A young couple and their adventures of hiking the Appalachian Trail
Atkins, VA to Four Pines Hostel 5/28/18 – 6/7/18
This past week or two feels like we haven’t done much more than just hike and make miles. We got our first 100 mile week in! 110.2 miles in 6 days. Our days are definitely filled up more with hiking than they used to be. Earlier in our hike we had to be careful not to overdo it and injure ourselves so we often had our miles in fairly early in the day. Now a typical day we start hiking close to 7 or 8ish in the morning and end around 6 or 7 so it’s a long day by the time we finish.
We had 3 weeks where it rained every single day so that has been challenging. Sometimes it would just be an afternoon shower where we would sit in a shelter or quick throw up the tent and wait it out. Other days it would pour and soak our clothing and shoes and sometimes it would just rain early morning and we would have to pack up a wet tent. The worst is waking up and putting on wet clothing and shoes and socks. The first few times didn’t seem too bad, especially if it was kinda warm out but it has gotten pretty old and we are so grateful for the mornings we get to put on dry clothing!
The last few weeks since we are in Virginia we have been able to increase our mileage which is really exciting! We are averaging between 17-20 mile days and have done over 20 miles a few times but much over 20 really wears us out yet. Virginia has had less mountains but sometimes the terrain can be pretty rocky so that can slow us down.
A few pictures from the last few weeks…
Lance caught a lot of fish with his fishing pole he got! We even had fish for dinner the one evening and it was so yummy!
When we were in town the one time it started pouring so we sat under this bridge for awhile.
Trail terrain…sometimes it’s a rock scramble, or a river and so muddy, and every now and then it’s nice and flat!
Nest with eggs in we saw along the trail
Love these cute little salamanders that come out after it’s rained.
Dragon’s Tooth
Mile 700!
After hiking so many big miles and long days our feet hurt and we are feeling a little wore out. I like to schedule our days out and exactly how many miles we will do and when my feet and body don’t agree it can be so frustrating. I have to keep reminding myself to listen to my body and not overdo it and to just enjoy it instead of stressing about getting enough miles in. After coming down the mountain from Dragon’s Tooth we just decided to stay at Four Pines Hostel for the night. We had such a good time just getting off the trail for a bit to relax. We ate good food, played some cornhole, and enjoyed hanging out with the other hikers here.
The hostel is someone’s garage that they just put bunk beds in and made into a place hikers can stay. The sofas were SO comfy! After sitting on wooden logs all the time this is just amazing!
Playing cornhole
So good to have clean laundry!
We plan to try and hike out today. We had such a good time here and our feet are feeling better and as good as it is to take a little time off, it doesn’t take long till we are ready to get out and hike again!
-Marlisa
Sounds like your hike is going well. Our offer is still on to meet up with you when you get into our area – if you’ll have us amateurs, we’d love to do a few miles with you, bring you to our house for showers, a bed, and some home-cooked food.