First, I want to thank everyone for their thoughtful comments on the Day 1 and Day 2 posts. The response here has been almost overwhelming – in a good way! The primary purpose of this blog was always to serve as a journal of my efforts towards, and including, hiking the A.T. next year . Having readers, feedback and interaction here is cool beyond measure – thank you all so much! Before I get into the day’s events, I wanted to add a few gear-related positives that were neglected from Day 2’s post.
Hiking Shoes: I have hit a home run with my hiking shoes. In the past, I have always preferred full hiking boots. It always seemed to me that hiking boots had better ankle support. When I spoke to the co-owner of my local outfitter, he suggested trail runners instead of hiking boots. Being skeptical, I asked about the ankle support issue. He informed me that in tricky rock-walking situations, hiking boots actually restrict your maneuverability. The boots tend to “lock your ankles.” Trail runners allow more movement in the ankles, so there’s a better chance of recovering from a badly placed step. There were other positives too, such as improved breath-ability. I decided to roll the dice and give them a try. It took a lot of trying on different pairs, but I eventually found the right fit and comfort. I could not be more pleased with my choice. These bad boys are so good – I did not get a single blister or hotspot this entire trip!
Clothing: I have never owned quality outdoor clothing before, always having used cotton based clothes like jeans and t-shirts. Cotton is considered bad news for hikers. It doesn’t have wicking properties (moves moisture from inside to outside so it evaporates), and when it does get wet, it stays wet for a long time. All my hiking and camping clothes are now polyester based, and they are amazing. On my climbs, while sweating like a pig, my shirt would get soaked. During periods of downhills or flat, which are less exerting, the clothes would actually dry out. Amazing!
Body Glide: This stuff is an anti-chafing ointment. It comes in the same packaging as a deodorant stick does. You apply it to areas that are subject to chafing, and it acts as a lubricant to prevent sweaty skin from becoming irritated into a painful rash. Verdict? Total score. Not a single instance of chafing on the treated areas.
Not gear related, but I neglected to mention how much I enjoyed the social aspect – interacting with other hikers. A large part of hiking the A.T. is the social interaction of meeting new and different people while on trail. People from all walks of like attempt the A.T. but they are all driven by this desire to thru hike. It is a common bond that unites otherwise vastly different personalities. I had hoped to enjoy such interaction, but was not sure it would happen since I saw no one on trail for most of Day 1. Arriving at the shelter to find others present and to interact with them that night was awesome. Having a friend in “Trail Lite” was even more awesome. I am so happy I was able to enjoy just a little bit of the A.T.’s social experience.
So, this morning I awoke at 7:40am. Even though I was in the cabin, I adhered to my previous day’s activities. I got my stove, took it outside and made some coffee. I also brought my breakfast and ate it while waiting for the coffee to cool to a drinkable temperature. Following some coffee, I returned to my Day 2 blog post and finished it – which by now you’ve read.
I knew what had to happen long term – Day 2’s post addressed that. But here and now, I needed the short term plan for the remainder of the week. I was determined to not leave the SNP on a low point, so I had to develop some plan with which to end on. An “encore” trip, so to speak. I had lots of potential ideas. One of them was to find an A.T. road crossing that was located 7-8 miles from a shelter. I could then do an out-and-back style trip. There were only a few locations that met that criteria in the park, and they all involved elevation changes I didn’t feel ready for based on the experience of Day 1 and Day2.
I finally decided on a day hike up Bearfence Mountain with my fully loaded pack. That particular climb is about 300 feet total and involves lots of rock scrambles which I’ve never really attempted before. Doing some rock scrambles with a fully loaded pack seemed like an excellent training exercise, it was a way for me to end on a high point and the top of Bearfence Mountain sports one of the few locations in SNP with a full 360 degree panoramic views of the valley floors and mountains in the distance. Also, hiking Bearfence Mountain would, in a small way, provide closure to an otherwise trashed itinerary for this trip – which would have had me ending the hike on Bearfence Mountain on Day 5.
After making this decision, I visited with Jim and Danny for a while and had lunch with them. Jim tried to convince me to return to the cabin after the hike and to take more day hikes on Thurs and Fri. Although that did make some sense, I had already decided that I was ready to bring closure to this outing, return home and develop my longer-term forward plan. So, it was time for me to pack up and head out.
Jim and Danny have been excellent hosts and were very kind to allow me to stay with them during this trip. My sincerest “thank you” to them both. I really enjoyed their company on the days I was at the cabin. Here is a nice parting shot of them before I headed out. Danny was nice enough to carry the cooler and blue bag so that I could use my trekking poles for the hike out. Thanks Danny!
My bidding Jim and his son Danny farewell
I hiked the 0.4 miles from the cabin to the parking area containing my car. I hiked it with excitement, anticipation and a sense of purpose to bring some kind of closure to this outing. What follows will be a lot of photos of my day hike up Bearfence Mountain. I will try to let the captions speak for themselves, but will provide some narrative when the caption doesn’t do it justice. Additionally, if you haven’t noticed yet, photos that are in these blog posts are simply large thumbnails. If you click the pictures, you get the FULL resolution version. I encourage you to enjoy them in their full splendor. Finally, you can tell from these photos that the mountain range was completely enshrouded by clouds on this day. I was hoping that by some chance happenstance, that there would be a clearing in the clouds when I reached the top… Read on to see if that happened!
Here is me. I still don’t have the knack of producing the intended expression when doing selfies. I think some mirror practice might be in order. (Hopefully the mirror can stand the abuse!) This kind of looks like I’m dreading the hike – but in reality I was completely ready for it.
Me. Prepared for my day hike up Bearfence Mountain
From parking area looking at the Beafence Mountain trailhead
A series of log steps heading up the trail
Intersection of Bearfence Mountain trail with the A.T. To the left is looking back to what I just climbed. To the right is northbound on the A.T.
Looking onward towards the first small rock scramble.
Here’s another issue with selfies – I’m trying to convey both a sense of “yes I did it!” and also, “damn, that was harder than it looked!”
What a weird expression! That first rock scramble was harder than I thought!
Next rock scramble. This picture does not do the vertical scale justice. The blue blaze in the background is 6-8 feet higher than the one in the foreground.
Maybe I should do all my selfies this way – it totally avoids the “capturing accurate facial expressions” issue.
An attempted at a side selfie! Normally this would be a beautiful view into the Shenandoah Valley. But clouds conspired to make it look like grey soup!
Not much of a climb here, but walking over those jagged rocks is tricky business. Once false step, and it’s roll time for the ankles!
Without a doubt, the hardest scramble so far. The top of this thing was 20-30 ft above the rest.
There were not a lot of options for this one. You just have to figure it out as you go.
Yep – you guessed it – more facial expression issues. I was trying to convey how difficult the previous scramble was but also that I was glad I made it. The photo above just doesn’t do justice to the actual conditions. That was a seriously hard foot and hand climb. One loss of grip, and you’re going down into that crevice that is hard to make out in the photo.
Me, after climbing the previous scramble. Get that finger out of the way, you’re blocking part of my hat!
This is the final blue blaze leading to the summit! Even though this was not steep, it was still a hands a feet maneuver. No point in risking a bad step and falling off the mountain. (Bond fans: “Think twice, 007, it’s a long way down.”)
Me, at the summit – looking out into the grey soup.
There, I think this was a successful selfie. I was super excited to have made it all the way to the top. As the caption below states, I was a little nervous about the decent. Climbing back down is a totally different animal than climbing up. It involves a lot of crouching, holding on with hands, while you look for footing.
Yay, I made it! Now, how the hell do I get DOWN this thing???
The following is looking down – from the summit. It’s hard to get a sense of vertical scale here – as is any picture for that matter! Maybe I should be doing 3-D photos in the future.
It’s hard to see, but this is looking DOWN. Understand the remark in the previous photo?
No more photos of the decent. Here I am heading back to my car. It is so clouded-in that you can barely see it.
On my drive back home. Tried to get a sense for how thick the clouds were on the mountain.
So with that day hike complete, I consider this shakedown trip to be complete. I will now transition out of “trip mode” and into long term planning that will focus on fitness, a future weekend trip and a few gear refinements. When I was amassing my collection of gear, I was shooting for a 15 pound base weight. (Base weight refers to all non-consumable gear – basically everything except food and worn clothing) What I ended up with was 22 pounds base weight. When food was added, I was up to 32 pounds. That weight is certainly doable, but I can do better. The effort will make for a good series of posts.
In closing, I can’t thank all of you – my readers – enough for your interest, feedback and interaction. Both this trip, and the activity here have been a seriously rewarding experience.
Wandering On…
Kelly
I am glad you continued to do some small hikes. Keep up the good work you have started. Get a friend to join you for your next outing. You may also be able to join up with a scout troop that does weekend training hikes to get in shape to go to Philmont. Remember to continue your workout in the gym over the winter months. I look forward to your next blog.
Thanks for sharing! I feel as though I was with you the whole way. Alan Lakein said “Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.” That sounds like your plan! Great job! All the best.
Thanks Christine. That reminds me of another quote from Eisenhower. He said that, “Plans are useless. But planning is everything. ” My takeaway is that going through the motions of making a plan are more important than the plan itself.
I actually visited bearfence the next day, walked down to bearfence shelter to check it out. It was still socked in with clouds so that was a bummer.
Well your adventure sound a lot like my first adventure on the AT. I did not know how out of shape I was until after the first couple of miles. I started walking through the neighborhood with bricks in my pack after I got home to get me ready for the next hike. I was not going to let those young Boy Scouts see me like that again.
My wife and I did False Cape camping as a shake down before the next Scout trip and I was much better prepared. As time passed I got pretty good and learned what I really needed to carry as well. Buying good gear/clothing and better meal planning really helped.
keep at it you’ll be fine.