Date: 2019-05-30
From: Jenkins Shelter

To: Brushy Mountain Outpost
Miles today: 11.3

It was still kind of rainy this morning as I got going. The 20-milers were all gone by the time I woke up, and I didn¢t miss them. I saw Rain and Sprinkles taking things down, but I slowly sat and ate breakfast alone. I was still not feeling great, but hoping the trail magic at the road really was there and that it might cheer me up. The day started with an uphill, as I expected, but it wasn¢t too bad. There was a bit of a ridge after the up, and then another down to the road. The four miles wasn¢t too bad. I don¢t think I would¢ve liked doing it yesterday, but it was fine this morning. I got down to the road and saw two ladies. I asked them if they knew about trail magic and they said ¢yup, follow the AT a bit and it comes out to a parking lot¢. I was so happy. There actually was trail magic! I came out to the parking lot and saw several men, a few women, and Rain and Sprinkles. There was a ton of food. They had a grill set up and sausage, hot dogs, and eggs, and a table full of fruit, candy, brownies, cookies, soda, granola bars, and more! I had chocolate milk and bacon and sausage, and pancakes!! It was amazing!! I chatted with Rain and Sprinkles for a while and we chatted with the men and women hosting the trail magic. It was run by another group of churches; they really are so wonderful to hikers here. I stayed for a while because I was just not feeling great about hiking. Rain and Sprinkles carried on. In came more hikers that again intimidated me and frustrated me. I met Principal and Iceman and a few others. They had all come from Chestnut Knob, so essentially hiked more than my entire day yesterday before 12pm. It was infuriating.I was social, but really having a hard time. As the hikers came in and out, I was talking with the people running the trail magic and I was expressing my frustration with mileage and comparing myself to others lately. The lady I spoke with was so nice and seemed to want to help me in any way to get out of my funk. She recommended I slackpack to Lickskillet Hostel, which was not too far away. She said they were all going to drop the extra food off there tonight. It was a little too far for me to hike to today, unless I went in from the next road in 7 miles and then slackpacked the next day. The woman drove me 2 miles from the trail magic, where there was service, and I called Lickskillet, but unfortunately he said they were full. I thanked the woman for driving me and suggesting those options, and settled with my plan to just go 7 miles ahead and see how I felt. I know I slackpack a lot, or maybe it seems like I do. Often I find opportunities where I can do it for free and I take full advantage. But slackpacking is sort of like a zero day for me in what it does for me. It allows me to feel good about my mileage and accomplishments. If I can¢t make the mileage other days, slackpacking gives me a change to make the mileage. And it gives my body a break from that pack weight. I¢ve decided I¢m not limiting myself anymore in things like zeros or hotels or slackpacking because I need to be happy out here or I will never make it. I was so frugal in the beginning and it was making me miserable. I was convincing myself that I had to have a certain plan and budget to do this trip. But I saved my money and it just means that now I¢ll have less when I get back. And yes that sucks, as I was kind of hoping to buy a used car for myself when I get home and I wanted money for that, but at this point I¢d rather have a really happy and memorable trail experience than limit myself. So slackpacking it is, when I can! All the planning took a bit and I ended up having a hot dog there too, so breakfast and lunch at the trail magic! I eventually left those nice people and headed on. There was a climb out of the gap, of course. It was not that bad though. I was not feeling great because I had so much soda and junk food in me, but I made it to the top. It was just a ridge line up there, and it actually wasn¢t too bad terrain-wise. If this is what people meant by ¢Virginia being easy¢ fine lol. It was nice and flat for a bit. The people can have their way. But I was still annoyed and struggling because of the last few days. And there were no views at all the past two days. It was so boring and monotonous, which made it that much worse. There was a tiny view at the top of the climb after the trail magic, but it was really lacking. It was kind of fitting to then descend into Bland, VA haha. The descent was not bad, and ended with a beautiful view... of power lines. My fave! I got down to the road and there was a store there called Brushy Mountain Outpost. They served hot food, but also had some things for a resupply. If you were to go into Bland, you could take a shuttle or hitch from here. I didn¢t need to resupply yet, as I was waiting for Pearisburg. I got into the store and saw 25-Mile and Wild Violet and Wizard! It was very nice to see them. I also saw Rain and Sprinkles. Everyone was there having food and I was so happy to be around people I knew. I was convinced to try the fried Oreos, which were so sweet, but so good. Rain and Sprinkles said they were camping out back of the store if I wanted to join them. They said they¢d buy me breakfast; they were so so nice.25-Mile and that crew were headed on to the next shelter, which was 2 miles, but uphill and a long side trail off the AT. Everyone else seemed to be going there too, even the people who had come all the way from Chestnut Knob, meaning they were doing my two days in one. I really couldn¢t deal with any more people like that right now. I was just miserable around these 20-milers. And the whole pack was headed to the shelter. So even though I knew 25-Mile and that crew, there was no way I was going to be around all the other people. I was way too intimidated and annoyed. 25-Mile and that crew actually seemed to be at my pace. They¢d get up late, get into camp late, and have slower or lower mileage days. But they were trying to push more miles, as I guess I was too. I ended up deciding to stay. I set up my tent and talked for a while with Rain and Sprinkles. I brought my sit pad out to the picnic table outside the store, with the intention of doing some blogging and relaxing with no one here. And then a whole crew of more 20-milers showed up. It was like I was being baked into a cake of my own misery. It was like 101 Dalmatians where she¢s poured into the pot of batter and is trying to get out and ends up being baked. I was literally so f***ing done. I just wanted space and time to reflect on my hike, and more people had to come. One guy said to me ¢there¢s a lot more coming¢. I grimaced. He said ¢I¢m going to have to set up really close to you to fit them in¢. I grimaced again. ¢Sure that¢s fine¢ I said, inside wanting to scream. I took my sit pad and my nice space and went into my tent. I didn¢t want to see or interact with any of them. I blogged for a while, listening to them all come in and set up around me. One guy was saying incredibly negative and rude things to his buddy and I was done listening and dealing with it all. I was going to make dinner, but I didn¢t even want to deal with that. I snacked on a few things. I was also kind of full from all that trail magic food and the Oreos. I eventually fell asleep, itching my bug bites and feeling frustrated. Little Debbie