Dutch Haus

We've been doing a lot of long days lately in our attempt to meet up with various people in the next few weeks. Our friend Laura should be visiting in a few days, and we'll see some cousins of T-Toe's and my girlfriend within the next two weeks. It's a real challenge to figure out how to meet everybody, where, and when, especially when your cell phone never works. I've been continually dive-bombed by insects that aim for my eyes, and one day I actually had to walk with an eye patch on, lead by our friend Big Fish with T-Toe helping from behind. I was fine by later that night, but I definitely have this group of ex-boyscout leaders to thank for helping me out. We received some trail magic of apples and bananas from some random guy that saw us when we crossed a road, and one day when we were camping near that Pedlar River, a day hiker stopped to drop off a car and gave us their left-over pizza. Lots of people are in line to use the Internet, so I'll make this short. Basically, we hiked without packs (slack-packed) for 9 miles and were picked up by the people that run the bed and breakfast we stayed at (the Dutch Haus). So, we are starting today from the Tye River headed for Waynesburro, and we're in Montebello right now (Virgina of course). Over 800 miles down! Sparky

Contra-dancing, Zip-lines, Caterpillar Poo, AYCE...

I feel like a lot has happened in a week. So, Saturday night at Trail Days, we went contra-dancing. Missed the beginner workshop (Oops, milkshakes seemed more important at the time) so we jumped right in after watching one of the dances, thinking we would be able to catch right up. Haha. It sort of worked. I did one dance and was dizzy and exhausted! Lots of spinning and pretending to know what I was doing. I am not exactly the most graceful person so it was quite comical to say the least. But we had a lot of fun (Sparky got hooked though, and danced 2 other dances!) and now I can say I've contradanced in Virginia! So, there is a little paragraph in our trail guide that talks about the "Captain's" house, and that you have to take a zip-line across a creek to get there. Once you are there, you are allowed to camp in his yard, whether or not he is home. Of course, we were in! Fortunately, another person in our group had found the zip-line (she was ahead of us) and left us a note on a piece of paper and stuck in under a stick on the trail so we would know where to go (otherwise there is no way we would have found it). So the zip-line---was a pulley system, we sat on the swing and then pulled ourselves across the creek. We got to the other side, and set up our tents. The "Captain" came home awhile later, told us the door is always open, that we could use whatever we needed. He said we could sleep inside, watch TV, whatever just to close the door in the morning since he would be leaving at 5:30am. Talk about trail magic! The next morning, we all took hot showers (he even left the towels out for us!), watched a little "Prince of Bel-Air" and then headed back out to the trail...the crazy random things that happen on the AT... So the other day, we are about 4 miles from a shelter, and there are millions of dangling caterpillars all over the trail! Now, my brother and I used to love those little critters, and would keep them as pets, feeding them leaves, and giving them sticks to crawl on...for some reason though, as I was walking through swarms of them, I noticed that my attitude towards them has changed since I was 10. My trekking poles soon turned into swatters as I hiked down the trail. Now, I thought that all of the noise was simply the caterpillars eating the leaves and leaves falling on the trail, but soon was informed by another hiker that the noise was the caterpillar poo raining from the sky. EWWWWW! So, as I laid in my sleeping bag that night, I was lulled to sleep by the sound of caterpillar poo... Q: When do hikers set an alarm-clock? A: When they know that AYCE is 22.7 miles away and closes at 8 pm. Haha, so we set an alarm for the first time a few nights ago for 6:30 am. Yikes. "The Homeplace" is an AYCE restaurant in Catawba, VA that we have heard about for hundreds of miles literally, ever since we stepped foot in VA. One hiker called it "the best thing about Virginia." A group of about 8 of us got there around 7pm and devoured the food---ham, roast beef, fried chicken of course, mac and cheese, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, cherry cobbler, etc etc etc. And they just keep on bringing it. Now they must be used to thru-hikers because 1: they gave us our own room, and 2: they gave us our own waitress. Now, it gets even funnier because after eating that much food, it is not possible to hike much farther so...guess where we slept? In the gazebos right outside of the restaurant! Crazy! One of the guys in our group asked if there was camping around, and they said we could camp right there. It was perfect. Eat till we couldn't move and then roll out of the restaurant 100 meters and pass out. Well, we did rock in the rocking chairs on the porch a bit first. Enough with the stories...as for the actual hiking (haha yes, that is the first priority out here--we have passed the 700 mile mark), it has been incredible. Has been sunny for over a week! It sprinked a bit this morning but that was it. We have had incredible views, seen a few deer, and got to chat with a bunch of weekend hikers out for Memorial day weekend. Till the next town, T-Toe and Sparky

Haha, oops guess I didn't do much whittling. (It was a non-participatory activity...just watching them whittle) I was typing up a blog in the library instead the same time as Sparky was in the church on the Internet...anyways you got both perspectives...

Trail Days

We're now over the 600-mile mark and have returned to Damascus, VA for Trail Days, a yearly festival that attracts 1000s of hikers each year. We heard the second person to ever hike the AT talk this morning, and T-toe is over at the library learning how to whittle. We finally found our long-lost hiking parters Knickers and Hobbit who we'll be hiking with again once we get back on the trail. Our last stretch before we came to Damascus was from a really cool hostel called Wood's Hole, and we did the 10 miles out of there with their 14-year-old stowaway dog named Tessa. My friend Joker had to pour water into my cupped hands so that we could give the dog a drink since the water sources were fairly scarce. Our packs were waiting for us at the end of the 10-mile stretch, so T-Toe did some trail running while the rest of us just made really good time. We're getting a ride back to the trail from Hobbit's husband tomorrow, so all those mothers and girlfriends out there can rest assured that we're getting back safely. I'm off now to wait in line for an hour for a badly needed shower. Maybe I'll find free food.... Sparky

Trail Days! Back in Damascus...

We are back in Damascus for Trail Days! Wedsnesday night, we stayed at Woods Hole Hostel where we slept on mattresses in a loft, showered in a solar shower, and ate some delicious salad and homemade pizza. One of the owners of the hostel offered to shuttle us from Pearisburg to Damascus. 10 miles on the trail from there to Pearisburg...so it was the perfect opportunity for slack-packing! And without a pack, of course I couldn't resist running the trail! Felt so free and fast! It was definitely a treat. Made it to Damascus where we are camped out in "Tent City," an area filled with outfitters, and hundreds of tents everywhere. Definitely an interesting, cool, crazy place...drum circles and bonfires lasting till 2 am, the occassional person running around playing a trumpet saying good morning to everyone at 7, and the many booths of FREE FOOD. People sure do love feeding hikers. We had pancakes, bagels, donuts, all from former thru-hikers who came back for Trail Days. There are tons of events planned for the entire weekend. Listened to a storytelling by a "cowboy poet" the other day at the library and heading to a contra-dance tonight (Gosh, I am experiencing culture shock in the South! Don't think the Fishkill library frequently hosts cowboy poets! and have not heard a lot about contra-dance!) This morning, we listened to a talk by Gene Epsy, the second person to ever thru-hike the trail. He said that he once went a week without seeing anyone; how times have changed! Parade today as well and a hiker talent show. And we have found our long lost friends Hobbit and Knickers--excited to hike with them again! Plan on heading out again tomorrow, onwards to Maine...great to be in town for Trail Days, but will be exciting to get back out on the trail as well. (Oh yes, and they had free showers and medical clinics at the church where they took blood samples, BMI, blood pressure---we are healthy and happy). Until the next town... T-Toe and Sparky

First Quarter Down

We've been a little waterlogged on and off the past few days coming out of Damascus, but we've recovered from one day that left us with mud-filled boots. At first we were still with our friends Knickers and Hobbit, but Hobbit's husband had come out and got sick about a day out of town. T-toe and I pushed ahead, busted out a 20 yesterday, and a few days ago we woke to a herd of feral ponies while up at Hurricane Shelter.
The last shelter was close to a road so the crowd ordered over a hundred dollars in pizza. That was yesterday, and today we stopped at a museum on the trail and saw a bunch of cool relics from over 100 years ago. T-toe got her running shoes, and I'm just happy to keep the blister count under a dozen. The views are spectacular when it's not raining, and we're really starting to fly (we're a week ahead now). I just hope that my metabolism doesn't have any higher gears because I don't know if I can carry six granola bars, a cup of oatmeal, and a dinner for each day. I'm not yet wasting away; just storing energy in my soon-to-hit-the-two-inch-mark beard.

Sparky
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Damascus, VA---Trail Town, USA!

We have made it to the famous trail town of Damascus, where even the library's bulletin boards have the Appalachian Trail theme. It seems that everyone we have ever met along the trail is here this weekend, a big reunion in a sense. We stayed last night at "The Place", a bunkhouse run by the Methodist church, where you pay a suggested donation for a hot shower, and a warm, dry place to stay---just what we were after. Definitely another small town, which makes it very easy to get around... restaurants, Dollar General, post office, library, all a 5 minute walk. The past few days have been quite interesting. Some of the highlights: jumping into Watauga Lake, TN at 9:30 am for a nice chilly rinse--more like an ice-bath, but great for the muscles! Seeing some incredible waterfalls-- Laurel Fork Falls, Jones Falls. A cool looking turtle on the side of the path. And lots of beautiful sunny days! Sparky and our friend Knickers went tandem-bike riding as well! I have a new name...now that you all figured out my first one, I have a new one (It needed to be more AT oriented than PC oriented...I love acronyms!) T-Toe it is and will be. Standing for Triangle-Toe. So one day I had my boots off after we were swimming and was inspecting my feet for the millionth time, and talking about how my toes, especially my pinky toes, now look like triangles. So, our friend Hobbit (we are living in what I like to call AT Fairytale land where everyone knows everyone, there is magic all around, and people all go by crazy names) named me T-Toe. Works for me. One bummer part of the trip happened a few nights ago, when I caught a stomach bug. Nothing a little Campbell's Chicken Noodle soup, ginger ale, and apple juice couldn't cure though thanks to the Damascus Dollar General. I def was lacking in the energy department but we still managed to get in some miles. Unbelievable how supportive everyone was, offering me soup, or gum, Tums, whatever they had that they thought could help. Even found out when I got to town that one of the other guys was going to hike back up to carry my pack down for me, but they let him know that I was almost to town anyway. And then the craziest thing...when I got to town another hiker Joker who I haven't seen for atleast a week asked how I was feeling, because she had heard I was sick. Gosh, word spreads down the trail! Again, I feel like I am in Samoa, where people know what you did in town even before you get back to the village. Oh, the similarities---the small town feeling, the joys of hot showers, Gatorade, and comfy beds haha. Take care! We will post again soon! Sparky and T-Toe