Lambert Meadow Shelter to US 220

September 28, 2014 – Sunday

Good morning! I must say that I had the best night’s sleep ever on the trail. I only woke up one time in the middle of the night, and that was a bladder notification alarm that went off. Fortunately, the fluid levels were not super-critical so I was able to resume sleeping until I woke at 7:30am. Upon wakening, there were two immediate items requiring attention. First, jettison that liquid waste. Second, get some water! I woke up pretty parched, as I had run out of water around the campfire the previous night and was too lazy to collect more water at that time. I deferred the task until the morning – which was now.

Actually, that may explain the relative lack of needing to pee in the middle of the night. Note to self: Perhaps I need to establish a standard time before bed, beyond which, no fluids are taken.

I was not in a super rush this morning; I gave myself a “no later than” departure time of 11:00am. With Jennifer picking me up at 4:00pm – I had reckoned that 5 hours would be plenty of time to hike 9.1 miles of relatively easy terrain. (That is, relative to yesterday’s terrain) So, I took my sweet old time getting ready this morning.

Here’s a somewhat fancy photo of the picnic table with my tent in the distance. The rain-fly of my tent is pulled open so the tent will air out before I pack it. In the foreground, you can see my just-filled water bottles. What it doesn’t show is that one of them is almost empty already! Didn’t I mention that I was thirsty?

So, I set about my lazy morning. I ate yet another exciting breakfast consisting of the usual breakfast bars accompanied by some coffee. All the while, several groups were ready to leave. I bid each of them well and wished them a good journey. I returned to the tent and packed my sleeping pad and sleeping bag, then stowed them in my backpack.

I was nearly ready to leave – just a few remaining items to tend. First up was to replenish my water supply. Just in the morning alone, I’d consumed nearly 1.5 liters of water. Second was to pack up and stow my tent. There was plenty of condensation both inside and outside the tent. I did my best to wipe it down, but it was hopeless. The only thing to do was pack it wet, then let it air dry at home. Finally, a visit to the privy was in order. This privy was weird – it was three-sided only! I guess it was kind of cool that you can see the woods in front of you while you’re doing your business – but that means others that are in those woods can see you too!

Finally ready to leave, here are a few shots prior to departure.

 

 

 

The stills were taken, the backpack was hoisted and mounted and I was leaving. Time for the day’s first video – leaving the shelter. The video shows that it was not immediately obvious which way the trail went. I didn’t know it at the time, but this was a classic case of foreshadowing – considering how the rest of the day turned out.

It was odd that I had difficulty in finding the trail, since I had actually hiked this section the previous evening while investigating potential tenting sites. Anyway, after I finally found the trail, I made quick work down to Lambert Meadow Campsite. Once there, I took a video of the campsite area and noted the fact I’d already been there the previous night.

This really was a great camping site. There were plenty of flat areas perfect for tenting, several established fire rings, close proximity to the stream and even a picnic table! Had others been here last night, I may well have chosen to stay here. Before continuing down the trail, I took a few stills of the area.

 

Only 5 minutes after leaving the campsite area, I encountered this rock outcrop pictured below. How cool is that! It served as a reminder that I’d love to have some Geology knowledge for my thru-hike. The Appalachian mountains are among the oldest, if not the oldest, mountain chains on the entire planet. Just look at those layers! There’s definitely a story in those layers. If only I could talk about them…

During this portion of the hike, I had thoughts about competition. Rationally, I know that each hiker has their own abilities and endurance tolerance, but it is still easy to try and gauge yourself against those other hikers. In the end, though, one is really only competing against themselves and their own expectations. I suppose one could think, as I often have, “why compete at all?” The answer is simple: Competition is one of those Universal Truths – engrained in the very hearth of existence. Nascent stars compete for the matter in their stellar nursery. Bacteria and unicellular organisms compete for the raw molecular material in their immediate environment. Plants compete for the sunlight. Mammals compete for the resources of the land they occupy. Recently, in the past few thousand years, Nation States compete for the natural resources of our home planet. Within those Nation States, companies compete for market dominance. Again, competition seems to be a feature of existence itself.

But out here on the trail, I am only competing with me. It’s tempting to think, “I’m not going as fast as <insert hiker name>” But that’s really useless. I have my own expectation of myself. Right now, that expectation is hiking between 8 and 10 miles per day. I’ve proven I can do that, as my shakedown hikes have shown. (Excepting Trip #1 of course)

So, while competing with myself, I felt like I was making super progress.The trail guide showed that, after leaving the shelter site, I’d eventually by hiking along a ridge with awesome views looking towards the North. Several times I would pass areas that offered a view into the valley – but it would be obscured by trees. Not knowing what lay ahead, I decided to film and photograph these areas.

So, at 11:36am, just 20 minutes after that rock outcrop photo, we have an extremely strained view through the trees. It also showcases a delusion… In the video, I suggest I’ve come a total of three miles so far. In only 36 minutes??? Get real dude – at best you’ve maybe come 2 miles, and that’s being beyond optimistic.

So, only a short 5 minutes later, the view opens up a bit. Still a few trees in the way, but here’s a video.

And here are the obligatory handful of stills. I tried to frame these shots so the trees didn’t interfere with the view. Yeah – kind of hit and miss!

 

Finally, a few minutes after the above photos and videos, the view completely opened up – totally unhindered by trees. Here is the proof!

Haha… From the video above, there’s another instance of foreshadowing – there are a couple “birds of prey” that are visible in the distance. Later on, there are some “birds of prey” that are much closer. But for now, here are a few stills from this vantage point.

 

 

Departing the overlook I was walking walking walking… Was I supposed to be doing something else? Anyway – 40 minutes later, at 12:22pm, here’s a picture which – well, I’m not sure what it was – but it’s in the general direction of McAfee Knob. Just to the left of center, somewhat hidden by that tree, there’s a ridge leading to a high point. I think that might be McAfee Knob.

I mentioned before that I was hiking along a ridge. This ridge has views on the left side (to the North) which we’ve already seen above. But so far in the day, somewhat more elusive, were views on the right side (to the South) looking towards Carvins Cove Reservoir. I finally arrived at a spot showing the view to the South. Visible in the video below, is the reservoir itself. Also, we have some more delusional narration that I had covered 4-5 miles already. I’d only been hiking for 1 hour, 50 minutes and much of that had been spent on photography and videography. There was no way I was 5 miles into the day’s hike. But I didn’t know that yet!

So, at 1:10pm, I arrived at a potential spot for my first break, and a well needed lunch. There was a group of three southbound hikers here. After some short introductory chit-chat, I took a short hike down a blue blazed trail which led to a view worthy of photography.

 

 

 

Here is a great video from this overlook.

Afterwards, I returned to the break spot where the southbounders were having their own break. I engaged in some conversation with them, while having some lunch for myself. The three of them had each started out alone, but met up with one another along their hike and had formed a team. That’s exactly what I’m hoping for on my own thru-hike next year!

I told them of my own thru-hike plans for 2015, and they pleaded their case that I should consider a southbound hike. I told them that I had considered the southbound experience, but decided northbound for three main reasons: 1. I want the social experience of the A.T. – 9 out of 10 thru-hikers go northbound. In contrast, the 1 out of 10 southbounder hikers are generally looking for a more solitary experience. 2. Mount Katahdin – the view from this mountain is so epic that it serves as a perfect finale to a hike. I cannot imagine starting my hike with the best view on the A.T. – only to have every other view pale by comparison. 3. My personal level of fitness – the Maine and New Hampshire sections of the trail up north are far more demanding than the Georgia and North Carolina sections of the trail. I want to work my way up to those challenges instead of attacking them right out of the gate.

For all my reasons, they discarded all but one. They could understand saving Mt. Katahdin as a finale. But even so, they still suggested I should change my mind! I get the impression that southbounders have an elite sense of themselves, and rightfully so! The southbound experience is unique among thru-hikers. There is nothing wrong with that, and they have my highest level of respect! But, it is simply not an experience I want at this point. Perhaps, if a second thru-hike were to happen for me, I would consider the southbound experience. But next year, in 2015, I am firmly committed to hiking northbound.

All the while, they had some cool music playing thru a lightweight portable speaker. The sound quality was really good, and I was asking about the music we were listening to. One of the guys told me that, in his opinion, having music on the trail was essential. Being the fan of music that I am, I am forced to agree. I don’t see myself listening to music all of the time, but it would be nice to have as an option. I can imagine days that have mental lows – having some music could provide a boost.

While eating beef/bacon jerky and some trail mix, I was asking these guys how far they’d come and where they started from. They indicated they’d come about 7 miles and had started from US 220 in Daleville. Oddly enough, that was exactly where I was headed for the day – my end point. But something didn’t quite square. I had reckoned I was near 5 miles into my day’s 9.4 mile hike. Mentally, I was over half-way done. Some quick trail guide work on their part and mine showed that, in reality, I was only 3 miles into my hike for the day.

So I still had about 6+ miles to hike and it was already 1:30pm by this point! My “I’m-going-so-fast” demeanor was quickly put in check. What a bummer – I felt like I’d been making such good time so far, only to find out that I had covered only 3 miles in 2 hours. That’s an average of 1.5 miles per hour. At that pace, with 6 miles remaining, it would require 4 more hours of hiking – giving me a 5:30pm arrival time. Being that I’d told Jennifer I would be at the pickup spot at 4:00pm, meant I was working with a 1.5 hour deficit. Bottom line realization: I had to get the hell out of there and start making some serious progress!

A.T. hikers frequently rely on other hikers to share information about the conditions on the trail ahead. Being that most water sources were dry, I felt it necessary to provide these guys with a water report. At least there was *some* water. It was not as frequent as the trail guide suggested, so I let them know where the only two good sources could be found. They thanked me for the water report and we parted ways.

Finally heading down the trail – I as attacking it with reckless abandon. I had a lot of time to make up and according to the trail guide’s profile, this region had very small elevation changes. As such, I was charging ahead at a pace I normally wouldn’t. I knew that I was spending energy faster than I should, but I did not want Jennifer to be waiting for me.

After hiking for some 30 minutes, at the time of 2:10pm in the afternoon, I came upon a really cool rock feature which demanded some photographs. Without further delay, here they are!

 

 

Only a scant 10 minutes later, I came upon one hell of a feature – called Hay Rock. Here is a photo!

At 2:30pm, I arrived at an area deserving of a video, shown below. I love these panarama style videos – they really provide an organic look at the view. Almost as if one were there looking at it and filming the experience. Uhhh… yeah. Ummm, hey Kel, you were there filming it! While I was having fun filming, I had no idea that I was disturbing something in a bush near me!!!

Everything was all nice and calm, no sign of trouble at all. I took the following obligatory still looking down towards the reservoir, completely oblivious to what was about to happen next.

After taking that photo above, I returned to the trail (only 10 feet away) and grabbed my trekking poles to continue hiking. While doing this, I noticed a rustling noise in a bush to my right. It seemed relatively loud, and was totally unexpected. This was confusing because I had had been at this location for several minutes and not heard a damn thing! I concluded that some sort of animal was in that bush, that it had been there the whole time, and that I was only now noticing it.

That rustling noise startled me and I quickly turned to my right to investigate. Unfortunately, the nature of the trail here was loose pebble sized rocks. The rapid turning action caused a loss of footing. I felt myself begin to fall and so I attempted to use my trekking poles to break the fall. The attempt was only partially successful. I went down, but in a soft-ish kind of way.

Regardless of how “soft” the fall was, I had actually fallen! This was not a surprise and, ultimately, it was expected. See – based on prior reading, I’ve learned that a thru hike consists of about 5 million steps. So – even if one is 99.99% accurate with their footing, that still equates to 500 “bad steps.” I had just experienced my first “bad step!”

After the fall, while sitting on my rump, I surveyed the damage. There were two immediate casualties. The first was the outside side of my right knee, a minor scrap. The second was my trekking poles! In my attempt to break the fall, I ended up bending one of my trekking poles. About halfway down its length, there now was an angle that measured perhaps 5 to 10 degrees.

So, I’m on the ground following my first fall on the A.T. Being startled by something in the bush would cause most people to leave immediately, right? Well – not me. I was so taken by the experience of the fall itself that I temporarily forgot that some creature in a bush caused the whole thing!!! My first thoughts were, “I’ve got to video this! My first fall on the A.T.”

So, that’s exactly what I did. I grabbed my phone and shot the video below. For any readers that don’t watch my videos, you’ve got to make an exception for this one.

Here’s a summary for those that are unable to watch. The video starts with me talking about being on the ground. I had planned on talking about the inevitability of a fall on the A.T. But shortly after the video starts, there is yet another startling noise from above which causes me to stop speaking mid-sentence. I then pan the phone upward to see where the sound was coming from. In the trees above me, there are these huge buzzards perched upon the limbs of a tree!!! Some seconds later, I remark that I need “to get the hell out of here before these buzzards…” And then the video stops. What I wanted to say was, “…before these buzzards come and carry me off!” In the video, you can see why I stopped it. There was a different buzzard that soared in only a few feet above me. I am convinced they were all “sizing me up for a meal.”

I quickly got back on my feet and I was out of there. Walking quickly, I occasionally glanced back to see if any buzzards were in pursuit! None of them were giving chase, which was good news. I kept happily hiking away.

Nearly 30 minutes later, I took the following photo. Here, the trail goes up a small rock ledge and down the other side. It certainly looks nice here, right? Well, very soon afterwards, these sort of up-over-and-down maneuvers would conspire in such a way as to really start pissing me off!

10 minutes later, I arrived at one of the many powerline overlooks. I had been totally running on adrenaline to this point, following the buzzard encounter. I took a quick fluid break and then shot the following video. The time here is 3:05pm and no actual idea of how much further I have to go.

Here are a few obligatory stills from the powerline overlook.

 

 

During the previous 40 minutes following the buzzard incident, my mental state had been slowly deteriorating. I had been encountering sections of trail that were poorly marked. As you might know, the trail is marked by white blazes on trees and rocks. Some areas of the trail are better marked than others. In my opinion, this particular section was poorly marked. Several times, I encountered rock scrambling-type features that had no obvious white blaze markings. So, I would follow what I thought was the trail, only to find no white blazes further ahead. As such, I would then have to go back down from where I’d come and re-evaluate. This happened several times. In a different situation, this might have been amusing – a challenge even. But, not right now. My mindset revolved around a deadline. These “where is the trail?” happenings were frustrating me and eating into my projected finish time.

During this period, I took very few photos – I was simply wanting to get this hike done. Photography seemed a luxury I couldn’t afford. I was starting to not enjoy my hike anymore.

Another factor contributing to my weakened mental state was the constant ups and downs. I previously mentioned that the trail guide showed very few ups and downs. That was a mistaken conclusion because I neglected to take into account the concept of scale. In other words, the trail profile in the book may look relatively flat. But that’s only because the minor up and down variations simply don’t show up on the published profile.

I knew that the finale to the day’s hike was a nice 800 foot descent off the ridge. I’d been waiting for that descent for some time. Every time I started a descent, I would think to myself, “Oh cool, this is it!” But moments later, I would be met with another climb. I would then climb over that, another minor rock scramble, and after some distance would start another descent that felt like the “real” descent. But then it would bottom out and present yet another climb. This pattern repeated several times, and it was incredibly defeating. Having just suffered my first (minor) fall, I was really ready to be done for the day – and for this hike. Unknowingly, I had allowed myself to descend into a mental state which I did not want to inhabit.

I allowed myself to become mad at the trail. Further, I was mad because I was mad at the trail. This is a situation that Zack Davis’s book warns about. (Zack David wrote a book called “Appalachian Trials” which talks about the mental aspects of a thru-hike) Of the hikers who attempt an A.T. thru hike, 75% drop out. The 25% who finish the trail fall into two categories: 1. Those who are miserable but finish due to shear persistance. 2. Those who finish that actually enjoy the trail in spite of all its challenges. I am not someone who wants to be in that former group. As such, I had to find someway out of this mindset.

I finally found a way to bring myself out of this mess. Each time I would ascent a climb, at the very top before starting down, I would yell out into the sky, “THANK YOU SIR, CAN I HAVE ANOTHER!!!” This sounds a bit silly, but this style of dealing with it brought me out of the negative mindset, and back into enjoying the trail. And that’s what I want to do – enjoy the trail. There’s a saying I read in Appalachian Trials – it says, “If you fight the Appalachian Trail, the Appalachian Trail wins.” I tried to fight it, and I lost. I then accepted it, and I won. This was the first time I experienced this firsthand.

So – 40 minutes later, at 3:45pm I took my 2nd and final break of the day. I really needed some fluid and a snack. I also needed to send a text to Jennifer stating that I’d be a little late – I estimated a 4:30pm arrival. These were the final photos of the trip. Although 3 videos did follow these. Oh! notice the bent trekking pole!

 

 

Jennifer replied back that being late was no problem. In fact, she’d already been at the pickup spot for some time and was reading books! Here is a video of my final rest stop before leaving.

Back on the hike, it was not far before my next incident. I became aware of a pinching sensation on the back of my leg. It called for a short pause to investigate. What I observed was a Yellow Jacket on my leg and it was stinging me! I slapped the crap out of him – rendering him useless for future encounters.

I can only surmise that, in the act of hiking, my trekking poles disturbed a Yellow Jacket ground nest. In response to that disturbance, the Yellow Jacket Central Command decided to dispatch one of their best fighter pilots. That pilot was given a special mission to deliver a message to the offending disturbance. (ie, ME!) However, Central Command neglected to inform their pilot that he was on a one-way mission. He did deliver the message, but he paid for this with his life. That pilot had made the ultimate sacrifice.

While hiking 30 minutes further, the sting was very apparent. It was a weird throbbing sensation which occasionally itched. But there was simply nothing to be done. I had to endure it. At 4:18pm I came across a surprising feature- a railway crossing! Here’s a video.

And finally, the final video from the trip. This shows the transition from trail environment directly into highway environment. It’s kind of bizarre, but it’s a common occurrence along the A.T.’s length.

So that’s the end of this trip! I met with Jennifer and she drove me back to my car at Katawba parking area. We then drove tandem style to a local Italian restaurant. I had been dreaming of some good local pizza all day, and that’s exactly what we had

We were done with dinner at 7:00pm. We said our goodbyes, and I drove home. Arrival would not be had until 11:00pm. Once home, I indulged in some much needed rest and sleep.

Shortly after, I would awake at 5:00am – my alarm for going to work.

Ouch.

 

Wandering on,

Kelly