Hiking the Appalachian Trail: Gravel Springs Hut 959.0 to Northern VA 4H Center 970.7

 The nibbling went on all night long.  ALL NIGHT LONG. Around 4:30am, all four of us were awoken.  This time, it wasn't the little nibbling.  This was gnawing.  It was definitely a noise too loud to be a mouse.  Misty turned on her headlamp to see what it was, and there, above us in the rafters, was a giant RAT.  A rat!  This was definitely not on my Bingo card!  I could handle sleeping with a little nibbling mouse, but there was no way I'd be going back to sleep with a giant rat crawling all over in that shelter.  I laid there the next two hours, praying for daylight and praying a rat wouldn't crawl across my face.

The infamous sleeping men woke before dawn, and we waited in our bags while they packed up their gear and hiked out of camp.  I am sure after sleeping for 16 hours they were ready to go!

Then it was our turn to crawl once more from our sleeping bags and pack up our gear.  In the light of day, we could see a few other tents that had been pitched after dark the night before.  This was a popular spot!  Before long, we were ready to go.  It was time to hike our final 11 miles of this trip.

Our first order of business was hiking up and out of the shelter area a back to the AT.  We were warm in no time.  

Once back on the AT, we had more climbing to do.  The trail climbed nearly 1,000 feet, up to North Mount Marshall, which gave us some amazing parting views of the Shenandoah Mountains.

And then, it was literally all downhill from there.  The day was warm and sunny, and the leaves were perfectly crispy underfoot.  I hung back from the group a bit, just soaking it all in.

We stopped for one last pack and snack break while we were officially in the National Park.

In another mile, we were at the northern end of Shenandoah National Park.  We had officially hiked it end to end!

We had a couple more miles to go, down a steep rocky trail.  Our eyes were peeled for the side trail we'd need to take to get back to our car.  We reached a sign with a little arrow and decided to take a chance.  We had guessed correctly and soon we were approaching the Northern VA 4H Center.  In the summertime, there is an open pool and snack bar, which I am sure hikers absolutely love, but everything was closed up this late in the year. We didn't mind, though, because we were done!  We hit pavement and we could see Kara's car in the distance!

And then it was all over. We had hiked 111 miles in the last eight days.  We had traveled on foot through rain, wind, fog, and sunshine. We had encountered deer, bears, mice, and even a rat.  We had met people from all walks of life, each contributing in their own ways to our journey.  We leaned on each other during the rough times, laughed together during the good times, and came away with stories to tell for years to come.  

Total Daily Mileage: 11.87

Total Calories Burned: 1,984

Hiking the Appalachian Trail: Pass Mountain Hut 945.9 to Gravel Springs Hut 959.0

 Sometime after midnight, something woke me up.  There were footsteps.  Heavy footsteps.  Heavy footsteps coming closer, along the left side of the shelter.  As soon as I realized that it wasn't a person, I said to Misty, "Blow your horn!"  She said, "Are you for real?"  "YES!" She blew it several times and then we were all awake.  I didn't find out until morning that Kara had heard the footsteps before they woke me and they had woken her, too.  I can't say for sure that it was a bear, but I also can't imagine what else would make those heavy footsteps.  So, we were all awake.  I think we were all getting pretty annoyed with the bears or whatever was out there disturbing our slumber.  It didn't take too long for us to settle down and drift back to sleep.

We woke again with the sunrise, and it was quite chilly.  Our feet were still a little tender from the day before, but the rest had done us all good and we were ready to tackle another day.

We only had 14 miles to go today, and that included another stop at a wayside for those famous blackberry shakes.  We packed up our gear, made our quick breakfasts, and we were ready to go.

The terrain to start the day was a little different than the day before.  There were lots of tall grasses and wispy, tall trees. 

Then the trail changed.  It became quite apparent that we were hiking through a previous wildfire area.  The trees were black and sparse, and the undergrowth was just coming back.  This went on for several miles. 

I did manage to come across a random animal tail, so I'm calling that good luck.

We made it to Elkwallow Wayside right at lunchtime and were thankful that this spot was right off the trail.  We had been singing songs all morning, so when the opportunity came for me to literally suck on a chili dog, I went for it.

The sun was shining, and we had a table on the back patio.  We sat for a long time, enjoying this perfect fall day before moving on.  We had only six miles to go, but that included a biiiiig climb.  It was time to get moving.

We climbed, and climbed, and climbed up to Hogback Overlook. Even with the climbing, the trail was pretty gentle, and we made good time covering the miles.

On the way back down we came through Little Hogback Overlook, and what day would be complete without another crossing of Skyline Drive?

A steep downhill side trail led us to Gravel Springs Hut, which would be our home for the night.  It was Friday, and we were happy to be arriving early enough in the day to hopefully get a spot in the shelter for our last night on trail.  When we arrived, though, we found two men sound asleep in the shelter.  At 3:00pm.  Hmm.  We didn't know what to do.  Were they taking a nap and continuing on?  Were they there for the night?  We decided to quietly unpack and then get a fire started.  Maybe they guys would wake up, and we could get their story.

We were as quiet as four girls could be unpacking packs, setting up sleep systems and making a fire, but eventually the two guys kind of woke up.  The girls did a great job getting a fire going and while we hung out around it, more people came into camp.  First, there were two brothers out doing half the trail southbound, and then a mom with a 12-year-old and a baby on her back.  These two groups both were tent camping.  Finally, the two men were fully awake and made some dinner.  We all hung out chatting and getting to know each other a little, while we kept our toes warm by the fire.

 In the end, we'd be sharing the shelter with the two guys and no one else.  They moved way over to one side, and we took the other side.  This left Kara way on the far right side of the shelter, under the bunk above.  She was a little leery of spiders, but I thought it would be okay.  There were very few hooks for our packs here, so we hoisted a couple way up high and found a lower hook for the other two.  We were unable to stash our bear canisters inside the metal bear box at camp because someone had left a bunch of trash in the box, as well as a lot of food, including fruit, which had rotted.  So, we closed that back up and just left our canisters outside of it. The guys had already gone back to sleep, so we sat a while and quietly chatted in the red lights of our headlamps.

Eventually, out of boredom rather than tiredness, we called it a night.  I think Misty fell asleep instantly.  Over the next couple of hours, other people came into camp, some less quietly than others.  And a couple people somewhere nearby were having a very loud conversation well past midnight.  

And then there was another development.  Every time time things got quiet and still inside the shelter, I could hear...nibbling.  There was definitely a mouse in there.  Of course, Kara heard it too, because it sounded to me like it was right by her head!  I could hear "nibble, nibble, nibble" and then Kara would rustle, and then "SLAM!"  She'd bash the wall or the floor in attempts to scare the mouse away.  Her efforts were in vain, though.  The nibbling continued.  I didn't know what it was nibbling on, but I hoped it wasn't any of our gear!

Eventually, everyone at camp settled down, and the nibbling must've lulled me to sleep.  This would be our last night on the AT-tomorrow we'd be hiking out.

Total Daily Mileage: 14.09

Total Calories Burned: 2,920

Hiking the Appalachian Trail: Big Meadows Campground 927.1 to Pass Mountain Hut 945.9

 It was sooo cold overnight. I had pitched my tent on a slant and spent my night sliding down to the bottom of my tent and didn’t sleep well. I couldn't wait to get moving!

We were up by 7am, packing up and doing our morning routines.  We had the added bonus of a bathroom with flushing toilets and running water nearby, and we took full advantage of it.  Plus, it was warmer in there!  How long can you just hang out in a bathroom before it's weird? Haha!

The sun was coming up, and I hoped that it would hurry and warm things up.  The deer were nowhere to be seen this morning, and I wondered how long they had stayed near us in the night.

Before leaving camp, we filled up on water.  Even with the recent rainfall, water sources were still either dry or barely trickling.  We were ready go, complete with our winter hats and mittens.  Brr!

 The trail was literally steps from our campsite, which was a great luxury. We started the day with a big downhill, which didn’t help us warm up! About four miles in, we made a group decision to skip the wayside today and go 18 miles instead of 14. It was going to be a long day. 

Soon enough, the trail started to climb again.  Up and up we went to Crescent Rock Overlook.  We finally had clear skies and got to take in that gorgeous view!

As we continued on, a hiker from Pennsylvania joined us for a few miles. He hiked behind me, and we chatted about our adventures as we went along.

When we reached the turnoff to the wayside, we said goodbye to our hiking friend and stopped on trail to sit and eat some lunch. This was a busy are filled with a lot of day hikers coming up from the wayside. We greeted them as they passed, enjoying our little trail meals and the break from our heavy packs.

Then we had a big climb up Stony Man Mountain.  We had originally intended to go to the very top, but there were so many people on this section of the trail!  We stopped to take off a layer of clothing and then decided that when the Stony Man trail spurred off the AT, we'd stick to the AT.  We had many miles to go and just enough time to get there. 

We headed up to Stony Man Cliffs, which we were sure were as stunning as the top of Stony Man Mountain.  On the way up, I made a quick pitstop bathroom break before we were out on the exposed cliffs.  I caught up to the group, and we took turns posing out on the cliffs which gave amazing views in every direction.

And that's when I noticed that my tent was not in the side pocket of my backpack where I had been carrying it.  My tent was gone.  My literal shelter from the storm was missing!

Chelsea and Kara offered to wait with our packs while Misty and I backtracked to where I had made that bathroom pitstop, which was about a half mile back.  We were already short on time, and this was not a hiccup we needed.  When we got to the spot, there was no tent.  Misty offered to go back with me to the stop we had made before this one, but that was about a mile and a half further back, halfway up Stony Man Mountain.  If I had lost it there, either someone had found it and kept it, or found it and turned it in to a ranger station.  I decided I'd post on the FarOut app when I had service next to see if it had been found.  But we really couldn't afford the time to go back further looking for it.  

There was nothing to do but continue forward.  We'd planned to sleep in shelters the next two nights anyway, so I didn't necessarily need it for the rest of this trip.  But what if we didn't make it to the shelter?  Or the shelter was full?  And it was an expensive tent!  I was feeling very uneasy.

Ahead, we had a huge downhill section, which was steep and rocky, and didn't allow us to make up any time.  Of course, at the bottom we crossed Skyline Drive once again and the trail went right back up into the mountains.  This time, we were climbing up to Pinnacle Mountain.  The view from the top was the best one yet!

We had eight more miles to go now, and only four hours of daylight left.  We had been covering about two miles per hour all day, and this left no room for error.  We had to keep moving.

As we were coming down the trail, we turned a corner and came upon an older hiking couple.  They greeted us with big smiles and said, "Did any of you happen to lose a tent?"  Are you kidding me?!  Of course, I squealed and said it was mine, and the man pulled my tent from a small pack on his back.  What a glorious sight!  He said that he and his wife were here day hiking, doing short out and back sections, and they had passed us way back when we had been sitting on trail eating lunch.  We had greeted them as they headed south.  When they came back through northbound, we were gone, but a tent was sitting there.  He figured it must be ours.  So, here's the craziest part: They decided to get into their car and drive north to where they thought we might come through and then hike in and try to find us.  I cannot tell you how many stops we had made since losing my tent, or how many side trails there had been crossing the AT.  It is nothing but a miracle that they guessed correctly and were able to find us.  In fact, if we had been just a half mile further on, we would've been past where they had parked and gotten on the trail and we would've missed them.  It was actual perfect timing.  Talk about the best trail magic ever!  I obviously thanked them profusely and even declared my actual love for them and off we went, my tent back in its pocket, secured with bungees, and also tied by the strap to my pack!

We came through the Byrd's Nest #3 shelter area and I realllllly wanted to stop.  This had originally been where we planned to stop for the day, but we had already decided to go four miles further to make the next day easier.  Fine.  On we went.  

The miles seemed to be passing very slowly.  We had one more big climb-up to Mary's Rock.  We climbed and climbed and started encountering more and more hikers.  Apparently, this was a popular spot!  They didn't get up there from the AT, so they must've hopped on side trails to get up there.  We had a little more than three miles left to go, and we needed to get down off of this mountain!  See that smile?  It's totally fake.  

Finally, we started our descent.  And it was a doozie.  The trail down off of the mountain was not only steep, but very rocky and technical.  We were literally picking our way down the trail.  These were our slowed miles of the day, and it was very frustrating.  Our feet were killing us and we were so tired!  People kept passing us going up the hill, and we wondered what the heck they were thinking.  None of the people seemed to be in the best of shape, and they had two hours until dark.  Why they were heading up at that time of day was baffling to us.  

Once we made it down off the mountain, we passed through Thornton Gap via Skyline Drive in Luray, Virginia.  And you know what that means: Once you cross Skyline Drive, it's all uphill from there.

So, we made the long climb back up.  We had a mile to go, and we looked like the walking dead.  The trail was relentlessly rocky and we were moving as slowly as snails.  

After a torturously long climb, we finally came to the turnoff to the shelter.  What a glorious sight!

Pass Mountain Hut was tucked away, well off the AT.  We had the whole place to ourselves, which might have been a bit spooky, but we were too tired and hungry to care.  Once again, we set up our sleep systems in the shelter and quickly made dinner.

After scarfing our food down and hanging our belongings out of the reach of critters, we slid into our sleeping bags.  It had been A DAY.

Total Daily Mileage: 18.85

Total Calories Burned: 3,910