April 25 - May 1

This section of trail might have been my favorite so far. It also helped that I was hiking with a great group of thru hikers!


Bryant Ridge Shelter, one of the best on the AT.

Missed snow again!

In full bloom!

Myself jumping into the James River

JC Jumping

Hitch in the pack of a pick up during a driving rain.

View from Big Rocky Row

This is for the 2013 Hiker Trash Calendar

Walking thru historic land.

Hiker trash breakfast in Waynesboro, VA. Waynesboro has been the most friendly town we have been thru on the trail.

Raffle Queen was an amazing trail angel! She opened up her home to all four of us and even let us drive her car! Thanks much Raffel Queen. L-R JC, Bugger, Raffle Queen, You Again and I

April 9-22

The Greyson Highlands, Dragon's Tooth and McAfee Knob are three of the most famous places on the Appalachian Trail. It was such a great time hiking thru these areas. I ended up with some great photographs.

Mount Rogers, the highest point in Virginia.

JC and I at the viewless summit of Mt. Rogers.

 

Nightly ferrell poney invasion at Thomas Knob Shelter. L-R JC, AC & a random section hiker.

Dinner with a view at Thomas Knob Shelter.

Poney Time!

Pizza, cheese bread, Mountain Dew, thru-hiker heaven! A.C. in the background zoning out, he's usually not that intense!

Partnership Shelter near Marion, VA. You can order pizza from this place!

Climbing Chestnut Knob

Thru-hiker socks.

Dinner time in Chestnut Knob Shelter.

Woods Hole Hostel. They a huge garden were they grow most of their food what they can't grow they supplement from the near by Amish community. They had us the most amazing homemade blackbean burgers!

Crossing US 460 near Pearisburg, VA

Ziplining from The Captain's House. He allows thru-hikers to stay in his yard and help themselves to soda on the porch!

The shoes on the left brand new, the ones on the left have over 700 miles on them.

Trail Magic after a very difficult climb

Dragon Tooth

"We travel land and sea, to see a victory! Let's make some for the Chicago Bhoys!"

The Homepace in Catawba, VA. An all you can eat family style buffet. AMAZING!

Sunset at McAfee Knob.

McAfee Knob sunrise

JC blazing an early morning trail off McAfee

Stream Crossing

Happy Mother's Day!

I would not have been able to make it this far without your love and support. Thank you for sending me my mail drops and assorted gear along the way. You've had a great first year as a teacher. I miss and love you very much!

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Over the next week we will be posting at least four blogs chalked with photos, stay tuned! I will get back to hiking tomorrow. Not sure if my plans to attend Trail Days will work... hopefully I can swing it. Shelby will be visiting me this week, I'm so excited to see her! I'm less than 100 miles away from the half way point of the trail!

Damascus, VA

WOAHHH!!! I made it to Damascus, Virginia on Thursday! Many consider this the 1/4 mark of the trail, even though it is about 100 miles short of it. It's the physiological 1/4 mark. Damascus is without a doubt the most famous trail town along the AT corridor. Every year it hosts, Trail Days, the largest AT festival. I'm feeling great so far, making it here has helped lift my spirits. I will be hiking in Virginia for the next 550+ miles -- which is more miles than I have hiked so far (467 miles to be exact). Looking forward, one of the trail towns comping up is Old Dominion, VA. Old Dominion is also known for the "Virginia Blues" because it's at a point where in the hike were hikers can become very home sick and the novel experience of the trail has worn off. I will be doing my best to avoid those by taking more time in towns and making sure to find new foods to eat while on trail!

This past Tuesday I had the chance to work with an AT legend, Bob Peoples. Bob is such a great person, his kindness is beyond belief. He will do just about anything for a hiker, if it means it will help them. It's not just his goodwill that makes him a legend, he is also a member of the Tennessee Eastman Hiking Club (TEHC). They are one of the 31 hiking clubs that maintains the AT. The entire length of the AT is maintained by volunteers. The TEHC maintain a 160 mile stretch of trail from Spivey Gap (Tennessee) to Damascus, VA. It has been one of my goals since the beggining of this hike to give back to the AT community and doing trail maintenance is one of those ways! Bob encourages thru-hikers to come out and work with the club during their weekly maintenance day. The section of trail I worked on was just north of Hughes Gap on the south side of Roan Mountain. We cut a switchback into the mountain side to connect it to another piece of recently cut trail. It was a great experience working with these dedicated men and women. After my day of work I was awarded the coveted TEHC Hiker Volunteer Patch. I will be coming back to Damscus in May for Trail Days. The main reason I will be heading south 200+ miles is to work the TEHC's Hardcore! Hardcore is exactly what it sounds like, two days of blood, sweat and AT dirt. TEHC gathers 50 current thru-hikers and 50 former thru-hikers and puts them to work on the trail for two days, houses and feeds them. They also guarantee that they will return you to where ever you came from!

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I've spent the last hour trying to upload photos with no luck. The library computer's admin. settings won't let me, even after I tried to trick it. I apologize, this blog is more exciting with photos.

One Month Down!

Hello!

Just an update on Matt's 30th day on trail:
Yesterday Matt took a scary fall in a stream while leaving Erwin, TN that banged up his knee and bent one of his trekking poles! However, this morning when he woke up he was feeling better and knocked out 22 miles in one day. In case anyone is wondering, 22 miles is almost exactly 1% of the entire AT, which he completed in just a single day.

Happy trails!
-Intern Shelby


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Where's Matt?
I'm not entirely sure, but I'm going to guess that he is around Roan High Knob Shelter, TN.
Milage: ~370

"Ya'll goin' to Maine?!"

Wow! This update is long overdue. I enjoyed a nearo day in Hot Springs, NC yesterday and a zero today! Hot Springs is the first trail town the AT passes thru. The trail literally goes right downtown, it sits on the 273.9 mile marker. I'm staying at the Sunnybank Inn, a very historic hostel that has been serving hikers since 1948. Earl Shaffer, the first thru-hiker, stayed there during his hike in '48. I was able to send out some gear that I no longer needed yesterday (bottoms of my zip off pants, extra socks, a book etc). Today's zero is much needed after 22 days of straight hiking. My blisters and sun burn are finally healing.

Last week I was in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park -- took my time through this section since the park is one of my favorite places. I've been hiking a lot of miles with Jerusalem Cruiser or J.C. for short - we met a few days into the hike. He's a stand up guy and we share a lot of similar interests. I finally got a trail name. Fellow hikers found out my high school mascot and I was immediately dubbed, "Pretzel."

Below are an odd ball collection of photos. I would love to upload more but the internet is very slow here and I am blocked from uploading video!

First state line, Welcome to North Carlina.

That is blister on top of a blister!

J.C. Sunset on Cheoh Bald.

Sherpa & J.C., Cheoah Bald, North Carolina.

"What would Edward Abbey do?" Fontana Dam, Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

J.C. and Sherpa in all out Hiker Trash mode! Newfound Gap, GSMNP.

Sunset at Mt. Cammerer Lookout, GSMNP.

Hawkeye from Vermont, enjoying Standing Bear Farm Hostel. Just outside of GSMNP.

Hello All!

Just a quicks heads-up. I talked to Matt and he is doing very well. His milage is great )109 miles in 9 days!) Also, he is surviving the rain storms!


I will be going on a trip of my own this week. I am going on a service tour across the country to do volunteer work in six different cities.

Happy spring break!
-Shelby