Date: 2015-08-07
From: Bland / Big Walker Motel

To: Trent's Grocery / Radford
Miles today: 19.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Welcome! If you're looking for the beginning of my 2015 AT journal, hit "first." If you're looking for 2016, the tab is on the blue bar to the left. Maybe you found me from my TEDxUCLA talk?TEDxUCLA Hike Your Own Hike Thanks! Enjoy!-------------------------------------------------This...is going to be a hard entry to write. It's why I've waited almost a week to do it, for those of you who have been following in real time. :-) I didn't anticipate how incredibly sad it would be to leave the trail. I saw UFC and Pilgrim go through the beginning of it, but experiencing it myself was different. I just could have kept going. My body felt great. I never had a single blister. I finally had the hang of it all. It was gorgeous. I longed to see Katahdin. But I also have a book to finish revising for a publisher and classes of new UCLA students to teach in the fall. One piece of advice that I saw online about readjusting post-trail is to start planning your next trip. So I'm starting to think about Yosemite, or the JMT or PCT, and I'm definitely returning to finish as much of the AT as possible next summer. (If you've been reading along...come join me for any or all of it!)My last day of hiking was in some ways a really typical AT day. It rained / misted / fell from the trees for a chunk of the morning and the views were misty and eerie. It had pointless climbs, flat portions, parts that would probably have had views...in winter. I skipped a shelter but stopped at Jenny Knob (which had probably the worst privy I've seen so far, but the nicest pack hooks) for my last shelter entry. I'd been writing longer and longer entries in my last days on the trail, pouring my heart out to the anonymous hikers who would come by after me.--------------------------------STATS:576   Total miles50   Total days5      Pairs of socks and underwear I carried4      States I walked through3      Times I fell and the poles actually didn't catch me (last time was today!)2      Miles per hour (estimate I used for walking distance)2      Sets of clothing I carried (clean for night, dirty for day)2      Bee stings1      Bears I sawInfinity Number of mosquito bites, times my Camelbak spilled, places where I wasn't sure I was still on the AT, places where I lacked phone coverage--------------------------------The last day also had an annoying long rock section...reminding me of the less desirable parts of the trail! I slipped on a wet, mossy rock and down I went. I wasn't hurt though, just gained a new long colorful bruise as a memory of my time on the AT. Towards the end of the section, the trail opened out onto a grassy field with abundant wildflowers and green, green mountains in the distance...and it lifted my heart even though I was so sad that it was my last day. There was a final swinging suspension bridge (!) over a river, then I was out onto the road, walking half a mile to Trent's Grocery, the pickup spot where I'd meet my friend Tanya, a professor at Radford University. When I got there, I found Tanya a somewhat-captive audience to a rambling man on drugs who was telling her about secret DEA orgies in the woods. Of course.I was SO excited to see her...I had just walked through 4 states to arrive at her house! But I also was feeling disembodied and strange, trying to process it all, the end of this epic journey. I am so lucky I had her to help me transition! She arranged for members of The Wine Club, colleagues from Radford, to come and celebrate the end of the trail with me! Wow, what fascinating and funny and smart women! You'd think that after all that time alone I'd be overwhelmed...but instead, I just soaked up all the food and wine and conversation and laughter. And they were a reminder of everything waiting for me at home: friends, teaching, food that doesn't come out of a packet. :-)We just went on and on into the night...they wanted to hear AT stories and I wanted to hear about what it was like living and teaching in Virginia. I didn't know then that my weekend with Tanya would include a post-hike pedicure (!) and a bike ride and lots and lots of lingering and talking about life and friendship and death and love. Things That Matter. Being on the trail helped me to think about those things, but being with friends clarified it even more so.So I'm ending my trail journal with a photo of friends, long-time and new. Because much as the AT is about getting away from life and people and traffic and everything else, it is also about getting closer to life and people. Growing and changing but also accepting who you are.So goodbye for now, AT. I'm totally coming back. I wonder if I spend the entire summer there...if I'll be able to knock it all out in my second section? Stay tuned!