Who's ready for another adventure? Well, ever since I finished my February trip on the Appalachian Trail, I've been thinking nonstop about when I could get back to it. I decided that October would be a great month for the next trip. Why October? It's not too cold, the bugs are gone, and those fall colors would be at or near peak! Of course, Misty was on board for this trip, and Kara decided she wanted to join us, too. After discussing some options, we decided to start at the beginning: Springer Mountain in Georgia to an unknown point in western North Carolina, determined by how far we could make it in ten days. We made our plans, fine-tuned our gear, and bought plane tickets. Our plan was to fly into Atlanta and then shuttle to the starting point. Then, wherever we finished, we'd shuttle back to Atlanta and fly home.
There was nothing to do but wait now, and we waited. And waited. Finally, we had just a month to go! The countdown was on! But then, Helene arrived. Hurricane Helene. She made landfall on September 26th, and while the damage from Helene wreaked havoc on Florida's gulf coast, the devastation to Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee was catastrophic. So many lives, homes, towns, and roads were completely lost by the flooding caused by this hurricane. In addition, it was reported that the Appalachian Trail was at best impassable in places, and at worst, completely wiped out. I could go on and on about how severe and widespread the damage was and continues to be. Due to the condition the south was in, we had to change our plans in a hurry. Our trip was in two weeks, and we had to come up with a brand-new itinerary as soon as possible.
After throwing out a few rough plans of sections north of the hurricane damage, we made a choice. We decided we'd begin just north of the Shenandoah Mountains in Virginia, and hike about 98 miles from Virginia, through West Virginia and Maryland, to Pennsylvania. Estimating daily mileage was just that-an estimate. I knew the last section we hiked had kicked our butts, so I made conservative plans, with a few days that would push our limits. Hopefully, we could loosely follow the schedule.
Friday, October 11, 2024
Front Royal, Virginia Gate 7 to Jim and Molly Denton Shelter
Northbound Miles 972.4 to 977.6
At 3:30am my alarm went off. Jason had me to Kara’s by 4:30am, and we headed to pick up Misty at 5:00am. Southbound! Kara had originally planned to nap a little on the drive to Virginia, but we were all filled with excited chatter and the time passed very quickly. Before we knew it, we had made it to our starting point.
We arrived in Front Royal at Mountain Home B&B a little after 2:00pm, where we planned to leave Kara's car for the week for a small fee. After checking in with owners Scott and Lisa who were so kind and helpful, Misty offered to re-packed Kara's pack, since this would be her first time carrying all of her gear. We hit the trail by 3:00pm, entering at the Gate 7 entrance.
The three of us took it easy, adjusting to our heavy packs. I think within those first few miles we were all silently wondering what we could’ve left behind to lighten our loads!
The trail was gorgeous, though, with pops of fall color all around us. Although the temperature was sitting in the high 60’s, the plentiful uphill climbs and added weight on our backs had us pouring sweat right from the start. We passed a very ripe thru hiker after just a couple miles, and we were all quite concerned about smelling as pungent as he did after a few days on trail.
After just five miles, we arrived at the Jim and Molly Denton Shelter where we planned to camp for our first night.
We dropped our packs and wandered the area, in search of a flattish spot with room enough for our three tents. We were not about to actually sleep IN the shelter, after the "Great Mouse Incident" earlier this year. In no time, we had our tents up, gear unpacked, sweaty wet clothes changed, and we were headed to find wood for a fire. Our tents were pitched very close to each other, because some of the girls were very nervous about bears. Some girls also wore rape whistles and carried air horns to deter bears. (I am not some girls, for the record.)
I would just like to tell you how much I love my tent. Setting it up takes only a few minutes, and crawling inside and stretching out in there is one of my favorite parts of every day.
Firewood was a little scarce, but we managed to get a good little blaze going and cooked our evening meal in the pavilion beside the fire. We had the place to ourselves here, and we were happy it was just the three of us.
Daylight was quickly leaving us, so we packed up our food, stashed our bear canisters, and settled into our tents for the night. I was pretty happy our low temperature was only going to be in the 50's and wore my lightest layer of clothing inside my sleeping bag. Hopefully, everyone would sleep well!
Great reading Lou-Bug. You truly are a voyager of modern times. You know fat cow from poor bull.
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