7/8: William Penn Shelter, 1185.2

Well hello there everyone!! As you probably could have guessed, I had all but punted on this whole blogging thing. I think trying to blog every day was a bit ambitious on our part, so this time around I'm going to blog every few days or when something really interesting happens. That way I don't burn myself out on typing, and you guys don't get bored of my daily routine (Which has turned into a daily grind at this point on the trail). Sound good? Great! Now, let's see if I remember how to do this...

Hm. Good Lord you guys! We last left off at Punchbowl Shelter?! That was 400 miles ago!! It really is a shame I didn't get on here a few times just to say hello. Wendy and I did some pretty amazing stuff in that time. When we last left off we were just about to Aqua-Blaze the Shenandoah River. For those that do not know, Aqua-Blazing is when you canoe a portion of the AT versus walk it. The plan was to do 160 miles from Waynesboro, VA to Harpers Ferry, WV. At the time Cheese (Holden) was still with us. Aqua-blazing turned out to be a mixed bag, and the trip got off to a terrible start. After capsizing our vessels a few times, losing a ton of our gear and food, and coming a little too close to drowning (these stories need their own blog post-You'll have to ask me later) we finally made it to calmer water and had a great time. We saw a dozen bald eagles, deer, otters, turtles, and all sorts of other wildlife. And did I mention the Shenandoah River valley is gorgeous?! Wow, what a beautiful place.

From our canoeing trip we headed straight for Washington, DC to visit our new/old friends Rachel, Ashley, and their new roommate Monica! Man, did we do DC right this time. It was honestly the perfect weekend. Saturday, Wendy, Cheese, and I beat the heat by museum hopping during the day. Wendy and I went to the American History Museum and the Natural History Museam while Cheese explored the Holocaust Museum. I love the Smithsonians so so much! I learned so much that day it is ridiculous! Around dusk we all met up and watched the sunset at the Jefferson Memorial. Everyone may have a favorite memorial, but after that sunset, mine is definitely Jefferson. Absolutely stunning. If you recall, that was the same weekend as the super moon! Wendy, Cheese, and I then toured the FDR Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean and Vietnam War Memorials, and the WWII memorial all under the light of the super moon on a cool, clear DC night. I would highly recommend seeing the monuments at night. There are little to no crowds, and for some reason the night pulls a little more emotion out of you. If you can believe it, Sunday was just as fun as Saturday. I got to go to my first ballpark other than Turner Field and watch the nasty Nationals get beat by the Rockies to a sold out crowd! We then went back to Rachel's to grill burgers and have a few drinks on her back porch. The perfect end to a perfect weekend...except we missed our train the next day and had to wait till Tuesday. But I don't want to talk about that.

From there, Wendy and I cruised through West Virginia, Maryland, and half of Pennsylvania! I had a great visit with my Aunt Teresa and celebrated the 4th of July with some of my best hiker pals in Duncannon, PA.

Unfortunately, disaster struck the day Wendy and I were trying to leave Duncannon when someone stole Wendy's iPhone from the campsite bathroom. It seems our renewed faith in humanity may have been a bit high and Wendy had to pay the price. I wonder if the person who stole his phone knows this, but that was the proverbial straw that broke poor Wendy's back, and he threw in the towel :(. Wendy, we may not have always seen eye to eye, but you are without a doubt the best hiking companion and friend I could have brought out on this trip. We spent every day together for 3 1/2 months, slept no more than 20 yards a part (most times it was around 6 inches...) and talked about things we've never talked about with anyone else. We rain through thunderstorms together, stood on McAfee's knob together, got drunk at the Blue Blaze together, did the Pizza and Beer Run Challenge together. We did 20s together and 0s together and walked 1150 miles together. I'm going to miss you man. They may not have all been good times, but they will be times neither of us will ever forget.

Well, that's the readers digest version of my the last month in the woods. Onwards to Maine! Any questions?

Breeze

6/6: Punchbowl Shelter, 790.8

No Rain, No Pain, No Maine.

Hello loyal followers, it's Breeze. As you may have noticed, I typically have a pretty positive attitude out here on the trail. On really bad days, I try and find the silver lining, or at least a life lesson or something. I've been sitting in my hammock for a while now, listening to the downpour, watching the campsite slowly flood, trying to figure out what that silver lining might be. I've come to the conclusion that for whatever reason, the AT didn't provide me with any silver lining today. Allow me to explain.

It has been a torrential downpour the entire day and most of last night. Packing up in the rain is never fun, but it  was particularly awful for my poor brother. He had a serious tarp malfunction last night, and most of his stuff is completely soaked, including his tent and sleeping bag. Earlier this morning I literally poured water out of his hammock - not good!  With nothing else to do, he packed up his wet gear and put it in his bag. A really bad start to a really bad day. Once we began hiking, I think the rain got worse. About a mile into the day, everyone was drenched from head to toe, and no one was talking. For the time being, we are operating under the assumption that Luke is shelterless. Because of this, we had to stop at Punchbowl Shelter for the night. With the shelter mostly full, I elected to tent to save room for Luke. I went out in the still pouring rain to setup and attempt to get dry. I've been in my hammock prison since 3, and have only seen the others a few times. The rain likes to keep you in solitary confinement - it's how it maintains it's power. Well, I guess I'm going to go back to sleep...it's all I really have to do. The AT giveth, and the AT taketh away. Let's hope for clear skies tomorrow. 

Breeze

Ok this may seem weird, but I think I'm going to blog twice today. You see, I wrote the first piece much earlier in the day when things were really bad. Although the weather hasn't gotten any better, my mood sure has. That's because just a few minutes ago, Luke was bored so he decided to come get me. Me, Luke, and Cheese then spent the next 30 minutes out in the rain trying our best to build a little fort out of the leftover tarps we have. Oh my Lord, what an abject disaster!  Honestly guys, the whole debacle was a complete and total failure. But we had so much fun! I posted pictures of our attempt down below for your viewing pleasure. From there we went to hang out in the shelter like normal people and talk to other thru hikers. Life's a mess, but it's good.

P.s Things could always be worse. Our friend Occupy came in to the shelter earlier, and everything he owns is soaked! That's his stuff on the picnic table in the picture. Oh and Luke's sleeping bag got dry so he is good to go :) 

6/5: John's Hollow Shelter

Hello friendly followers,

It's Wendy again with another update from the trail! Today was another great day on the trail with our new hiking partners. We have had very little easy terrain for them thus far so today was a nice break for them! Before we get to talk about how great the day was, however, let me tell you how the night went. 

Apparently there are these birds. It appears that the males and females have distinctly different calls. These calls, when put together, form quite a screechy bird tune. This tune began around 1AM. Apparently we were in mating habitat for these things because until around 6AM this morning all we heard was the constant chirp of their respective calls. It was my nightmare!

After that, however, things looked up. We had a great morning, a fairly easy hitch to Glasgow, and also did a great job of making it out of town! We all 4 got picked up both times which was a relief! It always feels good to have a productive day in town. 

My only complaint about these last few days would have to be my unwillingness to integrate with others. I miss the group we left a tremendous amount and I really want to skip back ahead so we can hike with them again. Realistically I know that we will see them again, but I wish I could share all of this trail with them!

Until next time,

Wendy

6/4: Marble Spring Campsite, 772.6

What's up everyone! Breeze here at the end of an awesome day. Our new four person group has been so much fun. Wendy and I have loved the additional company. But first let me tell you about what has been on every thru hikers mind lately: bugs.

Over the last few days, the insects have completely taken over the woods. And I mean completely taken over. The worst of them all are the tiny black bugs that you can barely see. They will bite you incessantly. I have so many bug bites on my body, I feel like I should volunteer myself for some sort of entomology study. Surely science could learning something from me. I need to do something differently, because I wake up in the night scratching my legs. I am currently hiding in my tent from the bugs. I dare not venture out for fear that those flying, biting devils will tout me off for good.

Other than the constant onslaught of biting insects, everything has gone well. After a certain incident today on trail, Holden, formally known as Zip, has been renamed Cheese Pants AKA The Wild Cheese. This a wild, hilarious story that I'm not sure is suited for the internet. Let's just say ole Cheese Pants had a large quantity of cheese in his pockets at lunch today, and we had a lot of fun with it.

Wendy and I have been really impressed with Cheese and Luke's hiking. I don't think it will be too long until they're the ones dragging us up the mountain. They have fallen in so well with us, you would have thought they started at Springer. These past two days haven't been easy either! We have been doing a lot of climbing. I really wish they could hike the rest of the summer with us :(. Luke and I make a pretty good team.

Hope everyone is doing well back home.

Breeze

6/1: Daleville 0 day

Hey everyone, Breeze here again. Not bad for Luke's first time, huh? We're thinking of making him a regular here on the blog while he's around. And I'm sure everyone enjoyed a fresh perspective on trail life.

Luke and I have had a very lazy day in Daleville. Daleville is were we are supposed to meet back up with Wendy and his friend Holden, so we are just hanging out waiting for them to get here. I've spent so many nights at the Howard Johnson here, I feel like I should be getting some sort of loyalty discount. Tonight will be my fourth night in total. Luke and I split the hotel with a couple of new friends we met during out backtracking section, including Vitamin C, Honey Badger, and Double D. Come to find out, Double D is from my home town, and still has family in the area. Small world, right?! We had a good time catching each other up on all the latest town gossip and LaGrange happenings. Double D got his name because he hikes with two dogs, Dixie and Dakota. Why, what do you think his name meant? Come on guys, children read this. Get your mind out of the gutter.

The highlight of the day was going down to the outfitter with Luke to pick out a new pack. The pack he brought out is a great pack, but was way too big for his tiny frame. He went from an 82 liter pack to a 46! Now that he has a much lighter, smaller pack, he is definitely looking more like a thru hiker.

Wendy comes tomorrow so we can finally get back on track!  Redoing this beautiful section with Luke has been a blast, but I'm ready to start heading north once more!

Until next time,

Breeze

5/31: Daleville, VA

Hello readers! We've got some new trail legs and a new blogger on our hands. It seems as though people these days are calling me Buckles, so I suppose you can too.

Breeze and I woke up at the Four Pines Hostel after a shower and a full face stuffing at the Home Place, feeling fresh and ready to go. Joe (the hostel owner) drove all of our gear to the Howard Johnsοn, which was 20 miles away. I was a little bit apprehensive about this trek on the fourth day, but I figured that if I wasn't carrying anything, I could manage.

We set out with a breezy pace (the man ''walks'' like he has something chasing him!), and got to McAfee Knob in no time at all. The views from that rock are some of the best I've seen! Setting back out at what could be a described as a trot, we roved over top of a half mile that was the Tinker Cliffs. It was view after view of beautiful Virginia as the cliffs wound around the side of the mountain.

While I can't say that my feet appreciated what I did to them that day, I won't forget the experiences of summitting two amazing views, eventually making our way to a mexican restaurant and a bed to sleep in. I made it, and made it smiling. That's what counts right?

5/30: Four Pines Hostel, 698.0

What's up everybody. Breeze here once again with a trail update. Today we found ourselves at 4 pines hostel, right outside Catawba, VA. I wanted to stop and check out the hostel because Wendy and I skipped it the first time. Everyone that stayed there seemed to love it, so I had to pop in and check it out for myself. What an excellent decision that panned out to be! But first, let me tell you about 4 pines hostel, and more importantly, about Joe.

Joe is the owner of 4 pines hostel. The hostel itself is simply a 3 car garage that is built behind Joe's house. Inside the garage are a few old couches, some fold down pool chairs, 2 cots, and a recliner. To the right of the front door was the bathroom and the shower. There was one hostel towel that apparently was meant to be shared. Overall, it was a pretty shabby place. But it wasn't the physical hostel that made 4 pines worth stopping at. It was Joe. Joe is a super awesome guy that runs the hostel through donations. Not only does he provide a roof, he will also take you just about where ever you needed to go. He was providing shuttles to thru hikers to the grocery store, to the HomePlace restaurant in Catawba, to Daleville, or even to the airport in Roanoke! For those who don't know, access to a car like that is the absolute best luxury! And I also should mention that Joe was a lot of fun to hang out with and his hostel had a great vibe. Luke and I had a lot of fun with our new group of friends. Well, off to HomePlace! I have to take Luke there. It's a thru hiking must! This is America after all. I have to eat myself sick every once in a while!

Joe is going to slackpack a bunch of us 20 miles to Daleville. This is a long day, even without a pack. I hope Luke can handle it!
Breeze