The First Few Days

Hello Readers,

I am writing to you from the Waynesboro, VA Public Library! Let me tell you some stories.

A few days before the hike:
As some of you may know, I needed to pack all my things and move from my home in Sunderland leaving me officially homeless today. Moving sucks! As soon as my bed was packed away, I ended up making a little place for myself in the corner with all my soft items. It was actually comfortble, believe it or not. It was certainly more comfortable than just having the mattress on the floor (which might be a good indication that it's time to get a new mattress). I have to thank my parents for letting me store most of my crap in my old room. Also to CJ, my now former housemate, Hannah's parents, and my grandparents for also letting me put various items, both small and large in their houses for storage.

On the last day at home, there was so much to do. The final boxes were packed and the empty rooms showed more dust that I thought possible. Hannah helped me with the cleaning, which was a huge help. In the afternoon, I dropped my car off at my parents and they gave me a ride back to my big empty house. I sat on the deck taking a final look at the Mount Toby range. The sun was beginning to set. The fields glowed yellow, and the hills were a deep shade of blue. This was always my favorite time of the day here. The deck was on the east side, so it was in the shade while the sun illuminated everything else. Here I waited for Hannah to pick me. When she arrived, we did a final walkthough of the house, and my eyes were getting a little moist. This was my "paramedic house." I graduated college just before I moved in, and contemplated being a paramedic when I first got there. I enrolled, took all my lectures, did my clinical and field rotations while living there. My official certification marked my final days. I will miss so many things about it, but as they say - onto bigger and better things.

Leaving Massachusetts:
The Appalachian Trail Conservancy publishes a lits of AT Shuttles - volunteers along the length of the trail that will bring hikers from transportation hubs to the nearest trail head. Contacting multiple people did not work out for us, as they all seemed to be uninterested in providing any type of shuttle service...
There was hope, however. Using her biology connections, Hannah was able to get in contact with a family friend who has a sister who lives in central Virginia (conveniently) a short distance from the trail. She volunteered to meet us at the bus station, take us to her home, and drive us to the trail the next day! The only thing in our way was getting to centrail Virginia.
We knew we couldn't easily take a plane. With the items we needed to take (poles with sharp points, knives, preesurized fuel, lighters and matches, pepper spray, and more than 4oz of water...) we would have immediately been considered terrorists. The train sounded nice but was super expensive (plane was cheaper), and the bus sounded the least fun. As it turned out, the train technically went faster, but had longer layovers in NYC and DC. The bus went to the same places and, in the end, got to the Charlottesville station (our destination) at the exact same time. Greyhound was offering a 50% off companion fare so the trip was super cheap. However, when we were finally able to reserve the tickets, the companion fare conveniently disappeared. C'est la vie.

Last Minute Shopping:
What's the best thing to do when you are moving and soon leaving on a long trip? Go to Maine! Hannah called me quite energetically on Saturday morning and asked if I wanted to go to the beach (Hampton) and then to L.L. Bean so she could get a new pack (hers ripped in the front on our first trip). I never refuse such proposals, so we left about noon. I was a beautiful, sunny, hot, humid day...in western Massachusetts. In New Hampshire, it was sixty degrees, cloudy, and super cloudy/misty at the water. We browsed the boardwalk briefly, walked the beach despite the weather, and had lunch before moving on to Maine. Apparently, L.L. Bean has a summer concert series. That night there was a jazz band that I didn't recognize (I'm not sophisticated enough to appreciate jazz...) but such names as Patty Loveless, Blues Traveler, Dar Williams, and The Wallflowers will all be playing free concerts over the summer in case you're interested. You can read about Hannah's new pack below.

The Bus:
Our bus in Springfield was late. Four bus loads of people arrived for our one bus from New York to DC so were we late. We were supposed to have an hour and five minutes in DC before the next bus, but we arrived just five minutes before that bus left...so we still couldn't have any food. We packed snacks, but still, it was a long day of crying children and frustrated adults. I personally don't like traveling by bus... However, we arrived in Charlottesville and were greeted by Linda, our host who took us to the grocery store, and then to her house to stay with her husband Lincoln, and two massive but friendly German Shepards. They have such a nice house set way back in the woods (with a 1.3 mile driveway that includes fording a stream). They fed us that night and awoke early to make us a huge breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, bagels, watermelon, and they even picked raspberries for us. We are so grateful to them for not only getting us to the trail, but for taking such good care of us!!

The First Day:
Linda drove us to Reed's Gap, took some pictures, and sent us on our way. The terrain was rockier than I imagined, but generally flat. We met one hiker right away, but he pushed on ahead of us and we never saw him again. We began our ascent of Humpback Mountain and attained an elevation of 3,600 feet. Just off the summit, there were two deer that ran across the trail just in front of me. A few miles later, we were descending more than 1,000 feet into a valley via switchbacks. I was several hundred feet in front of Hannah at this point. I came around the corner, and found a black bear not thirty feet away. It looked up, and immediately ran away. I've always hiked with the fear of bears, but for some reason, I was very calm when I saw the bear. Actually, I was awestruck. It was quite an amazing, powerful creature. Plus, it was doing the best thing--running away from me. 100 yards down the trail, we saw another, larger bear a few hundred feet away. This one also went away from us. It's nice to hear people say that is what bears will do. It's another, way better thing when that's, in fact, what they really do. We walked another 1.5 miles to the Paul C. Wolfe shelter, and set up our camp

Since my time on the computer is about to expire, I will have to end this way. Please forgive my typos.


to be continued