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