Craig and Suzy's 2006 Appalachian Trail Journal

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Day	Date	Start	Finish	Miles	Journal	Photo
85	6/10	US 60/ Buena Vista, VA	US 20/ Buena Vista, VA		Day: 85 Date:6/10/06 Start:US 60/ Buena Vista, VA Weather: grey skies Finish: US 20/ Buena Vista, VA Miles: 0 Cumulative A.T. Miles: 792.8 Branch: Today I was determined to sleep in. The plan was to be lazy in the morning, only doing our laundry, shop for groceries in the afternoon, and then get out of town and hike about 6 miles to Hog Camp Gap. Today did not really go that way. Like I said, I was determined to sleep in. However, at 6:45 I gave up and turned on the TV. while Clay worked on our journals. By 8:00 I had gathered up our laundry and put it into the washing machine. We checked out of the motel room at 11:00, and ran into Sara (who is getting off the trail today) and her sister, Rachel. Rachel has a masters in Philosophy from Vasser, so she and Clay exchanged geek speak for a while. In short, we found ourselves at Burger King at 2:00 with all of our town chores completed. We still planned to hike out, but we were so exhausted that we were falling asleep in our cheeseburgers. At one point, Clay looked at me and asked if there was any way we could stay in town and remain on schedule. It was all the encouragement that I needed. We got up and rechecked into the motel where we were asleep in a cushy bed within the hour. Clay: I failed to mention that we were concerned for days about hitching into Buena Vista. So, we prayed 24-hours in advance that the hitch would go well at US-60 and it did go well. We got to the gap, I collapsed one trekking pole, I stuck out my thumb as a F-250 long bed drove by, and a nice family named O'Conner picked us up--all within about 30 seconds of us being there! Praise God! We truly need the rest. I'm glad we are taking the remainder of the day off. We need a Sabbath. We did a 5, a 20.1, a 16, a 17, and a 19.9-mile day so far this week. We plan on doing another 20, 14, and 21 Sunday-Tuesday--whew!
86	6/11	US 60/Buena Vista, VA	The Priest Shelter, VA	20.9	Day: Day 86 Date: 6/11/06 Start: US 60/Buena Vista, VA Weather: Overcast, cloudy Finish: The Priest Shelter, VA Miles: 20.9 Cumulative A.T. Miles: 813.7 Clay: Today we pushed past the 800-mile mark and we hiked our biggest mileage day yet. If we had not stayed in town and taken the Sabbath rest, I truly do not believe we could have hiked as hard as we did today. We got up at 6 AM, we took one last shower, we ate tons of Little Debbies that the Budget Inn Hotel offered as breakfast, and we were back at the trailhead by 7:30 AM.  When we got back to the trail, we just stared at it blankly. Our feet have become literally numb from abuse and overuse and they were about to be abused again. We cannot feel our toes and the pads on our feet feels like a dead piece of meat. When we got to Hog Camp Gap, we caught the tail-end of a two day party in the woods. We had caught up to a lot of people! Garrett (a.k.a. Egg Shells), Two Tone, Old Spice, Chewy, and about 15 other people were still there. A small keg, jugs of wine, lots of beer cans, and a number of guitars indicated that they had a fun time. We drank a Pepsi, ate a pear, and stayed for about 20 minutes. We had mileage to do. When we got to the shelter after 10.5 hours of hiking Cuppa Joe (AT '05) was there. We last saw him at Partnership Shelter, VA. He is out for a few days. He is always very encouraging. I cannot wait to read his Long Trail journal. Time for bed. Good night and God bless.
87	6/12	The Priest Shelter, VA	Maupin Field Shelter, VA	13.6	Clay: Last night we tented. We knew it was going to rain but we did not realize how much, else we may not have. Around 10 PM there was a trickle or two. I did not even bat an eye over it. By 1 AM I was awakened by the sensation of sleeping on a water bed! Despite our preventive attempts to camp under low leaf-laden trees, the rain was beating the tent from the top. That was not the bad part. The volume of rain was so great and so quick, the ground was saturated and could not hold a drop more. So, the ground, everywhere atop the 4,000 foot Priest Mountain, ran like a river and congregated around our tent! There was not much we could do except pull up the sides of the tent to attempt to divert water. and move important items (e.g. Bible, electronics) to higher ground in the tent. We talked about abandoning the tent and running to the shelter or just moving the tent to a better location but, again, it was raining buckets. It rained hard until about 5 AM. We were dry, for the most part, thanks to our Thermarests. So, fortunately, between stressful attempts to divert the rising muddy waters, we were able to catch a few winks during the night. We looked like two wet kittens the next morning as we tiredly packed our sopping wet gear at the shelter. Branch: The day got better from there. Knowing that we only had 13.6 miles to go the shelter, we definitely took our time packing up our gear. Eggshells, who was still at the shelter when we emerged from our wet tent, was gracious as we stacked all of our wet gear into the shelter to take inventory of what was wet and what was dripping wet. We finally packed up and left around 10:00. Today we had a pretty big decent down The Priest and then several big climbs up the Three Ridges. Being my normal self, I spent the entire day dreading the climb. However, as we started up the rocky climb, I felt confident. I was actually enjoying myself as we scrambled up the rocks. Before I knew it, we were going downhill and I was looking for the rest of the climb, unaware that I had completed it. Its amazing how God is. He took what could have been the worst day and allowed us to have a good time. When we go to the shelter, we were surprised to see Grey Goose, Veto, and Handlebar there without Bigfoot. Grey Goose let us know that Bigfoot was having some big problems with his feet and was having some orthodics sent in and was hoping that they will fix them. We truly hope that our friend will get back on the trail soon. Tonight we had a wonderful time sitting around the campfire. Grey Goose recited the entire poem "The Cremation of Sam McGee". The older guys even stayed up until 9:00 (this is super late for them). Tomorrow we are headed into Waynesboro for some much needed rest and to visit Clay's parents. So tonight I am going to bed dreaming of a shower, a full stomach, a soft bed, and a loving Mammy and Pappy. Clay & Branch
88	6/13	Maupin Field Shelter, VA	Rockfish Gap, VA/ Waynesboro, VA	Miles: 21.1	Day: 88 Date: 6/13/06 Start: Maupin Field Shelter, VA Weather: sunny Finish: Rockfish Gap, VA/ Waynesboro, VA Miles: 21.1 Cumulative A.T. Miles: 848.4 Branch: Today we woke up super early and were out of the shelter by 6:30. It seems that everyone is anxious to get their miles done and get into town today. Today's hiking ranged from the very difficult (scrambling up and down very sharp rocks). We had lunch on a rock outcropping about 10 miles into the day. As we munched on our PB&J, we watched as a huge bird glided on air currents in the valley below us. Even though I was exhausted fromthe last several days of hiking, I felt at home in the outdoors and happy that God would give us the opportunity to experience His Creation. After lunch, we saw the neatest animal sighting thus far. We were hiking along in our usual chattery and noisy fashion (which by the way is probably why we don't see too many animals), when we heard a crashing in the brush about 10 feet away from us. We watched in awe as a super tiny fawn, spots and all, awkwardly lept to his unsteady feet and attempted to flee from us as we hiked by. Since he was such a newborn, he stumbled numerous times as he dashed into the higher brush further away. It was breathtaking. Once again, I felt honored to view God's creation. (Clay said that from a naturalist's point of view it was nice seeing the bag of chemicals demonstrate a conditiond response--ha ha) By 5:30, we emerged from the woods and we greeted by the most wonderful sight of the day--Mammy and Pappy (Clay's parents) were there waiting for us. It was so good to see them! Kentucky and Giggles had gotten there before us and Mammy and Pappy had treated them to a cold drink and some snacks and had even offered them a ride. So we all piled into the Suburban and overwhelmed Clay's parents with our stench. Its so nice to see loved ones. Mammy and Pappy always make us feel loved and secure. We are going to sleep tonight exhausted from our longest day yet, but a smile is everpresent on our faces because we know the next few days hold rest and good times with loving people. Clay & Branch
89	6/14	Rockfish Gap, VA	Rockfish Gap, VA		Day:89 Date:6/14/06 Start: Rockfish Gap, VA Weather: airconditioned hotel room Finish: Rockfish Gap, VA Miles: 0 Cumulative A.T. Miles: 848.4 Branch: It is so much fun being with Mammy and Pappy. They make us relax and we have a wonderful time talking with them. Pappy's stories always make me laugh! I love hanging out with Mammy, too. Who else would work for hours on a Suduko puzzle with me? Today we did some of our town chores and spent most of the day relaxing. We finally broke down and bought some crocks to help our ailing feet and spent much of the day chilling out. It was a blast. Clay & Branch
90	6/15	Rockfish Gap, VA	Rockfish Gap, VA		Day:90 Date:6/15/06 Start: Rockfish Gap, VA Weather: airconditioned hotel room Finish: Rockfish Gap, VA Miles: 0 Cumulative A.T. Miles: 848.4 Branch: As always, God took care of us this trip. The first day in town, my left eye decided that it was irriatated with the contact in it and that it would reject it. It swelled up a little and turned super red. I had been carrying a pair of old glasses with me, but they were about 4 prescriptions old and fit so poorly that they bruised my head. I suffered through wearing them for the first day, but when I woke up the next morning with a still irritated eye, I knew it was time to visit an eye doctor. Mammy drove me to the Super Walmart where the eye doctor told me that my eye needed rest and that I needed new glasses. Afterwards, she drove us about 15 miles to Staunton where there was an one hour glasses place. We are so blessed that my eye decided to mess up when Mammy and Pappy were visiting. Without them to help us out, it would have been a logisitics nightmare to try to get to a doctor and get glasses. Clay & Branch
91	6/16	Rockfish Gap, VA	Calf Mountain Shelter, VA	7	Day: Day 91 Date: 6/16/06 Start: Rockfish Gap, VA Weather: hot and sunny Finish: Calf Mountain Shelter, VA Miles: 7 Cumulative A.T. Miles: 855.4 Branch: I have promised myself two things about this journal: first, I will strive to be honest about our true emotions and the true happenings on the trail so that I can preserve them for later reading, second, I will try to find something positive even in the worst of situations. I don't know that I can fulfill both the first and the second tonight. It was super tough getting out of town today. We didn't want to leave Mammy and Pappy and we had several chores left to do. So, we did not get out of town until about 2:30. All I have to say about the hiking is that it was hot. Even though the terrain was not terrible, the heat made any exertion unbearable. So, since we got a late start and we were struggling to move in the heat, we decided to take yet another short day at the first shelter. When we got the shelter, we put up our tent and went to cook some food. We tried to join in the conversation, but it was of such a base nature, that we were embarrased to even hear what was being said. As I believe I have mentioned in previous journal entries, there are times when the muscles in my throat don't work quite right. This causes food to get stuck or sometimes constricks my breathing when I am hiking. This is usually helped by drinking a carbonated beverage that we now carry with us at all times. Tonight the carbonated beverage was of no use. As I took the first few bites, I realized that the muscles were not going to work tonight. The pain was incredible as I struggled to relax enough to coerce the food down. This was to no avail. To make a long story short, I threw up several times and cried several times before the ordeal was over. So now, Clay and I are the most down that we have been on the trail thus far. Between the conversation and my health issues, we find ourselves begging God to renue our sense of purpose out here. I pray that He provides it with the rising of the sun tomorrow. Clay & Branch

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