Date: 2008-04-28
From: Vandeventer Shelter

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 33.0
Weather: moderate rain

We did it!! We hiked 33 miles in one day!Eric and I got up at 3:20 this morning. It was pitch black, pouring down rain, cold, and completely foggy. Pearl, Trainwreck, and Nest, who were supposed to be coming with us, stayed in their sleeping bags and went back to sleep. Apparently one of their moms had been visiting and Pearl accidentally left her rain pants in the car, so they "weren't equipped for the rain." Eric and I were on our own, and as we stepped away from the comfort of the shelter, and headed out into the pouring down rain at 4 in the morning, I couldn't help but ask myself if I really was crazy.It was so foggy out that we couldn't see much of anything with our headlamps. It was a struggle to even see the ground in front of us, and as we hiked in the rain, trying our best to stay on what looked like it might be a trail, I kept feeling like I was dreaming. At some point I was going to wake up, warm and dry in my sleeping bag in the shelter, away from such foolishness. But I didn't. We kept hiking on, and things were wet and slippery. Considering we could barely see, I'm amazed that we managed to stay on the trail and that neither one of us fell and got hurt. We could've rounded the corner on a bear and not known it until we were close enough to touch it. In fact, twice we saw two sets of glowing eyes staring at us from the trail up ahead, which we assume were deer. But it was too dark to even see any silhouettes.After 2 1/2 hours of what seemed to be turning into a nightmare of cold and rain and endless darkness, the sky finally started getting lighter. Around 6:30am we were able to turn off our headlamps, and shortly before 7, we passed by the shelter we were originally aiming for yesterday. It was 6.8 miles away and we had hiked it in just under 3 hours. Not bad, considering the conditions! It was very tempting to step into the shelter to get out of the rain and take a break, but since it was only 7am and it was raining, everyone was still sleeping inside. So we quietly passed by, excited by the good time we were making and relieved that daylight was really, finally here. The next shelter was 8.2 miles away. Those miles also seemed to fly by, especially considering the rain. It's amazing how much easier it is to hike when you can see where you're going. (Who would've thought daylight would be so helpful?!) By 10:30am we had arrived at the second shelter and had hiked 15 miles-- normally a full day's worth of miles, but today, only approaching the halfway point. It was still raining. Since we had hiked for 6 1/2 hours straight in the rain, we decided to stop and take a break at the shelter. We grabbed a snack, wrung out our socks, and dumped water out of our boots. Our feet were all shriveled up from being so wet, but after a 30 minute break, we headed back out into the rain again towards our next landmark-- the next shelter, 8 miles away. It continued raining for the next 8 miles, and although our raingear kept our bodies mostly dry, our feet were soaked to the bone. Along the way we ran into Leaping Turtle, who had started the 33 mile challenge the night before. During the night it was raining so hard and was so hard to see that he had ducked into a couple of different shelters to try to sit out some of the rain. When it became apparent that the rain wasn't going to stop, he hit the trail once more. By 2:30pm we had hiked the next 8-mile stretch, bringing our grand total for the day to 23 miles. We were at the last shelter before Damascus and only had 10 miles to go! The miles had just been flying by because the trail had been so flat, and we were excited to push on for the final stretch into town.After about 3 or 4 more miles the rain finally stopped for the first time all day. We caught up with Leaping Turtle, who had been slightly ahead of us, and we decided to hike the last few miles together. With 3.8 miles to go, we crossed into the state of Virginia! Woohoo! Three states down, only 11 to go! At right around 6 o'clock, the 3 of us arrived in Damascus. It took Eric and me 14 hours to hike 33 miles, including 2 half-hour breaks. Not bad, at all, considering it rained for 12 of those hours!Although it's hard to believe, I'm actually in less pain now than I was the day we hiked 18 miles. My legs ARE stiff. And my feet are sore and will probably need a couple of days to dry out. And I am hobbling around like a crippled person. But I'm happy because we did it, and because we're in a town with beds, warm showers, and good food. And I'm also very happy because I definitely won't be walking tomorrow. Now that'll be a treat!