Appalachian Trail SOBO Day 89 – A burger for breakfast
23rd October 2023
Helveys Mill Shelter (1604.4) - Chestnut Knob Shelter (1628.6
Daily miles: 24.2
Total miles: 1630.3
Morning in the shelter
There was some snoring from someone so it was an earplug night, after that I slept pretty well. There wasn’t a lot of urgency about my morning and I left the shelter, probably later than I should have, at around 8am
Ablutions
It was 2.5 miles to a store which was on trail so we were all planning to go there. It was pretty cold this morning but I was sensible, unlike other mornings, and started without all my layers on. Rabbit Foot caught up to me and we walked together and then we caught up to Lemonhope and we all walked to the store together, which was nice because there was a bit of a road walk.
Rabbit Foot and his massive backpack
A cheeky road walk
Crossing the interstate
Golden trees
A cheeky uphill to the shop
Shortcuts
Love those low clouds
The store was exactly the same as 2018, down to the hand written menu, although the prices were higher. It was 9am and I ordered a cheeseburger, I didn’t like the look of all the breakfast items because they were all with biscuits and gravy and biscuits and gravy are gross.
The general store
Other people ordered some breakfast things and I heard someone order tater tots so I added some of those to my order too. And I got a Dr Pepper.
When Safety and Sidequest arrived they were asking where Howard and Jet were as they thought they were ahead. I said maybe they had got off trail to poop, because they are wild poopers, and someone else said they had already pooped this morning. We’ve known these people a couple of days and we already know all about their poop. That’s exactly what trail life is.
It turns out Jet was giving Howard a hard time about using his phone to navigate so much, so he didn’t use it and they got lost and had to bushwhack. They provided us with a good laugh this morning.
Cheeseburger and tater tots for breakfast
We were there for longer than planned, I didn’t get my food until 9:50am and then I got back on trail at 10:05am feeling way too full and uncomfortable! At least the trail was really nice and I caught up to Lemonhope and tried to sneak up on him but he heard me. It’s difficult to be sneaky when there are so many crunchy leaves on the ground.
Leave your packs outside
See a sign. Shoot the sign.
After navigating my way around an intense blowdown (May Queen, Lemon Hope and I all took a different approach) it was time to delayer, after a pretty chilly morning we were heading up into the sun and it was getting warm.
May Queen caught up to me and we walked the next few miles to the water together. The trail was so nice, a lot of rhododendrons again, and lots of colourful trees. When we got there all the people who left the store after us were already there! They walked the road instead.
The golden trail
Colour change
Blowdowns
Toe asked if anyone had a spare cap for her water bottle because she has lost hers. This girl is unbelievable, the amount of stuff she loses! I actually carried a spare cap all the way from the start and I threw it away in Waynesboro. May Queen had one.
We all hiked out and it was uphill so I fell back. I also was feeling sore in my foot today which was annoying as I thought it had been getting better. It didn’t hurt at all yesterday. I walked for a while with my foot balled up to try and relieve it that way so I didn’t have to stop, but that didn’t work so I took my shoe off and massaged my foot a bit and then carried on. It was warm up on the ridge and then the trail descended and just before the water the temperature dropped a lot.
Just over the bridge was everyone else, Cal arrived a few minutes after me and Lemonhope was behind having lunch, and Rabbit Foot was far ahead. The 4 new friends were done with their lunch and moved out just after I arrived. I should have kept going but I sat for half an hour and ate a few Pringles and filtered some water. I’m doing a great job of carrying water from source to source and only drinking it when I get there which is a terrible strategy. It seems I’ll never learn.
Lunch break
Power nap
I left at 3pm with 11 miles left. Yesterday I had 11 miles at nearly 4 pm so I thought I would be ok. How wrong I was!
The trail got hard after that and although the first 5 miles didn’t have that much up and down the trail got really rocky and there were so many leaves it was hard to see the rocks so there was a lot of tripping and it slowed me down a lot. I was only moving around 2 miles an hour which was frustrating.
Hi, it’s me
Love that light
Even the downhill was slower because of all the rocks. I arrived at a road crossing where there was a water cache which we had been kindly told about by a section hiker. The water at the shelter was unreliable and it would be dark by the time I got there so I decided to carry full capacity to the shelter. 1.7 litres for 6 miles.
Water cache
The trail didn’t get any easier. It remained very rocky and the climb up from the road was very steep towards the end. When it flattened out a bit I tried to take it up a gear and move as fast as I could while trying not to break an ankle. There were just so many rocks, hidden by leaves.
The sun was low and it was looking really pretty shining through the trees but it was also a reminder that the light was about to disappear fast. After another couple of climbs the trail descended to the road and I almost ran that part because the trail was getting difficult to follow and I knew I had 15 minutes before it got too dark to see properly at 7pm.
Afternoon light
I had to stop to pee 3 times too because I had drunk a whole bottle of water at the cache. One of the times was the closest I’ve come yet to peeing my pants.
Down at the dirt road I had to put my headlamp on and I just had 1.5 miles of uphill left to the shelter. Thankfully the first part was switchbacks and it wasn’t too bad. Then it got a bit steep and that slowed me down. With a mile to go every time I checked Far Out it said I had gone 0.2 miles. I was getting so frustrated. I just wanted to be there and not walking anymore! This morning I chatted to May Queen and we said we should be there by 6. Lol.
Also on that walk through the forest I could see the sunset through the trees and it looked so nice. I’m sure it was a good view from up at the shelter. The sky was clear and even though we were going up to nearly 4500ft it wasn’t cold. I was warm and my ears were weirdly very hot.
Racing the darkness
It was darker than it looks in this picture
After the last steep push the trail flattened out a bit and I started to see headlamps of people. I saw Safety and Sidequest setting up their tent and I said the trail kicked my ass this afternoon and they agreed.
I made it to the shelter at 7:40pm which was 10 minutes later than I made it yesterday. Rabbit Foot and Howard were in there and I found a kinship in Howard when I was complaining about how much the trail slowed me down. I also felt a bit pumped up because I was so happy to be there.
Rabbit Foot was staying in the shelter. It’s a more unusual one because it enclosed. It has 4 walls and a door and it’s really quite warm inside. There are a strange amount of lady bugs crawling on the walls and there are a few crickets around. There is also a mouse which Rabbit Foot has seen.
Cal arrived and said he wanted to cowboy camp. May Queen arrived and said she wanted to cowboy camp. They went outside to look for a spot. Cal stayed outside and May Queen came back in the shelter. Lemonhope arrived and pitched his tent. Toe arrived kind of late, around 8:30pm and said she had a low energy afternoon. I thought she would cowboy but she stayed in the shelter too.
I really couldn’t be bothered to make anything hot for dinner. I didn’t feel that hungry, after that burger I had only eaten half my snacks for the day. So I ate a couple of slices of cheese and few Pringles and called it a day. My priority now was to lie down because my legs were sore. So teeth, wee, then it was time to lie down.
It’s now 9:40pm and I’m finishing this up and I’m starving. I feel like my belly is about to do a big growl.
