Friday, March 15, 2024

Backpacking the AT - Day Eleven

 Day 11: Lamberts Meadow Campsite to US Route 220

The night was a cold one.  I kept myself cocooned in my sleeping bag as long as I could.  I wasn't ready to give up my bit of warmth, but I also was a bit sad that this would be my last morning on trail.  We were all slow-moving at camp that day.  Every task was interrupted by cold fingers that needed to be warmed.  I had loved this little spot next to the creek, and it was going to be hard to leave it, but it was too cold to hang around much longer.




Eventually, we were all packed and ready to go.  We had a nine mile hike ahead of us, and if we made good time, we planned to drive all the way back to Michigan afterwards.  It was time for the final morning group photo, and then we'd be on our way.


The morning sunshine seeping down through the trees once again made everything a little magical.  In true AT fashion, the trail was relentless with its rocks, rocks, and more rocks.  


We would be gradually coming down out of the mountains today, but there were still a few uphill climbs to go.  I was thankful for the clear morning, which gave us our last views of the trip, and we stopped at every opportunity to soak them in.


We were making decent time, but I swear, nine miles never seemed so long.  At one point, I declared that I needed a break.  I threw off my pack and propped myself up on it right there on the trail.


The little pitstop worked wonders, and soon I was feeling strong enough to move mountains...or at least climb up and down them.


Have I mentioned the views from up there in the mountains are spectacular?  Probably so.  But this morning they hit a bit different, knowing that soon we'd be down in the valley we were currently looking over, and then we'd be on our way home.



In short order, the trail changed, and it was clear we were on our final downhill.  The rocks were gone, and we followed a wide dirt path, crossed a set of railroad tracks, and then traveled along a little wooden footpath.


Just before 2pm, we passed our final white blaze and came to our trailhead exit.  



There was an array of emotions as we reached that point.  In the eleven days we had been on trail, we had learned so much and experienced so much.  There were highs and lows, happy tears and sad ones, moments where we had questioned our abilities, and times where we found strength we didn't know we had.  I remember around day 4 calling home and stating that I wasn't sure, even four days in, if I was going to end up liking this backpacking thing or not.  By the end, though, I didn't want to leave.  It's true what they say: The trail changes you, gets under your skin, calls you back-and I will be back.  11 days, 112 miles, 26,000 feet of climbing, 1,000,000 memories.






Thursday, March 14, 2024

Backpacking the AT - Day Ten

 Day 10: VA Route 311 mile 710.8 to Lamberts Meadow Campsite mile 721.3

I'd love to tell you that I slept like a rock all night at this hostel, but that was not the case.  Sometime in the night, the fire in the stove burned out, and the hostel gradually became colder and colder.  There was also a vague recollection of cats fighting in the night.  One thing about this hostel is that every door also has a cat door, and there are two cats on the property who come and go as they please.  They also don't like each other, and we were warned that they love to fight in the hostel in the middle of the night.  Those two cats didn't let us down.

Twisted came in by 7am, got the fire going, and made us all coffee.  He then started right up with his storytelling like we had no place to be.

The cat helped my pack up my gear, while Twisted fried up some bacon and eggs, and made me some pancakes by request!  I had been thinking about pancakes for two days and my wish came true.

Four Pines Hostel had been such a great little place for us to stay, and we were thankful for the hospitality.  I was going to miss this quirky little spot-I felt like I fit right in!





By 9am, we were packed and ready to go.  We had signed the big chalkboard wall, as well as the log book, dropped cash into the donation box, and loaded up the car.  This hostel runs on donations only, which is very kind of them, but we felt that some hikers took advantage of that after hearing that many leave no donation at all!


We opted to have Twisted drive us a little further north on the trail.  We had a big day ahead, and had to be back to Jeff's truck the next day.  Twenty minutes in the car, and we had come to the end of the line.  We were dropped off at VA Route 311.  We were informed that there would be only one exit point between here and the next day, because many of the roads in this area were closed in winter due to weather. I hoped we wouldn't need to use that exit!

The morning was clear and cold, but the blue skies made everything better, and we had a big uphill section ahead of us that was sure to warm us up.  The trail almost immediately started to climb, filled with bright green moss and so many rocks.  I kept thinking the climbs would get easier over time, but here we were again, hiking oh so slowly up the mountain.  




Finally, we came to our first destination of the day: McAfee Knob.  McAfee Knob is one of the most iconic spots on the whole AT, as well as our second point of Virginia's Triple Crown.  We could not have had a more perfect day to be in this place!  The sky was so blue, and you could see for miles in every direction.  We each took multiple turns posing out on the rocky ledge, proud of our accomplishments so far. You can't tell from the photos, but the wind was icy cold, and we were all really frozen!




See?  I had to step away from the edge to find a little shelter blocked from the wind to warm myself up!

The trail continued along this high point for a bit, and we enjoyed the different views each little rocky ledge offered.




Next up, we had a big downhill.  There were patches of ice here and there, but most were melting quickly in the sunshine.  The trail went from navigating huge boulders, to wading through deep fallen leaves.




It seemed like we never stayed at a lower elevation for too long, and soon enough we were climbing up again.  The views continued to be spectacular, though, so there was no complaining!


Up, up we went, through more leaves, and through tunnels of rock, across some open spaces, and even when the sign seemed to point downward, we were still going up. 





After 4.5 miles, we reached Tinker Cliffs.  Tinker Cliffs is the third and final point of Virginia's Triple Crown.  We could now all officially add that feat to our hiking resumes!  The day continued to be clear and bright, and the views were simply amazing.




Ahead of us, we had a two mile downhill hike to get to where we'd be camping for the night.  We were all in good spirits as we continued down the trail.  The blue sky and sunshine had been good for our souls.  It was getting to be later in the day, and everything had that late afternoon glow about it.


McAfee Knob and Tinker Cliffs are located in National Parks Service lands, and camping is prohibited in this area, except at designated shelters.  The night ahead of us was predicted to be a cold one, so we wanted to get a bit lower in elevation instead of staying higher up the mountain.  We arrived at Lambert's Meadow Shelter, but there were no campsites here.  We were all pretty exhausted from all of the climbing, but we pressed on, going off of a tip on the app regarding upcoming tenting spots.  Just a little bit further down the trail, we came to a large, semi-open area with a fire ring, picnic table, and a bear box.  The bonus was that it was right next to a beautiful little stream.  What a great spot to spend our final night on the AT!


With our tents up and fresh water in our bottles, we got busy building a fire and making our dinners.

As the last of the light faded, it took the warmth with it, and soon we were huddled around the fire, trying to keep our toes and bodies warm.

Soon, though, the coldness took over, and we wanted to snuggle into our sleeping bags.  Most nights, as I lay in my bag, I'd write notes in my phone about the days' events, but this night it was too cold to keep my fingers out of my mittens. I gave up the fight, and zipped my bag all the way up, cinched the top down so just my nose and mouth were visible, and tried to get some sleep.  The best part of camping next to a babbling brook, is that it drowns out the sounds of monsters in the night!