Day 90 - 29th June - Rocky Run Shelter to the Free State Hostel - 15.5 miles

We depart at 7.00am and walk well through the morning. We detour to visit the Washington Monument built in 1823 to celebrate the life of George Washington 1732-1799.

Before he became the President of the USA he was the Commander in Chief in the revolution against the English. Stickbuilt gives us a few quick lessons in American history. It makes us wonder why the US chooses to prop up dictators against the 'rebels' in places like South America. Since then,  Obama has chosen to encourage the rise of the 'Arab Spring' which seems a better fit with the US history of revolution.

We visit a battlefield where the battlements are still in place, 150 years on.

As the day goes on, I get footsore and a blister develops on my big toe. I thought I had this licked by drinking lots of gatorade.

We detour at the road to walk down to a hiker hostel called the Free State Hostel. We order pizza to be delivered - what luxury, and sit up doing a jigsaw. The hostel has a map on the wall of the trail, and at last we can see that we have come a fair way, with their 'you are here' red dot.

Day 89 - 28th June - Harpers Ferry to Rocky Run Shelter - 15.5 miles

Sandy drives us, Stickbuilt and Scatters back to Harpers Ferry to resume the trail. We start at the ATC where we had our official photo taken. It is quite early in the morning so we decide to do the 'unofficial' version and whip off our tops so that we can show our torsoes, and how much weight we have lost in the last 3 months.

Tripper starting to shed the fat and Wizard looks like a famine victim

From left - Stickbuilt, Scatters, Tripper and Wizard ready to start the second part of the journey

We are quite excited - we are at the 'official' halfway mark and we are halfway through our 6 month visa - completing the whole thru hike is still a good possibility for us. It is within our grasp and we can only get fitter as we go further north. A lean and mean machine could make up the extra time we need.

Stickbuilt is going to walk with us for 5 days. He has had nearly a month at home to recover from the pinched nerves caused by his weight loss. Scatters starts with us too - she is wearing sandals not boots - and she just keeps walking a little bit faster than us and is soon disappearing ahead in the distance. The weight of her pack is huge - a fit young woman with amazing stamina.

The forecast is for 95 degF, and we follow the trail along the river. The area is steeped in the history of the civil war. We walk past the armory which John Brown (as in 'John Brown's body lies a mouldering in the grave, while his truth is marching on'. ) tried to capture as a way he thought to stop the practice of slavery.

We climb a long ridge and emerge at Gathland State Park which is an old estate with a memorial to reporters who reported the civil war. We are standing on a battle field, with the plaques explaining which army group did what to whom, and went where. It is a hot sunny day. We have found a soft drink machine and we treat ourselves to icy cold coke. It is hard to imagine the place and how bloody it must have been 150 years ago.

We turn off the trail late in the afternoon to find a campsite at the Rocky Run Shelter - this place actually has two shelters - the old original and the trendy upgraded one with a mezzanine floor. We camp in between them on the flat by the river.

Day 87/88 - 26th/27th June - Washington DC

This a time for luxury and being looked after by Stickbuilt and Sandy. We are fairly exhausted and it is so nice to actually STOP WALKING for 2 whole days. We don't have the energy to be tourists or to do stuff. We just want to 'be' here, and not walk.

On Saturday Stickbuilt and Sandy take us shopping. We go to the most amazing organic grocer foodstore with absolutely everything organic that you could ever want. We decide to cook them an 'aussie' roast dinner and we buy a leg of lamb for $US45 and make a pavlova with berries on top. It is so long since I cooked that it is great to be in the kitchen doing stuff at a bench and a sink instead of grovelling around in the dirt.

Stickbuilt takes us cruising the department stores so Digby can buy some new underpants. Digby wears 'jocks' - male bikini knickers. He needs new ones after 3 months on the trail. In a small town at about the 850 mile mark he could not find any replacements in the 'Dollar General' store (like Target) so he buys some ladies bikini knickers instead. He needs underpants which are low cut and do not interfere with the pack waist belt. It is not a pleasant sight - imagine a male trying to squash all his gear into a space designed for girls. He walks in ladies underwear for 150 miles and discovers it to be all right at a pinch but not really comfortable.

Three department stores later, we finally find a small rack of Calvin Klein hipster briefs. American males do not wear hipster briefs - they wear daggy high waisted and long legged boxers. Rack after rack of male underpants with short legs, long legs, and thick elastic waist bands, but none with no legs. The burning question - why don't American males wear budgie smugglers? - even Tony Abbott wears budgie smugglers so it can't be an old man conservative thing. After walking 2150 miles I still don't know the answer.

Stickbuilt takes us down to the basement to show us his trail food supplies, and invites us to 'shop' for our food here, so we do. There are loads and loads of dehydrated meals, snacks, and everything else a hiker could possible need. We feel guilty - we are still hiking the trail - Stickbuilt had to leave the trail because of injury, and now we are eating all his supplies that he had planned to support his hike for the 6 months. So much energy, commitment and enthusiasm, not to mention the planning and forethought invested.

We meet Stickbuilt's no.2 daughter, Lyndsay at dinner with her German boyfriend. And watch the most amazing DVD of daughter no.1 singing an operatic aria at her college graduation ceremony. The power of her voice still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. She was desperate to have a singing career, but the openings have not been there for her. I will never forget that voice.

On Sunday morning we are taken to a nearby farmers market to meet Stickbuilt's brother who is an agricultural lecturer with his own orchard, and he sells his produce at the market on weekends. We would have loved to see the farm but time is short. In the afternoon, Stickbuilt and Sandy drive us around the central part of the city - so we have the guided tour and drive past the Whitehouse, Capitol Hill, loads of monuments and all the museums, and parklands. We are very impressed and hope to come back one day and 'do' the Smithsonian. Not today - we are not up to anything much. Just focus on the main goal and don't get sidetracked.

Day 86 - 25th June - Blackburn ATC Hut to Harpers Ferry - 13 miles

We started early and moved fast along the ridge towards Harpers Ferry. The descent of the ridge into HF follows a very steep diagonal trench which has trees growing out of the side of it. I look at it and think - this has to be manmade. Sure enough we find out later, that this hillside was barren during the Civil War, and that this trench gave protection to soldiers to allow them to move up and down the slope without being shot at. We are now following it 150 years later. The trench is still there - the forest has regrown - and now hikers follow the path down every day. How many of them realise the history of their descent?

This is an emotional moment. We have clocked more than 1000 miles and walk into Harpers Ferry - the town considered to be the 'emotional' half way mark, though the actual half way mark changes each year as new zig zags are added and the distance increases a little bit.

We cross the Shenendoah River on the bridge with four lanes of cars zinging past us and climb through the narrow pathway to emerge in an old part of the town where the Appalachian Train Conservancy has their headquarters. Excitement mounts as we race two young males to be the first hikers to emerge from the forest that day.

There are some spectators cheering us on as we come down the narrow lane. Lo and behold - it is Stickbuilt, Sandy and Paradise who have actually come early to wait for us to arrive. In a strange country, with few contacts we suddenly feel like we have 'family' watching out for us. We met Stickbuilt on the trail over 2 months ago - he knows us by our trail names of Tripper and Wizard from OZ. We find it hard to adapt to call him by his real name - Dave. Paradise is a male in his forties who has walked with us in the first few weeks and then rejoins us to walk part of the Shenendoahs. His real name is Nick. Paradise and Stickbuilt have both suffered injuries to force them to pull out of the hike, in the short term - both are hoping to return and may possibly walk with us when they return.

Our welcoming committee know what thru-hikers need - they have brough an esky full of ice with cans of soft drink and beer. Before Digby does anything else he drinks a beer. I sort through the soft drinks and select a can with the most calories. We have walked for the last 10 days without a break, averaging 15 miles a day in temperatures above 90 degrees F or 35 celsius.

AT the headquarters of the ATC we are processed and have our picture taken in front of the office sign. These photos go into the official photo album - we are number 485 to come through as thru hikers heading north. We buy 10 postcards of our photo to send home. We browse the photo album, looking for faces that we recognise of people who have passed us - who has made it - who has disappeared and dropped out? Thousands have dropped out before the half way mark. Others have appeared ahead of us, who we know should still be behind us - they have 'yellow blazed' which means hitched a ride on the road and jumped ahead. - we see Doc's face - he was there just a couple of hours before we arrive. We are sad to miss him by such a small margin. Maybe we will still catch up. But alas we never do, and never see any more entries from him until we get back to Australia and he has posted a message on trailjournals.com for us. He took 2 weeks out because he was sick and then followed us in the logbook entries and did make to Katahdin. We are called 'purists' - we are walking every step of the way with no shortcuts. There are few purists on the trail, but Doc was another one.

Our photo shows how skinny we are. Later we weigh ourselves on Stickbuilt and Sandy's scales and discover that we are both the lightest in living memory. Digby is starting to look like a WW2 prisoner of war with ribs and ribcage very prominent. For me - I now have a real waist and my bottom has disappeared, but the fat layer is still hanging on. The previous day for lunch I had drunk two cans of soft drink and ate a pint of vanilla flavoured icecream - and walked 10 miles and climbed 4,000 ft from the sugar hit! 

Sandy packs us into the car with Scatters and takes us first to the post office where we have a mail package from Australia - new eye glasses for me ( I broke them on day 4) and our summer lightweight tent, sent by Rosemary. Then we get taken home to Washington DC. Stickbuilt and Sandy have a 2 storey house in a lovely rural environment on an old farm subdivided 20 years ago.

We let everything go - and relax and sleep.What bliss!

Day 85 - 24th June - Morgan Hill Stream to Blackburn ATC Hut - 14.1 miles

This was a really hard day. We started early to tackle the biggest hills on the rollercoaster. We had sweat dripping off our noses at 7.30am. What a work out! We had 8 climbs of about 500' each and 8 descents. We stopped a the Bears Den Hostel around lunchtime and we drank 2 cans of mountain dew soft drink each and ate 1 pint of vanilla ice-cream, the brand in the US is called Ben and Gerry. We also meet 'Wolfpack' a married couple from Germany at the hostel.

There are storms brewing all afternoon bu no rain. It is a really exhausting hike which seems to never end. We reach the turn off to the ATC Hut - it says 10 minutes - but it is all down - steep steep descent in zig zag track for about 25 minutes. I get crankier and crankier as I think of all that effort it will take to reclimb this track back to the AT tomorrow morning.

We arrive at the hostel and the warden looks at me and says ' you look really cranky!' - which I was! and realised that I had to get over it and enjoy what was on offer. The warden cooked up a magnificent meal, and they sent a car off to get wine. We reconnected with Scatters, LiftnStep and Spoonz, and enjoyed a hot solar shower. Good company, good food, good wine and a good sleep. What more could you ask? A gentler trail!

Day 84 - 23rd June - Manassus Gap Shelter to Morgan Hill Stream - 16.1 miles

A really hot day is forecast again - 95 deg F, so we leave camp and start walking at 7.00am. We stop at Rod Hollow Shelter at 2.00pm and have a couple of hours sleeping and then cook dinner, waiting for the day to cool down so we can keep walking into the evening.

Then in the late afternoon we start the 'Rollercoaster', an infamous part of the AT, for 10 ascents and descents of about 500', one after the other. We power into the first two hills, and then decide to camp by a stream at about 8.00pm. The temperature has not dropped very much. Even at 1.00am I am awake sweltering, and see torches go by on the trail, as other hikers walk in the night to stay cool and cover the distance.

I ring Mum from the top of the hill as there is great mobile reception, and she tells me that Julia Gillard is about to become Australia's next Prime Minister, the first woman PM. As I walk I wonder about the politics behind the removal of an elected PM - Kevin Rudd - while he is still in office. I have been out of Australia for over 3 months and missed all the political manoevres leading up to this coup.

Day 83 - 22nd June - Hogwallow Flat Spring to Manassus Gap Shelter - 20.7 miles

Today is a long day and a new record for us - 20.7 miles.

It is a really hot day . We stop for an early lunch at 10.30am at Tom Floyd Wayside Shelter. Soon after the shelter Sanman caught up with us, and we walked with him until we reached the highway. He planned to leave the trail and go into Front Royal - it was too hot to hike. So we yogi-ed off him. This is a technique on the trail whereby hungry thru hikers make other hikers, day walkers and car drivers give their food to the AT hikers 'of their own free will'. You don't blatantly ask for it - you have to be more subtle. Sanman relinquished 6 packets of electrolytes and 3 fresh peaches. He didnt need them as he was going into town. The peaches were a wonderful surprise.

We stop for an early dinner at Denton Shelter - which has its own solar shower. What luxury! There is a group of male hikers here - all in their 20s and 30s - all talking loudly and full of testosterone trying to outdo each other. We introduce ourselves. The loudest one says to me ' don't bother learning my name as you won't see me again - I do 40 miles a day'. And what do you know - we had the misfortune of crossing paths with him every day for the next week, as he kept on disappearing into towns to get drunk.

We struggle to make the last 5 miles to the shelter and when we arrive on dusk it is already full with a whole company of boy scouts. We squeeze our tent into a small space on the edge of the campsite. A group of teenage boys in a tent about 30 metres away is yelling their heads off competing with each other to tell the most outrageous stories. I stop by their tent to let them know that I particular enjoyed one of the stories - deathly silence after that!

Day 82 - 21st June - Pass Mt Hut to Hogwallow Flat Spring - 16.6 miles

An early start. We see a teenage bear and watched him for about 10 minutes while Digby tried to photograph him. We stopped at Elkwallow Way - a roadhouse - for a big breakfast and were able to do a resupply, which meant we did not have to leave the trail to get to the town of Front Royal. We stayed at the roadhouse for about 1 1/2 hours and ate eggs, bacon, toast, hashbrowns, coffee and finished it off with a pint of flavoured milk!

We had a late lunch at Gravel Springs Hut with Marcus and 'Slightly Inappropriate', and stayed an hour to enjoy their company before we did another three hours in the cool of the late afternoon.

While we were looking for a good campsite in the bush, I saw a hiker coming towards us. I had left a stick lying across the track to mark a good campsite, and I was worried he would kick it out of the way and I would lose the location. So I asked him to watch out for the stick. I was so focused on this that I did not happen to notice that he was completely starkers, carrying his pack, until after he had departed.  It was a special day on the AT - The 'Hike Naked Day' on the day of the winter solstice.

Day 81 - 20th June - Big Meadow CG to Pass Mt Hut - 18.2 miles

Last night in the national park campground was awful with the drunks from a nearby tent yelling and laughing until the early hours. It was so bad I wrote a formal complaint and stuck it under the office door, thinking that might help the other families who are having another night there.

The trail took us through the forest to Skyland Resort so we had lunch in the restaurant. It is a special treat being able to eat your way through the Shenandoah National Park. Pity the lunch was fairly crappy, and a guy at the table next to us kept trying to harass us.

We reached Byrds Nest Hut and found a message for us in the logbook from Doc to say that Shakin had been diagnosed with diverticulitis, and he was trying to contact us. This meant that Doc was only half a day ahead of us, and we wondered if we could catch him. There was a faster walker - Sandbagger - so we gave him a message to pass on to Doc. Little did we know that Sandbagger walks fast, but also parties fast, and leaves the trail for a few days here and there, so in fact we kept meeting up with him over the next few months, as he partied and we kept walking, and then he would pass us. And stop to party..... and the cycle continued.

We felt good hiking today so kept on going to Pass Mountain Hut to camp. It was full of boring retired white males, all trying to outdo each other with their stories. The most interesting thing to help us remember this place was a turtoise trying to dig a hole next to the fire pit.

Day 80 - 19th June - South R. Picnic Grnd - Big Meadow Campground

Today we walked fast - the path was easy. We stopped at Mt Louis Campground to have a second breakfast and received mobile messages from Rosemary our farm manager. We rang her immediately to discover that their house at Seville in the Dandenongs north of Melbourne had burned down, and Kieran has gone down to sort out the mess. She said she is shocked but OK.

It may be time for us to leave the US and go home - we have been hiking for nearly 3 months. It is a big load on Ro and Kieran to take on the farm and the business - this extra disaster is just terrible. Rosemary is adamant that they can manage and that we should keep on walking. So we keep on hiking and thinking about Australia and home. Ro and Kieran had a  lovely house in the bush, and now its gone. When we hiked the long distance footpath through the French Alps - GR 5 - in 2000, our own house caught fire and burned half down - while our caretakers were there 'looking after the farm'. We felt a bit of deja vue.

We slog on to Big Meadows Campground. The place is run by the national park and there are thousands of people, with bears right in close. It reminded us a little of the campground at Wilsons Promontory in Gippsland - numbered campsites, packed tents, lots of noise. We do our washing, have a shower and enjoy a luxury 3 course meal served at the lodge. After dinner we sit in the lounge and listen to an old AT hiker who hiked in 2008 talking about his experience.

Day 79 - 18th June - Ivy Creek to South R. picnic ground - 17.8 miles

It is a long hot day. This morning we said goodbye to Paradise - he has suffered from very sore and tender feet over the last month or so, and walked with us from Waynesboro at a 'slower pace' to see if it helped. But he is in a lot of pain and decided to stop the hike at this point. He hopes to meet up with us in Australia in 2011, so we are looking forward to this but as I write this we have not heard anything from him.

We visit Pinefield Hut and find the Gen Y Group of 6 who are still there , unpacked at 10.30am. We climb Hightop Mt. and are passed by Gen Y on the descent, who announce that they are hitching to the nearest town. We leave them to it on the highway. We arrive at the picnic ground where we hope to camp illegally but there is nowhere to set up camp so we keep going and decide to set up the tent on a flat area in the middle of a forestry track. Quite comfortable but hard to get the pegs into the ground.

We are very proud of ourselves - we have just clocked over 900 miles total.

Day 78 - 17th June - Skyline @92.4 to Ivy Creek - 17.3 miles

We have an early start and reach Blackrock Hut for morning tea which is filled with a young group of hikers smoking dope. It is easy wandering along the graded trails and we make good time.

We have lunch at a 'picnic area' and them move on to the Loft Mt Campground Store where we stuff ourselves with junk food and Digby drinks beer.

Eating and drinking junk - Paradise and Digby

 While I am drinking a can of lemonade, a bottle of chocolate milk, and eating potato chips, and a honeybun, all at the same time, a strange man comes up and sits next to me - very close and inside my personal space. He stares at me and I think that I have a loony on my hands. Then he speaks and I recognise him. It is Worn Heel - he has shaved off his beard and was not wearing his glasses and he was clean - how was I expected to recognise this new look.

Worn Heel had come looking for us, in the car with his wife Meg, before he drove back to Wisconsin to resume his real life. We spend half an hour chatting and then arrange to meet them further down the road at the hamburger restaurant for dinner, so that we can complete the miles we need to achieve that day. We get his details and are really pleased that we have made contact to say goodbye, as we really enjoyed his company. We ate a burger with chips, an ice-cream sundae and then climbed back up to the trail to find Ivy Creek campsite.

Enjoying a bit of luxury - adding extra calories

Day 77 - 16th June - Waynesboro to Skyline @ 92.4 mile post - 13.4 miles

Another wonderful breakfast - with french toast. One of the B&B couples staying there invite us to stay with them at Boiling Springs.

Bill, the owner of the B&B drops us back to the trail around 10.00am and Paradise is there waiting to walk with us. It is very misty but lifts as the day goes on.

Heading into Shenandoah National Park

The trail is gently graded and my feet feel good. We miss the watering point in the afternoon. We break the bad news to Paradise - walk with us and die of thirst. I try and get water from a tourist car stopped on the highway to look at the view. When I knock on the window of the car they nearly have a heart attack. They hadnt seen me approach and it was a bit of a shock to see such 'homeless' 'dangerous' hiker trash knocking on their window. So of course they tell me behind the glass that they have now water and Digby has to head a mile down into a valley in search of a spring marked on the map. It is a small muddy puddle, and reminded us of Australia. While Digby and Paradise dig out the soak for water, I have the important job of guarding the packs at the trail, and collecting and eating blueberries until they return - at least 40 minutes.

A rattlesnake on the path - see the rattle on the top right

Brown muddy water in our bottles

We struggle to carry 6 litres for another 3 miles to camp near Wildcat Trail. Deer surround us at the camp and come within 50 metres grazing and completely unfazed by us. A magical moment in the dusk on the trail

Day 76 - 15th June - Waynesboro - Zero Day

We meet up with Paradise at the Laundromat and then the three of us retire for lunch to the bookshop/cafe called 'Stone Soup' and drink a bottle of merlot with lunch. Excellent way to spend the middle of the day.

We pack up a lot of stuff and send one package home to Australia and one package to Sandy and Stickbuilt in Washington DC which had the 'warm' sleeping bag. It is so hot at night that we don't need it. Digby buys a light summer bag and I get his - and we are both happy and thermostatically controlled quite nicely.

We relax on the balcony of the B&B, read books, pack up our hiking food and then at dinner time we head back to the Chinese buffet at The Ming Garden. Tonight there is new batch of hikers, just arrived. Wallflower, Spoonz, Fluffy, Stickshift, Professor, Sabbath Keeper and Baltimore Jack - we had met them all, earlier on the walk. Worn Heel is not there - we know he is due to complete his section hike here in the next few days and we regret that we won't see him again. Little did we know........

We stay up late reading in bed - such a luxury to read a book, as we dont carry books in the pack as they are too heavy and a luxury that was ditched about Day 5.

We have a great brekkie at the B&B in the grand dining room, including several hikers - Dumpster Bear and Mountain Tattoo who we have been walking with over the last week.

Writing this entry, I am amazed that we did not use the camera for the whole time we were in Waynesboro - it was such a photographic neighbourhood where we were staying. Lovely grand homes - all timber with porches and American flagpoles and garden beds - just like in the movies.

Day 75 - 14th June Humpback Mt to Waynesboro - 11.5 miles

We start early with the incentive to get to town early and have the afternoon relaxing and eating in civilization. We descend on a good fast trail down Humpback Mt and are able to use our mobile phone to book some accommodation for one night at Tree Streets B&B.

We meet 'Caspar' and 'No Longer Chef' (NLC) who we last saw at Irwin on Day 37. They walk much faster than us. We discover that they had attended trail days in Damascus for 4 days and then taken 6 days off at the beach on holiday from the trail. Some people are lucky. Digby and I have just been slogging away every day. No beach holidays for us.

I tell NLC about my blisters and she says it is the heat causing the swelling, and the sweating which leads to the skin separating and blistering with the moisture and friction. Makes sense to me. She recommends that we drink electrolytes to help reduce the swelling and it should solve the blister problem. We follow her advice over the next few months and the blister problem disappears. I don't see her again so am unable to pass on my thanks. So NLC if you are reading this - THANKYOU! You saved my hike.

We arrive at the edge of Waynesboro and Bill from the B&B comes to collect us. I walk into the gorgeous three story southern mansion, with pool, check out our beautiful room with wonderful luxurious decor and bedding and a huge bed, and yes .... we decide to stay 2 nights. This will only be our third zero on the trip. We have hiked 853.1 miles and up until now walked for 73 days in total. The hosts envelope us with true hospitality and we lapse into luxury.

In town we meet Paradise and Superman who will collect us in his car and chauffeur us around to do our shopping for $10. We think it is a bargain. We visit the outfitters and spend $350 on new clothes and gear. My shorts have been falling off me - only kept up with a piece of cord as a belt. I buy new shorts, and a new skirt which is short and comfortable. I don't worry about the world seeing my knees with all the wrinkles - just get over it. I still wear this skirt a year later.

We have dinner at the Ming Garden Chinese Buffet - an amazing spread and it would probably stand out as the number one eating experience for us on the trail. Paradise joins us for dinner. There is a private room for the 'hiker trash' but we sit outside with everybody else and watch CNN on the big screens around the place. The buffet is so good that we go back for dinner the next night too and stuff ourselves.

Day 74 - 13th June - Harpers Creek Shelter to Humpback Mt. - 15.5 miles

Today my feet deteriorate and I develop blisters on both feet. I check my boots and notice that I have worn out my inner soles and there are big holes .

We hike a really shitty section from Reed Gap - 4 miles of absolute hell on rocks. We meet trail maintainers building a new track and we meet Regina the ridgerunner, an older woman ranger who is like the police on the trail.

Alison watching the trail building with rocks

We stop for lunch at the shelter where Doc spent last night and discover from the logbook that he had rabbit stew for dinner because one of the hikers who hence forward changed his name to 'Rabbits Foot' killed a rabbit with a rock while he was going for a crap. Then they cooked and ate it. Poor thing.

We meet two slackpackers heading south back to the Dutch House - Blue Sky and Sanman. We stop and cook dinner at 4.30 by the highway - and have a good hour of just relaxing before we load up with water and start the climb up Humpback Mt. We hope to do another 2 miles at least. Only 0.5 miles from the road, we come across Laurel Spring and some wonderful trail magic to lift our spirits - honeybuns hanging from a tree in a shoppping bag and 6 cans of lemonade in a cold water soak, so they are ice cold.

Laurel Spring Trail Magic, with honeybuns on the tree in the background

We drink 2 cans, eat two honeybuns and keep walking until we reach an amazing viewing point, with a wonderful sunset, and a view to a ski village and ski runs in the far distance.

We make camp here, and Humpback Mt is one of the more memorable campsites on the whole trail.

Day 73 - Seeley Woodworth Shelter to Harpers Creek Shelter - 14.4 miles

We depart early and head for Spy Rock which has a great view. We meet Doc who has completed the 1 mile climb up 800 ft from the Dutch House hostel. We ask him - how was it? He says - it is good for young hikers but he was not impressed. They were more concerned about making money out of 'slackpacking' hikers to hike back and stay another night with them, than looking after the paying customers in the B&B section of their business. Doc was staying in the B&B.

View from Spy Rock

We have a steady climb to The Priest with great views,  followed by a very long descent of over 3000'. It takes a toll on our feet and I start to develop sore spots on the left foot under toes.

View from The Priest

Half way down the ridge, we find ourselves in a thunderstorm with lightening, and we get drenched. At the bottom some trail magic - an esky with beer, apples, water - which had been left by trail maintainers who were repairing the track.

We shelter under a small overhang of a visitor signboard and eat our lunch more or less dry. Two of the slackpackers from the Dutch House pass us by heading south - Scatters and Lift n Step. Lift n Step is from Australia and we knew we were a few days behind her as other people told us there was an Aussie up ahead. So it is great to meet her for the first time. She is a primary school teacher from South Australia and is full of beans.

We sit under the overhang until the rain stops and then climb to the next shelter. It is slow going as the blisters have started to develop on my feet and every step is painful. I have walked over 800 miles without any blisters so I am wondering why now?

Day 72 - 11th June - Brown Mt Creek Shelter to Seelay Woodworth Shelter - 15.8 miles

We follow the Brown Creek up to a main road through lots of ruins of fences and house walls.

Remnants of a stone house

Shakin is already there trying to hitch a ride. He has been there for at least an hour and had no luck. We hope he will be OK.

There is a very long climb to Bald Knob - which is not bald - and then on to Cold Mt, a plateau covered with grass over several miles. We wear our sunhats - the heat is fierce.

Summit of Cold Mountain

We stop at Hogcamp for lunch - another meadow. Digby finds fresh wild strawberries growing. While we are stretched out sleeping off lunch, a new hiker arrives - "Sanman". Sanman says that Shakin was NOT hitching on the road when he crossed it, so hopefully he had already secured a ride.

The afternoon is a long slog - we stagger into the shelter, and camp behind it. Only Sanman and Gene are there, and they both make plans for the next day to descend to the Dutch House, a B&B and a hostel which is famous on the trail for providing hikers with a free lunch. But with anything free, there is a catch. Digby and I look at the contours on the map and decide to give it a miss - it is a very long descent and then you have to climb back up to the ridge - we don't need a lunch that much!

Day 71 - 10th June - John Hollows Shelter to Brown Mt Creek Shelter - 18.3 miles

This is a very long day, with very hot weather. We climb Bluff Mountain where there is a plaque to a four year old child who went missing and was found at the Bluff Summit. On the descent from the mountain we are startled by a bear in a tree by the side of the track, eating the berries. We hear a commotion, see the bear falling out of the tree while trying to hang on to a thin branch, then an almighty k-thump, as he hits the ground, and a black blur as he runs.

We cross the Blue Ridge Parkway and find some trail magic - a kind tourist has left a pile of cinnamon buns (6) so we eat 2 and leave 4 for those coming after us.

The trail follows the edge of a reservoir - for drinking water for a nearby town. It is a really hot afternoon and we are looking down into a beautiful lake which we can't swim in. We arrive at Brown Creek and then head upstream for 2 miles. By this time it is quite late and the swimming holes look inviting but it is too late for us to stop - we need to reach camp before dark. We arrive at the campsite at 6.30. It is an historic valley which was a settlement for freed slaves in the 1900s who grew tobacco and corn. There are remnants of the settlement everywhere - stone walls, house sites and stone chimneys.

We find Shakin already camped here - he spent last night here with Doc. Shakin is suffering from severe diarrhoea - we give him most of our toilet paper and our spare instant oats.

It is a great camp by the river, shared with a section hiker - Gene, who is out for 2 weeks and is in great pain with blisters, as his feet are not used to the hiking. He is sleeping on a blow up sleeping mat - and as he turns it squeaks - he does this frequently and it keeps us awake.

Day 70 - Thunder Hill Shelter to Johns Hollow Shelter - 16.3 miles

A very long steep descent to the James River, where hikers cross on a specially made hikers bridge. There is  a bunch of college kids jumping off the bridge. This is one of the challenges for AT hikers - we pass up the challenge. But here are two images of Stucco, our warrior goddess who did do the jump - I am in awe. These images are taken from her Facebook photo album. We met Stucco briefly in Hot Springs, and she becomes a good friend later in the trip.

We try and hitch a ride into the town of Glasgow - about 10 miles away, but don't have much luck. There is nowhere for cars to pull over to pick us up even if they wanted to.

After an hour of trying, the college kids return to their cars in the car park and we put the hard word on them to give us a ride. One young man agrees to take us to Glasgow and we fill up his petrol tank with fuel out of gratitude.

We do a grocery shop, buy a burger, and drink a beer disguised in a plastic bottle as you are  not allowed to drink alcohol in a public place.

Then we call Ken who does hiker shuttles and he agrees to take us back to the trail, and picks us up in 15 minutes. We collect another 2 hikers who want a ride as well, but one lap around the town and they spy the rest of their group - Left It and Speak Easy and Clare the Dog with the Mohawk hair cut - at the park. So we drop them off and head back with Ken. Ken had agreed to take us for $10 - but alas we only had a $20 note and he had no change - so guess what - yep it cost us $20. But better than hanging around waiting for a ride. It meant we made it to the next shelter, struggling in with fully loaded packs.

DAy 69 - 8th June - Jennings Creek to Thunder Hill Shelter - 14 miles

We climb all day, and it is hot and seems to go on for ever. We meet a group of 'slackpackers' heading downhill - Cityslicker, Sockeye and River. They have crossed our paths a number of times - and always taking the 'easy' option. It annoys me - but I know in the end that they will drop out. We walk our own hike and stay focused - getting ourselves to the end of each day and not worrying about other hikers.

We have lunch at Cornelius Shelter where a hiker had died of a heart attack the week before. He was in his sixties and looked asleep, when a hiker arriving to stay at the shelter found his body.

Day 68 - 7th June - Wilson Creek Shelter to Jennings Creek - 17 miles

It is our earliest start - on the trail by 7.15am. The trail takes us through a wild blueberry patch for the first time and we stop to pick and eat blueberries. Amazing bush tucker US style. We are not starting to follow the Blue Ridge Parkway with views, gently graded trails and easy walking.

There is a long descent to Jennings Creek. We meet Doc at the creek. We learn that all the younger hikers have organised some sort of party with lots of booze delivered by vehicle to the campsite. We had planned to stay here but now decide to walk upstream following the road for about a mile and see if we can find somewhere quieter to camp. Digby has a swim in the river and goes for full immersion. Too cold for me. It's interesting how you don't smell when you don't bathe in the higher latitudes. Doc joins us and decides to walk to the commercial campground one mile away. he buys potato chips, lemonadae and chocolate for us - all those foods that hikers crave - full of fat and sugar - and we continue to lose the weight. I am keeping up my shorts with a piece of rope.

Day 67 - 6th June - Dalesville - Wilson Creek Shelter - 11.2 miles

We leave suburbia behind and head off at about 10.00am. We follow gently graded tracks with our heavy packs but we feel OK - the zero day has let us recover from exhaustion.

We have to carry water 0.7 miles to the shelter and go past an historic charcoal burners pit from the 1800s. At Wilson Creek Shelter it is like meeting old friends. Left It, Speak Easy and Clare the dog arrive, so does Tiny Dancer and Salty who we met at Macaffee Knob. Shakin arrives and so does Doc who has spend a couple of days in luxury at the Holiday Inn at Dalesville pretending not to be a hiker.

Clare the dog has had a haircut and now sports a mohawk. Speak Easy and Clare share the hammock. We watch in amazement as the little sheltie leaps into the hammock. I think about sharing a hammock with my Rotty - Kimmy and decide its not physically possible. All the hammocks are set up covered with flys as rain is imminent and it looks like a colony of fruit bats.

Day 66 - 5th June - Dalesville - ZERO Day

We sleep in and relax. The motel offers a 'free buffet cooked breakfast' which turns out to be a disappointment.

The main shopping centre is about half a mile away - we meet Turtle and Paradise at the outfitter. Digby buys a new pair of shorts. I buy a skirt to walk in. My shorts are now falling down because of the lost weight.Turtle and Paradise have borrowed 'Superman's' Jeep, and driven over to Dalesville. Tonight they make plans to eat at the Home Place. We make the most of the Jeep opportunity and get Turtle to drive us back to the motel with all our groceries.

We stay in our room at the motel and drink cider and wine and eat avocado and fresh bread. More hikers arrive that we knw. We catch up with 'Worn Heel' and do our email and our washing. Where does the day go?

Day 65 - 4th June - Catawba Mt Shelter - Dalesville - 19 miles

The highlight of the day is the climb to Macaffees Knob - a famous landmark in Virginia with spectacular views and overhanging rock ledges.

Macaffees Knob

Alison with Salty looking over the vallesy of Virginia

We stop at the Tinker Cliffs for lunch - great views and very exposed. And then a very long walk into town. As the afternoon drags on, the lightening storms start to build. We find ourselves walking traversing a very narrow ridge with the storms and bolts of lightening on both sides of us.

The closer we get to the town, the louder the traffic noise. We follow the trail right to the main freeway, and pop out into suburbia, with our motel only 100m away. We are exhausted and decide to stay two nights. We stay at the Howard Johnson Motel, which is full of hikers and eat at the Mexican restaurant over the road. The motel has a special wing for the 'hiker trash', and we have great fun catching up with other hikers we have met on the trail.

Day 64 - 3rd June - Trout Creek - Catawba - Catawba Mt Shelter - 15.8 miles

The climb up to the Dragon's Tooth stands out as one of the hardest climbs on the AT. The rocks are very uneven and the path is ascending, descending, ascending - soul destroying. And all I want to do is get there. The Dragon's Tooth is a spectacular monolith, and when we finally arrive, we find Grizzly's group spread over the whole area, having spent the night camped there.

Alison stanidn in front of the Dragons Tooth

There is a steep descent and we have a close shave - an accident which nearly terminates our whole trip.  I fall off the cliff which is the path and luckily get wedged in a tree. Digby lunged to grab me as I lost my balance, missed and then fell himself with no tree to break his fall - I watched him roll down the cliff from my wedged position. Luckily we were both OK, just a bit shocked.

The path descends from the top of this cliff on the right. Alison wedges herself
between the tree trunk (the one on the right) and the cliff when she falls.

 We are determined to reach the 'Home Place' a restaurant famous with hikers,  for dinner tonight. We have a steep climb along a ridge followed by a traverse of a valley and a cow paddock, with a zigzag trail to the gap. It is a very hot day and we run out of water on top, and start to get stressed. We finally arrive at the road around 4.15pm. It is difficult to hitch so we decide to walk the one mile into the small village and have cars zinging past us. We arrive at the corner store absolutely dehydrated and both drink 2 litres of Mountain Dew (a soft drink with more calories than Coke) before we walk the last 400 metres to the Home Place.

We arrive at 5pm - we are sweaty and smelly and starving. There are loads of people in their best clothes for family celebrations. It is an old farmhouse and we are made to feel welcome. We eat as much as we can - seconds come for all courses at no extra charge - no wonder hikers love the place.

Surrounded by food

As we are getting ready to depart and head back up the mountain, a family offers to drive us. They are waiting for the rest of their group to arrive. We accept gratefully and it meansn that we are able to walk the 2 mile along the trail to the campsite as the sun is setting.

Day 63 - 2nd June - Sarver Hollow Shelter to Trout Creek - 14.9 miles

Hard walking along a rocky ridge followed by a long descent, and then another climb to a mountain range with a war memorial at the top to Audie Murphy, the most decorated US soldier in the WW2. It is quite spooky to be at the memorial. There is a 4WD road which has been put in to enable VIPs to reach the top. An old US flag is there, and lots of plastic flowers.

The descent is steep and we reach a small creek with a bridge and several 'holiday homes' which are rustic cabins, with nobody around.We decide to stop here to camp so that we can wash some clothes and have a bit of a wash and a paddle.

Ugly Tuna arrives and decides to join us. As he crosses the bridge one of the hikers - a young girl with red hair who is waiting for her friends to arrive - has a dog - who decides to attack Ugly Tuna on the bridge. His voice echoes out - 'Madam, control your dog! Control your dog!' Madam immediately takes the necessary steps to control her dog and Ugly Tuna crosses in safety. His words ring in our ears and a few days later I find myself repeating the same words, different scenario.

Unfortunately her friends - a group of young hikers, including Grizzly who we had met a week ago decide to make this their base to regroup, and cook dinner and we have their unwelcome noisy present until about 9pm when they finally decide to depart to hike at night and climb the Dragon's Tooth.

Day 62 - 1st June - Windrock campsite to Sarver Hollow Shelter - 15.9 miles

This is one of those horrific days on the AT where you climb huge mountains and then descend for no pointless reason and then climb again. In AT terminology it is called a PUD - pointless up and downs. This is a PUD  to remember. We make two ascents of 1700' and 1500' [total climbing over 3000'] and two descents of 2000' and 1800' [total descents over 3800'].

We have been following Tater Chip in the shelter registers- he is now walking alone a few days ahead of us, since Stickbuilt dropped out, and he is walking 20+ miles a day. We wonder how long he can do this for? We hike up to a road and meet Shakin again and yes - we get another soda from his car, which is very welcome.

One of the very special memories of the trail is finding an abandoned farm house from the 1930s which is still standing, at a lean, just off the trail. We detour down to have a look and think about the history of the farm that would have once been in this area.

The old farm house - it is on a tilt, the floorboards are rotten but
it surely gives a feeling for who lived and farmed here.

Before the final ridge, we come to an old oak tree - 300 years old and 18' in circumference. It is called the Keffer Oak. It helps us put things into perspective. Most of the forest we are hiking through is less than 80 years old, having been planted in the 1930s.

Alison standing with 300 years of history.

We follow along a ridge which is really spooky - there are igloos of rocks piled up everywhere.It has to be man-made - and we wonder about the history of the area. We know that people were evicted from this area in the 1930s, and we decide that the rock piles are to create more 'growing space' in between the piles for farmers living at subsistence level.

We decide not to descend to the shelter and clear a campsite on the ridge. Digby leaves his pack and descends half a mile in stone steps to the shelter to get water for us at an old well and house site.