Sunday, March 22, 2015

Freezing Rain and Friendly Ducks

Somehow last weeks blog post didn't get  published so that was fixed yesterday. So here is this weeks post. 

We left Atkins, VA with blue skies and a dry trail. The trail has slowly been getting flatter and flatter as we've come into Virginia. We have really been enjoying some slightly easier walking compared to the tough and intense straight up and down non-stop of Georgia and North Carolina.

Leaving Atkins we were planning several really big days in a row. We made it up to the top of Chestnut Knob to find this: 



Snow and freezing rain! Again!!

We were very thankful to have arrived at this awesome shelter about 45 minutes after the awful weather started and that very quickly turned a 20 mile day into a 10 mile day. 


Most of the shelters are lean-to's with one side completely open. So to have four walls, a door, and windows to block the ferocious wind and rain was great.  

We put a water bottle with boiling water inside the sock to try to dry it out. So much steam coming off of that wet sock! 

When we woke up the next morning to more of the same weather we decided it was time to leave the trail again. Our options were either hike 10 miles to the next shelter, arrive mid day soaking wet and freezing with no good way to warm up and dry out, or hike 25 miles to the next shelter after that and most likely arrive soaked and frozen with painful feet and again, no way to dry out. Plus, last time we hiked 20 miles in the rain we got the beginning stages of trench foot, which we would really like to avoid. That could easily be the end of this adventure if we're not careful. 

Instead, we decided to go one mile to Walker Gap and get a ride to Woods Hole Hostel where we were planning to stay a few days later.


Ian made some friends! 

After some confusion, all of the packages that had been sent were finally located and we discovered we had at least 20 extra pounds of food. We learned two valuable lessons this weekend. Lesson 1: don't have both parents send packages at the same time...we are grateful for all the food but we couldn't actually fit it all in our packs. Lesson 2: if you don't open a priority mail package the postal service will forward it for you for free! So in Daleville we'll probably just send one of those extra boxes on to the next town and we'll be good to go for a couple weeks. 

A couple working at the Woods Hole Hostel was incredibly generous and let us borrow their car to drive our extra 20 pounds of food in to town to the Post Office. While in town we dropped Ian's pack and most of our gear off at a hostel, drove the car back and "slackpacked" eleven miles to town. It was very refreshing being able to hike quicker and without the weight of our gear.


Especially when it's warm!

Early this morning after packing up and another long planning session with the guide book, we both sat down and decided we weren't happy with the way our trip was going so far. Because of our deadline we have been so focused on miles and timing and planning. We realized we hadn't given ourselves time to enjoy the views and the places we are hiking through. After talking this morning we both agreed that while we are on track to finish in time, we would rather slow down and enjoy ourselves even if that means we don't finish. We realized that while pushing ourselves as hard as we have been has allowed us to get in great shape, it has also forced us to miss out on a lot of what makes this hike such a unique and amazing experience. 

Learning to let go of the need to plan out every day and crunch all the numbers might take us both some time, but gaining that flexibility will allow for a much calmer and enjoyable experience.

Plus, breaking this trip into sections just gives us an excuse to get back out on the trail, whether it be next summer or later on. 

No comments:

Post a Comment