Today brought to you by the color green

April 2, 2014 / jim fetig / 6 Comments

Maupin Field Shelter, Va., AT NOBO mile 837.0, Tuesday April 1, 2014 — Got myself vertical at the crack of dawn knowing I had a big day in store.

I wanted to hike 20 miles today to reduce tomorrow’s haul from 22 to 18. That sets up an easy jaunt into Rockfish Gap/Waynesboro where this adventure kicked off last September 24.

Today was the last of the trail candy – a dandy mountain called The Priest. I understand there are others nearby in the genre named the Bishop and Rabbi.

An unusual rock formation atop The Priest may account for its name. The adjacent shelter is known as a place where hikers confess their sins in the shelter log. Unfortunately it was both fairly new and soggy. Nothing salacious and I couldn’t write in it. Another “Oh fer.”

Unlike the weather forecast, the morning started cold and cloudy, but around eleven everything changed. Today’s temp on the trail eventually reached a whopping 75 big ones!

Concurrently the wow factor kicked in. At an overlook I noticed for the first time that GREEN was visible in the fields. Old Man Winter you can vote against green all you want, but your gloomy brown and white can’t hang on much longer. You’re outa here dude. Wow.

Shortly thereafter I stumbled on a familiar face in the form of two hikers, Tracy McG, who thru hiked last year, and her sister are hiking all the way in the form of a double “flip flop.” They started at Harpers Ferry headed to Georgia. When they reach Springer Mountain, the southern terminus, they’ll flip to Mt. Katahdin, Maine, the northern terminus, and head south to Harpers Ferry for their finish.

All in all, it was a fine day.

Cut your losses

March 27, 2014March 27, 2014 / jim fetig / 5 Comments

Buena Vista, Va., AT NOBO mile 802.6, Thursday March 27, 2014 — Yesterday’s wind storm did a number on the trail.

This morning Butch, who co-owns Bluedogart with his wife Susan, shuttled me to the trailhead parking lot located a mile downhill from AT NOBO mile 818.9 so I could scamper back toward Buena Vista for a 5 pm pickup.

The one mile uphill trek was moderately steep, taking 40 minutes slowed slightly by the six inches of snow clogging the old dirt logging road.

Once up top everything changed. Yesterday’s stiff winds mounded the snow into an endless series of deep drifts, some to midthigh, but most just above the knee. A genuine posthole experience for those who know about these things.

Since the trail started on an exposed ridge line, I thought I would walk out of it. Not so. After almost two trail miles I realized the drifting was for keeps.

The sun sparkled and drifted snow drastically slowed my pace. When I reached a definable land mark on my trail guide, I realized that at my blistering pace, arrival at the pick up point would be after midnight rather than 5 pm. Time to reverse course and try another day, especially since I wasn’t carrying a tent or sleeping bag.

With rain in the forecast starting late tomorrow, lasting into Saturday, I don’t expect the snow to clear until Sunday morning. Being only two hours from home is tempting with three nights to kill. I have a call in to my wife to see if she can swoop in and rescue me tonight. If so, I’ll be home for our anniversary Saturday!

I’ll drive back Monday to hike the section to Waynesboro in three days, then recover my car.

Decision made with no phone signal, I reversed my footprints and retraced my course down the old logging road.

As luck would have it, there’s a Virginia Fish and Game fish hatchery at the bottom of the hill equipped with a phone and a really nice manager named Tim. You’re a gem big guy.

I arranged a shuttle only to arrive at the hostel (built in the 1890s) to find an overheated electrical socket. Butch and I pulled it out of the wall and disconnected it.

Upon reflection, today deep snow was a lucky break. Aside from the obvious reasons, I had $1,500 worth of gear stored on the other side of that wall!

Can you believe it?

March 26, 2014March 26, 2014 / jim fetig / 13 Comments

Buena Vista, Va., AT NOBO mile 802.6, Wednesday March 26, 2014 — Taking a weather zero (mileage) day off. The prevailing winds on the AT are from the southwest. Today a stiff wind is ripping from the northwest and I’d be walking dead into a subzero windchill. My mamma didn’t raise a fool.

Tomorrow I’m planning to slack pack about 15 miles back to Buena Vista. The advantage is twofold. One, it solves a distance problem that enables me to avoid hiking a 20-plus mileage day my second day out. Two, I get another night indoors and the free breakfast that comes with it.

Slack packing is when hikers are driven a distance down the trail and hike back to their point of origin. I so doing, they empty their packs of tents, sleeping bags, food and other nonessentials for a day hike. First aid, rain gear and water about everything that goes along for the ride.

The moving is faster ’cause the load is much lighter. I’ll still have to contend with six inches of melting snow, e.g. slush, but I’ll take that bet.

Got a huge surprise last night when I prepared to shower. A tick was noshing on my leg – as in locked on tight. It was too large to be a deer tick, the Lyme Disease vector. Nevertheless, I was a bit dumbfounded. During the past month, the overnight temps have been above freezing only twice. Moreover my base layer is skintight so the little sucker really had to work to get there. Could it be that Spring has sprung and nobody told us?

At the moment I’m soaking up lunch at the Bluedogart Cafe complete with a slab of that heavenly bee sting cake. Turns out that it’s homemade by a local Amish lady. Butch, the owner, is holding down the fort at his favorite roost.

Blame the Weatherman

March 25, 2014March 25, 2014 / jim fetig / 1 Comment

Matts Creek Shelter, Va., AT NOBO mile 778.6, Sunday March 23 — Today’s my daughter’s 25th birthday. Happy birthday Tiger. Go get ’em!

Today’s forecast was for sunny and 70F. I dressed accordingly.

Had a lousy night’s sleep. Don’t know why. The night was too warm, maybe. At around 2:30 am the temp dropped 20 degrees. That did it. I slept ’til 7 am; was hiking by eight.

There I was cruising up the first of two scheduled climbs for the day when, two hours in, nickel-size snow flakes began bombarding the woods as if dropped from a fleet of B-52s directly overhead.

“Where the hey did this come from,” I muttered. Faster than a NASCAR pit crew, my wet weather gear was on me and my pack. Everything needed fits in pockets outside my pack, making for quick access. “That’s not what the weatherman said!”

Just then a gaggle of Boy Scouts trooped by. Some were in shirtsleeve T-shirts. ‘Nuff said, I thought. I’m not the only one.

Being a bit underdressed kept me moving at a hasty pace all day. I reached my planned destination by two o’clock. Stopping for the day at 2 pm in the cold, empty shelter wasn’t a viable option, so I pressed on for a total of slighly more than 22 miles on the day. Now I’m much lower in altitude and out of the snow.

The old aphorism about everybody complaining about the weather – and by extension weathermen – but nobody ever does anything about it.

As I passed through the trail feature known as the guillotine, the answer to the age old complaint flashed between my ears.

“Off with ‘is ‘ead!” The answer was obvious.

I hear music

March 21, 2014March 25, 2014 / jim fetig / Leave a comment

Bobblets Gap Shelter, AT NOBO mile 742.5, Friday March 21, 2014 — For the first time this year song birds sounded the morning alarm! Until now, the forest has been as mute as a mime.

Just as the song birds voiced their pleasure, I spied dwarf daffodils marking their corner of the camp area. But, … There’s snow and sleet in the forecast for Tuesday. Seems Old Man Winter just won’t exit stage right or wrong. Dude! Take the hint!!!

During the day’s walk I spotted Carolina wrens, black capped chickadees, a tufted titmouse, a dark-eyes junko and a cat bird. These all appear at our feeder throughout the winter, so there’s no surprise other than why their spring concert season premiered today.

I also saw a honey bee, surely a sign of spring tho nothing is blooming. P.S. Oh yes there is.

We’re entering the area where the AT crosses over the Blue Ridge Parkway for the next hundred miles or so. It’s the same drill as Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park, only minus the waysides where there’s food within easy reach.

I still haven’t forgotten that I did not get my Blackberry Milkshake at the Elk Wallow wayside because the congress closed Shenandoah… Getting one is on my bucket list for sure. Better than beer!

Audie Murphy Memorial

March 18, 2014June 25, 2020 / jim fetig / 6 Comments

Major Audie Murphy, the most decorated soldier in WWII, was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor as the highest among his several decorations for valor. The Audie Murphy memorial on the AT marks the plane crash in which he died as a civilian after the war.

It’s a hiker tradition to leave something at the memorial, especially those of us who are veterans. I’ve been carrying a special Army pin since the beginning of my hike, expressly for the that purpose.

Audie Murphy served in the U.S. Army’s Third Infantry Division (Rock of the Marne) which is currently stationed near Savannah, Ga. at Ft. Stewart. There its mission is to be our nation’s rapidly deployable armored force.

What you may not know is that many military units have unique songs that grow out of their various traditions. The Third Division’s song is a fun ditty entitled “Dogface Soldier” which is reminiscent of the culture and times when it was written in WWII. Here’s a link: http://www.stewart.army.mil/faq/dogface.mp3  By the way, and no offense to my Marine comrades, but I too “Wouldn’t give a bean to be a fancy-pants Marine. 🙂

Regular readers of this blog know this, but for those who don’t, I’m a retired “dog face” Army infantryman with 28 years of service. Today I proudly stood at attention and saluted the memory of a bona fide American hero.

“Dog Face.” That’d be a great trail name for somebody, don’t ya think?

This is how Murphy might have heard or sung it:

“I wouldn’t give a bean to be a fancy-pants Marine.
I’ll be the dog face soldier that I am.

I wouldn’t trade my old ODs for all the Navy’s dungarees,
’cause I’m the walkin’ pride of Uncle Sam.

The poster on the wall says the Army builds men,
So they’re tearing me down to build me over again.

I’m just a dogface soldier with a rifle on my shoulder.
I eat my beans for breakfast every day.

If you feed me ammunition,
‘N keep me in the Third Division,
Your dogface soldier ‘ll be okay!”

The day ended post-hiking up the Dragon’s Tooth in a biting wind. The icy descent to my waiting friend’s car was treacherous practice for New Hampshire’s White Mountains coming up in June.

Am now taking a weather zero in Roanoke.

Brought to you by our sponsor…

March 18, 2014March 18, 2014 / jim fetig / Leave a comment

Rice Field Shelter, Va., Mile 638.1, March 13, 2014 — “This is W Appalachian Trail radio and that was Bob Dylan and “A Hard Rain.”

And now a word from our sponsor (Mad Men style). Hikers, do you feel tired after a long day on the trail? Are you more run down than usual? Do your feet get sore making every step painful? Then you need to zero at Woods Hole Hostel. Neville and Michael can restore your vitality with a deep tissue massage or a little downward dog action on the yoga mat. But best of all, Neville can prepare you a nutritious and delicious home cooked meal that will restore your energy and improve your outlook. You can even help. At meal time hikers can volunteer to help out making the leafy green salad, slicing the aromatic bread or helping to clean up afterward. ‘A little slice of heaven. Not to be missed.’ Stay awhile at Woods Hole Hostel. It’ll help you hike!

And now ‘Stormy Weather’ on W Appalachian Trail radio …

We interrupt this broadcast to bring you another one of Jim’s blogs. Take it away Sisu on the trail.”

Left my favorite little farm in the snow. The snow had all but disappeared by the time I reached Pearisburg with it’s stinky Celanese Plant. It’s aroma reminded my of the glacial acetic acid used in the wet chemistry darkrooms of long ago.

The climb out of Pearisburg was on poorly maintained trail, but uneventful. Rice Field Shelter is situated on the edge of a bald with a to-die-for view. If the weather were warmer and less windy, I would have slept on the cliff’s edge.

Matt dropped of in Pearisburg to see his cousin. Probably will not see him again.

So it goes on the trail:

The sky is blue
The leaves are brown,
The trail goes up
And the trail goes down.

Hikers come
Hikers go,
We march on
Not hoping for snow.

Tomorrow’s trail candy is “The Captain’s Place”. He’s a guy who lets hikers tent in his yard after the crossing the river on a zip line. Too bad I’ll pass at mid day.

Transitions and Contrasts

March 12, 2014March 12, 2014 / jim fetig / 1 Comment

Trent’s Grocery, Bland (indeed), Va. March 10 — The seasonal change is about to burst forth. The signs are everywhere. We’ve been seeing fresh bear scat all week. They are around and about. Nearly every plant is preparing to bud. Today I saw a butterfly and a water doodle. Could mosquitos be far behind?

What a day of contrasts. The sides of mountains facing away from the sun – generally the north sides – we’re freezing while the southern exposures cooked. Our high temp on the trail today ladies and gents was a big 72F. Let’s hear it for the weather service.

So there I was wearing a Columbia Omni Heat shirt. For the uninitiated, this winter clothing line features Mylar micro dots that reflect heat back toward your body. I can testify that this technology is a working miracle. Only it over achieves at high ambient temps. Not wearing any tomorrow. Nope. I am not. Tomorrow’s forecast is the same as today’s.

Of course, this early in March, way too early to count our weather chickens. Sleet and snow rear their ugly heads again Wednesday and Thursday.

We’re tenting on the back lot of Trent’s Grocery – grill, off sale beer and hardware emporium. In our honor, the proprietor hasn’t opened the shower or laundry facilities. He’s waiting for the last freeze. He did let us clean up in the store restroom. That’s the one with the out of order sign on the door, except it’s in perfect working order. What a guy. Their hamburgers = A+. Just know before you go.

Earlier in the day we passed a place where seven deer carcasses had been dumped along the road. Just after that the forest floor had been burned. The trash and liquor bottles around the deer and the fire suggest a correlation of deviant behaviors, but I am not so certain. Appalachia is so poor that many families have to poach deer in order to eat. It does not necessarily follow that they engage in other irresponsible activities. It’s a hard life here.

We also saw an interesting suspension bridge.

Tomorrow it’s the famous yoga enshrined, organic and granola encrusted Woods Hole Hostel. There’s only 16 miles and a healthy climb between us.

Discretion Over Valor

March 7, 2014March 7, 2014 / jim fetig / 4 Comments

Today’s lesson children is humility.

Yesterday my plan called for 18.5 miles if my every other shelter strategy was to hold up. The real challenge wasn’t all the good stuff that happened in the morning, it was one big mountain immediately followed by a smaller one that came at the end of the day.

If the day’s exercise ended after the first mountain, all would have been hunky dory. I learned the 15 mile limit makes all the more sense after being off the trail for nearly two months.

When I awoke this morning to a landscape dusted in snow so ably predicted by mission control – thanks very much – I knew that last mountain, Bushy Peak, had done me in. Every muscle I have is sore.

Here’s the set up for my dramatic announcement. I met to southbounders yesterday who said there are six legit northbounders ahead. Most are at least two weeks ahead, but I should expect to see one of them at my intended destination, Knott Maul Shelter. And so he was, an affable 23-year-old student from Richmond, Va.

This morning we set out together. We had two steep climbs that proved significant. We both struggled. At one point I got hypoglycemic. Energy bar to the rescue.

We reached Chestnut Knob Shelter at 3 pm, two hours behind schedule. No chance of pushing on to the next shelter. As a bonus, it has a truly million dollar view so what’s not to like. The stone building even has a door, and used to house the fire wardens who manned the fire tower now long gone.

I did lot of thinking while shuffling of today’s hills. Nearly two months off was too much. 5,106 feet of elevation gain, not counting the small ups and downs, took an unexpected toll on my body. I need to cut back my pace until my body adjusts. After all, I’ve got the time. Look for 10 mile days for awhile.

Are we there yet?

March 1, 2014 / jim fetig / 6 Comments

In October, the weather at White Blaze number 1 was a harbinger of temperatures to come – The ambient air temp registered a unseasonal 17 F frosted with a stiff wind.

_____________________

When 2014 rolled over on Father Time’s odometer, the annual blossoming of the Appalachian Trail (AT) commenced as hikers slowly began pollinating north Georgia’s Springer Mountain. Each new arrival swelled the cavalcade expectantly streaming northward. From a few in January, each successive month bears witness to new hopefuls joining the annual rebirth and migration.

From Springer, they follow the nor’ easters stormy track for 2,185.3 miles – all the way to Baxter State Park in central Maine. Their ultimate hope is to hug that battered placard atop Mt. Katahdin. Undeterred, they willfully ignore the overwhelming odds against their success. Historical evidence suggests that least three of four of us will be unsuccessful.

As a family strung out over the miles, individually and together we hikers navigate a unique ribbon of reality. It twists and turns in a slow motion parallel universe to I-95 which, just a few miles east of the AT, rages relentlessly northward in the direction of our common destination. We are confident in our slower but equally determined pace, and fortified by our greater peace of mind as we leave civilization in the rear view mirror.

For the next several months we inhabit a migrating colony of free-range hikers. Our feral existence is defined by day-by-day adventures all our own. That’s how our story unfolds.

The class of 2014 has done all the preparation possible. From now until Katahdin, for any chance of success, each of us needs luck, and above all, the courage to keep on keeping on, no matter what challenge comes our way.

Feet to brain, “Say what! “

Not one of us is an island. The support of family, friends, the trail community, complete strangers, and those who read our journals is a necessary condition of success.

The long march for the Class of 2014 is finally underway in significant numbers. If we have the physical stamina, enough luck to avoid major illness and injury, and the mental fortitude to repeat the first stride five million times through ups and downs, snow, rain, mud, heat, humidity, ugly rocks, injuries and blood sucking insects, then we too will claim the high ground and tag that weathered scoreboard almost 2,200 miles north of white blaze number 1.

My hike is highly unconventional, although not originally planned that way. On September 24th I started a 13-day, 160-mile practice hike from Waynesboro, Va to Harpers Ferry WVa. It was so much fun that I did not want to waste it. So, I decided to get down to Springer Mountain and start northward as soon as I could.

With my friend Mary “Hey Man!” Manley, I took the on-ramp to the northbound hiker super highway on Oct. 24. Mary plans to resume her hike from where she suspended it in about a month from now. I know this tough cookie is going to make it all the way.

As I crunched my way forward on the snow and ice-crusted trail as the days darkened, I heard of three NOBOs hiking ahead of me with the intent of driving on to Maine unless weather drove them off the trail. Reports are that one left the trail in Damascus just prior of my arrival there. I have no word of the others.

Now it’s my turn to rejoin the class. The administrative tasks related to my mother’s passing are complete, the taxes filed, and all the rest.

My official return to the trail is Wednesday. High octane drop boxes packed with calories were mailed last week. During the interim, I’ve been working hard at Fitness Together. The plan is Katahdin or Bust by July fourth – give or take. Fingers crossed.

As always, armchair hikers are welcome to enjoy the rest of the journey.

Sisu – Making tracks

Humor does not diminish the pain – it makes the space around it get bigger. – Allen Klein

“The most certain way of ensuring victory is to march briskly and in good order against the enemy, always endeavoring to gain ground.” Fredrick the Great

A version of this entry was previously posted on Trail Journals.

A fork in the road

Yogi said, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." So I'm following the white blazes.

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