Problems with Blogspot

Ive heard from a few people that they have been having trouble commenting on the blog.  One such issue is pressing the backspace key and it freezes the webpage.  I am having similar issues also.  One issue i have is posts not publishing and everything i am writing while making a post just randomly all getting erased and i have to type the entire thing over.  I believe it is a Google issue since they operate blogspot.  One suggestion i was told to say is if you are commenting from a computer type the comment in a word document and then copy/paste the words into the comment box.  Thank you for bearing with the issues and i hope you are enjoying reading about my AT thru hike experience.

Day's 66-69: The Rest of the Shenandoah's

I have finished the Shenandoahs and am in Waynesboro, VA as I am writing this at the end of day 69.  In the Shenandoah's cell service was virtually nonexistent so I wasn't able to keep updating this blog.  I wasnt even able to get a call to go through on my sisters birthday to talk to her.  The Shenandoah's are gorgeous though and it was really an enjoyable spot.  I am adding this to my list of "come back in future list."  When i do come back I am going to drive skyline drive which is 105 miles long and goes through the park.  I will also plan on actually camping in the nice campgrounds they have rather than being a hiker like i am doing now.  I only saw 2 bears and neither let me get close enough to take a picture.  I did get about 20ft from both a 7pt and 8pt buck which was cool.  On day 66 i did 28 miles, day 67 i did 23, day 68 i did 21, and on day 69 i did 21.  The leaves have started to change to the point its becoming noticeable.  Here in Waynesboro i am going to sleep at the YMCA hiker campground area.  It's free and has a little pavilion.  The YMCA also offers thru hikers a free hot shower with soap, shampoo, and towel so I took advantage of that.  After that I walked down to the laundromat to do laundry which is where i am at right now.  After this i am going to go to Mings Buffet which is a famous Chinese buffet among thru hikers.  NOBO's have been telling me about Mings and how good it is since Maine so if it has that good of a reputation it must be good.  One issue that i am facing and will continue to face is hostels are closing for the season.  90 percent of thru hikers are NOBO's and there are so few of us SOBO's that hostels close after the northbounders are done.  The next hostel that is open still is 160 miles from here so that will be my next stop. 

Day 65: Shenandoah's Part 1

Let me begin with an interesting  story from last night.  So I was at a shelter by myself and in the middle of a crazy dream.  Its around 2am and next thing I know someone is waking me up shining one of those big super bright mag lights right in my face.  Thats the last thing i was expecting at 2am when in a shelter by myself on a rainy night is for somebody to be waking me up like that.  It scared the stew out of me coming out of that intense dream.  I sat up in the blink of an eye and was like Huh? Huh? Huh? as i looked around.  Man i haven't been that startled in a long time.  But it ended up being a game warden asking if i had seen a squirrel hunter that had gone missing on the trail yesterday in the area i had hiked through.  I hadnt but with all the rain yesterday i could definitely see somebody slipping and breaking a bone or having a medical issue.  Plus it was hypothermic conditions last night so hopefully they found him.  Poor guy.  But anyways today I did 23 miles and entered Shenandoah national park.  I already saw a bear which was cool; there are supposed to be tons of them here so maybe i will see one that lets me take its picture before it runs off.  This afternoon i hitched into Front Royal, Virginia which was easy i got a ride within 5 minutes and somebody came up to me after i got done shopping at the food lion while i was packing my backpack and offered to take me back to the trail.  Plus i ate lunch while in town at KFC and drank sweet tea.  There aint nothing like southern hospitality and sweet tea.  It sure feels good to be back in the South.  There was a park ranger hanging around the shelter earlier.  There has been a problem bear here that has ripped open 2 tents, stolen people's shoes, and walked right up to the shelter during the day while everybody is there.  So the rangers have to "haze" the young, juvenile bears when they do this.  First they blow an air horn to try and scare it, if that doesn't work they shoot it with a paintball gun, and if that doesn't work they shoot it with a 12 gauge shotgun and rubber pellets.  I want to get paid to shoot a nuisance bear with a paintball gun that would be sweet!  I would aim for its balls, i guarantee you it would never come back.  But the bear didn't show up this evening... i was hoping it would just so i could see it get shot with something.  I guess the people tomorrow night will be the lucky ones.

Day 64: September 25, 2014

Lots of rain last night and today.  It was forecasted to stop around noon but it never did.  I didn't leave the hostel until 9am trying to wait out some of the rain but i had to get moving so i hiked in the rain all day.  I did 22.8 miles today.  Good news though is the terrain was great today.  There is constant elevation change in the form of mountains and there is actually a trail rather than rocks everywhere.  Other good news is my shin splints i had had pop up again the other day didn't act up at all today which is a very good thing.  That zero paid off.  Tomorrow i enter the Shenandoah National Park which is something i have been looking forward to since before i started this trip.  Maybe the weather will clear up and i will see some nice views. 

Day 63: September 24, 2014

Today I am zeroing at Bears Den Hostel in Virginia. I am going to stay off my feet all day, hopefully take a nap, maybe watch a dvd, and rest those shin splints. I am also going to stare at my guidebook for a few hours trying to figure out where I will be each night for the next few weeks. All I have to go off in the guidebook is how many miles I think I will be able to do each day, what I think the terrain will be like each day based on elevation profiles, when I will need to resupply on food and how long I think it will take to do that each time, and the next hostel I hope to shoot for. This will hopefully allow me to figure out some mail drop locations for those of you asking me for them.

Day 62: Three States in One Day

This morning I started out in Maryland. I then moved onto West Virginia (only 8 miles of trail in WV) and ended the day in Virginia. I hiked a total of 26 miles. While in West Virginia the AT goes through the historic town of Harpers Ferry which was really cool to see. In Harpers Ferry is the Appalachian Trail Conference (ATC) headquarters. The ATC oversees the entire trail so it was kinda cool to visit there. While at the ATC headquarters they took my picture and placed it in the album of all thru hikers and section hikers this year that made it to harpers ferry. I am the 75th SOBO thru hiker to make it there. In comparison there have been 1,267 NOBO thru hikers this year to pass through Harpers. Just shows how big of a difference it is doing a SOBO vs NOBO thru hike. If you look at the ATC website they list the total number of completed thru hikes by year and about 50% make it to Harpers and only 50% of those people finish. On average each year only 1/4 people that start as a thru hiker actually finish. I actually read a few signs about old building and whatnot today but I still had to keep moving. One particularly interesting thing to me was Jefferson Rock which you can see in my photo's for today. Thomas Jefferson thought the rock posed a hazard to the townspeople below so he had 4 pedestals built underneath it so that it would never fall. It wasn't even that big he could have just moved it away from the cliff edge but then again I wasn't around back then so I'm not sure what the circumstances were. I ended today at Bears Den Hostel in Virginia. I am going to stay here tonight and zero here tomorrow. BIG news though, I have 999.7 miles to go!!!! The countdown has begun. I never knew WV and northern VA were going to be as rocky as they are or I would have bought more food and planned for lower mile days. I heard Rocksylvania was the worst of it, Maryland has some bad spots which it does, but nobody ever told me they are just as bad in WV and northern VA. My shin splints came back today making it very tough to do the miles. I'm not sure if I ever mentioned the shin splints before in the blog but I have been battling them since the Whites of New Hampshire. Any place that is super rocky and I do big miles or long stretches without zeroing I get shin splints. I describe the feeling as with every step it feels as though my shin bone is just going to snap in half thats what it feels like. Some days it affects me so much mentally I hope it snaps in half just so I can have an excuse to quit but I try not to think like that. The absolute worst days for me mentally and physically were back in Connecticut and New York. Between the insane heat, humidity, shin splints, blisters, lack of water situation, digestion issues I was having due to using Aquamira (don't think I ever mentioned that one before), and all the other stuff going on in those states I was sooooo ready to quit. Just in case these rocks continue to be bad I am going to plan low mile days for a long time. Maybe try and stick to 18-23ish miles a day. I am not concerned about the shin splints though they have gone away each time in the past I just need to not do big days on rocky terrain and they will go away again. To answer questions to some comments my favorite flavor pop tarts is Brown Sugar Cinnamon. With regards to my shoes I would like them to make it to the end but most likely I will have to buy another pair in about 500 miles.

Day 61: Keepin them big wheels a turnin

29 miles hiked today.  I'm not sure how long i will continue to be able to do these big days with less and less daylight but I will continue to try and keep pushing myself.  Maryland for the most part is a relatively flat state with easy hiking but there are portions that are very rocky.  Every now and then I came through historic areas which was cool.  One was the original Washington monument.  There was another cool one which was the War Correspondents Memorial.  There were also some old battlegrounds and stuff.  I was in such a big hurry today though i didn't read any signs just took pictures.  The weather today was phenomenal with highs in the 60s and a nice breeze.  Probably the nicest day yet and its only going to get better with fall coming.  Time for bed i'm whooped.