of shoes that doesn't give me blisters each day, and both Jeff and I have been having troubles with our knees even though we have trimmed our pack weight down to the barest of minimums.  Before we started the hike, Jeff drew up a great plan of where we projected to be each week until the end of September when we would reach Mt. Khatadin, or the end of our journey.  Until now this plan  has been rigid on two events that we absolutely had to make it to -- Trail Days and a friend's wedding coming up this weekend.  Both events are in Virginia, so it was easy for us to stay on track despite the fact that we tend to hike faster and farther than we ever thought we would.  This past week we realized that despite our best efforts, we were still ahead of schedule getting to the wedding, and decided to take an impromptu "vacation" to Connecticut to meet up with friends.  Yes, we took a short, mini-vacation from hiking!  It definitely feels weird being off the trail for this many days in a row, but it was great to smell the fresh ocean air and see some of the friends who have been supporting us on this journey.  Thankfully, our friends Dave and Lina let us crash at their house, and it was in exchange only for a little hard labor by Jeff who helped Dave build the sweetest pullup bar you've ever seen in his yard... lol.

 

Anyways, I don't have a lot of time to ramble, but we wanted you all to know we are alive.  We are leaving Connecticut today, hope to hike a couple more days and will hit up the wedding on Sunday.  After that, all gloves are off!  We have no further "appointments" as we hike, and plan to continue hiking farther and faster than we have been with a new hiking strategy we will implement when we get back to the trail.  I hope this note finds everyone well!

 

~Styx & Bones

--
HikeStrong 2010 - Jeff & Aly
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Now appearing in Virginia! Our 4th state!!!

Made it to Damascus, VA just in time for trail days!  Sure, we hiked 26.6 miles in one day to make it here, but I would say the mental break from hiking every day was well worth it.  Pictures are being uploaded to our NC & Tennessee and Virginia albums here:  http://picasaweb.google.com/HikeStrong2010 (there are some really awesome pictures in the NC & Tennessee album... check them out!  To catch you up...

We said goodbye to Mary & the Mountain Harbour Hostel after our second night tenting in their yard.  She told us to send her a card and mocked me again for the phone call I placed to her before we arrived the first night.  She told me that hikers usually  know exactly when and where they will be, but when she asked me if we would arrive before dark I replied "I dunno, I hope so!" LOL... apparently I need to get into the game a little better!!!  That days hike was great as we crossed our 400th mile!!!  The hike from Dennis cove to Laurel Falls started out really flat, but ended up as a roller coaster up, down, up, down and up again very steep stone steps.  Our feet were killing us!  It was so bad that when we actually got to the falls, neither one of us wanted to walk down to see them... so we got the best view we could through the trees and pressed on!  Terrible, I know!  Shortly after the falls is my favorite 100 feet of the trail so far -- a narrow stone walkway around a huge rock cliff right next to the river.  A few miles after that we were in Hampton, VA where we stayed at Braemer Castle Hostel in Hampton, TN for the night.  Hampton is a sleepy little town and reminded me a little of Maxwell... except it had a McDonalds.  We walked down to McD's to have a Big Mac attack and as we walked through the doors we heard a familiar voice say "Hey, tell my friend in there to get his @ss in gear!"  I have neglected to mention "The Florida Boys," Tim & Jeff, who we had seen hiking the last 2 days.  We first met them during our 10 mile slackpack to Mountain Harbour Hostel.  While we were hiking we passed Tim who, upon seeing us, told us to look out for a "big old bear" and tell him to get his @ss in gear when we saw him.  Soon after we ran into Jeff and delivered the message.  Jeff asked if the message was from his "9 month pregnant friend" and laughed that they both enjoyed "trail mail."  The next day we ran into both again and exchanged the same pleasantries.  That night we happened to run into them after walking a mile to McDonald's... lol... which worked out perfectly as they, and famous 'Trail Angel' Mrs. Janet, gave us a ride back to the hostel.  Sutton, Beverly & Alex run the hostel and were very nice and welcoming.  Alex said that another hiker had accidentally left his medical tape behind and asked us to return it to him at Trail Days... the 'other hiker' was our friend Loon and we were happy to oblige.

Leaving the hostel we immediately passed the group that calls themselves "Chicken Pot Pie," comprised of Tiny Dancer, Salty, Mr. T, Hot Sauce, Speakeasy & her dog Claire who goes by the trail name "Dragonslayer."  We crossed the Dam in Hampton and took a lunch break after a few miles.  I mention the lunch break because we decided it would be a good idea to have Pepperoni & Cheez-Its on a Tortilla for lunch today... what the heck?!  LOL!  We hiked a normal pace for the rest of the day and ended up at Iron Mountain Shelter for the night along with Chicken Pot Pie, Baldy, Powder with his dog Russell and two older gentlemen (one of whom definitely did NOT go far enough away from camp to relieve himself).  We stopped early, around 6pm, deciding to get up at 4am to knock out the next 26.6 miles into Damascus the next day. 

At 4am the alarm went off, but we weren't about to get up.  This was the day that we learned we will never, ever, wake up early to hike.  If we want to hike farther, we'll have to do it later in the evening when we are already awake.  We were up and out of camp by 7am and it felt like a foot race against Chicken Pot Pie the entire day!  Exhausting!  We made it to Damascus just before 7pm, going 26.6 miles in under 12 hours and headed straight for tent city.  Before we could get anywhere near where we eventually pitched our tent we heard a man shout "get your @sses over here and grab a beer!"  It was the Florida boys again!  After a welcome break at their tent, we navigated the mile-long strip of land that was designated as "tent city" for hikers to camp in at trail days.  We stumbled upon hikers Jason & Evan, pitched our tent next to them and headed to Quincy's pizza for some dinner.  On the way there we passed Lawson & my jacket buddies and were amazed at how many people we knew we had seen in such short time.  We even saw One Life at Quincy's and were glad to know he was still on the trail.  On the way back to tent city we wondered how we would find our tent seeing as how we forgot our headlamps... so we stopped by the general store for beers and to think about it.  We purchased a 12 pack at the counter and were directed to a tiny room in the back of a dingy bar to pick up our purchase.  There we were greeted by two men and a woman who took 15 beers out of an ice chest, packed them in paper bags and sent us on our way.  The paper bags rapidly began to fall apart from the wet beers, and since there were cops all over tent city, that was awesome.  We followed the first guy with a headlamp we saw until he turned a direction we knew wasn't towards our tent.  So there we were, fumbling around in the dark with 15 beers in shredded paper bags, not knowing where we were when a bright light shone in our faces.  Then we heard it... "Hey you two! Get your @sses in gear!"  Lol... it was Florida Boy Jeff who happily exchanged a Bud Light for leading us to our tent.  That night in tent city was madness.   After our longest hiking day yet we were exhausted and fell asleep early, but tent city was drinking, drumming, screaming and partying until just after 4am. 

Sure, maybe we are just getting old, but one night in tent city was enough for us, so we headed to a nearby town to relax the next couple days.  We had a list of people to see at trail days, and without even trying, were able to check it off as we headed out of town.   As we left our tent site we met our fundraising teammates Dayla and Jasper for the first time.  Around the next corner was Peach & Bam Bam with the rest of the goonies.  Saw Baltimore Jack downtown at the outfitter.  Headed to a diner for lunch, changed our mind and went to a different diner only to see our fundraising teammate Joe inside.  We were amazed we'd seen everyone!  Then we went to pick up packages and realized we'd missed one person, Loon, who *surprise* was at the post office!  We gave him his medical tape, took a picture of him with his parade dress, and headed out of town.

Life is good.  Rested, resupplied, saw Iron Man 2 and ready to hit the Virginia trail in the morning!

~Styx & Bones

-- HikeStrong 2010 - Jeff & Aly Ready to donate?  Visit www.hikestrong2010.com  and click the "donate online" button!  Want to receive our blog updates by email?  Send a note to HikeStrong2010@gmail.com to be added to our distribution list!

Dancing With The Weatherman

Amazingly we have service here in beautiful Roan Mountain, TN!  We are tenting in the old horse stable in front of the best hostel we have seen so far... Mountain Harbour B&B run by Mary & Terry.  They have a plush green lawn for us to tent on, a nice hostel above their barn, and Mary cooks a gourmet breakfast for everyone every morning -- it is deeeelish.

 

Anyways, to catch you up...
We took another day off in beautiful Erwin, TN (birthplace of Wayne Stephens for you Spangdahlem folk).  We caught a movie (Date Night, very funny), and lightened our pack weight a little more.  We mailed some colder weather and rain gear ahead of ourselves based on the forecast at the time, reducing our weight temporarily by about 5lbs.  We also made a bold move and mailed our sleeping bags and liners home, reducing our weight another 2-3lbs combined.  We picked up some ultralight, fuzzy, cheapo blankets and some sweeeet PJ pants at TJ Maxx and have successfully used them the last few nights.  This morning we woke up with a frosty tent and a water bottle half frozen, so we are pretty excited to have slept rather warm with them. 
 
The hike out of Erwin was tough but beautiful.  We hiked around with most of the people we've been mentioning lately - Ups, Sideways, Sandman, Lowrider, Peach, Bam Bam, Tiny Dancer, Hot Sauce, Mr T and others.  Lowrider found my hat hanging on a tree somewhere and reunited it with me while we all had a lunch break at the Greasy Creek Friendly (where I saw a huge nasty snake!)  Climbing up Roan Mountain was a chore!  It was one of those mountains where you think you are at the top, but there is another "top" once you get there.  We ended up camping halfway up the mountain.  We were glad we made that choice as the Roan High Knob shelter is the highest on the AT, and even after 10am the next day there was still bits of snow falling on top. 
 
Yesterday's hike was beautiful... huge bald mountains with 360 degree views of the entire valley.  When we reached the top of Little Hump Mountain, you could see the trail across the valley going up Hump Mountain.  We figured the trail would go down one mountain and right up the other, but the trail never seems to be that easy.  We wound around Little Hump Mountain and down to the very base for over half an hour before we finally got close to the base of the next mountain... very annoying.  We have a ton of beautiful pics, but need a library to upload them. :0(
 
We arrived in Roan Mountain, TN yesterday evening.  We hiked half a mile for dinner only to find the restaurant closed early for Mothers day... bummer.  Since we were out of food, Jeff used his "magic thumb" to hitch to the only open restaurant, Subway.  Once we got there, we were so lucky to see four other hikers waiting on a shuttle back to the Mountain Harbour B&B.  So here we are in our tent by their creek for a second night.  They shuttled us up the trail 10 miles today and we had a nice, easy slackpack back.  At one point, we walked into this cozy pine tree tunnel where the ground was just a sea of needles.  Jeff was so inspired that he fell to the ground and started making pine needle angels...weirdo! 
 
Tomorrow we should reach Hampton, TN and Virginia by Thursday or Friday for Trail Days in Damascus.  The most recent forecast shows rain for the next 10 days!  Good thing Jeff mailed his rain jacket forward because he didn't feel like carrying it, huh?  He bought a $5 poncho at the Dollar General this afternoon.  Can't wait to take sweet pictures of him hiking in the rain wearing THAT! 
Oh yeah, we are 1.8 miles from 400!  Awesome!
 
Well, I'm gonna finish off my Coors Light tall boy that we just bought at the Beer Wash - the drive up beer mart where it's OK that five guys are hanging out drinking beer while watching mud tractor pulling on a 13" zenith while their wolf-dog slept on the counter next to the register where I had pay, kill Jeff in a mean game of Cribbage, and call it a night.  Hope to write again in a few days.
 
~Styx & Bones
 
-- HikeStrong 2010 - Jeff & Aly
Ready to donate?  Visit http://www.hikestrong2010.com/ and click the "donate online" button! 
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Yes, we hiked 22 miles for a soda pop...

  Jorge Munoz 300 Miles Photo! Loon Phone Lasso-ing Melissa, Sandy, Tim & James Crazy Ridgeline Hike

(Pictures updated at:  http://picasaweb.google.com/HikeStrong2010)

Hey everyone!  We are alive and well and in Erwin, TN enjoying a day off to rest our tired feet.  We arrived in town very late the other night, hiking a few miles in the dark to get down the mountain and into our hotel.  I think my favorite part was walking down the road to the hotel for a mile while calling pizza place after pizza place to find one that would deliver to us.  When they asked what room we were in I said I had no idea because I was walking down the road... but that we would be there when they got there!  Yes, we were driven by a cool, refreshing soda pop that day, and boy did it taste good.
 
Its been several days since we've last blogged.  Our telephone service has been terrible and there has been no internet access for the last seven days of hiking.  To catch you up:
 
We finally kicked ourselves out of Hot Springs at noontime and still managed to make it to Hemlock Hollow Farm 17 miles up the trail.  Along the way we stopped at a pond and met a trail maintainer, the weed-wacker carrying Jorge Munoz, who had "adopted" a cemetery on the mountain.  He said he was hiking and stumbled upon it one day, so now it is his honor to maintain it when he could.  Hiking this day was sweaty, hot and bug-filled.  It was by far the most bug-infested day of the entire trip, which makes sense because I had accidentally mailed off Matt's super-bug spray in our bounce box.  Nice.  I fell down at LEAST 5 times too, which was a little ridiculous.  One time my trekking pole got stuck in a rock and when it jerked me back I almost fell off of the mountain!  Good thing I hike slow and Jeff was right behind me -- he grabbed my pack and pulled me back from certain death.  Who knows what would have happened!?!  Yikes!  Hemlock Hollow was a pretty nice place with a cute little cabin by a creek.  The weather reports were predicting wild storms, so we decided to do our first "slackpack" for 18 miles from Devils Fork Gap back to Hemlock Hollow for the night.  Slackpacking is the act of hiking with minimal gear, and it is awesome.  I carried no pack at all (which makes me just a slacker), and Jeff carried one with food and water for the day.  We hiked SOUTH, so we passed many of our new friends who were continuing north past us.  Snowman & Escargot cursed us for slackpacking, while Loon & East Wind said it was great.  They told us Madness & Mayhem had gotten off the trail due to a knee injury for Madness -- hope he gets better soon.  East Wind also mentioned that another hiker, Country Gold, was held up at the next shelter exhausted after running out of food.  Jeff & I made it our mission to make it to the shelter and give Country Gold a couple Snickers bars that we had planned to eat during our slack.  He was really thankful, which felt great!  When we reached Big Butt Mountain, our 300 MILE MARK, we met local hikers Melissa, Sandy, Tim & James.  One of the men asked Melissa if she had her cell phone and as she pulled it out of her pocket, she dropped it, and it bounced directly down a 5 foot deep crevasse in the rocks we were sitting on.  Good thing our slackpack contained the magical ingredient... hot pink duct tape.  With the help of a trekking pole and a duct tap "lasso," Jeff managed to fish it out and Melissa was thrilled!  We were too!  After that, we practically flew over the rest of the mountains and actually jogged the last 3.5 miles down the hill in approximately 48 minutes.  The best part about jogging in the wrong direction past people who KNOW you are thru-hiking is the confused look on their faces when they see you doing it.  :0) 
 
The next day Mr. Kinsey (owner of Hemlock Hollow) drove us back up to Devils Fork Gap and we started back up the trail.  Mr. Kinsey was in the Army in the 1960s over in Germany.  He was stationed outside of Munich as a welder and used to get his acetylene from a place right next to Dachau.  He said he lucked out going to Germany though because the barracks next to his got sent to Vietnam.  Crazy.  Deets, Powerpack & Slow-Go passed us on the trail right away, and we leapfrogged with them for the next few days.  We all ended up camping at Low Gap and it rained alllllllll night.
 
The next morning we woke up fairly early, but the rain was still coming down so we waited it out.  Around 10am we made a break for it and surprisingly it didn't rain on us the rest of the day!  Like normal, everyone we had camped with was already gone when we finally emerged... starting to see a trend here.  We crossed Big Bald Mountain, known for great 360-degree views, first thing that morning.  It was foggy and visibility was very low... reminds me of the time Mom, James, Jani & I visited the Cliffs of Moher and all we saw was FOG!  We hiked hard all day, reaching No Business Knob Shelter at 7pm.  Now, the problem with shelters like this one is that they are so close to town.  We always PLAN to hike to shelters like those, stay there, and then have a short hike into town the next day.  A short hiking day is called a "near-o," but I guess Jeff & I just like our "zero" days more.  Knowing No Business Knob shelter was just 6 miles from town, and a nice cold soda pop, we headed into town and didn't look back. 
 
We are glad to be at the hotel and have enjoyed doing laundry, relaxing while watching "Billy the Exterminator" (???), and soaking in the A/C.  Back to work tomorrow!!!  Last night we had a nice chat with Loon, one of four people slackpacking to Maine with van support by Bayou.  Turns out Loon has hiked the AT 5 or 6 times, the PCT 2 times, the CDT and many other trails.  He organized this van-supported slackpack and calls it a "Geezer Hike."  LOL.  He says he's 70 and we found out that he is a Dr. of Natural Resources and was a Professor in the past.  If you want to learn more about him, check out www.ratherbhiking.com/hikes/geezers/  I think Jeff & I both want to join their Geezer Hike... he and East Wind have great personalities, great stories, know a ton about the trail, and we love to chat with them.  We just hope we can catch up to them again on the trail!!!
 
Well, I think that's it for now.  We hope we have better cell service this next stretch of trail.  Hope to be in Damascus, VIRGINIA, by next Friday!!! 
 
~Styx & Bones~
 
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