4/29/17

Day 49 on the Trail

The past few days out here have been phenomenal, yes it has been really hot but other than that the hiking has been wonderful. Today we were able to hike 24.1 miles from Cove Mountain Shelter to Marble Springs Campsite. Today was full of steep climbs, but I was ready for them and crushed them without much problem. I think I can easily say I have found my "Trail legs" as the call it.

Today Max and I hiked most of the day separately which is unusual for us but it worked. I felt like we both were able to talk to way more people today. I have found that we both have very different styles of hiking so it benefits us both if we just plan places to meet up and then go to them.

I still find it hard to minister out here. I really just try to talk to everyone and let them know that I care for them. Showing compassion is something I've found goes a long way out here. I also still offer food and stuff to hikers as well. Drink mixes usually produce the biggest smiles, after all it isn't to great drinking plain water day in and day out. Prayer has also been a huge focus lately.

Some cool things that happened today was that I saw a eastern box turtle this morning on the trail. I didn't get a good picture of it but it was still really cool. Also while I was hiking along the Blue Ridge Parkway I ran across an older couple who gave me a water and a tangerine. It was really refreshing and I will encourage everyone to go out to the closest point the Appalachian Trail crosses and just do a little trail magic one day. You just don't realize how effective it is for hikers.

I'm headed home tomorrow for a few days but plan to be back on trail by Tuesday. I can't wait to get back out here and continue the ministry. Thanks for all the support and prayers!

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Location:Marble Spring Campsite

4/28/17

Day 48 on the Trail

Another pretty solid day on the trail today. We covered 25 miles today from Dalevile to Cove Mountain shelter. It was not to difficult terrain wise other than the first climb this morning which was expected due to climbing back out of town.

The coolest part of the day is that the trail ran along the Blue Ridge Parkway for most of the day. This particular part of the parkway was called the skyline drive! The trail took us all across this beautiful route. Along the way I was fortunate enough to get a little trail magic! A car stopped and handed me a Gatorade, a Snickers, and an KitKat. It was really great and the drink helped me out because I'm horrible at conserving water.

It was a really warm day today and tomorrow supposed to be even warmer than today was. I will not complain though because it is way better than the other day when I was borderline hypothermic. Nature is coming to life before our eyes though, as each day passed the trees get more vibrant and flowers are blooming. This is making the hike so much more beautiful and breathtaking.

We caught back up with Jedi today and I tried hiking with him for a little while, I couldn't keep up with him though. He is extremely fast. Also, I found out that we had met someone else from the shelter before. Sweet Spot is a hiker that we met at the top of Georgia hostel. Jedi has been hiking with her for a few weeks now. Also I found out that he's probably going to get of the trail soon to go to school which I thought was odd but very smart. I feel like we have found a little bubble that we have been staying with, I'm kinda sad that after this weekend we are gonna be behind a bit. Don't get me wrong though I'm glad to be getting a few days off!

I hope everyone at home is having as great of a week as I have! Thanks for the support and prayers! It means a lot to me!


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Location:Cove Mountain Shelter

4/27/17

Day 47 on the Trail

Today was again a great day on the trail. We did some awesome sections of trail, crushed some miles, and made a friend along the way. Today we experienced slack-packing for the first time on the trail. It was an awesome experience, especially because the section of trail we covered today was 27 miles of not the easiest terrain.

We also decided to hike with a guy named booty today. It was actually really fun other than he was a little quicker than we were so most of the day was spent chasing him. It was just nice to hangout with someone new. Actually we ended up splitting a room with him because of how tired we were and also because we wanted to get some real food again tonight.

Some of the parts of trail we covered consisted of McAfee Knob and Tinker Cliffs. These are two iconic parts of the trail and we covered both of them in one day. I wish I could say that it was as cool as I thought it would be, but honestly I have seen way better views already along the trail. I did get to use those points as a rest stop for the day and also used the time to get to know Booty better.

After getting to the hotel we were able to get to our room and get a nice shower and freshen up. This is great because it's been a while since I have had a good clean shower.

Thanks for everyone's support and prayers!


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Location:Howard Johnson Inn Dalesville Va

4/26/17

Day 46 on the Trail

It was a great day for hiking today! Woke up this morning at around 7:30 and got moving! We had a pretty big goal of getting 25 miles to Four Pines Hostel over some pretty rugged terrain. Today we managed to reach our goal. Because it was a hostel we were staying at we were able to hike a little later because we didn't have to set up in the dark.

Before we get to the hostel part of the day let's dive into some of today's awesomeness. Throughout the whole day we did a lot of ridge running! This is one of my favorite parts of hiking the trail so far. Literally we hiked for a solid 10-15 miles today on top of the ridge of some mountain ranges. This was accompanied with some amazing views and tricky sections of rock walks. The rocks on top of the ridges we slippery due to the amount of rainfall and moisture it has been exposed to the past few days. I almost busted it a few times but managed to save myself.

We also came across a ton of animals today. We seen 2 snakes, many lizards, and a couple of frogs. The snakes we seen was a green snake and a timber rattler. The timber rattler was a pretty cool experience. After we found out what it was we decided to try to get a good picture of it. So I extended my trekking pole and max tried to pick it up with it. The snake was just a little to big and heavy to be picked up. I thought it was quite interesting that this snake didn't rattle or act aggressive at all during the whole ordeal.

We also had the chance to get some trail magic today. After a brutal climb around lunch we saw two guys standing by a bench at the top of a hill with a huge cooler. As we got closer they called us over and offered us ice cream, drinks, and fruit. This was so great, just having something cold to drink after the hard climb made the day way better. Plus it's hard to turn down chocolate milk. Ice cream is on a different level of greatness, at least for me. One of the guys actually is doing a thru hike this year as well and had just gotten of trail to see a buddy and get out of the rainy weather. While he was off trail he wanted to do a little trail magic. This is something I plan to do whenever I'm done. After we departed from the trail angels we made it to a memorial. The memorial was of Audie Murphy who was the most decorated WWII soldier. He passed away in a plan crash close to the trail so they made him this memorial.

The later part of the day consisted of some pretty cool sections of hiking. We went over a river where we swam for a few minutes. It was the first time swimming on the trail and it was great to cool off after hiking in the sun and mid 70's all day. The. We climbed to an iconic stone monolith called Dragons Tooth. It was a great view from the top although it was quite scary to climb on stone covered in sand with only about 2 feet of rock to stand on. It was the main highlight of the day. Coming down off of dragons tooth towards Four Pines Hostel was really rocky and steep, which would have been great and fun if I didn't have a heavy pack on and it was at the start of the day. But at the time we hiked it, we were worn out and it was scary trying not to fall and hurt ourselves with such a steep decent. I will definitely come back to it though and do the section fresh.

Once we arrived at the hostel we met some people and hung out with some we had already met. Jedi and Dad were two we had known from before. Also we got a shuttle into town this evening as well where we were able to get some subway to eat, this was a blessing because all I had left for dinner tonight was just ramen and butter herb noodles which isn't to great. The best part about this hostel is that it is 100% donation based so they aren't here to rip you off, but rather just genuinely here for the hikers.

Today was one of the best days in a while and I know tomorrow will be the same as we are going to see McAfee Knob and Tinker Cliffs. They are another two iconic spots of the trail. I hope everyone at home is doing great, I miss everyone! Thanks for the prayers, support, and encouragement!!


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Location:Four Pines Hostel

4/25/17

Day 45 on the Trail

After an awesome zero day yesterday, today we had to get back on the trail. Because we were a good ways away from the hostel, it took a while for us to get back to the trail. The shuttle didn't get to the drop off until 10:30 today. It was ok though because we got to rest up a little more than others this morning.

On the trail we had our ups and downs. We met a few new hikers that we had heard about, one of which was named engineer, he just graduated with an engineering degree. It was even cooler when I figured out he was from Georgia. The downs of the day was feeling sick after such a long drive in the mountains, the trail was flooded in some places, and the terrain was pretty difficult. Also after drying out my shoes and washing my clothes yesterday they all got dirty again today. That's how it goes out here though, you just have to go with the flow.

The thing that kept my spirits high today was the podcast I had downloaded at the hostel. I downloaded a ton of podcasts of sermons by David Platt and Francis Chan. Throughout the day I listen to 3 of them. I think I have 68 more podcasts left to listen to so I think I will have plenty of sermons for the next fee weeks.

We didn't see to many people today, which is always a bummer out here but sometimes it happens. Although we did see Jedi who we met right before Hot Springs. It was nice to catch up with him but he is moving quick again and I don't know if we will be able to keep up. Now it's time for a good nights rest though! Thanks for everyone back home supporting and following this journey.


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Location:Mile 678

4/24/17

Day 44 on the Trail

It was such a great day today. I woke around 6:30 this morning even though I was taking a zero day. I think it's just automatic now that at 6:30 I wake up. I really like it though because I feel like I cans get way more accomplished throughout the day when I wake up early.

Anyways, sitting in the commons area this morning I felt like I was called to go get stuff for breakfast for everyone. So I decided to go to the Food Lion at 7 this morning and pick up eggs, pancake mix, and bacon! When I got back a few of the hikers pitched in and helped me cook for the 15 or so hikers that stayed the night. It was such an awesome experience to have everyone all together like a family. We all ate together and made the morning a big social event.

As the day progressed a local brought over a huge pot of vegetable soup for lunch. This really was nice, especially seeing how it was a cold rainy day today. It was a perfect lunch for the day. After lunch Max and I went back to the Food Lion and picked up a days worth of food so that we had enough to make it to Catawba.

We got back to the hostel around 2 this afternoon and we all sat around and hung out watching movies together until dinner time. Just coming together and hanging out like a big family is such a cool experience out here. Being faster hikers Max and I usually don't get the family "tramily" atmosphere that most experience on the trail. So it's nice every now and then to have days like this.

For dinner we went to the local Mexican restaurant in Perisburg. Dirty Harry tagged along which was nice because we got to talk to him about Australia. Then after dinner we stopped by DQ for some ice cream. Today I stuffed myself with a ton of food and only slightly regretted it.

Can't wait to get back on the trail tomorrow and try to catch up to a few people we hung out with the past day and a half. Also there are some awesome sections coming up. I hope all is well back at home. Thanks for all the love and support!


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Location:Angels Rest Hostel

4/23/17

Day 43 on the Trail.

Today was another humbling day on the trail. After a short day yesterday we decided to crush some miles today. Knowing it was gonna be stormy all day we suited up in our rain gear and headed out.

The morning hike was quite nice we got to see 4 people after we left the shelter and they were all this morning. Blackfoot was one of the hikers that actually was slack packing back to Angels Rest Hostel. Slack packing is where you have a small book bag or pack that you care stuff just needed for the day and you hike to a destination and get picked up. It makes hiking way easier and faster. Back to this morning though, the rain didn't start until after lunch so we managed to stay pretty dry other that our feet. This was only because the Trail had turned into a river after all the rains the past for days.

We made it to the Captains place around 1. This was one of the highlights of the day. We got to this place and realized that a pretty big river separated us from the house. With some investigating we found a zip line contraption the owner had made so that hikers could cross. It was so fun, I clipped my pack and trekking poles to a line and sat in the seat and pulled my way across the river. We were able to eat lunch on the owners back porch because of the rain starting back again. This was great a dry place to eat is such a blessing, not to mention there was a fridge where they kept free sodas for hikers! What a treat to have when your day isn't going the best.

As we continued to hike after lunch the rain started to gradually pick up, the wind started to blow harder, and it got colder and colder. The farther we went the worse it got so after 20 miles today we finally threw in the towel. We looked up the closest town and called for a shuttle, luckily we were right at a gravel road were we could be picked up. We chose to go with Angels Rest Hostel because we had heard of how awesome of a place it was. After calling for the shuttle we waited an hour on them to get there and when they arrived it was like a celebration for Max and I. Today was definitely the most uncomfortable I have been on the trail, I was so cold I would have been hypothermic if I would have stayed on the trail.

On our ride back to the hostel they took us by Mountain Lake to visit, which is where Dirty Dancing was filmed. I thought it was pretty cool to see and of them for taking us there. When we got to the hostel we registered and met the others staying. One of them happened to be Dirty Harry the Aussie we met a while back. But after we got settled in we decided to ride with Merlin to an all you can eat Chinese buffet (Merlin was one of the people in the shuttle). He is an ex military man who is now going back to school to be a software engineer I believe. He ended up buying us dinner as well, which I wasn't expecting but was very thankful.

Tomorrow we have decided to just zero here because of the weather going to be around the same conditions and we can't go through another day of it. The humbling part of the day was just thinking that we were going to tough it out and get through a less than ideal weather and not being able to accomplish what we set out to do. Then think to myself when God sent his son to die on the cross for our sins, Jesus endured way worse than we could ever imagine and did it not for himself but for us. The suffering I did today was nothing compared to Jesus on the cross. I'm so thankful to be able to be a child of God because the grace and mercy shown by the cross.

Thanks for all the prayers, please continue for good weather and health!

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Location:Angels Rest Hostel