Day 61 - 31st May - Symms Gap Meadow - Windrock - Campsite

A very long descent from Symms Gap. On the way down we meet Shakin heading up on his slack pack and he says 'help yourself to a soda' but his car is too far off the trail for us to be bothered to make the detour.

We follow a major creek past 'The Captain's House'. The Captain has issued an invitation to all hikers to drop in for a weekend of free food and fun - every young hiker is heading there, so we decide to go on by. There is a zipline across the creek to the Captain's House - tents are everywhere. We do not go in.

Worn Heel catches up to us, and is excited and enthusiastic - he did go into the Captains House and had a wonderful time - he tells us in detail about being fed eggs and bacon, treated like part of the family, and being allowed to use the computer. Hikers are in heaven with food and computer access.

There is a very shitty climbing traverse across a boulder field over 3 miles. We just plug on. We find a good campsite and water. Doc, Jaybird, Hook and Worn Heel stop to camp with us. We are amazed at Jaybird - she does not cook food, only eats cold oatmeal for breakfast and dinner. For lunch she has Gorp - dried fruit and bits and pieces, and that is it. What a horrible diet, but she is travelling very light - no need to carry a stove or fuel.  Another guy who has only been hiking a few days also joins us - Dwayne. We light a fire and have a very social evening.

From left: Worn Heel, Jaybird, Doc and Digby

Dwayne makes us feel uncomfortable - he is on the make, and we find it difficult. Doc is carrying a hammock that he does not really want, and Dwayne is thrilled to take it off his hands. Dwayne is carrying about 70lbs so we know that we will out walk him tomorrow and not see him again. And we don't.

Day 60 - 30th May - Pearisburg - Symms Gap Meadow - 12.5 miles

The owner of the motel drives us the mile back to the trail. We are very appreciative.

It is a long hard climb to the top of the ridge, but we climb steadily as the trail zig zags its way to the top. We stop at the top and have lunch at a spring. This is where Stickbuilt finally decided to turn around and go back yesterday when he pulled out of the AT. We can't believe that he would have put all that energy into reaching the top, and then made the decision to go back. All that climbing and effort 'wasted'. He must have been in a lot of pain.

During the afternoon we wander along the ridge overlooking the valley of Pearisburg, and stop early to camp at a lovely open meadow with views into West Virginia.

We meet two new hikers - 'Doc' who is an ex-solider from Afghanistan, and Jaybird a retired librarian from New Hampshire. These two hikers are both 'mature' and we enjoy their company for several weeks on the trail. Although we eventually lose contact with both of them, we hear along the AT gravevine that they both summit Katahdin and complete the hike, Jaybird a few weeks ahead of us, and Doc a few weeks behind us.

Day 59 - 29th May - Woods Hole Hostel - Pearisburg - 10 miles

A fabulous breakfast at Woods Hole and we head off along the ridge to 'Angels Rest' which gives a view of the city below. A long descent to a road, then we turn right and follow the road into the town and stop at the Plaza Motel, where we are made to feel very welcome.

There is a historical 're-enactment' day in town so we go and join in and get a lesson in American history. Lots of locals wearing historical clothes, confederate uniforms and demonstrating old crafts. We enjoy the interactions.

Late in the afternoon sitting on the verandah of the motel we watch a lone figure stagger in -  it turns out to be Stickbuilt. He was one day ahead of us, but has pulled out and returned to the town with a leg injury, which he has been carrying for some time.

We shop, take Stickbuilt to the Mexican restaurant and Sandy comes to pick him up at 8.30. He is feeling down - this is the end of the AT thru-hiker dream for him, and it will take a while to get used to the idea.

Day 58 - 28th May - Trent Store - Sugar Run Rd - Woods Hole Hostel

Another early departure - we are walking by 7.30am. The trail follows a river until lunchtime. There is a side trail off to a waterfall, but it is more than a mile, so we decide to skip it. This turns out to be a bad decision. Stickbuilt later tells us 'I can't believe you didn't visit the waterfall. It was fantastic for a swim'. Oh well. The trail then climbs up on to Sugar Run Mountain, and heavy thunder starts. The storms seem to miss us so we keep on walking. We emerge onto the road at the top of the mountain, and 'Shakin' is there, in his car planning his next slack-pack, so he drives us the half-mile down the road the Woods Hole Hostel, where we have booked a B&B for the night.

The homestead at Woods Hole.

 The house is amazing - an old log cabin which has been renovated - we have the private room upstairs, and all the other hikers slum it in the hikers hostel which has been built at the bottom of the garden.

The  hikers hostel

The young couple - Michael and Neville - serve 14 hikers for dinner and breakfast the following day. She has been a primary school teacher and organises the hikers to help serve, clear and wash up.

From left Jaybird, Neville, Sequoia, Graham Cracker enjoying breakfast.

The one night stay makes us homesick for the first time -we miss healthy food and dogs There are three dogs in the house - a labrador and two short-haired german pointers. The vegetable garden is amazing, and provides all the greens for the evening meal. Salad has been in short supply in our diet, and it tastes fantastic.

Ali on the verandah

Vegetable garden at Woods Hole

The story of the log cabin is quite romantic, and we find a handwritten account in one of the logbooks at a nearby shelter, so we photograph the page to remember the story:

Day 57 - 27th May - Helvey Ridge - Kimberley Crk Bridge - Trent Store - 16.3 miles

A very early morning as we rise when the sun hits our tent. 'Shakin' goes past at 6.30 heading south, doing a slack-pack in concert with 'Lifeguard' who will be heading north. He stops and chats in a deep southern accent: 'Help yourself to a Pepsi from the back of my car parked at the next road.' We arrive at the road, open the back of the car and help ourselves to a Pepsi. We laugh at our good luck and toast Shakin. We are drinking Pepsi at 7.30am, when 'Graham Cracker' emerges on to the road. 'Come and have a Pepsi!' we shout. She thinks we have broken into somebody's car and helped ourselves to their stuff, and is shocked. We leave a lolly on top of the two empty cans for Shakin.

We have a very long day ridgewalking following old logging roads, until we reach a swing bridge at Kimberley Creek. We decide to turn left and leave the trail to go half a mile along the road to Trent Grocery and Service Station, where we camp, shower, use the laundry and eat pizza. The campsite is filled with large caravans owned by deer hunters  - it is not the deer hunting season until October, so the camp is empty except for a smattering of hikers. Teenwolf arrives, without Sequoia, Shakin comes in with Lifeguard, and Worn Heel also catches up with us. We have quite a social and relaxing time. Worn Heel sleeps under one of the caravans covered by a sheet of plastic.

Digby eating and drinking at Trent Store campsite

Shakin and Teenwolf

Day 56 - 26th May - Jenkins Shelter - Helvey Shelter - ridge - 15 miles

This is a fast day. We follow an old railway line for 6 miles down to a road where the Baptist Trail Angels are waiting to drive hikers to a free breakfast offered about 2 miles away in a little village church. Digby and I are not sure about accepting the lift - we can do without the breakfast and we are not keen about being away from the trail and at the mercy of somebody else, waiting for them to take us back to the trail. We reach the road and the car is waiting for us. We say 'no thanks' and they press us to accept. Worn Heel arrives and says ' Get your priorities right - you are on holiday - this is not a job.' So we get in the car and are taken to a little church in a tiny village, and fed a huge meal. About 6 women are cooking and serving - the men are doing the hiker car shuffles back and forwards to the trail.

Feeling dog deprived

Trail angels from Arkansas

We stuff ourselves with great food, and then head back to the trail.

There is a shortage of water along the trail - we need to start planning our water use so we don't run out. People are leaving plastic bottles of water on the trail for hikers. We cross over a highway on an overpass.

There is a steep climb to the next ridge and we notice that to reach the campsite you have to drop 500' and then climb back up again tomorrow. We decide not to do that and carry extra water up the steep climb so we can go beyond the shelter and camp somewhere on the ridge. It nearly kills us carrying the water, but the view and the sunset make it worthwhile.

We have a clear view and our mobile phone works so I call Mum and Dad. It is weird sitting on a high ridge on the AT talking to Melbourne, completely removed from the routines of daily life in Australia.

Day 55 - 25th May - Lik Creek - Chestnut Nob Shelter - Jenkins Shelter - 16 miles

A steep climb up the Chestnut Ridge. The top of the ridge is a wonderful walk through grasslands with natural ponds.

We reach a beautiful stone shelter and have lunch inside protected from the wind. We are following Teenwolf and Sequoia who had left earlier than us to catch him. A fast long descent to a road, and water at Walkers Gap. We catch up to Teenwolf and Sequoia stopped to treat their water. Teenwolf wants to keep walking. Sequoia wants to take all the time in the world. We wonder how long Teenwolf will be prepared to hang out with her.

We climb a ridge to one of the rockiest traverses on the trail - huge granite boulders, poorly marked trail, and a steep drop off on one side with great views to the country below. We struggle on - it is only a climb in elevation of 500' but we do it again and again - up and down stuggling over rocks, searching for the best path - and we do this for 5 miles - when will it end? It looked so easy on the map - another lesson learned. We finally make it to the road and I sprain my ankle on the flat - I can't believe I survived through all the rocks and then injure myself on the easy bit. We struggle on and finally arrive at camp close to dark. This is a long day. We camp near the shelter and meet 'Graham Cracker' who is an older woman hiker - the first I have met. She is skinny, and fit, and she walks at twice my pace.

Day 54 - Spring - Tilson Gap - Knot Maul Shelter - Lik Creek - 16 miles

An early start leaving the other three hikers asleep in their tents. Two miles on the trail brings us to the site of an old shelter - only the concrete floor remains, and there are four hikers camped on this concrete slab. We meet Spoonz, Fluffy, Fluffy's boyfriend and Worn Heel for the first time. Worn Heel is a section hiker, walking for a month on the trail. He is a shoe repairer from the Mid West, and becomes a good friend over the next few weeks, as he shares his views of the world with us.

We climb steadily to Tilson's Gap, pleased at our steady pace, without the need to stop over the three mile ascent. On the descent we meet 'Lifeguard' again, this time heading south. He tells us there is a trail magic group on the highway and they will be cooking burgers for hikers until 2pm. We look at our watch and decide that we should be able to make it in time. We hike fast, and arrive with 2 minutes to spare. It is a Methodist group from Arkansas - and they cook us burgers and hot dogs. They are offering trail magic at this spot every day for a week between 10-2. There are about 8 hikers here, all stuffing themselves. They tell us that we may meet them further on the trail as they are doing breakfast everyday, at a road crossing.

We camp by the Lik River - a beautiful wild river and probably one of the best campsites we have on the trail. Sequoia, a young woman joins us to camp here.

Day 53 - 23rd May - Marion - Partnership Shelter - Groseclose - Spring - 13.4 miles

Breakfast is included in the motel tariff, so we rock up to see what is on offer. Coffee and donuts. So we drink the coffee pot dry and eat nearly all the donuts on the tray. Guilt makes me leave one donut for somebody else. Warrior drops us back at the shelter to start walking at around 9.00am.

Our packs are really heavy - we are carrying 7 days food. So our pace is SLOW. It is always hard, the day after a night in town. All the junk food and the extra pack weight makes us very sluggish.We reach the next shelter and discover that Stickbuilt and Tater Chip stayed here last night. They are only 3 hours ahead of us.

The trail detours into an old colonial farm and museum. Hikers are free. Interesting old buildings dating back to 1890s.

We cross a small hamlet, and make our way through farm land to a steep slope on the valley side. I make way on the trail for a lady and a dog to pass, the path is steep - I am on the outside, and next minute I am falling off the path and down the slope. Digby grabs my pack and stops me disappearing into the depths below.

Climbing over fences using a style

Grasslands but we never saw any cows.
They mow the grass and keep the cows in sheds.

We arrive at a main highway - we can hear the cars for a long time before we can see them. There is a roadhouse at Groseclose - the Exxon Service Station and we head in there for lunch. Great roast dinner, and free internet. We stay about 2 hours, and relax into the joy of a great home cooked meal, one of the best on the trail.

We walk on to a campsite at a spring, another 2 miles from the highway. We share the camp with Grissly, Superman (2) and City Slicker, who started hikeing the trail on March 20th.

Day 52 - 22nd May 2010 - Dickeys Gap to Partnership Shelter - Marion - 14.5 miles

Welcome to the wonderful gentle gradients of the trail in Virginia - a fast easy walk. Mid-morning we cross a small bridge to be greeted by a group of Baptists offering trail magic to hikers. We eat cakes with 'cream', make some fresh sandwiches, drink two cans of lemonade (soda), and when we are totally stuffed we continue on. The path follows an old railway so it is very gentle, and we soon catch an old hiker - male, and very slow on the hills, carrying a day pack. His trail  name is 'Lifeguard' and we discover later that he is 'slack-packing' and plans to slack pack the whole trail, all the way to Maine. He has a car and is walking with another hiker, they pass in the middle and swap car keys to do car shuffles every day.

There is a sense of anticipation as we approach Partnership Shelter - it is on the road to the town of Marion, and it is possible to have pizza delivered. What will we order? - we  linger over the menu. The mobile only works in the car park so we have to walk out to the road to place the order. In the car park is a hiker who is waiting for a fuel delivery, from the shop owner in Marion. The shops are closed on Saturday afternoon, and this shop owner is driving the 10 miles up to the shelter to bring 'Ugly Tuna' a litre of fuel for his stove.

Sensing an opportunity, I ask if he could take us back with him to Marion and he agrees. He drops us at a motel and we get a chance to have a shower, do our shopping and go out for dinner. The  motel is a centre for hikers. We meet Lorie again, last seen on Day 15 in Franklin trying to organise a ride for a slack pack. How did she get here? We are much faster walkers than her. She has been 'yellow-blazing' - following the road - the dotted lines on the road are called yellow blazes in AT culture. She has hooked up with Warrior, an ex vietnam veteran, who becomes notorious on the trail for skipping bits, reappearing and pretending that he has walked the whole way. Warrior is delighted to drive us back to the trail tomorrow - he has hired a car for a few days, so that makes it easy for us and we are very grateful.

That night at dinner, we find ourselves in a 'Christian' restaurant, opposite the motel. We should have realised when we saw the fish symbol on the wall. We meet Jamie aka 'T-Cozy' for the first time since Burning Town Gap - Day 16. He has dropped out of the trail because of injury.

Day 51 - 21st May - Rhododendron Gap to Dickeys Gap - 20.4 miles

This day becomes our record for the longest distance so far. It is a wonderful hike in the morning through grantie ridges and open country. We can see a herd of wild horses in the distance. 'Ugly Tuna' passes us, running. As he goes by he says 'trying for 25 miles today'. We think - well we won't be seeing him again. But our paths will cross many times, and in the end he drops out and we just keep ploughing on.

We reach the shelter early - at 4.30pm and still feel like we could walk for another hour, so we decide to keep going. But at 5.30 when we want to stop there is nowhere to camp - we are on a trail on a steep contouring around a mountain with nowhere to put up a tent. So we struggle  on, and then it starts to rain. We end up walking another 4 miles to the road, and find a campsite below the road, where there is water washing off the road.

We arrive in the dark, and are exhausted and cold.

Day 50 - 20th May - Lost Mt Shelter to Rhododendron Gap - 13 miles

The morning hike is a long steady contoured climb to the top of White Mountain, which is a bald. We stop to rest and Digby sees an owl sitting in the tree just next to us, a fantastic siting. There are great views from the summit.

Owl watching us from above

View from the summit of White Mountain

 Then the path contours around the mountain and we are introduced to our first 'rocky' trail. It is hard going. A long descent to a place called Elk Gardens which is a field covered with yellow flowers. Apparently this used to be a place where the deer would come, but we only see people and cars.

Elk Gardens

From Elk Gardens we climb to Mt Rogers, another very rocky, contouring path. The shelter at Mt Rogers has two ponies, a mother and a foal, wild horses who are part of the land management of the area. We think - this would never happen in Australia, the National Parks rangers would have shot them long ago. Here they are used to manage the vegetation. We stop for a rest and the mother and foal both move into lick the salt of my legs.

Yummo!

There are lots of hikers about in large groups. College has closed for the summer. We continue walking past the shelter to some wonderful grasslands and decide to camp early and relax.

Rhododendron Gap

Day 49 - 19th May - Damascus to Lost Mt. Shelter - 15.9 miles

The first hour is fast, and then I sprain my ankle - just a serious twist, which slows me down. I take a few Ibubrofen tablets which seem to help and we keep going.

Today Tater Chip and Stickbuilt are doing a slack pack, walking south back to Damascus so they can spend another night with their spouses, Linda and Sandy. We decide to have a bit of fun - as we know that we will meet them halfway, and decide to present them with some 'trail magic' - honey buns - one of the most popular processed cakes on the trail - they come in cellophane packages, last forever and taste fantastic (to a hungry hiker).

We follow the valley of the Virginia Creeper - an old railway line which is used for mountain bike expeditions. The AT itself deviates away from the Creeper so alas, we too deviate, and leave behind a beautiful gentle graded climb and swap it for a bastard of a climb, following the white blazes, because we are 'pure'. No shortcuts.
 No easy options.

We arrive at the shelter to find several hikes that we already know. Paradise is there, and so is Wallflower. We are surprised because they both walk faster than us - but he has spent 4 days in Damascus for trail days celebration, and now we are catching up. We meet 'Superman' who has long golden locks to shoulder length, 'G-Hippy' and 'Winging It', who has a very loud, repetitive voice, and feels very threatened by us because we did not take the shortcut and he did. So he and Superman have to spend a lot of time rubbishing the 'pure' hikers, to justify their own moral position, that it is still OK to be called a 'thru-hiker' even if you deviate from the trail. Digby and I say nothing and retire to our campsite so we don't have to listen to any more bullshit.

Day 48 - 18th May - Damascus - Zero Day

Today we sleep in. What joy! Then we have breakfast at a little cafe, and thoroughly relax and take our time. We walk two miles to the supermarket. Suzanne offers to drive us but we say we are happy to walk, which amazes her. She says 'most hikers will only walk if there is a white blaze to follow'. On our walk to the supermarket we talk to an old fisherman about the signs saying 'trout rodeo', which is a fishing competition just been held.

Amazing cakes - people eat this stuff?

We enjoy looking at all the food in the supermarket, including all the junk food but we buy fresh and healthy, and make fresh turkey roles with salsa for lunch with salad, and then check out the Outfitters. I have decided to buy another walking pole, but they come in pairs, so I have to buy two. I put my old one in the 'hikers box' at the Hikers Inn, and it is pounced on by a young male hiker who has no poles and thinks that my old pole will be perfect for him. I'm glad. The Outfitters repairs the tip of Digby's walking stick for free.

We join Stickbuilt and Tater Chip for a barbeque at their apartments, and get to meet Sandy and Linda, and some other friends of Tater who have come up from Alabama.  We eat burgers, and home made pistachio nuts, grown by Tater and Linda, salted and spiced by Linda. They are fantastic and Digby and I scoff them.

Tater Chip on the right - also known as John Lay

Linda - Tater's wife who has come from Alabama for a few days

Tater, Digby, Sandy and Stickbuilt. Look at all the food.

Digby and I take some wine, but nobody else seems to be drinking - they think of us Aussies as another species. Stickbuilt does have one glass, and then when he decides to have a bit more, we have already finished the bottle!

We make a good connection to Sandy and Stickbuilt. They are very similar to us. Stickbuilt can take the teasing that we dish out, in good fun,  and he tries to give it back, but alas he is too polite to be really effective. The longer he knows us, the more he develops his 'aussie' skills of 'taking the piss'. This forms the basis for a good friendship, and Sandy and Dave become good friends.

Day 47 - 17th May - Abingdon Shelter to Damascus - 10 miles

We leave early and cover the ten miles in 4 hours, moving quickly down hill. We are very proud of ourselves for moving so fast. The edge of Damascus still has the tents up and the fast food stalls from the Trail Days which finished yesterday. Flyboy approaches a burger stall which is packing up and they give him a free cold burger to eat - he is chuffed. Only been on the trail for 3 days and he is already starving.

A momentous day as we cross the state border from Tennessee into Virginia. We are going to hike more than 500 miles in Virginia. It is raining all morning and the photo is very misty, but I will put it in anyway.

Tennessee - Virginia State border

We hike quickly down the main street looking for the Hikers Inn, where we have booked a room. Suzanne, the host,  greets us and we are shown to an upstairs front room with a king size bed, overlooking the main street of the small town. We are thrilled.

Suzanne drives us to the edge of town to the local restaurant called 'The Whistlepig' where we eat burgers and then cross the road to the ice-cream parlour, and share the 'hiker's special'.

We run into Stickbuilt and Tater Chip in the main street. They are staying at apartments with their wives about 50 m away from us. 

We have dinner at Dot's Inn - steak and chips - but it is not very salubrious.

Day 46 - 16th May - Iron Mt Shelter to Abingdon Shelter - 15.9 miles

A very memorable day on the trail. I come face to face with a biiiiiig bear who is heading down the trail towards me as the trail crosses a creek, and the trail is surrounded by dense vegetation. He is only 30 metres away and I see him before he sees me. I stand and watch. He looks up. I think - where is Digby? he should be here to watch this. Then the bear turns around and disappears into the forest. Thankyou bear!

Then we see a big black blur running alongside the trail - another bear. This place is infested with bears.

We find a carton of beer on the trail. Two thru-hikers from 2007 who have come to Damascus to celebrate the trail days, came out on to the trail and left the carton for us. Bud-lite. We take one can each to carry for lunch.

Five minutes later, we stumble across the most memorable trail magic. It is a 'Jesus Box' full of cakes and ice cold cans of lemonade [someone has just come and topped up the ice - thankyou]. There are four different sorts of cakes - with cream, each individually wrapped in cellophane. I eat three 'cream' cakes and drink 2 cans of lemonade[or soda as the Americans call it]. This is a bear proof box maintained by a church group to provide sustenance to those in need [AT hikers] and we appreciate it.

Alison at tje Jesus Box reading the log  book to see who has partaken and said thankyou.

 After stuffing ourselves with food, we reach a crossroads, and a special part of the trail - a place where wheelchairs can be used. We looked at the gradient and decided that you would have to be fit to roll your own chair up these slopes, but maybe Americans only used motorised chairs. We never saw one.

We arrive at the shelter at about 5pm and make camp. The water source is a long way down. Digby heads down for water and then the most drenching thunderstorm unloads, and the best water is actually at the shelter running off the roof, so I catch what I can and wait for Digby to return.

By the time he gets back, he is wet through - I am dry as I am standing in the shelter talking to Flyboy. It is obvious that we have pitched our tent in a very wet place - a lake is already starting to form. So Digby, already soaked, through goes out into the thunderstorm and shifts the tent about 50 metres to a drier site. Flyboy looks at me and says 'He's amazing, shifting that tent for you'. I reply 'If you want to hike with your future girlfriend, learn from this experience'. It rains all night and once again the tent leaks and my sleeping bag gets wet. We are only 10 miles from Damascus, so we will be in a warm bed tomorrow night.

Day 45 - 15th May - Lake Watanga to Iron Mt. Shelter - 13.3 miles

We circle the lake edge until we reach the dam wall and start climbing steeply up a ridge. We have great views of the lake as we climb over two hours steadily to the top. This ridgeline is parallel with the lake for the rest of the day.

It is a great day for wildlife. We see our first rattle snake - it is shedding its skin right next to the track.

We point it out to two young men hiking for the day - they are thrilled to see the rattlesnake and say 'thank you ma'am'. Although this form of address makes me feel about 100 years old, it is the height of politeness and respect to address a woman as 'ma,am', in the same way as you address a man as 'sir'. It takes me time but I get used to being called  'ma'am'. When I asked one hiker why he called me 'ma'am' he took the time to explain: 'From the time I was about six years old, if I didn't address a lady as ma'am, I would be walloped by my Pa.'

We also see a terrapin, some toads and two baby bears moving really fast descending from a tree as we approached. They were a black blurr - and we looked anxiously for mother bear . We knew she was there somewhere.

We arrive at Iron Mt. Shelter and put up the tent. Just in time. The afternoon thunderstorm arrives. We share the campsite with a young college man, who is out for a few weeks hiking during the break. He does not have a trail name yet, but is later to be called 'Fly Boy' because all the flies are attracted to him. He is carrying a huge load and it is topped off with a 2 litre water container perched on top.

During the night, we hear our water container being dragged away from the tent. Digby shines the torch to see a raccoon with the handle of the container between his teeth. Our first and only encounter with a raccoon. The only thing we know about raccoons is that Davey Crockett wore a raccoon hat with a long tail. It is about the size of a cat.

Day 44 - 14th May - Kincora to Lake Watanga - 11 miles

The trail follows the river down to the Laurel Fork Falls. These are some of the most spectacular waterfalls on the whole trail, and we don't even have to detour to see them.

We see evidence of beavers for the first time and are amazed by the gnawing effects of their teeth on the trees which are still standing. What an effort.

The next part of the day is soul-destroying. We climb up a mountain and down the other side for no reason, other than that is where the white blazes send us, and we follow like lambs to the slaughter. If the white blaze goes that way, so do we. We climb 2000 ft for no reason and then descend 2000ft for no reason. On the climb, we meet a hiker from Kincora hostel who is doing a slack pack backwards to the hostel. We can hear her on the phone as we climb the zig-zags. She has found a place where her mobile phone works, and the strongest southern accent floats across the forest, so thick that we cannot understand a word. Her trail name is Serenatina, and we are to share the trail with her over many days into the future. Today we learn that she is a 'talker', and we keep walking to escape the voice and reach the silence of the forest.

We also meet two young women hiking with a huge dog - one of the young women has a beard, and they keep to themselves. The dog barks as we pass them resting on the trail. We wonder what the story is here, but are too polite to ask.

We arrive at Lake Watanga - people picknicking and swimming, fishing and just relaxing on the lawn. We stop on the grass for an hour and watch the Canadian Geese at the water's edge.

We phone Mike and Theresa in Georgia - Theresa answers the phone in the middle of a bridge game. We imagine her telling her bridge friends 'those two aussies are still on the trail', as they all follow us vicariously through our trials and tribulations.

We start walking around the lake and keep going into the afternoon until we find a flat spot on a ridge with lake views to camp.

Day 43 - 13th May - Laurel Fork Campsite to Kincora Hostel - 13 miles

We make an early start and travel steadily making 2 miles an hour. We meet a few hikers heading south, but there are no slackpackers today. Turtle passes us at around 2pm. We head down the steep ridge to the hostel which is a mile off the trail.

The hostel is free – and asks for payment by donation. It is owned by Bob Peoples a legend on the AT, and famous for organizing ‘hard core’ trail activities, such as building and rerouting trails, by hand with pick and hoe. Bob has built the hostel about 25m from his own house, and it is a legend on the trail because those with little money can stay here for a small donation.

We are driven into the main town of Elizabeth to buy food by Seiko, a volunteer and friend of Bob’s. We buy lots of fruit and vegetables and do a big fry up back at the hostel – mushrooms, potatoes, eggs, bacon. As I cook up the meal, a large group of hungry young men arrive. We had bought a whole watermelon and gave them that to start with. Fresh fruit is such a treat on the trail. I accidentally dropped a fried egg on the floor when I was flipping it, and I picked it up to put it in the rubbish, but was intercepted by one of the young men - "Don't throw it out - I'll have it." And he did.

Bob Peoples arrives late in the evening and we sit around the table on the balcony and talk with him, swapping stories about the Camino de Santiago, which he hiked last year (I did this hike in 2001).

A lot of people are arriving to get a shuttle to Damascus to attend trail days – a big annual gathering of AT hikers which celebrates the trail. We decide to stay focused on the hiking, as we don’t have enough time to spare for trail day participation. Turtle decides to join the shuttle. She is having problems with a bad back and this time out may help. John and Lisa - her trailname is 'Just Lisa' arrive. We had enjoyed their company at Erwin hostel. They decide to take the shuttle and enjoy the trail days celebration. We follow their journey at trailjournals.com over the next few months, and then have a surprise meeting on our very last day of the hike on the summit of Mt Katahdin.

We sleep in bunks in the back corridor - me on the bottom, Digby on the top. In the middle of the night I am woken up by Digby shaking the whole double bunk, rocking it backwards and forwards. I wonder what is going on. Then I can hear snoring - huge deep throaty snores coming from the bottom bunk next to mine. He thinks it is me making this noise! I say 'It's not me', and the rocking stops. 

Day 42 - 12th May - Mt Harbour - Laurel Fork Campsite - 12 miles

We participate in one of the most amazing breakfasts on the trail at Mt Harbour. Our hostess Mary puts on a breakfast buffet for 23 hikers and 4 B&B guests@ $9 per head. It is a spectacle. Twelve different dishes spread out on the large dining table, hikers queuing up to pile up their plates and still plenty left for seconds. She has learned and lets the B&B guests go first, before the hikers descend like locusts.

We stagger out from the hostel and start a slow climb. There are lots of the hikers, including Kindling, doing a ‘slack-pack’ today – covering  24 miles to Kincora Hostel. Their packs will be waiting for them when they arrive. They move fast and pass us early in the day. We walk through quite ‘civilised’ surroundings – houses, cemeteries, cleared paddocks. 

There is a waterfall 1 mile off the trail – it means a round trip of 2 miles. How much do we want to see it? Neither of us is that enthusiastic about adding another 2 miles to our day. It leads to the discussion – how far are you prepared to detour for a waterfall? As compared to a pizza? We decide that we would walk 2 miles for a pizza but not a waterfall.

We stop for a rest at Mountaineer Falls Shelter for a break. This is a new shelter which has been built by 150 trail volunteers, who carried in the timber. A mezzanine floor and balcony. Very trendy.

At 5.00pm we find a flat camp site next to a small flowing creek so we decide to stop. It is an opportunity to wash our socks – what a treat! Turtle and Wallflower come through around 6.00pm looking for the hostel – it is another 2 miles further on.We enjoy the solitude of the forest.

Day 41 - 11th May - Stan Murray Shelter - Highway - Mt Harbour Hostel - 11.9 miles

With hindsight I think this was our second hardest day on the trail, though we did not know this at time. We just coped with the conditions as best we could.

The tent is wet and packing up in the rain is difficult. Disaster strikes. Digby leaves his gloves behind in the tent. The tent is folded and packed away and he decides that he can cope without them. This proves to be a really bad decision. Without his gloves he suffers frostnip and it takes many months for the feeling in his fingers to return.

The weather has closed in with very high speed winds and we are walking in cloud with 20 metres or less visibility. We have to go over two mountains, and are faced with 500 ft of climbing in exposed and very hypothermic conditions. At times we wonder if we are still on the trail. Just below the summit, the wind tries to blow me off the trail. We just keep going. Three hours later we finally descend into forest and get protection from the wind and the cold. As we reach the lower elevations it is warm and sunny. It is hard to believe that the weather is raging at 6,000 ft with wind gusts over 50 mph.

We reach the highway and turn left to walk one mile to a hostel called Mountain Harbour. The house is on the hill, they have a hostel in the stables and a campsite along the river. We choose the campsite, and camp next to the goat paddock. Turtle arrives later in the day and camps next to us - we havent seen her since Day 21 on the climb into the Smokies when she passed us on the climb up the first ridge.

At 5pm we join the shuttle into 'town' to shop for groceries. On the way back we stop to buy beer/cider at the 'speakeasy', a tiny old shed which is the only place which sells alcohol in 20 miles. When we walk in, it feels like we are on a movie set of a 1950s movie with all these oldtimers sitting around the bar who stop talking when we walk in.

We join the dinner shuttle with 13 people in the vehicle. I keep thinking - surely this cant be legal. Nobody seems to care.

Day 40 - 10th May, 2010 - Greasy Creek Gap - Roan Mt - Stan Murray Shelter - 13.3 miles

We leave the hostel and climb back to the trail and meet up with Mountain Camel again. Mountain Camel is trying to organise some 'trail magic' for hikers by providing a free barbeque lunch, which is going to be delivered by his partner Delilah, at Carver Gap. We look forward in anticipation.

We stop at the Clyde Smith shelter early in the day to read the log book. Crafty has written that Samantha, her hiking partner [Snickers] has left the trail and gone home, leaving Crafty on her own. Samantha was doing this as a school project, and now that school has finished, she has terminated the walk.

We find three cans of beer left on the trail - with a note to wish us well on the climb up Roan Mt. Digby and I share one between us - yuk - warm light beer at 10.00am in the morning. The things hikers do to themselves and I don't even like beer! Mountain camel drinks one and we leave one for those coming behind us.

Alison drinking a beer with Mountain Camel

Can of beer with note

It is a long climb up Roan Mt., but the weather is clear and we make good time. Halfway up we step aside to let Jason move on through - a young fit man in his stride. As I watch in awe at the speed he is hiking, I make a crucial observation - he is using two hiking poles, and he is using them as you would use ski stocks in cross country skiiing. They are powering him up the slope as much as his legs. Up until now I have only been using one pole. I realise this is a big mistake - I am missing out on the power of my arms to propel me up the slopes. I make a note to myself to buy an extra hiking pole at the next town. This observation is to change my whole hiking speed to be much faster.

The top of Roam Mt is an old resort from the 1880s.

Summit of Roan Mountain

Chimney from the old resort

We follow the old horse trail down the mountain - it is very rocky and eroded and we get bruised feet.

We arrive at Carvers Gap expecting a free barbeque lunch courtesy of Mountain Camel and Delilah. There are eight other hikers waiting for Mountain Camel to deliver lunch - it is now 3 pm and he has not turned up. We don't hang around. We never see or hear about Mountain Camel again.

We cross the road at Carvers Gap and climb the first two balds. The weather is closing in and it is very windy so we decide to stop at the Stan Murray Shelter to camp. The hikers following us decide to continue to the next shelter another 3 miles along the trail - Overmountain Shelter which is an old barn and quite famous as a film set.

Day 39 - 9th May, 2010 - Deep Gap to Greasy Gap - 12.2 miles

An interesting walk through valleys and ridges on a benched trail. We meet Food Network [we last saw him in the Smokies about to go to town to buy new boots]. He is doing the same slackpack that Stickbuilt and Tater Chip did yesterday, so he is heading south and travelling fast back to Erwin. We never see him again, which is sad as we really enjoyed his company in the shelters in the Smokies and we don't know whether he made it to the end or not. Following Crafty's trail journal, we find out that she walks with him for quite a while on the trail.

The trail goes through an old historic pioneer apple orchard, and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy is planting new 'old apple varieties' to fill the gaps, to make sure that the orchard continues to exist. It is a wonderful place and we wish that we had camped here, amidst the meadow with flowers, bees, and spend a bit of the warm sunny afternoon relaxing here.

Pioneer apple orchard

Alas we continue on and decide to drop off the trail at Greasy Creek Gap to stay in a hostel 0.6 miles below the ridge. It kills us to descend so steeply knowing that we will have to reclimb it tomorrow.

The Greasy Gap hostel is an acquired taste and we don't acquire it. It is run by Connie - it is her home, and the hikers take it over, lolling around in her lounge watching DVDs etc. To survive this onslaught she has lots of 'rules'. We stay in a bedroom in the house and she cooks us pizza and eggs for breakfast. We feel uncomfortable here - Connie is working herself to the bone for little return, and many hikers are happy to take advantage of her good nature. Her trail name is CC(Cook and Clean). She tries to survive by making 'rules'. I am not surprised to find some of these hikers are our 'night stalkers'. Her breakfast organisation is very slow and the pricing structure means there is little profit in it for her.

Day 38 - 8th May, 2010 - Erwin to Deep Gap - 12.1 miles

Ready to go

Stickbuilt and Tater Chip decide to do a 'slack pack' today which means that they pay for a vehicle to drop them about 20 miles north of Erwin, so they can hike back to the hostel with just a day pack. They invite us to join them and share the cost of the shuttle. We decide against it - we are mentally prepared to hike north, and the thought of suddenly doing 20 miles in the wrong direction is not something that appeals. We are also not sure how Digby's knee would respond to the extra mileage so we decline. It helps us develop our own ethical standards for the trail - we are not against 'slack packing' as such, but we would have to walk in the right direction ie north, before we would even consider it.

We stop for lunch and test out the new menu - tortillas, with peanut butter and pepperoni - we purchased the ingregients in Erwin, and the combination is fantastic, and it becomes a trail standard lunch for us.

Tortilla, peanut butter and pepperoni for lunch

We have a great forest walk along the river and then a climb. We meet Stickbuilt and Tater heading south, at a great speed - amazing to be walking without full packs. Climbing to the Beauty Spot I sprain my ankle. This is the second sprain of the trip and it slows us down. Walking is painful.

It is really windy at the campsite, and we cook under the tent fly in the shelter. About 5 other tents join us at the site.