Shakedown Trip #2 – Complete

Complete? Really??? After 8 weeks – I certainly hope so! Shakedown Trip #2 was a complete success and I am here to finally give you a summary of the trip (And pictures, of course). Before that, I have to say that I feel super good about this trip. Considering how Shakedown #1 turned out, almost anything, short of falling off the mountain, would have been an improvement.

Having a hiking partner was a huge plus. That is not a luxury I can count on for my thru-hike next year, but for these training trips it is a huge help. The comradery with a partner helps in so many ways. There is conversation along the trail, a shared sense of accomplishment at the end of the day, a respect for each others strengths and weaknesses, and an overall shared sense of “wow! we’re actually out here and doing this!” Oh, and one last thing – it totally eliminates the possibility of a bad selfie. (more on this below) It doesn’t eliminate the possibility of a bad photo – maybe the subject just looks like an idiot by nature. But at least the idiot isn’t taking a picture of himself!!!

Here is a recap of this trip…

Day 1: Friday, June 20th, 2014

Danny drove out to my house for the rendezvous. We transferred all gear to my car and headed out on a 4 hour drive to our departure point. In an attempt at genius, I loaded up a small cooler with ice and bottled water. The intent was to have some ice-cold water when we got back to the car on Sunday afternoon. I had no idea if the ice would actually keep over the weekend, but the cooler was left in the trunk to maximize chances of success.

After our drive, we arrived at the Punchbowl parking area on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Here are some photos of myself and Danny prior to our departure.

Departing from the parking area, we had a relatively short hike to Punchbowl Shelter. It was only 0.7 miles, but an 800 foot ascent -which went surprisingly easy and fast. On arrival – we scouted the shelter area for suitable tenting sites. The area had a moderate slope – so it was a matter of finding a spot that was as close to level as possible. We finally decided upon a spot and set up our tents. Below is a photo – my tent is on the right, Danny’s on the left. And there’s Danny saying “hi!” to everyone!

Notice that Danny’s tent looks just fine. It might not have been that way had I not brought my new trusty swiss army knife! While Danny set his tent up, he informed me he didn’t have enough tent stakes. Kelly saved the day – I located a couple sticks of approximate stake-like length and proceeded to use my swiss army knife to create a sharp point on each one. As substitute tent stakes, they worked beautifully. Just call me MacGyver.

For our surroundings… Here is a photos of the Punchbowl Shelter itself… Note someone down there!

And this is a photo of the pond. I guess this is the actual Punchbowl itself. Did someone bring punch? If so, I never found it! Joking aside, this would be our source for water in the morning.

Shortly after setup, under threat of rain, we cooked dinner. Danny had some Tuna-in-a-pouch wrapped up in fajita-style wraps. I had a Mountain House freeze-dried meal of the Mac-n-Cheese variety. When rain came upon us, we quickly threw everything in our tents, save ourselves and food, then headed over to the shelter to get out of the rain.

There we visited with the four other hikers who were dwelling within the shelter that evening. Two were on a 2 week section hike – a couple. Another was on a Northbound thru-hike, and the last was on a Southbound thru-hike. The lone North-bounder told tales of all the hostels and restaurants one should visit (and avoid) towards the south. He even began quizzing the South-bounder to make certain the given info would be remembered.

After some further conversation, the rain finally subsided. By 9pm-ish, it was time to retreat to our tents and go to sleep.

Day 2: Saturday, June 21st, 2014 – Summer Solstice

It was a tough night’s sleep. The rain came and went in sheets, accompanied by occasional thunder and lightening. During times of no rain, the wind was still quite active – creating all kinds of weird sounds. Those sounds were nothing more than leaves rustling, or water droplets falling to the ground or impacting the tent. But out in the woods, with nothing but a tent separating you from the outside, it is near impossible to not wonder: “What was that?” “Did you hear that???”

Any time sleep would ensue, it would shortly be interrupted by one of the above-mentioned random noises. Each awaking would result in a “What was that?” question followed immediately by a “Is it morning YET???” question. Finally at the 5:30am wakeup, I made the decision that the answer (finally) was, “Yes.”

So, out of the tent to begin making coffee and eating breakfast. Following that coffee, nature called – thank goodness for these privies (outhouses) at the shelters! At some point in the future, it will be necessary to answer nature’s call when a privy is NOT present. In those cases, one simply digs a trench and then… well… you figure out the rest.

Moving right along… We had to replenish our water supply. At Punchbowl Shelter, the only water source is a drainage pipe from the pond. Although we were a little squeamish about using pond water, (ewwwwww!!!!!!) the Saywer Squeeze water filter worked wonders. The filtered water had just a slight discoloration, but the water tasted like… well… water!

While gathering and packing gear, the South-bounder from the shelter came by our site on his way out. We chatted for a few minutes and learned about the purpose of his hike and his trail name – “Mountain Man Mike.” His best friend had passed away a few years ago, and it was always their shared dream to thru-hike the A.T. one day. So in 2013, Mountain Man Mike began the journey in memory of his friend – starting at Mt Katahdin and heading south. He made it as far as Pennsylvania, but had to stop. So, here in 2014, he came back out to finish what he started. Pretty cool story.

After seeing Mountain Man Mike off, by 9:00am, we had all our gear packed and were ready to hike. I swear – this morning routine of nature-call, eating, packing and getting ready is still a challenge for me. I’ve got to increase efficiency in this area somehow. Three and a half hours from wake-up to hiking-ready is simply unacceptable. (A nameless friend of mine would simply say, “Stop Willying around!!!”) Here are some photos after we were ready, but before we left Punchbowl Shelter:

 

 

With the weather calling for rain, and with the skies looking in a agreement, I had my pack cover on and we both had rain gear ready to press into service if needed. All ready to go, we busted out of camp. First up was a “modest” 500 foot climb over a mile and a half. The immediate destination was a place called Bluff Mountain – one of the few spots along our route with a scenic view. We arrived to find this:

Not much of a view, eh? Looks like a nice mass of thick grey soup! Well, within 5 minutes of being there, the conditions altered in such a way as to present this…

…a great shot of the Shenandoah Valley in the distance with Danny and out gear in the foreground. After a short break for snacks and water, we hiked on – shortly encountering this memorial to little Ottie Cline Powell.

Seems the poor little guy wandered some 7 miles from his school house in November of 1890 and died from exposure. His body was not found until the following Spring. Here’s a shot of me standing at his memorial, where I left a commemorative rock on his memorial.

Following Bluff Mountain, we had a nice 6 mile stretch of gentle ups, downs and flats. Here’s a random shot along that stretch.

At the end of that 6 mile stretch, we took a well deserved break on a ridge called Little Rocky Row. Here, we had a snack/lunch/water break and a photo shoot. The photos are weird though – to the naked eye, it was not as hazy as the photos suggest. I’m not sure what the issue was.

Looking down into the James River Valley. From this height, the river is over 2000 feet below!

Here’s some of the rock faces that are part of the ridge we are on.

A shot of Danny as he packs up from our break.

One of my rare relatively-decent selfies!

Me, with the James River in the distance before (or below) us.

Following our fun and games on the ridge, it was time to cover the final two miles to John’s Hollow Shelter. It should be noted that these 2 final miles involved a 2000 foot descent! That’s roughly a 20% grade – for every 5 feet forward, you’re dropping a foot in elevation. That doesn’t sound like much, but my knees say otherwise. I found myself thinking, “How does one know the difference between a fatigued knee and an injured knee?” I still don’t have a satisfactory answer.

I do know this though – my hiking poles continue to be worth their weight, possibly in gold. By extending the poles’ lengths, placing them forward in the direction of travel, and holding them in the palm of your hand (instead of gripping them) – one can use them to “catch” their weight as they “run” downhill. This avoids the potential “runaway effect” of going downhill, (ie, you keep picking up speed) and also saves the knees some weight-bearing. I almost feel like I’m a four legged creature when doing downhill.

The final half mile of the day was psychologically excruciating. I knew from the maps that a stream flowed close by the shelter – and all during that final half mile, I could hear a stream close by. That prompted many, “Are we there yet?” and “We HAVE to be almost there!” type observations.

Finally at 4:00pm, we arrived at the shelter. Immediately after dismounting my gear, I took this selfie – intended to show a superior “I’m totally pooped” expression. (As if you couldn’t tell, right?)

That selfie was followed by, seconds later, a selfie that was SO BAD that I cannot even post it here. I mean, really really really bad. It’s so bad that you would want to gouge your eyes out after viewing it. However, I am considering sending it to Webster’s so they can include it in their “selfie” entry. They could caption it with, “Whatever you do, don’t let your selfie look like THIS.”

Note to self: “Stop trying to pose with your mouth open. You look like an idiot, and nobody wants to see your teeth!”

After chilling for a half hour, it was time to locate suitable tenting locations. We selected an area that is close to the stream. Our thought was that it would be nice to have the sound of rushing water to accompany sleep. The following photo shows my tent. About 10 feet behind, there is a huge drop off leading to the stream.

Here is a shot showing mine and Danny’s tent. The stream would be off to the left.

And here is a context shot showing our tents relative to the shelter. If you look closely, you might catch Danny in his tent enjoying a little afternoon lie-down.

Arriving at this shelter site was nothing short of amazing. Although arriving at one’s destination is the ultimate goal for any given day’s hike, it still feels like a major accomplishment. It gives immediate satisfaction and also provides meaning to the day’s physical suffering. As in, “I suffered through all THAT so I could be HERE.” And even though Shakedown #1 had one completely successful day, this day on Shakedown #2 was far more physically demanding.

After setting up tents, I headed down to the stream to replenish water supplies. Hearing the rushing water reminded me of a previous camping trip (non-hiking) with my brother Victor. On that trip, he was totally absorbed by the creek where we camped, going so far as to clear the creek bed of leaves that had clogged it! Thinking of Victor, I checked my cell phone to find I had a decent signal. I called him up and sang a short rendition of Pink Floyd’s song “Wish You Were Here.” He just laughed and laughed – as intended.

After that little display, I decided it would be fun to have a camp fire! I started collection up twigs and kindling material, noting that everything was very wet. Seeing as how it rained quite a bit the previous night, that made sense. So how to get that material to ignite? Simple. I had Vaseline-soaked cotton balls with me – to be used in just such a situation! With a good supply of kindling  in hand, it was necessary to locate some downed wood. The pickings were slim, to say the least. I think I found maybe 4 or 5 decent logs – two of which were sawed off a downed branch by Mr. Trusty Swiss Army Knife. (I wish that thing was self-powered)

By this time, Danny had arisen from his afternoon siesta. I explained my fire plan and he approved. So we proceeded to build said fire. My thought was that those 4 or 5 logs were enough to establish a fire. If that was successful, we could always ask Mr. Swiss Army Knife to get some more wood.

Well, it was not to be (until later) – the fire did not work out as planned. The cotton balls lit and maintained flame for a while, but it was insufficient to completely dry out and ignite the kindling – to say nothing of the logs.

As the failed fire-building attempt was happening, three hikers strolled (hiked) into the shelter area. We exchanged greetings and they proceeded to setup their tents. Shortly afterwards, they came over to the shelter after it was clear that mine and Danny’s attempt at a fire simply would not happen. We met the guys – Jason, Donovan and Paul – and learned they were from Lynchburg, VA (just a few miles away) and that they were here on a guys’ night to celebrate an engagement and a birthday!

These guys were cooking with gas – literally. Their cooking solution was an alcohol-based stove. After hearing of our failed fire building activity, Jason proceeded to soak many pieces of wood with denatured alcohol. Shortly after, lighting those up proved to be no problem at all. Fire!

As we all settled in and prepared for dinner, two other groups of hikers arrived. One was a group of 4 people consisting of 2 couples. All of them were on North-bound thru-hikes. The odd thing was that both couples were from the same state, Colorado – but did not know each other until they met on the A.T. It was great listening to their stories and watching their camping techniques which, for them, had been carefully honed after several months on the trail.

The other group that arrived was two older guys from Texas. When we asked if they were thru-hikers, they simply answered, “Nah, we’re just out here messing around.” They said they had aspirations of thru-hiking but were just out on the trail getting familiar with the area and with their gear – pretty much exactly what I was doing!

It was a great night for all involved. We enjoyed the camp fire, our dinners, each others company, some conversation – just being out there together. It’s really something to consider: So many people come on the A.T. from many different walks of life, from many different locations, people that are totally different from one another. And yet – when you meet them on the trail, there is this feeling of instant familiarity – all differences seem to vanish and you become an instant member of some nebulous community.

People retreated to their tents at various times throughout the evening. Myself and the three guys from Lynchburg were up until midnight – when nature herself decided it was time to call it a night. She decided to rain.

And just like that, the four of us turned in for the evening.

Day 3: Sunday, June 22nd, 2014

Overnight was another rough night’s sleep – mostly for the same reason as the previous night. We had serious downpours throughout the evening (and early morning). It’s weird though – even though my sleep was broken, it was still restful. That’s a good thing, because we needed our rest. The first hiking of the morning would be the exact opposite of the previous day’s end-game. To remind: yesterday’s finale was a 2000 foot decent over 2 miles. That meant this morning would be a 2000 foot ASCENT over 2 miles. By far, it would be my most difficult and demanding climb yet.

But before that was to happen, we had to break camp first. Below is a picture of where our tents were. You can see their footprint on the ground. Also, in the distance on the picnic table, you can see our gear – essentially packed and ready to go.

Our track record for the morning routine was not that different from the previous day. We were up by 7:00am and didn’t get on trail until 10:00am – still about 3 hours. When we left, we assumed a nice steady but slow pace ascending those 2000 feet I mentioned earlier. Here are some photos I took along that ascent.

 

 

Sometime after that photo, we finally acquired the top of the ridge. We took a break at roughly the same spot we’d taken a break the previous day. There we had some snacks, water and conversation with one of the 4 thru-hikers we’d met the night before. Oh my! We actually caught up with someone?!?! Don’t be too proud – it wouldn’t last!

Leaving the ridge line, I took several photos of the trail itself. Some of these look downright spooky due to the fogginess. One could almost imagine these as being a scene in some cheesy horror film!

 

 

 

 

Here we area approaching a well deserved break spot – Salt Log Gap.

Here is Danny, sitting on a log at Salt Log Gap. The place has clearly been used as a campsite.

And here’s Kelly. The area where I’m standing would be perfect for a tent site.

Before leaving Salt Log Gap, I shot this photo looking towards the North.

After leaving Salt Log Gap, I shot a photo looking at the trail ahead. We are now about to climb back up Bluff Mountain where little Ottie’s memorial is.

Having never taken a picture at Bluff Mountain, I took several shots headed off the mountain as we descended towards the parking area with my car.

 

 

We are almost back to my car…

 

I gave Danny the camera…

 

 

Here,  we are literally hundreds of feet from the parking area. The photo below contains Danny. It kind of reminds me of those “Where’s Waldo?” pictures.

 

And finally out of the woods…

 

 

 

This trip was a complete success by every measure. (Get that morning packing routine dialed in!)

Oh – and in that trunk was a cooler that contained, not ice, but some VERY COLD water with some water bottles in it. In short, my attempt at genius was a success – we had ice cold water!

 

Wandering on…

Kelly