Sorry! :(

Y'all have probably given up on me but just incase any of you are still reading...

June 9 - Lost Mountain Shelter to Thomas Knob Shelter

We stopped for lunch on top of Buzzard Rock. It was nice sitting in the sun and we even had a cell signal! But with dark cloud approaching, we got on our way in hopes of making it to the shelter before it started to rain. But we had no luck and it began to rain with 5 miles to go and a thousand foot climb left. Oh well. It started to clear up right before we got to the shelter and we were able to take a side trail to the top of Mount Rodgers, the highest peak in Virginia. The storm closed back in as we made it back to the shelter and it stormed all night. The shelter had an attic so we stayed up there out of the wind.

June 10 - Thomas Knob Shelter to Old Orchard Shelter

It was still storming in the morning, so we figured out how to change our schedule so that we could zero here at the shelter and miss the rain. But just as we got comfy the storm cleared up. (Darn I was excited for our lazy day!) Today we hike through the Grayson Highlands with the wild ponies! As we were hiking we saw a herd of ponies in a valley, being that this could be our only chance to interact with them we ran down there, dropping our packs on a side trail that crossed about half way down. The ponies licked the salt off my arms, it was cute and gross at the same time. We even got to pet the foals! It started raining again and the ponies ran to hide under the trees and we ran up to our packs. Which we could not find. Uh oh. We finally found them 10 or 15 mins later, it seems that when running up a hill in the rain you don't always come back to the same place you left. Haha. We saw another heard later. They are so cute and they walk right up to you. The shelter we stayed at was full when got there so we hammocked. It rained again in the night and Will got wet.

June 11 - Old Orchard Shelter to Trimpi Shelter

Will was not happy. His hammock and sleeping bag got wet in the storm last night. Stopped for lunch at a very nice new shelter and talked to this cool old dude named Grinder. Shared the shelter tonight with "The Fellowship". Five guys, two of them brothers, thru-hiking together. They were hilarious. Dr Seuss told us about trolls and how to deal with them if we come across them on the trail. Saw a HUGE black snake slither out of the roof of the shelter into a bush. Not cool.

June 12 - Trimpi Shelter to Marion, VA

It was ten miles to the visitors center where we could get a shuttle into town and we we had heard that you could get a pizza delivered there. So of course we all rushed to get there. But guess who doesn't deliver until 4? So no pizza. :( The shuttle came at 2:30, we resupplied and ate a ton of food.

June 13 - Marion, VA to Chatfield Shelter

Caught the 11 o'clock shuttle back to the trail and had a short day to the shelter. But that doesn't mean it was easy! The last 3 mikes we hiked through a tropical storm! It was crazy!

June 14 - Chatfield Shelter to Knot Maul Branch Shelter

This morning during our hike we took a side trail to an 1890's farm! It was cute. I always wanted to live on an old farm or work at Conner Prairie. We took advantage of a restaurant that the trail walked past. Mmmm... burgers!

June 15 - Knot Maul Branch to Bland, VA

Yay! Our family is coming today! We had a two thousand foot climb to a shelter with a beautiful view. We had extra time until our family arrived so instead of waiting by the road we hung out at the shelter with Toptart and Salamander, ate, and then took a nap in the sun. Mom, Kate, Sofia, and Luke arrived sometime around 8. Yay! My puppy!

June 16, 17, & 18 - Family Time!

We moved from the motel we stayed at last night to a hotel in another town and just hung out and swam in the pool. The next day we brought everybody back to the Grayson Highlands in hopes of seeing ponies!  No luck, but we had fun climbing on the rocks and they were able to do a little section of the Appalachian Trail. The 18th we had to get back on the trail, but not until like 3:30. Haha Nobody wanted to say goodbye.

Mary and Will's mom here

Hi. My husband asked me to add something here. Mary and Will are doing well. As of Saturday, June 22, they have hiked over 635 miles.  Will has lost around 15 pounds and Mary about 25-- almost the weight of her backpack without food and water! I keep hoping Mary will post more updates when they come into a town, but. . .

Last weekend, our daughter, Katie, Will's girlfriend Sofia, Mary's dog Luke, and I visited the hikers. We were able to spend a few days with them and even visited part of the trail that went through Grayson Highland State Park in VA, on which they had hiked a week earlier. We were hoping to come across some of the herds of wild ponies they had seen, but no luck. We did see some beautiful scenery, including azalea bushes in bloom alongside the trail.

 

 

June 8 - Damascus, VA to Lost Mountain Shelter

Sent home my old boots and my solar panel. Will's giant battery is large enough to charge both of our phones more than once.

It was a couple weeks delayed but Will recieved his trail name. The day we hiked out of the Smokies, Will fell in a creek, so rightfully his trail name is 'Splash'. If we just had one more clumsy person we could be 'TRIPle Threat'.

We ate breakfast/lunch at Mojoe's Coffeehouse and had the BEST breakfast bagel. So good we are going to have mom take us back next week when she comes to see us.

We didn't leave town until almost noon, which might cause problems if you have 15 miles to go...

A bridge was washed out earlier this year so we had to take a detour onto the Virginia Creeper Trail. It's a very nice trail that runs by the river and is mostly used by bikers, so you get some wierd looks like 'You know they invented the wheel, right? You don't have to walk'. Lol

We reached the shelter a little before sundown. Nice big shelter and cast of characters. Ron Burgundy, Mohawk, Wrong Way, Poptart, Salamander, Nigel, Swayze, and Hummingbird. Wrong Way has a string of christmas lights that she has strung above her hammock. Ron Burgundy cooked a feast for everyone, which sounds nice, but he was really just using us to get his pack weight down because he bought too much food. Hahaha

June 7 - Zero Day!

Staying up late and sleeping in! Woot!

Breakfast at Cowboy's. Yummy ciniman roll and blueberry pancakes!

Completely resupplied at Dollar Store. Haha. Bought new shoes.

Ate BBQ for dinner. First time eating pulled pork with coleslaw on top. It's good!

Packed and took more showers!

June 6 - Abington Gap Shelter to Damascus, VA

VIRGINIA! :D!

When we know we are hiking into town, we seem to fly down the trail. The promise of real food is a great motivator!

We got a room a this cute little inn called "Hikers Inn", if you are ever in Damascus, stay here!

We layed around and eventually took showers. Had a great burger and a sad peanut butter shake. Come on guys, I want my tongue to stick to the roof of my mouth with the amount of peanut butter!

Laundry. Permethrin for our clothes. Bought a new fuel canister, we cut it close, I'm surprised we didn't run out! Looked at new shoes, mine are falling apart.

I do not like karaoke. It's like the worst thing ever invented! Stop. Please stop singing. No.

We went to Blue Blaze for dinner and, if you can guess, there was karaoke. Gross. On top of that our server basically ignored us for an hour before taking our order. Wonderful. Atleast my sandwich tasted good.

June 5 - Iron Mountain Shelter to Abington Gap Shelter

16 miles today! The last couple days we have slacked off, time to get back to business! :D

Passed by a grave this morning. Stated "Uncle Nick - Lived alone, suffered alone, died alone". What a happy note to start the day on...

Hiked through a pasture and saw a calf! So cute! There were no other cows around though so it must have gotten lost or something. :(

We were very tempted to hike an extra 10 miles straight into Damascus, especially if there was no room in the tiny 5 man shelter. I would have followed Will into town, but luckily I didn't have to, there were two spots left in the shelter. (I'm lazy)

As we were going to sleep I realized I had a trail name. Because of my grace yesterday, I am now 'Head First'. Haha

June 4 - Watauga Lake Shelter to Iron Mountain Shelter

Got on the trail before 8! Woot! (Only by like 5 minutes haha)

So somehow I tripped and went head first into the ground. It didn't hurt or anything, but I was trapped under my backpack for a few minutes. In my attempt to get up, I flopped around like a fish out of water until I was able to unbuckle the hip belt on my pack. Silly Will didn't take a picture, for some reason he was more worried about if I was okay. What's up with that?

Other than that, it was not an eventful day but we did learn during dinner that the shelter we stopped at for lunch was the location of an axe murder in the 70s. Ooo! Scary!

Psst. . . This is Mary's mom!

Don't know if I will do this correctly, but I will give it a try. We have had a lot of people asking about Mary and Will lately, so I thought I would update. (Sorry, Mary, but you had your chance at the hostel! Lol!)

Mary and Will made it to Virginia on Thursday sometime, crossing Tennessee off their list of states. Three down, eleven to go, with Virginia being the state with the most miles, with well over 500. They spent two nights in Damascus and are back to hiking now. We haven't talked on the phone since last weekend, though. They didn't have a cell phone signal on Saturday night because their check-in message came via their satellite connection with a short, 'Done for the day' message. Therefore, I bet  we may not get any blog updates for a while.

I am guessing that they went around 15 miles today, taking their total up to 482.7 miles! They are more than 20% complete!

If you are local and are wondering how far they have gone, drive by our home where we have some signs in the front windows keeping track of their progress.

We plan to visit the kids soon and I am soooo looking forward to that. They have been texting me lists of items they would like us to bring. Mary has two things tied for first place, I believe--her dog and some homemade macaroni and cheese!

I have two requests of you. First, this mom is asking for continued prayers for her children. The bad weather we are scheduled to receive Sunday/Monday will be heading their way. Secondly, I know it is a pain sometimes to leave comments, but if you could just leave a quick 'Hello, Mary and Will' with your name included, maybe she will really realize more than Mom, Deb, and Kathy are reading! Haha! I just checked... There are over 6,000 views of her blog! While I pull this up a lot, I haven't come here THAT much!

One last thing I want to mention... I just love when my kids call home. While you can tell it through some of her posts here, hearing Mary and Will's voices so very, very excited when they are sharing their experiences is quite wonderful. I don't know if I have ever heard such truly excited joy in both of their voices this much. They, so far, are loving this time they are hiking together and our phone calls are just filled with laughter.

Mary, I apologize for hijacking your blog. Just think of me as a guest blogger, filling in. I love you, sweetheart. See you soon!

June 3 - Hampton, TN to Wasuaga Lake Shelter

The laundromat was closed yesterday so we were not able to leave early this morning. It didn't open until 10 - Yay we get to sleep in! This laundromat is so weird. Its a computer resale, internet cafe, has mini arcade and pool tables, landry, and it sells burgers and hotdogs. The most random combination of things. Atleast it was a good cheese burger.

The hostel was very nice. We mostly had the floor all to ourselves, and that's saying something cause that place is huge!

We didn't end up getting on the trail until 2 o'clock, but we only had about 8 and a half miles. We had one big climb and the last 2 miles was spend walking around a lake.

Tomorrow is either a 14 mile or a 22 mile day. We will see what happens.

June 2 - Laurel Fork Shelter to Hampton, TN

Up and on the trail by 7! Town food seems to be a good motivator. Hiked a mile down the AT and then a mile down a side trail to town. Of course the side trail was not marked properly and instead of taking the right fork in the trail that went around a mud pit, we took the left ended up having to go strait through it. I fell down. Oh well, it's part of it.

We are staying in the Braemar Castle Hostel tonight. It's nice. And the owner has an adorable puppy that looks like a wolf! So cute!

So due to the fact that the only restaurants are on the other side of town, what was supposed to be a short mileage day probably ended up being around 8 miles. Haha. And there are no sidewalks in this town.

June 1 - Mountaineer Shelter to Laurel Fork Shelter

The renewed Do-Re-Mi in the trail journal is hilarious! Quite clever!

Yes, that is a bench on the trail. No we are nowhere near a road. Haha

Today wasn't hard climbing wise, but it was long, 18 miles.

The last bit of trail to the falls started off great, wide and flat because it is a popular trail. Then it turned into a big rock pile. Literally. It took me forever to get to the bottom of it. Laurel Falls was gorgeous though!

From the falls to the shelter was fun, we walked right on the edge of the river!

Mac n Cheese for dinner again! I didn't spill the noodles this time! Whoop! Whoop!

May 31 - Overmountain Shelter to Mountaineer Shelter

Yay pictures!

All the pictures of the mountains are from this morning. Talk about a great way to start the day!

Balds are the best part of the trail and Hump and Little Hump Mountain are no exception. Climbing mountians is so much like life. You climb and you climb and most of the time your efforts are not rewarded. But sometimes you are and not only is it pretty, it's gorgeous, beautiful, breathtaking, heart stopping, awe-inspiring, mind-blowing. Every time I cannot believe I am here. I stand there with my mouth hanging open.

So after a couple of weeks of bouncing back and forth across the North Carolina/Tennessee border we are finally done with North Carolina! And soon we will be in Virginia!

We had planned on eating lunch at a restaurant half a mile down a road that crosses the trail, but we called and they were not open. But I was promised lunch! Lucky for me a mother and daughter were being picked up and gave us a ride to a pizza place 2 miles down the road. Yummmm! While we were there I was able to update my blog a bit and finally got in contact with the newspaper reporter.

Because we had 9 more miles to hike and we had already wasted too much time at the pizza place, we called for a shuttle to the trail from a nearby hostel. This saved us atleast an hour, which we needed every minute of due to our full bellies slowing us down.

The footbridge pictured below shows our 400th mile! :D

We saw 2 more snakes, which brings the count to 8 or 9. Yuck.

We arrived at the shelter as it was getting dark, but we were still full so we didn't need the light to cook anyway. This shelter was fancy, it had three levels! Will and I lucked out and got the top level, but we had to share... with a wooden carved bear!