Hello fellow hikers! My name is Evan Smith, and today, I am going to talk about my 34 mile section hike on the Appalachian Trail that I did with my dad!
Wednesday
We left the house, and stayed at
Bears Den Hostel for the night. We slept in the Alpine Peak 2 tent, and that was when I found out I accidentally left the tent in the bag wet for a month! It didnt mold much, and worked well for us anyways.
Thursday (Officially Day 1)
We had our shuttle take us from Bears Den to Route 522, and we started there. My pack weighed 23.7 lb. and my Dad's pack weighed 33 lb. We were feeling very optimistic at that moment, and we started off on the trail.
We ended up getting a very steep uphill with switch-backs, by ~500-~700 ft. I started complaining, In a few hours we finished the treacherous uphill going up about ~1,800-~1,900 ft. high. We also passed by a group of trail runners twice (Same people), and a family who was pretty much disrespecting other people (Being loud and obnoxious, then again there was hardly anyone on the trail but those are still bad habits.). Then it was a very nice downhill and on our way down we stopped by the Denton Shelter. It was redone only a few years ago, so it looked nice, was like a house, had bunk beds, and a patio. That was personally my favorite shelter the whole hike.
We also stopped at the Denton Shelter for lunch, which was Beef Stew (Thanks Mr.Myers for supplying most of our food!), and there were a trio of trail runners with a beagle, and dang that beagle can bark.Since the Denton Shelter was only 5 miles in, we kept going. We hiked some more and hiked through a meadow that may look nice, but my Dad and I called it the stairway from h***, lesson learned: Don't judge a book by its cover.
We continued hiking upwards, which was brutal at the time, and then started going downhill. We also went across a pretty cool landmark.
The railroad essentially marked we were close to a road and we had to go under an interstate bridge to get to the rest of the trail. When we reached the next part we stopped for a snack break, and at that moment I knew that it would've been worth the extra weight to carry and off brand (Kroger) soda, even if I really don't feel different having caffeine. And I also ate a lot of granola (Which I will regret later on, but I didn't know that I can't have granola with braces). We also crossed a neat looking bridge and went up another not as steep but still steep uphill.
While we were hiking we saw a neat looking spider, but I still don't know what species it is yet.
We finally reached the Stone Wall, which perfectly describes my brother, and that marked a nice downhill. Not much happened going downhill. We then reached Manassas Gap Shelter, and we had a nice fire, food, water, and, most importantly, sleep. Best. Thanksgiving. Feast. Ever. (I had freeze dried Mac n' Cheese and Dad had Broccoli Rice.
Miles Hiked this day: 11 miles
Friday (Day 2)
We had a nice start, other than our leaving time, in the morning, sadly leaving by 9:00 A.M. It only went a steep uphill for about ~50-~100 ft. and then most of that part was downhill, until 9:30 A.M. and it started going uphill again. We had another snack break and then my bracket broke off because of eating granola.
Dad went to Dicks Dome shelter, since it was only (again) 5 miles in we couldn't stay there, while I stayed for a break, and it seemed like a nice shelter. We then started hiking a steep uphill. We went one mile and it took us ONE FREAKING HOUR to get through the mostly flat ground, that was legal for people to hunt in. We then made it to Sky Meadows State Park and hiked through there. we then crossed a road and Dad noticed this was one of the routes we drove on to get to Bears Den! We then had another snack break and used up the soda Dad brought.
We survived the steep uphill, went over two more uphills and downhills, and made it to Rod Hollow Shelter! I found a book there called "Matagorda" and I stayed on the second floor. I also enjoyed having Beef Stroganoff with Noodles, and that was when Dad started complaining heavily about his knees.
Miles hiked this day: 14 miles
Saturday (Day 3)
In the morning, we ate Eggs and "Baco" Bits (no "n" here, because it was just vegetable protein) and it tasted pretty darn good 3 days into the hike. We (as usual) left at 9:00 A.M. And by then it was up to if Dad's knees can make it through the trail. So we (slowly) hiked 3 miles into the hike (just walking, no good views or landmarks) and we had to cross a route that I can't remember the number of. And it was a gravel road! While we were going uphill, we had a break, and talked with a lot of day hikers. We also refilled on much needed water.
On our way downhill, we passed by a backpacker and she was pretty hardcore, she used no hiking poles! But, hey, hike your own hike. I just think that's impressive. We had a nice view and then went on to a very poorly maintained section of the trail. Literally, the trail markers marked going left (and that was to a side trail, that we accidentally hiked) and the actual trail hardly had any trail markers but thankfully we could see the few worn spots (Most of it were steep, and slippery, rocks). We met another day hiker with her dog and she was going uphill! If it was tough going downhill I can't imagine uphill.
While we were going on the nice level ground we saw this tree, and I thought it was pretty neat. It was also nice having an excuse to have a small break. During our uphill hike, I started breaking down mentally and physically, it took all of Dad's encouragement to keep me going.
We made it to the Sam Moore Shelter, decided to stay there instead of the final three miles or going uphill to the campsites while eating Ramen Noodles. I was bringing out my sleeping bag, blew up my pillow, and passed out, I didn't even get in my sleeping bag or fully bring it out!
In an hour, I wake up, find Dad chopping firewood, and sat by the big fire, while eating (again) Ramen Noodles, with Dad eating this disgusting Shepherd's Potato and Beef Stew. Then I went on a one-spider massacre because it was coming towards me on its web. Then we had a very much needed rest.
Miles hiked this day: 6 Miles
Sunday (Day 4)
My camera died at this point, so I didn't take any pictures. We went back to a standard oatmeal breakfast. It was raining hard and Dad was thinking of staying at the shelter until the rain stopped. I persuaded him to leave now, because we will have more time, and we went at (the dreaded) 9:00 A.M.
We had a very steep uphill, we went slow so we were fine. Then we found the campsites and agreed we would not have been able to make it to the campsites in our condition. A steep downhill tried to stop us, and a stream with hardly any rocks to stand on tried to slow us down even more.
We went up the final uphill (The final uphill! Sadly not countdown...) and I was complaining about how low they put Bears Den on the maps when we hiked high up. But hey, we MADE IT! We had a nice celebration at McDonalds, I go my Hoopa there too (Video game, not the action figure), stopped by gas stations, got a Slurpee, and went to REI.
Miles hiked this day: 3 1/2 Miles
Conclusion
I had an awesome time on the trail. It crushed some of Dad's dreams, and it showed me the true meaning of level ground. Thanks for reading, and until next time, hike on!
