Date: 2013-09-26
From: Bearfence Mountain Hut

To: Pinefield Hut
Miles today: 20.6
Weather: scattered clouds

DAY 109MILES ON AT FOR DAY- 20.6MILES TOTAL FOR DAY- 21.3So here's the dealio. I'm clearly very behind in my journal... but still working at it! Although I'm hung up in Vermont in my journal, I am currently in Virginia. After talking with a 2014 thru-hiker I met today on the trail, I decided to go ahead and take off from where I am now to keep everyone updated. And I'll catch up with the almost 2 month gap I have in my journal when I get the time! You know how things go on the trail. You hike a bunch of miles, sit down, eat, talk, and then want to go to bed! And then you put off your journaling and it builds up like crazy. SO. Here's a little synopsis of what's been going on since Vermont by state:MASSACHUSETTS- Felt good to be in my home state. Beautiful and got through it in a matter of 5 or 6 days. Tom Levardi is the man. He's a trail angel. And Upper Goose Pond Cabin is also the shit! Had some nice zero days in Great Barrington with my boyfriend and a friend from college. The Gypsy Joynt is an awesome restaurant!CONNECTICUT- Short and sweet. Through it in 2-3 days. No I did not try the CT challenge. Although some friends did. And they were unsuccessful.NEW YORK- Took about a week off right at the beginning of this state and went to NYC (where I was previously living before the trail) to visit my boyfriend for his birthday and some friends. Planned on taking 2 days... turned into 6. Happens right? Got new shoes and a new tent though. Once back on the trail I caught up with UPS (we started on the same day and hiked through some of the 100 mile wilderness together)and we started hiking together. Have been hiking with him ever since. It was dry terrain, muggy weather, and not much water in New York. Bear Mountain was cool. Nice step work. That's about that. NEW JERSEY- Had some nice trail magic from a wonderful couple Barb and Mark. Lots of wolf spiders and saw a bear. Caught up with fellow thru-hikers Spits and Smithy.PENNSYLVANNIA- Basically... the rocks are not as bad as they say. People just want something to complain about! Met up with Nectar again through here to increase our group to me, Smithy, UPS, and Spits. Took a zero day to see my Grandma for her 90th birthday. Also saw 2 copperheads!MARYLAND, WEST VIRGINA- Did the 4 state challenge from the Mason-Dixon Line to the border of WV/VA. Essentially the goal is to touch 4 states in 24 hours. Started at 6:30am and ended at 2:30am. 43.3 miles in 20 hours! Ended up hiking back down to Harper's Ferry after and got a nice photo at the ATC Headquarters and took 2 zeros at the Teahorse Hostel.VIRGINIA- So far it's been great! One of my favorite states! The Shenandoah's have been amazing. Beautiful terrain, beautiful trail, tons of water, tons of food, and lots of wildlife! Deer, bear, coyotes, and so on! We met up with Furprittius who I hadn't seen since VT. He was with a guy named Poppa Wheely who started up hiking at Harper's Ferry. This made our group grow to 7! Large for a group of SoBo's. We don't always hike together but tend to generally stick together and end at the same place every night or every other night. Because Virginia is around 550 miles long, we decided to split it into 4 territories to make it more motivating. These are the territories and their borders:UTOPIA- Running from the WV/VA border to Waynesboro, VA. 159.1 miles. Named Utopia mainly because of Shenanoah National Park where you can constantly carry only a liter of water and only a days worth of food due to all the waysides (areas to pull off and get food). It is also very graded trail with switchbacks and next to no rocks and roots. Food + easy trail + light packs = hiker utopia!ALTISSIMUS- Running from Waynesboro, VA to McAfee's Knob. 150.1 miles. Named Altissimus because you hit the first 4,000 footer we've hit since NH (A.K.A first 4,000 footer in 1,000 miles). 4,000 footers = altitude = Altissimus!NICHOLBACHLANDIA- Running from McAfee Knob to Pearisburg, VA. 76.6 miles. The name is derived from the alternative rock band known as Nickelback. It's a bit of an inside joke.Now last but not least...NEW UNICORNIA- Running from Pearisburg, VA to the VA/TN border. 167.6 miles. Named New Unicornia because of the Grayson Highlands where the ponies reside. It's "New" because it was a colony of Unicornia that broke off. This all being said... we have a lot of time on our hands. I've been running with a lot of goofballs lately. We call our group the "Trail Kittens". This group consists of the following members...Me (Magnet)- "Chick'n Kitt'n"Nectar- "Sweety Kitty"UPS- "Hunky Kitty"Furprittius- "Pritty Kitty"Poppa Wheely- "Poppa Kitten"Spits- "Spitt'n Kitt'n"Smithy- "Smitten Kitten"NOW. Since we are officially all caught up on where I am at and who I am with, let the journal begin again!So it's official. I smell like cat piss. It's BEYOND smelling like BO. It's now just cat piss. My shoes, my bag, my clothes. EVERYTHING. It's terrible.We woke up and headed out at a normal hour. 9am. But then got quickly sidetracked by Lewis Mtn. Campground about 0.8 miles from where we started. After spending too much time there getting water, coffee, and treats, we finally moved on. So NOW we started going at about 11am. These days there always tends to be something to get in the way of getting going early.It was me, Nectar, and UPS. Spits got going early and met up with Furprittius and Smithy who stayed at a cabin a bit further down the trail. On our way to the cabin I saw a coyote run across the trail. Quite surprising. When we got to the cabin no one was there. They must've taken off already. So we hiked on!Unfortunately Nectar was having a rough day because it was the anniversary of her brother passing. As we sat down for a break she went into the woods for a moment by herself. With these kinds of things it's always hard to find the right words. When she sat down next to UPS and I, a butterfly came and landed right on UPS. Nectar lifted it off him and onto her finger. These are the kinds of things that make me think things happen for a reason. It was like a beautiful sign that things would be ok. It was a nosey butterfly because it kept coming back and landing on all of us!After our break we headed up Hightop Mtn. We saw 4 bears on the way up. They were juveniles and scurried down a tree so fast and so loudly it sounded like someone was sawing down a tree! The funny thing is we would have never even noticed them if they had just stayed up there. At the top we got some very nice views. It was a beautiful day. Lately we had been so lucky with good weather. Almost too good to be true. Late September and in the high 70's/ low 80's!As we neared the end of our day hiking, we knew there wouldn't be reliable water at the shelter so we walked down to the ranger station at Simmons Gap to get some. As we were walking down the street, a guy pulled up in a bronco. It was Smithy's friend Alex who was coming to visit and hike for a day. Apparently the guys had yellow-blazed (hitched a ride) to a further wayside and he was grabbing them there and then they were hiking up to the shelter. After getting water, we noticed a little present left on our bags back at the trailhead. PB fudge cookies! Alex must have left them. Trail magic We hiked the last 2 miles in the dark. The downside of getting a late start. Although after the 4 state challenge, I had come to not mind night hiking so much. It just made time seem to pass by slower is all. Eventually we got to the shelter and there were some section-hikers and weekend hikers there. One of them was named Sisu. He is actually the one who inspired me to get my ass in gear and catch up on my journal. He was doing a 500 mile section and then planned to do a flip-flop thru-hike in 2014. He had apparently seen my journal entries which was pretty cool! Makes you feel a bit like a celebrity when you meet someone and tell them your name and they already know ya! Although I think the celebrity lifestyle is a bit more glamorous than my "hiker trash" lifestyle (A slang term for those who hike as a lifestyle and not just recreation. We call eachother it usually as a joke.)!Anywho, he recommended I just take off from where I am now and not stress about how far behind I am. I can catch up with it when I have time or when I'm off the trail. Good advice. We also talked gear, food, and music! I enjoyed his company. While we were talking along came the rest of the crew: Spits, Furprittius, Smithy, Poppa Wheely, and Alex. They had apparently gotten some booze at the wayside and came in a bit more rowdy than usual. Way more rowdy than usual. Unfortunately on the way here from the wayside, they also hit a bear which may have fueled their drinking a bit more to ease the sadness of the situation. There are so many animals in the Shenandoahs that I am sure it happens all the time. Although it was a Momma bear who had her cubs and I don't think she made it Thankfully all the guys were safe and unharmed though and they did the right thing and called the ranger.It ended up being a loud, late night. I felt bad for the others in the shelter but I guess it happens. The weekenders were in on the fun anyways too. Offering out tequila shots to go with the blackberry wine the boys had packed out. Alex brought his guitar out too so it was a regular old bro-fest. It ended up being fun. Need to party it up a little bit every now and again right?