From our previous post, Grandpa Kibble had just joined us for a fun week in the woods from Atkins to Woods Hole Hostel. Unfortunately he had injured his knee just out of town, so The Ramen Shaman came up with a plan for us to still make the miles while keeping Grandpa Kibble involved. We decided we would slackpack over the next few days. Slackpacking is the term used for hiking a section of trail with little more than water and some snacks for the day. The joy of slackpacking comes from being able to do more miles faster than you can carrying a fully loaded pack. We learned a lot about ourselves and our hiking style in the few days that we slackpacked, enough that we needed a vacation from it all!
Day 60: Chestnut Knob Shelter to Laurel Creek - Slackpacking Day 1
The first 6 miles of this day were normal hiking miles, but we dropped off our packs with TruBrit at a roadcrossing and slackpacked the rest of the day. This was the only day of slackpacking Cheez-it enjoyed! The miles seem to fly by and you don't feel exhausted going uphill. Our night concluded at Fort Bastian, which was fun, but weird. Grandpa Kibble decided to become a trail angel to our little group of 12 hikers, and planned to intersect us at various roadcrossings throughout the next day with drinks and snacks. The Ramen Shaman decided that he would stay behind with his dad to spend some quality time and help with coordinating the trail magic. It would be up to Cheez-it to pick up the next 25.5 miles on her own!
Day 61: Laurel Creek to VA 608 - Slackpacking Day 2
We arrived to the trailhead later than we had hoped (10am) due to TruBrit's shuttle schedule. Being slower hikers even while slackpacking, Icicle, Quailman, and I would be struggling to finish the 25.5 mile section before nightfall. The start of the hike began just fine and we kept a steady pace for the first 8 or so miles. Then we arrived at the roadwalk over I-70. I had hiked ahead of Icicle and Quailman while they took a little break and subsequently arrived at the road first. You exit the woods onto a dirt road and follow the road down to a paved road. Once you intersect the paved road, you can't see any more white blazes from where you stand, but there is a beaten path up a hill next to the road. I climb this hill and check out the view of the valley below, but soon I realize there are no white blazes and the footpath has dead-ended off of the other end of the hill, which is steep and covered in loose shale. I carefully pick my way to the bottom of the hill back to the road, feeling a little more than foolish. Thankfully I spot a white blaze on the nearby road sign and I know that I'm at least heading in the right direction. I follow the road as it takes a sharp left turn and crosses over the top of I-70. I spot a white blaze on the opposite guardrail and head for it. Once I arrive, I turn 360 degrees over and over again, trying to spot the next white blaze. I pull out AWOL's guide at this point and read the entry, "AT re-enters woods north of road." I whip out my compass and check that yes, I am indeed facing north, but no, I cannot see where the trail re-enters the woods. I spot a footpath that rounds the guardrail so I head over to check it out. I get a few dozen feet up the trail, but I can't see any white blazes, so I abandon the trail and decide that it would be better to wait for Quailman and Icicle so that we can all try and figure this out. I spot another white blaze on a tree by the road, facing in asuch a direction that you cannot see it from the guardrail white blaze. Quailman and Icicle arrive a few minutes later and we are all scratching our heads. I finally decide to walk further down the road to the east to see if I could find another blaze. And there it is. On a rock face oriented in such a manner that you can't see unless you are right in front of it is painted a lonely white blaze. I call out to the others and we all hike down the road together. We wasted 45 minutes wondering around on a road trying to find the trail. NOBO thru-hiker beware! This section is not well blazed.
This is only the beginning of our troubles. We head down to the trailhead and get back on. We decide to skip filling up on water at the trailhead and start the steep climb up. The shelter is only a couple miles away afterall, and we can just get water there. WRONG! The shelter ends up being 0.3mi off of the trail, and the water source is another 0.3mi farther past the shelter. Even though we are all low on water, we decided to just push on 8 more miles to the unreliable stream. This ends up being the biggest mistake of our entire hike yet! It's hot and the three of us are stuck on a ridgeline with no water! I hike ahead with the intention of filling up at the hopefully flowing stream and bringing it back to Icicle and Quailman. When I am about 3/4 of a mile from the road and the stream, The Ramen Shaman appears carrying tons of water for the three of us! I tell him to hike back to them because they only had 1 liter of water between the two of them. We all meet at the road crossing and find out that the unreliable stream is dry. We would have been in big trouble if The Ramen Shaman hadn't showed up. Together, we finished the last 4 miles and chose to be picked up at VA 608 instead of pushing the original 25.5 miles to Trent's Grocery. These last 4 miles were the most fun out of the day, and we ended our first full slackpacking day in good spirits. Grandpa Kibble left us beer and snacks at the road while he went to pick up a bunch of burgers for us, which was incredible and amazing. We spent the night with our trail family (Batman, The Priest, Noodle, Radioman, Cowgirl, Flex, and Poohbear) around a warm campfire at Trent's Grocery. Radioman was even kind enough to share his wine and salmon pate!
Day 62: VA 608 to USFS 103 and Woods Hole Hostel
The morning was very stressful as we were faced with another 20 mile day to get into Woods Hole Hostel and a hot, homemade dinner at 7 o'clock. We got to the trail late again, and set off to make up the missed 5 miles and the next 15 miles into the hostel. The first 5 miles were mellow and we even got to cross a suspension footbridge! The next 10 miles were miserable. We hiked as fast as we could and skipped the side-trail to the waterfall. Cheez-it's ankle was sore and she fell behind the group, slowing everyone down. The Ramen Shaman ran ahead to get to the privy at Waputi Shelter, and the rest of us hiked quickly to meet him there. When we were less than a mile away from the shelter, we were all commenting to one another that hiking at this pace was no fun and we really weren't enjoying ourselves. Just then, Icicle took a bad fall and banged her knee pretty badly. That was the tipping point! We all just laughed at ourselves for trying to stick to a schedule that didn't make sense for us and was causing us all to be miserable! We threw up our hands and said "Screw it!" and decided to arrive at Woods Hole whenever we felt like it. We were done pushing ourselves to the point of not having any fun. We took a long break at the shelter to eat and rub our sore feet. Vegemite ended up catching up to us, and we hadn't seen him since Damascus. Grandpa Kibble called and said that he had left the car at the forest service road, and that really raised all of our spirits since we would be able to get to Woods Hole before dinner. Vegemite was down for catching a ride as well! We hiked on and stopped for a short break at a rocky overlook that gave us wonderful views of the Virginia farming valley below. It was quite the end to another crazy day. When we arrived at the car, we all piled in and headed for the hostel and a hot meal.
Day 63: Zero at Woods Hole Hostel - Zero Day 1
We decided to take a zero day after our rough couple of days in order to rejuvenate a little. This was lucky because Cheez-it had just been contacted by a professor for the Virginia Institute of Marine Science back in Atkins and had been meaning to contact him for a phone interview. This day provided that perfect opportunity. The food and the atmosphere at Woods Hole is awesome, but they are overpriced in my opinion. For $15 you get a bunk in the unheated bunkhouse (which you are responsible for cleaning up), a gross privy, and an outdoor shower (which is no fun in mid-April). Our zero day had Cheez-it's spirits low, even though her phone interview had seemingly gone well. That night, we all sat around and contemplated options. We had the opportunity to visit the VIMS campus in Gloucester Point, VA in order to meet the professor and make an impression, and we decided that now was the perfect time. Icicle and Quailman were feeling like taking a few days off as well, so we hatched a plan the next day that would lead to all of us having an amazing beach vacation!
Day 64: Zero at The Days Inn in Christiansburg, VA - Zero Day 2
Neville of Woods Hole offered to give us a ride into Christiansburg to start our adventure. We would hit up Williamsburg and the VIMS campus, and then drive to Virginia Beach to relax by the ocean! This day was full of walking from the hotel to the convenience store across the way to get beer, and then to the Cracker Barrel for dinner. We also watched Marley & Me, which was a mistake.
Day 65: Zero in Williamsburg/Gloucester Point/Virginia Beach - Zero Day 3
We started out the day renting a car and spending the 4 hour drive saying how weird it was that we were in a car. Then we arrived in the Williamsburg/Gloucester Point area and drove on the Colonial Parkway, which was really beautiful. Cheez-it got to meet with her potential advisor and get a nickel tour of the campus. Then we all piled in the car and drove back to Williamsburg becasue we thought it might have a cool downtown area to hang out it. We could only find the overly commercialized portion, so we drove to the subburbs to eat at place called Oceans & Ale. During this time, we reverted to calling each other by our real names, which also felt weird. Eric, Kristin, and I each made bets about how many chicken wings Chase could eat. Eric won with his guess of 27 wings, though Chase admitted later he was saving room for Ben & Jerry's. We then drove another hour to Virginia Beach and checked into our amazing oceanfront hotel and beachfront room ($54/night on priceline; about $13.50/person i.e. cheaper than the typical hostel rate). The next day was sure to be epic.
Day 66: Zero in Virginia Beach - Zero Day 3
We felt so relaxed on this day after spending all day hanging out by the ocean and sipping fru-fru drinks. $2 fish tacos at the hotel bar. This was the first day we actually felt rested on a zero day.
Day 67: Zero in Virginia Beach - Zero Day 4
We had an indian food buffet. That's all that needs to be said about this awesome day. We began to fell anxious about heading back to the trail, especially after we found it that it is essentially Cold War Part Deux out there.
Day 68: Zero in Virginia Beach/Pearisburg - Zero Day 5
This was a whirlwind car trip from Virginia Beach to Richmond to Pearisburg! We stopped in Richmond to visit the REI to pick up a few things to get ready for our return to the trail. We originally intentioned to hike a few miles, but the rental car agency closed at 5pm, so we had to get a hotel! Day 69 will be a return to Woods Hole to catch up on the 12-ish miles that we missed into Pearisburg!
Our vacation from the trail truly was restorative and we are ready to get back to the trail. There is a statistic floating around out there that 80% of thru-hikers that take more than 3 zero days in a row ultimately leave the trail. We don't like the negativity associated with such a statistic, because when you are feeling low on the trail, sometimes the best medicine is to take a few days off. I think it helps to get far away from the trail and the trail culture, that way you approach it with a fresh set of eyes after a few days off.
Sheila spent her vacation chasing birds on the beach and getting very sandy and wet! She also got a good grooming and a foot massage. I think she will always be a beach dog at heart.
Well, that's all for now folks!
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