Backpacking the AT-Day Four

 Monday, October 14, 2024

 Bear’s Den Hostel to Tent site 

Northbound miles 1005.9 to 1021.2

We planned to leave early but woke before our alarms and began packing up. Misty made us pancakes to go with our coffee! Whether at camp or in the hostels, she is all business in the mornings and is always the first one ready to go!

This hostel was so spacious, with so many rooms, and I found my way to a large dining room for breakfast.  I can imagine what it's like at the height of backpacking season, with every seat filled and excited chatter among friends, new and old.

I really enjoyed this hostel stay at Bear's Den.  We met some interesting people, hung out with some cool dogs, and were well fed!  At first light we said our goodbyes and hit the trail. 

The temperature was 58° and that would be the warmest we’d see for the day. The wind was gusty today, too, which would help keep us cool as we traversed the last 4.5 miles of the roller coaster section. 

As we left the connecting trail from the hostel and re-joined the AT, we immediately were given a great view of world below. 

And then it was time to climb. Up, up, up the rocks we went, slowly but surely. My body was feeling good, and my pack was starting to feel more comfortable, too. 

As they say, what goes up must come down, and soon enough we were rock jumping our way down the trail. 

Then there was a sign! A new state! We were leaving Virginia and entering West Virginia.

 Actually, only four miles of the Appalachian Trail are officially in West Virginia, so we’d be hiking back and forth from Virginia to West Virginia all day today. 

After another short climb, we came to Raven Rocks. What a sweet spot this was! You could see for miles up on the ledge, and we took a zillion pictures up there! A couple more hikers showed up, too, and were very friendly. 

Then the trail turned away from the edge, and we were back on the roller coaster.  Up and down, leaves and rocks.  This was a challenging section!

Finally, we saw the sign. We had completed the roller coaster! Aside from the steep climbs and descents of this section, the endless rocks had kept things quite interesting! 

We hiked on through the forest, filled with the colors of fall. It seemed like there was an endless cascade of leaves as we went along. We passed this big old tree and I took a moment to admire its age and beauty.  Oh, the things that tree has seen.

The trail in this section became much more level, with only a few outcroppings of rocks here and there, which really helped us go at a faster pace.  Also, I always appreciate when steps have been cut out of large, downed trees to make things just a bit easier.

We decided to head to Blackburn Trail Center for a lunch break. There was a steep downhill climb to get there, and we were really questioning our decision. The 0.2 mile trail sign was a LIE, I tell you.

But then we were there, and it was beautiful! The main house had a huge wraparound porch, open to visitors. We made ourselves at home, and soon the caretaker, Chris, came to greet us. He asked if we’d like a little trail magic (of course we did) so he took us inside where he offered us a fridge full of sodas of every kind! We were so thankful for an icy cold drink. And then, as an added gift, he gave us all ice cream sandwiches! I think he was just as happy to share these things with us as we were to receive them.  This was truly a hiker oasis.  I would love to go back and spend a weekend here.

We hung out a bit longer, but soon it was time go. We had several miles left to hike! 

The trail up and out didn’t seem quite so bad with our bellies full of sweet treats. I did come upon this little snake and managed not to step on him. 

 The wind at the top, however, was downright cold. We made a quick stop to put on an extra layer of clothing. Brr! 

We continued north on the trail, jumping rocks, dodging rocks, and enjoying the short sections without rocks. 

The day was seeming to go on and on, and Kara was having a rough time.  Her feet were killing her, and I could hear little moans of pain coming from her now and then.  It's never fun to be in a dark place like that.

Just after 4pm, we reached WV 9, a very busy two-lane road with a tiny shoulder. The trail continued on across the road, but a right turn and a 0.3 mile walk would take you to a little store. Sweet Springs Store was just what we needed for a little resupply. Misty and I ordered sub sandwiches to take to camp, and Kara ordered a cheeseburger and fries, which she ate on the hike back to the trail. It was a bit of a challenge fitting all this new food into our packs!

We've seen signs like this a few times on the AT, and I always love them: No parents, no bedtime, no horses on this trail! Hikers only!  Let's go!

We planned to hike 2.2 miles further to a designated campsite, but as daylight was fading, we came across a closer spot with nice flat ground and a fire ring. We quickly 

set up camp, and while Kara opted to dive into her sack, Misty and I built a little fire and ate our subs and made plans for the next few days. We were a little worried about Kara, but hoped a little extra rest and recovery would help her feel better. 

Just before it was fully dark, we stashed our bear canisters and crawled into our tents. A little before 8pm, Misty called over to my tent to see if I was still awake. I informed her that I was.  She wanted to know if I could see the scary, bright light shining at us. When I assured her that it was just the moon, she settled back down. Apparently, she had closed her eyes, and when she re-opened them, the moon was so bright she was sure there was someone shining a flashlight into her tent.  See what I'm dealing with here?!  Good thing she keeps that whistle and air horn with her at all times-the moon is terrifying.

Daily miles: 17.61

Time on trail: 10:19:38

Elevation gain: 3297 feet

Backpacking the AT-Day 3

 Sunday, October 13, 2024

Rod Hollow Shelter to Bear’s Den Hostel 

Northbound Miles 996.0 to 1005.9

Throughout the night, I awoke a few times to the sounds of the forest.  In the distance, the owl continued hooting, but now and then a second owl was returning the calls.  The sounds went on and on, near and far, near and far, for quite some time.  And then there were coyotes.  I could hear them yapping and howling, but they were quite far away.  I actually liked hearing all of these creatures!  How often does a person actually get to fall asleep to sounds such as these?  The sound I could've done without, though, was the sound of mice.  I knew they couldn't get into my tent, but they were everywhere outside of it.  I could hear them scuttling back and forth along the edge of my tent, right next to my head.  I could hear them squeaking.  They were very busy.  All.  Night.  Long.  This was my first experience with mice at night on the trail and I give it a 0/10 rating.

Morning eventually arrived, and we didn't crawl from our tents until after 7am.  We only had about ten miles to hike today, and it was nice to have a leisurely morning.  The dampness in the air made everything feel a little slower.  We took our time packing up and making breakfast.  We gave Kara the trail name "Pack Rat" because of her unique style of packing, along with the items she had randomly stashed all over in her pack.  Inside my pack I have a clothing bag, an electronics bag, a toiletries bag, my food canister, tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad.  On the outside, I have one front pocket for daily snacks, one front pocket for my wallet and glasses, and then water in another exterior pocket.  Misty packs similarly.  But Kara?  Kara has stuff jammed in everywhere.  Eyedrops here, meat sticks there, candy corn strapped to the side, and just randomness everywhere!  Maybe it's all organized to her, but watching her pack up every morning was very stressful to me!

Eventually we were ready to hit the trail.  We didn't know what the day would hold, but we knew were heading towards showers and warm beds by the end of it!

To start off the day, the trail was mainly flat with a few boardwalks here and there.  We weren't getting our hopes up, though.  We knew what was lurking just ahead of us...

At mile 996.4, we saw the sign.  This is where the fun would begin.  Type 2 fun, that is.  This is where the infamous "Roller Coaster" section of the Appalachian Trail begins.  The Roller Coaster is a 13.3 mile section of the AT known for being filled not only with many roller coaster-like ups and downs, but also rocks and rocks and rocks.  

Almost immediately we were climbing uphill.  Pictures never do these uphill sections justice, so you'll just have to believe me when I say it was tough.  

 

The sun was peeking through the trees and the day was a little cooler than the day before, so I tried to enjoy myself.  Besides, what goes up must come down, right?

You would think the downs would be easier and that we'd be able to make up some time that was lost on the ups, but rocks made every step a challenge.  

By mid-morning, we were in need of water.  And a break.  We were more than happy to get our packs off, fill up our water bottles, and take a little rest beside the stream.

I don't know if you've ever thought about it, but water is usually found in the low places.  So, while we were happy to have access to water, we knew that once we left the water we'd be climbing up and away from it.  

On one of these ridiculous uphill climbs, I was staring at the ground, trying to stay upright, and spotted this bug.  Have you ever seen anything grosser?!  Freaky.

After a few miles, we passed by the 1000 mile marker of the northbound AT and started searching for water again.  Many of the indicated water spots on FarOut were completely dry.  This is pretty normal for late fall, and we tried to plan our water refill stops far in advance.  It was always a bit of a struggle, though, because we didn't want to carry too much water due to the extra weight it added to our packs.  We did eventually find suitable water, and this was meant to be a quick stop, but I needed to have a senior picture photo taken.  

Oh, but then it was time to climb again.  And it was a doozie.  I honestly didn't know Virginia had this many rocks.  My feet were starting to get very angry.  

We stopped for a little lunch, and like the day before, I whipped out my pad so I could lie flat and stretch out.  The weather was pretty perfect and I tried to forget about this roller coaster ride for a few moments.

We continued on, climbing up and climbing down and crossing water and climbing up again.  We went slow.  We took a lot of breaks.  We said, "Fuck this shit" a lot.  I mean, we were having the time of our lives and it was sooooo not fun!  Haha!  We have real issues, I tell ya!

The countdown was on to Bear's Den.  Just two more miles.  A mile and a half.  One mile!  Almost there.

And then we saw the sign!  THE SIGN!  The glorious sign that told us our climbing for the day was over.

We arrived at Bear's Den Hostel around 4:00 in the afternoon.  Hostels are all a little different (and unique) so we had to figure a few things out.  First of all, the hostel didn't officially open until 5pm.  Interesting.  There was a sign on the door for backpackers.  There were people around, but nobody really seemed to be in charge.  We figured out the little riddle and went inside. 

Clearly some of the bunks were taken.  And clearly someone was also living at the hostel in one of the bunks.  We went into the next room and found more bunks.  There happened to be three together that were vacant, so we cautiously claimed them with our gear.  Was this how it was done?  We didn't know.  There was also a little mini fridge, so we each bought a pop and went outside to wait for whoever was in charge of this place.

We sat on a little bench and were approached by a man, presumably a hiker, who offered us baguette bread and told us tall tales while we waited.  I told you hostels were different.  

Magically, at 5pm, the caretaker, Glenn, appeared and we followed him inside.  We were informed that if we had claimed three vacant bunks, then yes, those bunks were ours for the night.  Yes!  They had a great deal at this hostel, where for $40, you get a bunk, a shower, a load of laundry (detergent included), a whole pizza, a pop, and a pint of ice cream.  SOLD.  We paid our money and headed for the showers. A second caretaker, Fern, helped us with bedding and towels and a few hostel rules.  I love how accommodating hostel owners are towards backpackers-they are truly wonderful people! Once clean, we threw our clothes in the washer and put our pizzas in the oven.  We were so happy to be clean and warm.  We each chose an ice cream and headed to a big hangout room.  There were chairs and couches and dogs and a piano!  While our pizzas cooked, we hung out with the dogs, ate some ice cream, and I even played a tune on the piano.

It was a great night.  We were so relaxed and happy to be having this hostel experience.  Back at our bunks, we organized our gear for the next morning, as we planned to leave at daybreak.  The fourth bunk in our room was occupied by a section hiker named Jason.  We all climbed into our bunks and the lights were off by 8pm.  Even in the dark, we were still chatting and Jason joined in.  We all told stories and laughed so much.  I swear, meeting trail friends is the best!  By 9pm, the room was silent.  We were exhausted from our day and had an even bigger day on tap for tomorrow.

Daily miles: 10.09

Time on trail: 7:40:29

Elevation gain: 3586 feet