Therese Marie

My Thru-Hike Attempt turns into a Section Hike

Lot’s of changes have been underway, mostly due to lack of funds. I’ve been taking shelter with friends and family wherever I can get it, but I’ll spare you the confusing details.

What I really want to share with you is that I hiked 10 days in Virginia. These were my first 10 days back after taking almost 2 months off. And what a hell of a time. I saw so many amazing things, and I want you to see them too.

It’s amazing how quickly a hike can get overwhelmed with beauty.

I AM SO EXCITED TO SHARE ALL OF THIS OK LET’S GO LET’S GO!

Day 1: McAffee’s Knob

Can someone say ICONIC?!? I set this place up as my Day 1 Destination on purpose. Mostly because of something I knew I was inevitably going to succumb to: second guessing.

As I walked the 3 or 4 miles to McAffee’s Knob in the sticky, solid Virginia humidity, it felt like I could’ve been walking 600, and I asked myself why I wanted to do this. “This is so freaking stupid,” I thought. “I’m going to have to call someone tonight and beg them to tell me to stay on the trail.”

Luckily, I didn’t have to phone a friend. After reaching the top of McAffee’s Knob, the most popular place to snap a photo, my mind had again become accustomed to the hiking lifestyle. In one fell swoop, I remembered all the reasons why this hike was so important to me, to anyone doing it. 

Day 2: Sunrise off McAffee’s Knob

Woke up at 4:45am after not sleeping a wink because my mind was racing (and also because bugs were pummeling my tent all night) and hobbled out into the dusk with my headlamp. Four of us hikers fumbled together along the 0.6 miles back uphill through the dense morning. It was raining a little.

I wanted to turn back. I thought, no, this isn’t going to be worth it. I got the honor of walking in front and clearing every single spider web from the night before. This sucks, this sucks, this sucks. My mind and body wanted me to give up again.

Before long, I got to the top, itchy and swollen with sleep, and the world somehow opened up before me. 

The birds sounded mechanical. Like R2D2.

It was difficult to describe. Quiet. Peaceful. Epic. It killed any doubts I had again. I was meant to be out here. To round off the moment, Hand Solo played “Circle of Life” behind me. Getting up there for sunrise is 100% worth it..

Tinker Cliffs

The fun thing about Tinker Cliffs, aside from their freaking majestic beauty, is that they provide you with a direct view of where you just were 5 miles back! Yup, in that mess of green is McAffee’s Knob, chillin’, now a part of my past.

As Tough Cookie and I sat atop these cliffs, I couldn’t help but feel like I was on the shoreline. Yes, I know that sounds insane but hear me out. The wind was blowing warm air over us. The trees that rolled in the gusts sounded like waves crashing on the shore. I was salty (due to sweat, but still!). See? Just like being next to the ocean.

I keep on feeling the ocean throughout the forest. It’s an interesting connection that I need to do some more thinking about before I get poetic about it.

In any event, the conditions which surrounded this photo were absolutely perfect. I could not have dreamed up better weather than this.

Day 3: Post-Daleville, DOPE FIELDS!

Ok, when I say “Dope Fields” I don’t mean “Fields in which one harvests dope.” I mean, these fields are dope. They are cool. You’re walking completely surrounded in woods one minute and then BAM. Hills. Field. Also, FYI, the trail is incredibly difficult to follow in this part and I apologize to the resident’s yard that I casually tramped through until I realized I was going the wrong direction.

Day 4: The Way of the Blue Ridge Parkway

OH my goodness, talk about some VIEWS, man. VIEWS. The Blue Ridge Parkway weaves itself through the Appalachian Trail, entangling the two in a beautiful friendship bracelet that allows foot travelers to see some picturesque views that make you say, “Huh, is this really real or did someone put up a big sheet/painting in front of me because this looks fake. This can’t be real.”

Ah. God.

It was amazing having my breath taken away by something other than climbing a difficult hill.

Day 4/5: A Nestle of Friends At A Swimming Hole

There’s a swimming hole at Jenning’s Creek. There’s a swimming hole at Jenning’s Creek, is what I kept repeating to myself and T.C. as we (well, mostly I) fumbled through 16 freaking miles of brush and heat. I was so sweaty.

I cannot emphasize how much I sweat during these 10 days.

But it was worth it, because there WAS a swimming hole. And what’s more? There were FRIENDS! Not only our trail friends that we had been hiking with for the past 4 days, but also new ones that set up a camp with their DOGS! Oak and Mica (pictured with the flute and the book) are two stand up dudes come there every year and set up a whole bunch of tents in this area with tons of camping spots and warm welcomes.

“Everyone brings something, whether it’s food, good conversation, or a big appetite,” Oak kept saying every time someone showed up.

Swimming was amazing. Eating was amazing. Staying up and talking to friends was amazing. And very quickly, this became one of my favorite nights.

Day 5: Apple Orchard Falls

200 feet of waterfall! Oh my god! Totally epic! The only catch? One must walk 1.1 miles off trail downhill to get there. Some might think it’s not worth it. I lamented every bit of elevation loss, because it’s a steep climb back up. For an entire mile.

But the falls are pretty wonderful and beautifully secluded.

Actually, I had a really intense day before this attraction. I hiked 10 miles of uphill terrain by noon! Having very short legs, I was super proud of that. The hike down to the falls? It had me thinking this had better freaking been worth it. But it totally was. I mean, look at this!

Day 6: Downtrodden with a Passing Rainstorm

As awesome as I may look in this photo, I was not feeling good. Alas, this day was a huge struggle for me. The 5 days of little sleep prior plus the shock of constant cardio on my body did not bode well for me. I spent about 3 hours at a shelter before slowly moving on. I didn’t clock in many miles, but that didn’t matter a bit because I had a relaxed day. The wind was blowing scattered rainstorms through, the air was mild, for once I wasn’t sweating away half of my bodyweight.

I was a little self conscious and disappointed that I was feeling so bad. But I crossed paths with another UConn grad who was thru-hiking. She confessed that she cried a lot, but she’s still moving, it just gets hard being away from home. “Don’t worry,” she said, “This week was terrible for me, too. You got this.” She was right. I didn’t realize how much I needed to hear that, how much I needed to talk about shared suffering.

I continued on, right after I took a 2 hour nap.

Not Actually Sure What Day This Is Anymore: Post-Highcock Knob

This was the meadow I fell into right after hiking up and down Highcock Knob, which was a total difficult climb.

It was a beautiful meadow. It felt so good. Even though there was an immensely dense amount of bugs, I  had amazing company: Mama Bear and her three children, Little Butt, (I’m-so-sorry-I-forgot-the-other-one’s-name), and Spicy Guy.

Another Day: Glasgow, a Dino-mite Place

Small town with small options for food, but an amazing free place to stay and it has a big fiberglass dinosaur. In the middle of the town. For who knows why.

Really, though, the shelter here is amazing. It has electricity and a shower and lots of shade and a fire pit and portopotties that actually don’t smell bad and benches and it’s so free and so amazing. It was really tempting to zero there. But alas, we must trek on.

Day of Hills and Friends and HILLS

Up up up up up! Switch backs galore!

On this day, I put my hand on a tree to steady myself. Not that iconic. EXCEPT 30 seconds later, my hand felt like it was on fire. It swelled up almost immediately. A quick examination of the tree yielded nothing. But the shape of the sting on my pulsing hand was long and sort of looked like a caterpillar.

Yup. I squished a caterpillar and it stung the crap out of my hand. It deposited its sharp bristles into my palm. I hope I didn’t kill it? But based on what was deposited in my hand, the outlook is grim.

It took over 2 weeks for all those stingers to come out.

Also, these are the friends I was just talking about. Chips, Shutterbug, Pineapple, and me. I spent a whole bunch of days with these guys and it thoroughly saddens me that we can’t all still be hiking together. Seriously, these are the coolest cats around. And you know what? We probably would have never met in real life. But the Indiana Mountain Man, Photographic New Yorker, Southern Belle and I have all found our way together on the AT. It’s wild when you think about it like that.

Buena Vista: Not My Favorite Town, But Still An Adventure

I was in a pretty bad mood when I entered this town so I’m not going to comment on it because everything I have to say is extremely negative.

But that doesn’t mean I didn’t end up with some pretty cool stories, like this one.

I was walking down the street to resupply when a guy on a motorcycle at an intersection waved to me. He checked into the same hotel and saw my backpack and figured I’d be down for an adventure, if that was cool. Um, of course it was cool.

So I hopped on his motorcycle and we drove down the Blue Ridge Parkway to watch the sunset. And oh my god, what a beautiful sunset. With the world flowing by, the night air cooling steadily, the sky steadily dimming, and epic music playing on the motorcycle’s radio, I couldn’t help but smile the entire time.

A Few Days of Friendship

In our time in Buena Vista (apparently pronounced B-ew-na Vista), Shutterbug came down with the Lyme. Very not good. It made it very difficult for her to hike at all. But we would not let her stick it out alone. No, we were going to be by her side the whole time, eating copious amounts of hamburgers and potato salad along the way.

The power of friendship is immense and important. I was definitely going through some mental stuff throughout this time as well. Sometimes my entire brain just shuts down and falls apart into a foggy, soggy, disassembled pile. But still, the time spent in Buena Vista was for the best.

And so comes to a close my 10-day-stretch of hiking.

So now I’ve realized that I need to section hike this trail because there is no way I’m going to finish the entirety in 1 calendar year.

Positive: I spent my 2 months off working, and I have enough money to comfortably hike about 500 miles.

Another positive: Connecticut is about 700 miles away from Kathadin, so I can probably stretch my funds.

A third positive: I’m from Connecticut!

So now I find myself back home, getting new shoes and making plans to hop back on the trail to hike until the end of the summer where I will, hopefully, definitely, be reaching Kathadin.

It’s been a long, confusing road. But as long as I’m hiking, as long as I’m heading towards this goal, I’m good.

So, I’ll see y’all up north! LET’S DO THIS!

Fly on,

Lil.