Who Let The Dogs Out?

The Vortex

While my privacy curtain was nice and dark, hostel sleep just never seems perfect. Though, it probably doesn’t help that I have a 30 degree quilt weighing me down in the middle of what could definitely be counted as Spring now. So… it was hot. I slept mostly with the quilt off, and while it worked, it felt wrong to have nothing on top of me while I slept. Whatever, nothing in life’s perfect, and the place was super cozy. I loved my stay there.

Coach texted me in the morning letting me know that he was in the outfitter a bit before opening. I’ve been wanting to get a bit more serious about cutting weight out of my pack. While it’s certainly fine… of all trails or times in my life, this would be the opportunity to really experiment with being Ultralight. So, I dragged myself out of bed, got a cup of coffee, and spread everything in front of him. To which he was… perplexed. My setup’s mighty light for the AT, a trail of heavy packs. But there were some small low-hanging fruit to hit.

Namely, I sleep with a Nemo Tensor All-Season Wide pad. While it’s heavy, weighing in at 19 oz, I didn’t find a 6 oz difference to a regular sized Nemo Tensor to be worth the weight or money. But, since I started thru-hiking, apparently Nemo came in with a new Elite pad… and it’s only 8.5 oz! A 10.5 oz difference is… actually noticeable. So, I decided to give it a test run, and put it in my pack WITH my original pad. I know, it’s silly, but I also want to test the new pad, and make sure that I can get decent sleep on it.

I also switched out my Sambob microgrid with an Alpha one, which saved another 5 or so oz. Coach didn’t have any lighter quilts that I wanted, but he also suggested a small cottage company called Jacks R Better, and then also suggested I lighten up on my rain gear. The rain jacket and pants are pretty heavy duty, and are honestly too warm, so I also started looking at getting Montbell stuff. But, by the time I figured out most of these things, and made some other upgrades (grabbed some Superfeet, as the Altra Olympus insoles weren’t doing it for me, and finally got a Thinlite from Gossamer Gear), it was time to pack up, and try to at least get my bunk packed out/decant my food into my food bag.

In this time, Five Lives, Wing-It, and Michaela got dropped off at Marion Outdoors. This is the second to last stop for Five Lives in her section, as she has other obligations to get to. Sad! We all geeked out over some of the gear, including getting new shoes for Wing-It and Michaela, while also looking at the pretty pocket knives. But in my mind, there was only one stop to make in town — I wanted to check out the Chinese Buffet!

China House was pretty good! I had a good time pigging out at the buffet, and the owners didn’t mind. I entered speaking Chinese, and got back from the owner “it’s pretty rare to run into a Chinese person hiking the whole trail.” So far, I’ve run into zero Chinese thru-hikers. I also got some Ma Po Tofu and rice to pack out for trail dinner, as I was expecting to take it on trail.

By now it was around 1 PM, and I was about to head back to trail… before realizing I needed to ship my fleece home to make the weight savings worth it! Here, I was just filling out my package stuff… when I realized that one of the PO workers had on a keychain that said “Pioneer Drum and Bugle Corps.” Pioneer is a very niche drum corps. It’s most notable quality is that from 2001 until its eventual folding, it got last place. Every year. And we never fielded a full corps, so there aren’t many alumni. It turns out, this was Candy, who had a few of her kids march with the group, and also helped make the corps necklaces we had! My corps necklace is one of my most precious items, it stays at home in a bag, and is one of the few things I didn’t trust to the storage unit. To have such a moment — I was convinced some force was on my side, even if I’m not spiritual.

By the time I made it back to Marion Outdoors, it was around 1:30, and this is where I met Tina, the owner of the Quarter Way Inn! Ash had been trying to convince me the day before to stop in, and despite the FarOut comments on the Inn being wiped on my phone (FarOut made some weird update that’s been wreaking havoc on trail), I knew that it had a great reputation. After all, it’s a top 15 hostel on TheTrek.

So, I made a snap decision. I asked Tina if she could take the heaviest items from my pack, and I’d make it to her. She looked at me bewildered — and I don’t blame her. I wouldn’t be back on trail until 2:30 at that rate, and doing over 21 miles at a reasonable pace seems ridiculous. I promised to take my tent, quilt, sleeping pad, and rain jacket, plus enough food for one night… and she accepted.

This Is What You Asked For

At about 2:52, I got dropped off at the Mt. Rogers Visitor Center with Gambit, another thru-hiker. Gambit was going to spend the night at Partnership, while I was about to do… Whatever the heck I was about to do. Tipped Phoenix, our shuttle driver (big Among Us fan), grabbed a Mountain Dew from the Visitor’s Center for the caffeine and sugar… And started.

At the very least, most of this section was flat. Unfortunately, there were moments of rain and thunder, but nothing major, so the trail at least remained grippy. Quickly passed by Dragonwing (of course he’s passed me while I was vortexed in town), and then Steady, Sour Patch, and Mosey. They all thought I was dumb, and honestly, I probably was.

I took a quick visit in the Settler’s Museum, unfortunately barely missing the trail magic that they do (they serve cookies until 5, I got there around 5:30), before running into something terrifying. At a road crossing right after VA 729, I was suddenly being surrounded and attacked by a group of dogs! I think they were hunting dogs, but they were barking extremely aggressively, and two were trying to circle me. I treated this like a bear attack — I backed up while maintaining eye contact with their “lead” dog, and thwacked my poles together. Luckily, I had service here, and I called 911. Seeing my peer’s posts about calling the police makes me a bit hesitant to share that detail, but I felt like I should. Because even if I didn’t get hurt, these dogs could seriously hurt someone else on the trail. It was a group of hounds and other hunting dogs. No owner showed up.

911 advised me to get somewhere high, and then try to record them. As they backed off, I grabbed a quick video of them, and then waited for them to retreat, before booking it ahead. They didn’t bother me again. So I’m safe, and wasn’t touched by the dogs. Still, an unpleasant experience, and definitely not one I want anyone else to go through.

At least at the US Route 11 road walk, I was able to grab a Snickers Bar, and ate at the Mexican Restaurant attached to a gas station. Here, I met Wind, a Canadian thru-hiker, who’s on a journey to finish in 120 days. He’s going fast, and doesn’t get bogged down by sidequests like I do. We had a good dinner, me getting a burrito, before I bid him adieu and head on out. This was just around my halfway point, and it was around 6:30 PM at this point.

After a brief road walk, I passed by Komerican and Smurf chilling at the Davis Path Campsite. It used to be a shelter. Seems like a nice place to camp. But I had places to be, so I moved on. They called me crazy. I know I am.

I thought I missed it, since there’s no FarOut marker, just comments, but passed by the 1/4 GA -> ME sign shortly thereafter! I guess that makes sense, given it moves every year. Still, 1/4 of the way done! Monumental moment. Having passed the last thing I needed to look out for, I donned my headlamp, and booked it.

Up a hill, down a hill, up a bigger hill, and down. Much more wildlife is out I feel at night. As I filtered water, a squirrel scurried across my feet without a care in the world. Deer were everywhere, running from the sounds of a buffoon running in the woods. I don’t blame ’em — but it did surprise me how much more I saw.

At about 10:30, I rounded the corner into a small meadow before the road walk to the Quarter Way Inn, and I was HOT. Not like, looks wise. As in I was running so much, my whole body was steaming. That, plus the humidity, plus the wet grass, limited my visibility completely, since my headlamp was just hitting the steam. But I did it. I ran 21 miles in about 6 hours and 30 minutes of active time, with an hour’s worth of breaks.

In the dark, the Quarter Way Inn was still extremely charming. Including the small post-its I was left with instructions. I quickly took a shower, ate some of my dinner that I had packed (need to carbo-load!), and tried to sleep. But the adrenaline was coursing in my veins, so I spent the rest of the night watching my favourite NBA team, the Lakers, take on the Timberwolves in a win-or-go-home game for the Lakers!