Appalachian Trail - 2020

We are off trail.  After hiking 636 miles, the path forward seems almost impossible. Due to nearly every govenor issuing stay at home orders through our current and upcoming states, paired with closures and restrictions of hundreds of miles of forests and parks, Walker and I decided to suspend our hike in Pearisburg and get off trail.  The one organization designed to vouch for hikers completely turned their back on the 2020 AT class. The appalachian trail conservancy, recommended from the start that hikers quit no matter where they were on their journey. Personally, I suspect that the decision was probably made by a few directors at that top, who have probably never hiked before. I would love to hear the argument that people like Walker and I are going to spread the coronovirus. The week prior to us getting off trail, we went 5 days without seeing another hiker. The fact that the ATC presented us as people who were spreading disease is simply ridiculous. On top of that, we we...

The stream we camped next to last night gave a very relaxing sound to sleep next to. We woke up at 645 and were walking by 730. Since we had 22 miles to walk for the day, we figured we should start at a reasonable time in order to get into Pearisburg early enough that we could relax for a few hours.  The morning was in the high 30's / low 40's and mostly cloudy. To start the day we gained 1500 feet of elevation in 2 miles. From there however, the day looked relatively flew, with a few descents and ascents.  A few hours into the day however, when we were ascending a mountain, we noticed a peculiar sight. The rain, which had only recently started, was beginning to fall slower, appearing to be more of a wet snow than rain. It took us a minute to understand what was going on, or to even comprehend that it could be snowing. 2 days ago it was 85 degrees, now, it was snowing and boy did it ever snow.  By the time we stopped for lunch, the temps had plummeted and massive snowflak...

I slept good last night, but I wish that I got more. We enjoyed hanging out last night with everyone and were up a bit later than we usually are. Since we are usually in the woods, sunset is bed time, and sunrise is when you get up. Anyway, we got moving this morning and started packing up. At 830 we went to Arby's for breakfast where I got a bacon, egg, and cheese on a biscuit, a buffalo chicken sandwich, and hash browns. After eating this healthy breakfast, we got dropped off at the trail by 930. We thoroughly thanked Chuck for everything he did for us. Our goal for the day was to hike as many miles as we could. By tomorrow, we wanted to be in Pearisburg, meaning we had to hike 45 miles by tomorrow. We hiked alongside Osceola, Snackpack and Nor'easta for the morning and afternoon. After hiking 7 miles in the first 2 hours, we took a quick break and ate some snacks. We then hiked 6 miles in the next 2 hours and stopped for lunch. The temperature was in the high 60's, w...

Sleeping under the stars is an experience I will not forget, it is so wonderful. We woke up at 630 and started moving shortly after. Our pace quickened when we noticed a dark blue / purplish cloud rapidly approaching us. By the time we had everything packed up at 745 the cloud was directly over us and a few drops of rain were beginning to fall. By the time we got off the bald, which might have taken us a 45 seconds, a huge crash of thunder sounded behind us and lighting filled the sky. Then there was a deluge. Although the storm only lasted 30 minutes, the rain absolutely came down during that time. It was really something else. Our morning constisted of an 8 mile ridge walk. We couldn't see much of the first half due to the fog, but the second half was beautiful. There were massive boulders on the sides of the trail and when a view arose, we could look off to our west and see a small town in a bowl shaped valley. We stopped for lunch at "Jenkins Shelter." We read t...

If I thought yesterday was warm then I definetly ate my words today. By the time we woke up at 630, the temp was nearing 65. We packed up quick, ate some pop tarts, and started hiking. As we began our climb back into the mountains we realized that our packs did not feel as burdensome as they typically do with a 4 day resupply. There was one more thing we realized too, that ate 830 in the morning the temp was now 75 degrees. One final fun fact about Virginia, the water sources are not as abundant as in the other southern states. In NC you could go 3 miles and see 7 streams while in VA you can go 8 miles and see a single dry creek bed. Today was a sweat bath. The high reached 83. By the time we stopped for lunch the heat was overwhelming. We layed down in a shelter and drank two liters of water while eating lunch. After refilling our waters at the nearby stream we continued relaxing in the shade of the shelter. I easily could have stayed here all day long but as I began to recover so...

We slept great last night. The temp got into the low 50's which is just perfect sleeping weather. Some small animal or maybe even a small deer may have walkee through our campsite, but Walker moved and the thing scurried off. We fell asleep under the stars again but when we awoke there was a thin cloud cover so we didnt get a good sunrise. No issue there though. We were awake by 645 and on the trail by 745, which was the earliest we have been on the trail in quite some time. The morning had several small ridges that we climbed over, and as the blue sky came out so did the heat. Thankfully, the morning wasnt to hot. We had a beautiful view off of one of the mountains we climbed in the morning looking down below into Rye Valley. I was amazed at how green the grass was in the valley. There was a stream flowing through it and the surrounding mountains towered over the valley. The view looked like something out of a fantasy world. As the day progressed, so did the heat. By 11 the ...

Being dry has never felt better! We woke up to our first sunrise in quite some time. Surprisingly, I think the temps were in the low 30's. Our socks and shoes didnt freeze but they were mighty cold. We took our time getting breakfast ready, just enjoying the mountain views and soaking up the morning sun. Most of our day was spent enjoying the scenery and change of pace that virginia has. We now go up and over only a few mountains a day, instead of a few mountains every hour. Walker and I definerly agree that Virginia has treated us nicely so far. Everything that we have seen has been fantastic. At 130 we stopped for lunch. The temp was probably 60 degrees at this point and just felt fantastic. We layed out any gear that was still wet and enjoyed the afternoon sun. I'm not sure when exactly, but we really picked up the pace. We had a 2.5 mile climb up a mountain and we ended up doing it in 30 minutes. We rarely go that fast going downhill or on flat ground! Maybe our leg...