Craig and Suzy's 2006 Appalachian Trail Journal

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Day	Date	Start	Finish	Miles	Journal	Photo
71	5/27	Wapiti Shelter, VA	Pearisburg, VA	16.6	Day: 71 Date: 5/27/06 Start: Wapiti Shelter, VA Weather: Warm, sunny Finish: Pearisburg, VA Miles: 16.6 Cumulative A.T. Miles: 622.1 Clay: Today we got up after a fairly good sleep during a rainy night and we were on the trail by 7:20 AM. When we got to the road we met a large group of section hikers at our first road crossing. Although they were very nice, we were bombarded by about 20 questions from them in about 1 minute. I felt like Neo from the Matrix as I fielded 2 and 3 questions in a shot. "Are you from Maine?" (asked because Branch was wearing a "Maine to Georgia" shirt), "Are the shelters full of thru-hikers?" (being Memorial Day weekend, they were full of section hikers), "When did you start?" (followed by the comment "You are behind! Many hikers are in New York right now."), "How many miles do you hike per day?" and "Do you look at flowers as you go?" were some of the questions as the group blocked the trail. As the group as a whole started looking more and more like Agent Smith, Branch and I bolted. The nice, fresh legged, day pack-toting, inquisitive group chased us all day until we lost them on a steep hill. After seeing our destination from Angels Rest, we dropped about 2200 bone-jarring feet in 1.7 miles to get to the highway. Food and hotel were calling our name. When we got to Pearisburg, we walked about 15 minutes uphill on the highway to get to the Dairy Queen and the hotel. When we saw Big Foot and Goose at the hotel we were overjoyed. We had not seen them in a week. We could not wait to hear how their week had gone.
72	5/28	Pearisburg, VA	Pearisburg, VA		Day: 72 Date: 7/28/06 Start: Pearisburg, VA Weather: Sunny Finish: Pearisburg, VA Miles: 0 Cumulative A.T. Miles: Clay: Like most "zero" days, there was a lot to do today to prepare for the upcoming week. We washed our socks and undergarments in the tub with soap because the laundry was sort of far away. We ending up buying 7 days of food. With vitamins and Ziplocs, we spent $97.00. We wanted to hang out with our buddies, Big Foot and Goose. So, we ate every meal with them and spent time planning the next week with them. We have hiked off and on with these fellows since Georgia. We love them. What do we typically eat while on the trail? Junk food! It is not that we want to eat junk food. That is essentially all that is available since there is no refrigeration on the trail. A typical 15-mile day will include a quick, no-cook breakfast (e.g. Pop-tarts, pre-cooked bacon), a medium-sized lunch (usually P.B.J. with flax and whole wheat bread), a dinner (e.g. Lipton Sides, instant potatoes, and a snack), and 3-4 snacks (King-sized snickers, apple or cherry pie, GORP, fruit, oatmeal squares, cereal bars, M&M's, pudding). Nearly every hiker eats this way or a similar way. Unfortunately, we have to eat non-perishable, light weight, calorie-packed, easy-to-cook foods while out here.
73	5/29	Pearisburg, VA	Symms Gap Meadow	11.6	Day: 73 Date: 5/29/06 Start: Pearisburg, VA Weather: Blue skies, Africa hot Finish: Symms Gap Meadow Miles: 11.6 Cumulative A.T. Miles: 633.7   Branch: Today was a typical out-of-town day. This means that I was plagued by all sorts of physical ailments that I can usually suppress on a normal hiking day. For starters, it was hot. The news people predicted 91 degrees, but at times (like during the big climb for the day) it felt worse. I think a combination of the heat, the climb, and my heavy pack brought on my second problem. I have an odd problem called dysphasia where the muscles in my throat at times will sort of spasm and tighten incredibly. This only really bothers me when I am eating or breathing hard. Sometimes I can't breathe well or food gets stuck in my throat. Unfortunately, both eating and breathing are integral to our hiking success. So, I had to stop and take lots of breaks to try to get my breathing under control. There is a positive to these kind of problems, however. My prayer life improves dramatically on days like today. It is when I am struggling to breathe or groping for energy under the oppressive heat that I realize that there is no way that I could or would do this hike without the direction and strength that comes from being within the will of Jesus my Lord. In my mental and physical weakness, I can and do take comfort in knowing that I am out here under His direction. His strength and not my own will see me through it. It is because of this assurance that I happily lie here awaiting the adventure of tomorrow. Clay: Like Branch said, today was super hot. So, from the Hotel, I called my buddy Kneebee and I asked him to send our Summer sleeping bag to Daleville, VA. Since Branch is having some minor knee problems and our buddy, Goose, is having knee problems, we planned on doing low mileage and getting into Daleville/Troutville in 7 days. The heat may make us speed up. Certainly, we will be hiking early in the mornings. Today, we and the other hikers we are with are running a little low on water. The guide said that there was some at this spot but we cannot find it. After looking at the map again, we believe that the water is .5 miles south of here and about 350' down a bushwhack. Oh well, we will have to conserve water for about 6-8 miles. Branch and I have about 1 liter and 8 oz each. This is a drought year, we probably need to start thinking through the next days water as well as the next days hiking. I read through Ecclesiastes over the past few days. It was almost as if the Danish philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard, had read Solomon's works. As you may recall, Solomon had done it all. He sought and got riches, wisdom, and love. The theme of Ecclesiastes is that life and its events is meaningless without God.
74	5/30	Symm's Gap Meadow, VA	Bailey Gap Shelter, VA	11.3	Day: 74 Date: 5/30/06 Start: Symm's Gap Meadow, VA Weather: sunny, hot Finish: Bailey Gap Shelter, VA Miles: 11.3 Cumulative A.T. Miles: 645.0 Branch: Wanting to hang out with our friends, Grey Goose and Big Foot, we decided to do yet another short-mile day today. It was great! We got up and out by 6:50 and took our time the entire day. The highlight of the day came when we forded Stony Creek. The sun was so hot and the water felt so good to our hot feet, that Clay and I decided to stay and play for a while. We washed the salt off of our skin and clothes and cooled down before the climb into the shelter. Tonight we are in sleeping in our tent (to keep the bugs away). Sleeping in and around the shelter alongside us are Bigfoot, Grey Goose, Mary, Mackenzie, Sara, Beernuts, Ronnie, and another fellow.
75	5/31	Bailey Gap Shelter, VA	Laurel Creek Shelter, VA	14.6	Day: 75 Date: 5/31/06 Start: Bailey Gap Shelter, VA Weather: sunny, slightly less hot Finish: Laurel Creek Shelter, VA Miles: 14.6 Cumulative A.T. Miles: 659.6 Branch: Today God reminded me of how much I love my husband. This morning, I left the shelter about 3-5 minutes before Clay, knowing that he'd catch up quickly. Wanting to hike with him, I stopped to wait on him, when he did not catch up in 7 minutes, I got worried. I was almost within view of the shelter, but could not see him coming. So, I walked back to see what was keeping him, but did not find him there. The people at the shelter said that he left just after I did. I got worried. There was a sort of trail intersection at the shelter, so I was not sure which way he could have gone. So, I decided to wait for him there. Each passing second felt like a minute as I worriedly waited. When I finally saw him coming north from south of the shelter, it was the most wonderful sight. I ran to him and hugged him. Since that fiasco, we have had the best day hiking together. We switched mp3 players and listened to lectures that we'd not heard before. Afterwards, we talked about the lectures. Before we knew it we were at the shelter for the night. The time had flew because I spent the day truly enjoying the company of my best friend. Clay: After Trail Days, most if not all of the hikers we have talked to have recognized how sleep deprived and malnourished they are. In addition to this, the heat this week has been a killer. No one that we know, except Veto, has been doing big miles (20+) lately given the 90+ degree heat. We have been getting up early, hiking 7-10 miles until noon or 1 PM, taking a long break to let the sun and heat pass, and hiking 5-10 more miles in the afternoon. Our water consumption has doubled if not more. We are going to be a little behind our schedule after this week. So, here are my excuses: We took a zero at Pearisburg, the odd spacing of shelters made us either do low mileage or big mileage, campsites in between the shelters have no water, we are wanting to hang out with our friends, the plague of bugs man the plague of bugs, the mid-day heat, and our having to wait on a USPS mail drop. Excuses, excuses... We will make up the time. Highlights of the day include, seeing a deer up close, going in the correct direction on the trail, hiking the last 6 difficult miles leisurely, and the timely trail magic at the mid-way through our climb from Super Dave (i.e. he left some Mountain Dews in a cooler by the side of the road). I listened to the Bahnsen-Stein debate today. It was refreshing. As best I could tell, neither fellow followed a flow sheet as debaters typically do. So, at times, the contenders were talking past each other. Gorden Stein, an atheist, holds that laws of logic (e.g. modus tollens, modus ponens, law of non-contradiction) are generally agreed upon but can change from culture to culture. To him, laws of logic are mind-dependent. The highlight of the debate for me was the second cross examination when Stein asked Bahnsen, "Do you believe God is immaterial?" Bahnsen replied in the affirmative. Stein, holding to materialism, then asked "What other entities are immaterial?" Bahnsen replied, "Laws of logic!" The crowd roared laughing. This week we have been hiking with and hanging out McEnzie, Mary, Sarah and her dog Toby, Beernut, Ronnie, Handlebar, Bigfoot and Goose. Tonight the whole crew is here. As the week has progressed, we have grown to know each other a little better.
76	6/1	Laurel Creek Shelter, VA	Niday Shelter, VA	12.4	Day: 76 Date: 6/1/06 Start: Laurel Creek Shelter, VA Weather: Thunderstorms all around, drizzle, overcast, cooler Finish: Niday Shelter, VA Miles: 12.4 Cumulative A.T. Miles: 672.0 Branch: Knowing that we had a fairly short day for today, we definitely took our time getting up this morning. Clay was a bit depressed, so we decided to have a slow, fun morning. Within the first hour of hiking, we came across an old house. It was obvious that at one time, this house was the pride of those that worked hard to own it. I'm sure the owners worked hard in and around the house to keep it up. Sadly, now the house, once someone's home, is not even fit to be a shelter. The roof is missing in the back, many of the boards have rotted away, and none of the windows are remaining. A few hours later we walked by another homestead. The people that lived there spent countless sweat-filled hours of back breaking labor building up huge piles of rock to make what we believe were at once time huge fence posts. These too are now useless. As we walked by these home sites, I was filled with a sadness for those who spent so much time building up those dwellings. I was reminded of the passage in Luke 16 where Jesus talks about serving God versus serving wealth. On the trail, we realize how little it takes to survive comfortably. So many times, people will spend so much of their time accumulating stuff and working at things that will rot and be quickly forgotten. Walking by the rotted, falling apart, home sites, I was once again reminded to work to store up my treasure in Heaven. Clay: Today started out tough for me. I am sort of depressed about the mileage that we have been doing. I am ready to crank some miles out but it is obvious to us that we are not supposed to be just yet. I have heard over and over that Virginia is "easy". I want to know where the easy part is! Today we were hiking along exposed rock with cloud-to-cloud thunder overhead for much of the hiking day. It was sort of tough. As we started the short 12-mile day, I thought and rethought about 1,000 "what if" questions. Branch was patient with me as we left camp at 10:15 AM--the latest ever. As we crossed some beautiful rolling fields and I admired the beauty my depression lifted temporarily until I christened my new shoes when I stepped into a large, fresh pile of cow manure. The stain and stench have stayed on my shoe all day. In the past two weeks I have encountered my first fall, my first blister, my first pain, and my second depression. I feel thankful that God has kept me physically healthy and mentally sane. It is my prayer that we can make some miles while in Virginia. We still have 1,400 miles to go. October 15 seems just around the corner.
77	6/2	Niday Shelter, VA	Pickle Branch Shelter, VA	9.9	Day: 77 Date: 6/2/06 Start: Niday Shelter, VA Weather: Overcast morning, thunderstorms afternoon Finish: Pickle Branch Shelter, VA Miles: 9.9 Cumulative A.T. Miles: 681.9 Clay: Why did we do only 9.9 miles today? The shelters are spread apart very crazily. After the Pickle Branch Shelter, we ascend Dragon's Tooth. There is no camping at this site. The ALDHA Companion goes on to say to not camp from between VA-624 to VA-220. So, we decided to obey the rules. Everyone else is going to stealth camp. So, our group is broken up for now. We had about 40 miles to Daleville. Tomorrow we plan on hiking about 17 miles and the next day we plan on hiking about 15 miles into Daleville. Next week we would like to hike some big miles. The spiritual words of Redwing (AT '03,'05), Nate (AT '03), and Vapor (AT '05) have been very encouraging on this venture. I read and think about their words often. Their words have been worth much. I am grateful for them, Sherlock, Circuit Rider, and Hopeful (both of them). Their spiritual wisdom along with their hiking advice has been invaluable.  Branch: Today has been an odd day for me. I felt like by the time I got good an warmed up to hike, the hiking day was over. Today, just like every day for the past week, we climbed up a ridge, followed it for a few miles and then descended into a gap. For the most part this particular ridge was filled with evergreen trees, so the trail was covered in nice, soft pine needles to walk on. It was a nice treat after yesterday's rocks. We had a good time leap frogging Grey Goose and Big Foot today. We hope to catch up with them soon.

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