Mold and tornadoes
I had a restless sleep all night. The outside dorm didn’t have any beds, so I was lying on a yoga mat and my mattress. My arms were constantly numb all night. When I woke up, I was ready to hit the road. Mentally, of course. It’s been a while since I was ready to go for a few miles. I put on my wet clothes. They smelled like BO and musty. It was pretty disgusting.
I checked my phone once inside the house and was able to confirm that my family was okay. My sister didn’t receive anything. My parents, on the other hand, had torrential rain and a tornado touched down a few miles from them. About twenty kilometers from them, a tornado touched down and killed one person. It was a tough night for Oklahoma.
I packed my bag and went to cash out. I didn’t stay for breakfast. Breakfast isn’t much fun when you’re allergic to eggs. Soon I was leaving. The creek that ran through the property was full and muddy. It must have rained more during the night.
Jesus feet
At the trailhead, I passed three other hikers and the female in the group saw my feet and yelled at the others. I stopped and showed them my sandals. “Do you go hiking with these?” “Yeah. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I passed them on the hike and heard the woman say, ‘She’s the first one we’ve met who walks in Jesus’ sandals. She has Jesus’ feet.’ I knew at that moment that if I didn’t already have a track name, I would be called Jesus Feet.
Lamentable falls
The hike was easy. I’m gradually adapting to hiking in the humidity. I put on my headphones and decided to listen to some podcasts. I came to the Dismal Falls sign and decided to take the 0.6 mile round trip detour.
It was pretty. I didn’t regret going there. Duck had actually camped there. In fact, she was camping right next to the falls. I was so jealous. I said goodbye and continued my hike. The trail was still relatively flat.
Ribbles Trail
The section ahead had a second possible route. Instead of slowly working my way up and around this mountain, I could take the Ribble Trail, do the entire elevation in one go, hike five miles, and see a waterfall (per FarOut reviews). I did it.
The moment I walked onto the side trail, my body let me know that I needed to poop. On the field. I scrambled to find a semi-covered area before dropping the trowel. I didn’t even have time to dig a cathole. I barely had time to grab some toilet paper. But everything went well. However, I almost pooped myself because my sweaty butt refused to let go of my pants. The benefits of hiking.
Continuing on, the Ribble Trail was nice. I crossed the same stream at least four times, but the grade wasn’t bad. At least, until the last kilometer and a half. It really became a step there. Near the top of the mountain, I passed the old remains of an ancient shelter. I took some photos. On the other hand, I have never seen the waterfall.
Hiking without water
At the top I realized I was extremely short of water. I checked FarOut and the nearest water source was four miles away – my final destination. I needed something first. I decided that if I really needed water, I would walk to the Woods Hole Hostel and get some.
The hike to the road that took me to the Woods Hole Inn didn’t take long to get there. I always listened to podcasts. I saw a sign that the hostel was 0.5 miles away. The shelter was two. I looked at the elevation map and saw that I had one more climb before I got to the shelter. The hostel looked more and more appealing, but they only had tent sites available and I refuse to pay to camp when I could do it for free. I looked closer and saw that a road could lead me directly to the shelter. It was flatter, which meant I wouldn’t need as much water. I did it.
During my hike, I felt like the laziest hiker ever. I told my sister and she said, “You’re literally hiking the Appalachian Trail.” How are you lazy? It’s all a matter of perspective, I suppose. I lost cell service, so I picked up the pace.
Doc’s Button Shelter
I found the side trail to the AT and headed back up the grassy hill. Shortly after, I arrived at Doc’s Knob Shelter. This shelter had a porch with additional seating and the water source was under the shelter. It was a sophisticated piece. I grabbed some water before absentmindedly searching for ticks.
I ran my hand over my knee and felt a very small bump. I looked down and saw what looked like a small piece of broken leaf. My calves were strewn with leaves. I looked closer and saw legs and a head clinging to my skin. Without thinking, I pulled the tick off. It was so small. Since I didn’t have cell service, I couldn’t confirm what type of tick it was. I thought it was a deer tick since it was about the size of a poppy seed. Regardless, I went into frantic research mode.
I checked everywhere and used wet wipes to wipe off the various debris that had accumulated on my calves. It’s the only one I found. What struck me was that it was locked. I wasn’t looking for ticks that small and I didn’t know if they had attached themselves today or yesterday. Regardless, I will monitor the area where she bit me and look for the telltale sign of Lyme disease. It ruined the day.
I snacked on some food and put on my long sleeve shirt and pants which were sprayed with Permethrin. I didn’t care if it was hot outside. I then went to hang my bear.
The Bear Hanging Incident
None of the trees were good. Honestly, I was just considering getting the food at the shelter. I continued on and found a pretty decent tree. I threw the rope and it came loose. I pulled the rope back towards me and that’s when I ran into a problem. The bag of stones was wrapped around a small branch. I pulled and the tree bent with it. It was a younger tree that still had a lot of flexibility. I tried for ten minutes to get the suspension rope out of my bear. Nothing. I threw my hands in the air, dropped the rope and said, “Fuck that.” I was going to wait for another person to show up. If I pulled hard enough, I think someone might grab onto the branch so I could untangle the bag. If this doesn’t happen or it doesn’t work, I will have no way to properly store my food.
Loneliness sets in
I returned to the shelter and sat down. And I waited. I arrived at 1:30 p.m. with enough energy to continue, but I was in no rush. I made reservations at Angel’s Rest Hostel for tomorrow night and figured it wouldn’t take me long to walk nine miles tomorrow.
Around 4 p.m., no one had passed. I decided to take a nap. It was a short period of thirty minutes. I became aware of the sound of thunder and rain. And this continued until 6 p.m. And yet, no one was there at the time. I became very alone.
I got so used to being around Sweeper, Kea, and Fine Young Buck that I felt lost inside. They were still there. I was getting to the point where I needed a day or two away from socializing because my social battery was exhausted. Now I miss the laughter and easy jokes. Their absent presence was deafening inside the empty shelter. The intrusive thoughts reared their heads again. One day at a time. Thinking about the future is depressing. I have to stop doing this if I want to succeed.
After dark cocktails
A little after 6 p.m., Duck arrived. She made the decision to stay once I said we were within ten miles of Pearisburg. We will get there before noon. She helped me hang up my bear and I finally untangled him. It was bad. I would never have gotten through it without his help. We had dinner and we both explained that we weren’t eating as much as we should. I still had some food that I had bought in Marion. A lot too. She mentioned that she wanted to eat better on the trail and I agreed. I need to get some dehydrated fruit or something.
It was getting darker, and two hikers from the section who had driven more than eight hours to get there arrived. They established a bear shed and began moving into the shelter. One of them set up his tent right on the porch. I lay down and watched. I could smell wet socks and dirty feet and I was convinced it was just Duck’s business. She said her stuff smelled bad. It was probably his stuff, but it was also my soaked hiking socks I wore two days ago marinating in the bottom of my outer pocket. I kind of forgot about them. Too bad.
I was about to call it a day when one of the section hikers asked if we wanted a cocktail. It was either Jim Bean and Dr. Pepper or lemonade and Jack Daniels. I made the lemonade. We all stood there and talked about the trail, stupid things people do, bears, and national parks. It was nice. We talked until 10 p.m. At that point it was time to go to bed.
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