Gimpfoots Don't Melt

Date:    July 20-21
Start:    Skyline Dr. MP 66.7 (1.2 miles south of Swift Run Gap) 
End:     Pinefield Gap
Today's miles: 10.1
Total (cumulative) AT miles: 70.1
Time: ~8hrs


Jen and I planned for a two-night backpack to get in some good miles this past weekend. We both got off early from work on Friday so we could hike the 2.1 miles up Hightop Mountain to camp in or near the hut. We were hoping to have the hut to ourselves since most of the thru-hikers should be well north of SNP by now. We started off too quickly...I let Rosie set the pace and the next thing we realized we were both wet with sweat and soaked. It wasn't that hot, but the humidity was thick, thick and thick! I had on a cotton shirt, which was pretty much guaranteed to never dry out the entire weekend. Fortunately, I had a clean technical shirt to wear the next day. I don't recall the exact time, but we summitted Hightop after about an hour and a half. We had been to the top before last year, but came up from the other side. I had forgotten that the shelter is a good 1/2 mile on down the mountain from the summit. 

We finally arrived at the first spring above the hut when we ran into a hiker. Not sure if he was section hiking or thru-hiking. We didn't catch his trail name, so we just referred to him as "Blue Shirt Dude". So Blue Shirt Dude busted our hopes and told us there were already three hikers in the shelter. Bummer. Oh well, we brought the tent so no problemo. We were just hoping we could build a fire and spread out a bit in the shelter. The three hikers already at the hut were "Sleeping Bear", "Puddle Jumper" and "Slayer". The first two were young men, the last was a young woman. They were nice, but very quiet (which is good I guess). We walked behind to find a tent site, and since no one else was tenting, we had first choice. We got the biggest most private site and set up the LightPath. There was a chance of rain/storms, so we took the time to give it a solid & taut pitch. Didn't want to have to scramble around in a storm and fix things.

It was then when things started going wrong.  Not tragically wrong, but "Really?!??" wrong. While making our dinner of freeze-dried fettuccine alfredo with chicken, I made sure the bag was sealed, then turned it up to make sure I had mixed it well on the bottom. Well, the bag seal was weak, and I lost most of the alfredo juice. Right outside the tent. Four feet outside the tent.  In bear country. Really?!??  Thank goodness for Rosie. She ate the pasta & chicken bits that spilled, and I poured water over the alfredo stain in the dirt to dry and dilute it. After all this, I checked on the dinner and realized there wasn't enough liquid to finish "cooking" the pasta. So I boiled some more water and added it. We then proceeded to eat watered down fettuccine alfredo with chicken. After we ate all the bits, there was about a cup of watered down alfredo juice left. Once again, thank goodness for Rosie. She slurped it right up. We packed up all the food, hung the bear bag, went behind a tree to potty, then called it a night. About an hour later (I think it was the distant thunder and lightning that woke me up) I remembered there were dog biscuits still in Rosie's pack, which was about 10ft outside the tent.  Really?!??  Not as close as the alfredo stain, but now I'm thinking we have a bear buffet right outside our front door. I debated on whether to get up and go out in the icky wetness and do something about the biscuits, but then decided to just let the damn bears (and/or mice) have at it. I heard Jen stir just about then, and she announced she had to go pee (again). Me: "While you're up, can you toss Rosie's backpack up a tree?"  Not as good as the bear pole, but whatever. We then both snuggled back down to sleep. I think it was sometime between 2am and 3am when we were both rudely awakened by the distinct, unmistakable sound of Rosie's gradual crescendo to a major puke event. Oh God, REALLY?!??!!!!  I grabbed her from the back of the tent and dragged her to the door, reached up with my other hand to unzip the zipper, while hollering at Jen to "turn on the light!" Jen fumbled with the light, I fumbled with the zipper, and Rosie fumbled her dinner (including the alfredo sauce) right inside the door. Ugh. I managed to get her into the vestibule for round 2, but round 2 was only about 1/5th of round 1. In fact, round 1 was pooling towards our sleeping pads about now. We hastily got everything we could out of harm's way, but both of our pads got a taste, my sleeping bag got a taste on one corner, and I think Rosie stepped in it on the way out to the vestibule, because she tracked some back in in various spots. Ugh, Ugh, Ugh. I don't expect to ever eat Backpacker's Pantry Fettuccine Alfredo with Chicken again. It is a smell that has scarred me for months (or even years) to come. We used up all of our bath wipes to clean up as best we could, and got it cleaned up enough that we could attempt to go back to sleep. I spent the rest of the night keeping away from one corner of my bag and pad. So now we have a) an alfredo stain in the dirt, b) dog biscuits up a tree, and c) Pedigree Little Champions with alfredo sauce in the vestibule. It was like a drive-thru for just about any hungry wildlife that should happen to come by. *sigh* 

A couple of hours later, the drizzles and light rain turned into a complete downpour! Thank goodness the Lightpath is a bomber tent. We stayed dry, even though it came down so hard the mud splashed up the sides of the tub floor. On the plus side, we were also hoping that bears don't like the rain much. And that alfredo stain in the dirt? A distant memory. We both woke up for good around 7am. It was still raining lightly, and there was a lot of "tree rain" whenever there was even the slightest breeze. We laid there for about an hour, then realized it probably wasn't going to stop raining, and even if it did, the tree rain would last all morning. So we packed up and got out of the tent. I took all the wet gear, and Jen took all the dry gear and we hit the trail. Eight miles exactly to get to Pinefield Gap and the waiting Escape.

The forecast was misleading. We both thought the sun would finally break through late morning or early afternoon. I had grand plans of laying the tent out to dry while we ate lunch in the sun. Eh, no. The rest of the day could be summed up in one word: WET. We hiked down Hightop in the drizzle, bushwhacked our way up Roundtop in the rain (the trail was incredibly overgrown), hiked around Flattop Mountain in the tree rain, ate lunch by sitting smack-dab in the middle of an access road in the rain, and hiked and up and over Weaver Mountain in the wet fog to the Escape. Jen got a phone signal and checked in with Kenny on Flattop. I think she was getting a little worn down, and talking to Kenny and taking a pack off break was enough to lift her spirits. To help pass the time and keep us entertained, we played a "name game". Jen picked the letter "L", so we spent the last couple of miles thinking of famous people with a last name starting with "L". It was fun, but we really need to pick a new letter for our next hike. As we hiked, we had decided that camping that night was pointless. Even though I had a spare tent (a clean, dry and puke free tent) waiting in the Escape, we still had pukey pads and I had a pukey bag, and neither one of us wanted to deal with that. 

We had dry socks and shoes in the Escape, which felt like heaven on the toes. We ran on down to Loft Mountain wayside for Diet Pepsi's, and then I showed Jen our campsite I reserved at Loft Mountain for August. Then we headed back north, picked up Jen's Yaris and went to Big Meadows for  a hot meal. It was still foggy and wet, so no photo-expedition. In fact, I hadn't even brought my fancy camera since I was thinking "backpacking" and not "photo-x". After Big Meadows, we skeedaddled it out of there to head home for a hot shower and a warm bed.


I spent my Sunday washing the tent, my pad and my sleeping bag. Everything is squared away and ready for the next trip!

Oh, and Rosie puked again on Monday. Must be a stomach bug.

Just stuff

Date(s):    6/18 to 7/18
Start:    Home
Waypoints: Home/Alaska/WV
End:     Home
Today's miles: endless
Total (cumulative) AT miles: still 60
Time:  blah


Wanted to blog about some non-AT happenings. I guess I'll start chronologically...


Parkside:  I love reading the blogs and message boards on the AT thru-hikers. I ran across some posts on the message board about a hiker named "Parkside" that tragically drowned in a pond in Maine on June 15. The official cause was drowning caused by muscle cramps. He was < 200 miles from finishing the AT. One of the posts had a link to a blog that his mother was maintaining. I checked it out, and she had pics and videos that her son Paul (Parkside) had sent her. Holy wow. Turns out Jen and I met him and his friend/hiking buddy Achilles back in April. We had seen them on that Friday evening at Big Meadows wayside eating dinner. I remembered them for two reasons: 1) they were probably the first NOBO thru-hikers we saw this spring, and 2) Parkside wore a orange bandana and a green shirt, which is one of my favorite color combinations. We ran into them the next day while climbing up Little Stony Man. I remembered them from the night before. I joked with them about how fast they were moving. Parkside seemed a little shy and reserved, and Achilles seemed very warm and sweet. It really hit home when I read that Parkside had drowned, and Achilles had tried desperately to save his life. I had taken a couple of pics, but deleted them because they were blurry. Wish I'd have kept them now. http://northbounder1.blogspot.com/


Alaska:  Jen and I went to visit Toni (aka, Pigeon) in Alaska for the 4th of July week. We were looking forward to just the three of us. Well...Linda was supposed to go, which we were happy about, but then she couldn't go, which we were sad about. Alaska was a blast!  We learned how to make fire several different ways, got schooled on identifying flowers, rode a bus 11 hours to Wonder Lake and back, saw the "big three" (and more) in Denali wildlife (bear, moose, wolves), spent a night in a trailer killing mosquitoes, stayed at a ski resort (very nice!), drove 2.5 miles through a mountain, got rained on, and witnessed a bore tide. We did a few other things too...but you get the idea.
It was while we were in Alaska that we learned our Great Uncle John had passed. We were so sad, and so far away.

Class of '82:  We had our 30 year high school reunion on 7/14. Saw some old friends, a couple of which it took me a minute to recognize! Guess some change more than others. I hope we can stay in touch, especially since we drifted apart rather quickly after our senior year. Well, not all drifted apart, but I drifted apart from virtually all of them. I think if it wasn't for Facebook, we wouldn't have been able to pull of a decent 30yr reunion.

Jules: Jules lost her mother just this past week. That must be the most devastating news she ever got in her life. It just breaks my heart.

Pocosin to Skyline Dr. MP 66.7

Date:    June 16-17
Start:    Pocosin Cabin 
End:     Skyline Dr. MP 66.7 (1.2 miles south of Swift Run Gap)
Today's miles: 7.6
Total (cumulative) AT miles: 60
Time: ummmm  < 6 1/2 hrs?


Finally back on the trail!! It seemed like a lifetime since we'd be on the AT, but actually it was only about a month. Our time in between was taken up by helping helping the parents out, taking a Memorial Day trip to Spruce Knob, and taking a mental health weekend off.


I'm so far behind in my posts, I'm having to go back and look at the pics to refresh my memory on all the details. I did "summer hours" at work and was able to leave at noon on Friday. Packed up the Escape and the dog and headed for the mountains. Did some photo-expedition on the way in.  Got a nice hawk picture and saw a bear near Skyland.  

We camped at Big Meadows in our favorite campsite (#37). It's the most remote hike-in site in the campground. There's only one neighbor that is close enough to possibly be an issue. So, you have a 50/50 shot at a good night's sleep. Well...there were 3-4 guys that finally showed up late Friday. They weren't as bad as some...no loud music, no partying. The only issue was they liked to talk.  And talk.  And talk. They were talking mostly about Jesus and the Lord and being a Christian. Finally around midnight, after the rest of the campground had gone to bed, I hollered over and said "Jesus says it's time for bed now".  That did the trick. They finally shut up and went to bed.


Jen and I woke up early on Saturday morning (pre-sunrise) to start our hiking day. We made sure the Christians got as much sleep as we did before heading out. We decided to hit the trail early and take advantage of the cooler morning temps. Shuttled the Escape down to Swift Run Gap, then back up to Pocosin to start our hike. It was probably around 8am when we finally got started on the trail.  Our goal was to crank out the first 3.3 miles to South River Picnic grounds before stopping for lunch.  The trail was pretty uneventful. A view of some treetops and a couple of big rocks. The only cool parts were a patch of laurels that were still in bloom, and running into all the NOBOs along the way. We even ran into skinny Santa on the trail!! He's got a long ways to go!!


We finally reached South River Picnic grounds for lunch. We used the flush toilets, and refilled our bellies and our water supply before the gnats drove us to pack up and make a run for it. The hike from there to Swift Run Gap was a very gradual downhill until the last 1/4 mile or so, then it got steeper. It was right about then we ran into Toni's doppleganger heading north. Just when Rosie was saying hi to the doppleganger, a bug flew down and landed on Rosie's back. Rosie hates bugs and was snapping at it trying to kill it, when the doppleganger swooped in and saved said bug. I had never seen a bug like it before. She said it was a clicker bug, but it was bigger than any clicker bug I'd ever seen. I was still holding it in my hand after the doppleganger had headed on down the trail. Right about then the bug FINALLY clicked in my hand. I'm pretty sure anyone within a 1/4 mile heard me squeal with delight! :)

We finished up at Swift Run Gap, posed for a few pictures, then headed back to Big Meadows for a hot shower, a hot meal, a warm campfire and a cold six-pack. Just our luck the Christians had broke camp and were gone. No one else claimed the site, so we had a wonderfully quiet evening that night. Ahhhhh!!!

Sunday morning we did a short "recovery" hike from Swift Run Gap down to the next intersection with Skyline. About 1.2 miles total. It was pretty boring trail-wise. Once again, the best part was meeting all of the NOBOs on the trail. After the hike, we did a mini-photo expedition. Saw another bear, or maybe it was the same bear from Friday. It was too close to Skyland and the rangers called out the guys with the paintball guns to chase it off.  Oh well. We got lots of pics of flowers, birds and bugs. It was a gorgeous Sunday afternoon in Shenandoah.


I'd like to do a 1 or 2 night backpack for our next section. Get some serious miles done in one weekend. Not sure though if we can pull a 2-nighter with Rosie slurping up all the water.  Hmmmm....