Date: 2015-04-22
From: Little Laurel Shelter

To: old roadbed
Miles today: 15.5
Weather: scattered clouds

Today marks the three week anniversary of the day I started out onto the trail with Alexa. Time keeps flying! Being unusually lazy this morning, I woke up later than I have in WEEKS. After not sleeping well the last two nights (too much pre-bedtime snacking in town, I think), I slept like a rock in the shelter. It was so nice. I really needed a good rest. Even though I got up late, everyone else in the shelter was still asleep when I hit the trail long after sunrise.I didn't see many people on the trail today. I started out with my jacket and gloves on but started uphill soon and had to take my jacket off. Today was a day of taking the jacket off, then putting it on, then taking it off, then putting it on again. It was a little cold in windy but sunny.putting it on, then taking it off, then putting it on again. It was a little cold and windy, but sunny. It seemed like a slow day, because I stopped a lot. I stopped to check my guidebook (how many miles until the next water source? The next landmark? The next shelter?). I stopped to drink. I stopped to check for phone service. I stopped to pee. I stopped to readjust my stupid pack so it would stop digging into my tailbone. I stopped to take pictures. I didn't stop when I started trying to pick the dried fruit and dark chocolate chunks out of my trail mix, which was a mistake because I tripped over a rock and almost broke my face.Around 9 o'clock, I stopped to call my mom (a nice treat in a rare zone of phone service). The other night I woke up sweating, hot in my sleeping bag, so I started Googling sleeping bags. The one I have now is rated for 20°, which will be overkill when summer comes. I had found a good-looking bag on sale on the EMS website and tried to email the link, asking mom to order it for me. I was surprised that the email went through, due to AT&T sucking (Verizon is the clear winner on the trail time and time again). But she did get it. She told me that she had ordered it (using a coupon from EMS that had arrived in the mail, no less! I became a coupon nutcase when prepping for the trail). THEN, after I thanked her for putting it on her card and telling her to take the money out of my account, she told me that she and Dan were going to pay for it for me. I am without a doubt the luckiest, most spoilt brat hiker on the trail. Of course, she also told me that it cost $700 to repair my car, and it still needs tires. I knew it needed work, but I didn't expect it to be quite that expensive. Oh well!This trip is quickly getting more expensive than anticipated, but it has been worth all of the time, effort, and money so far. I try to be frugal. For example, the only foods that I have bought since starting the trail have been: an amaaaaaazing pizza from The Restaurant at the NOC ($17, but three meals), an ice cream cone at the NOC (and I got the cheapest one, $1), an ice cream sandwich at the Fontana general store (again the cheapest option, $1), tortilla chips and salsa for nachos from the DollarGeneral in Hot Springs, plus strawberry juice mix which turned out to be gross (total $4), and cheddar cheese, also for nachos, from the Hillbilly Market ($3). Not bad! I have, of course, also been RIDICULOUSLY lucky to have amazing people buy me food, give me gifts of trail magic and pizza money (not to mention gifts of gear, sleeping bags, and rides from Goshen to Georgia).I am so lucky (I say that so much but it is incredibly true) that Mom and Dan let me live with them and save up for this trip. I am also lucky that they were able to put up with me through all the preparation and training ("MOM, HOW MANY DRY BAGS SHOULD I GET?!" "ARE THERE ANY COUPONS IN THE MAIL?!" "I HATE RUNNING." "DON'T LET ME EAT ANY MORE CANDY." "JUST ONE MORE DUMPLING, I AM STARVING!"). Thanks again, guys Today I was super lazy and anticipated an easy section of trail, and wore my new camp shoes all day. They were great, though I don't think they would stand up to rougher trail. They are actually supposed to be hiking shoes, though I am sure they are intended for casual hiking, not thru-hiking. They are kind if like Crocs, but a little sturdier, and probably heavier. They are Jeep brand, I got them at TJMaxx, and now I love them.Around 10:00 I came to a sign. To the left, it told me, was the blue-blazed "BAD WEATHER TRAIL". To the right, the white-blazed AT, and " EXPOSED RIDGELINE TRAIL". It was AWESOME. After a rocky climb I got a panoramic view for miles and miles. It was gorgeous, and only a little scary in the wind.At one point on my descent from said awesome exposed ridge line, I had.to squeeze between two big rocks on the trail. This reminded me of a girl I met last week in the Smokies. After I left Newfound Gap in the rain (where Susan gave me apples and Craisins), I came up behind a girl with a HUGE pack climbing the trail. Seriously, MY pack is huge but hers was at least twice the size of mine. I have no idea how it didn't crush her, since she was very skinny.She caught up to me at the next shelter, looking bright-eyed and excited. "Are you thru-hiking?" I asked, a bit incredulous. How could she get to Maine without that pack killing her?! She replied that she was thru-hiking, and that it was her first day (no wonder she looked so clean) and she had started at Newfound Gap because it was the place on the trail she could get a ride to. Her name was Natalie. Mom, you thought I was over prepared? This girl had with her multiple rolls of toilet paper and an entire bottle of Pepsi (apparently - I know the TP part is true because she later donated two rolls to the privy). I helped Natalie make her way into the shelter, lifting the tarp out of the way (she still barely made it through). A middle-aged female thru-hiker soon took her under her wing. "You should eat your heaviest food first," she said, weighing a bag of what looked like veggie chips. "Feel how heavy this is." She also told Natalie that she didn't need all the TP, and that she could take the cardboard out to save weight and space. "You should eat a snack every two hours," she continued. "Now, a Snickers bar is like a protein bar."I wonder how Natalie is doing. I hope she is making it, she was super sweet.Back to today...Just before 11 o'clock, I reached the 300 mile mark! Someone had organized sticks across the trail, spelling out "300!". I was super excited and took a picture to send to Mom and Dad. It took a while to send, but eventually went through. I also sent it to my SEA friends, since Tim had sent out an email to check if I was okay.It is really rare that I have phone service out here in the Appalachian wilderness. Even in the middle of Hot Springs, I didn't have ANY service. Not even enough to send a text. If I don't update, it's not because I'm dead. I am probably just in a dead zone. I have been able to write a journal entry every night so far. I have been typing on my tablet to save my phone battery. When I get wifi, I can post them. Also, I am sorry about the low-quality pictures. My phone camera is not great. I do take lots of pictures with my actual camera but have no way to post them online. I am also sorry for spelling and grammar mistakes. Typing on a touch screen is a pain.I didn't come across many people on the trail today, which was unusual. When I got to the first shelter, a guy there asked me if I had seen two guys with guitars on the trail behind me. As I had fallen asleep to the guitar last night, I answered in the affirmative, and said that they had stayed at the last shelter with me last night. He asked if I knew when they had left. I had no idea. Only one of the group was awake when I had left at 7:30. "They were kind of lazy." I told him. This was true - they had admitted it themselves. Apparently they had gotten off of the trail to visit friends for a couple of days "See! I told you they were lazy." The guy said, turning to his friend. I laughed. He thanked me and I continued on.I stopped for a lunch of Mexican tuna, which I ate in a tortilla that Tie gave me (she was so nice... she even gave me two pillows to sleep with at Laughing Heart). I was sad that I forgot the rest of my Hillbilly Market (Hillbilly Market will never stop being funny) nacho cheese in the hostel fridge, but it was still a delicious lunch. I enjoyed entirely too much candy for dessert. I STILL have a Hershey bar from the Max Patch trail magic, plus a million delicous, delicious M&Ms (of both the milk and dark chocolate varieties).There was only one person at the second shelter, and he seemed to be napping. I filled my water bottles just past the shelter and ambled on for a couple more miles before choosing a nice camping spot on an old roadbed, pitching my tent around the corner from the trail. I am close enough that I will be able to find my way back in the morning, but far enough away that no one will bother me. It is nice to have the privacy of my own tent. It is also nice to be able to walk only 4 feet away to pee. I won't get lost trying to find the privy at 2 a.m.After pitching my tent, I decided to scope out the surrounding area to find a good bear-bag tree. This was an important chore to complete before dark.Imagine a girl (or woman, if you want to get technical), walking in the wowoodsa solitary figure among the trees. She holds a stick tied to a neon-yellow string. She looks around, decides on a likely target, winds up, and throws. She misses, the stick falling short. She winds up and throws again. She misses again, because she is standing on the other end of the rope. She tries again. She misses again. Clearly the rope is too short. She gives up and hunts for another tree with a strong-looking branch 12 feet from the ground. Twirling the stick like a lasso, she lets it fly! And it falls short again. She gives up and moves on to another tree.That is how I spent my afternoon.It took me a good hour to find a good tree, fling my parachute cord over the branch, and of course the stick was too light to drag the rope back down, too - I trip over rocks all day but when I need one to tie to my rope, there are none to be found. I got the job done eventually, though. After I brushed my teeth and packed up everything with a scent, all I had to do was hoist my bag up and tie the rope to the tree.It is crazy windy tonight (of course I picked the windy side of the mountain to pitch my tent). I have utilized every one of my tent stakes and hope that the ultralight fabric of my tent will withstand the gusts. I made dinner early, expecting it to get colder with the wind and setting sun. I cooked dehydrated kidney beans, black beans, and salsa with some instant rice and Mexican seasoning, and ate it all wrapped up in tortillas. I still miss my nacho cheese. I can't believe I forgot it.I brushed my teeth, washed my dishes, hung my bear bag, and have been enjoying the cozy solitude of my tent, safe from the rampaging winds. I have also wasted a lot of battery composing this beast of a journal entry.I am thankful that I am here. I am thankful that I have a tent to shield me from the wind, and that I enjoyed better weather most of the day. I am thankful that I found a tree for my stupid bear bag. I am thankful to Jeralyn for being an awesome friend and supporting me in my crazy AT dream while abandoning my bridesmaid duties (I feel guilty every day). I am thankful to my mom and Dan for my new sleeping bag. I am thankful for my solar charger, which is boosting my battery tonight (thanks, Daddy!). And I'm thankful to YOU for reading this. Thanks for sharing my adventure with me! Hopefully I will have wifi soon so you can read this Also, I saw a bunny on the trail this morning and what I think was a turkey this afternoon. I would love a turkey sandwich right now.