A Birth, Wedding, & a Death

Day 12- 7.2 miles today Springer Mountain to Hawk Mountain Shelter 1093 Feet Up 1325 Feet down, Total 82 AT miles

Everything happens for a reason?..

Or does it? I prefer to think it does and the reason why is not always evident.  To recap, we began our thru hike in June as a flip flop from Pawling NY. We made it through Connecticut, 75 miles, then had to end the hike due to an injury. 

If we did not have to quit our thru hike attempt, we would have been on the Southbound leg when Hurricane Helene hit. We knew we had a wedding and a birth to attend during our hike but we did not know we would also have a death. The death was a profound unexpected impact that I knew would need the cure of multiple days and nights in the woods. 

The AT is Open

The AT is open for hiking although some sections may remain legally closed. My hike began at Springer and ended at Mooney Gap before Albert Mountain.  I ran into multiple SOBOs/FF who were on the end of their thru hike. While most of them had to skip 300 miles from near Damascus south, one SOBO went all the way. Most SOBO/FF were in the Shennies when Helene hit.

The one SOBO who did not leave the trail said the trail was mostly passable except 2 sections of about 10 miles each. Those sections were able to be blue routed on FS roads. That SOBO reported that about 5 miles each side of Mountaineer Falls shelter and five miles each side of Cherry Gap shelter were basically impassible. When I asked that SOBO about the towns and the trail crews, the SOBO reported that trail crews he ran into were glad to see him and the towns were also glad to see him.

The only blowdowns I ran into in my 100 miles of hiking from Springer were at the back end of Standing Indian Mountain and those blowdowns were easy to get over or around. I could see evidence of blowdowns north of Standing Indian that had already been cleared. The Trail Runners and other Volunteers and paid staff do an excellent job on this National Treasure, the Appalachian Trail.

A Thru Hike turns into a LASH

It looks like my thru hike will be LASH’s (long a** section hikes). My second leg of this LASH was almost 100 miles so my total for the 2 LASHs on the AT is now about 175 miles. That means I still have 2,000 more miles to hike!

Four and half months went by before I stepped foot back on the AT. Today is a beautiful bluebird sunny day and the leaves have already dropped at the AT elevation I was hiking. Starting at Springer Mountain I skipped the approach trail which I have already completed.

My baseweight was 17 lb and that includes synthetic puffy and other winter wear. I brought the synthetic puffy because the forecast called for cold wet weather and with the minimal winter gear I brought I wanted the security of a puffy that would not get saturated like my down puffies.

My total weight at start with two liters of water was around 33 lbs. I carried 12 lbs. of food with the intent of not leaving the trail until I ran out of food or battery.  I was so glad to be back on the trail I lost track of time. Before I knew it I was at the Stover Creek Shelter, a beautiful double decker shelter with really neat window openings, a decent privy, a bear box and two sets of bear cables. It is evident that the shelters and camping get overwhelmed during the Spring Bubble. It’s also evident that a lot drop out at Neels Gap. The shelters and amenities past Neels Gap are more normal.  The ones before Neels Gap have SO many excess amenities.

After leaving the Stover Creek Shelter I ran into a beautiful pine forest with rhododendron creating the green tunnel over the trail. This forest had huge 150-year-old pine trees and the forest floor was littered with pine needles. I could actually smell all the pines and it seems like my sense of smell has just popped alive again. It smells like Christmas time!

I took the blue route to Long Creek falls and took the time to cold soak my dinner which will be a Knorrs meal. We’ll see how it tastes. It takes planning to cold soak your meals. Coming back to the Appalachian Trail I got “lost” for the first time ending up on the Benton MacKaye trail but quickly saw a sign that told me I was NOT on the AT. The AT and Benton MacKaye trails share a similar path for miles.

A Visit from the Afterlife

At mile 6.2 is Hickory Flatts. Apparently this was a community at one time but now is not accessible by vehicles. There is a marker for an old school site. The Hickory Flatts Baptist Church has a graveyard, nice picnic shelter and bathroom facilities. These are apparently available for use by thru hikers.

With a beautiful blue sky above, a cool breeze blowing, and a warm sun, the death that had recently occurred in my family was on my mind as I wandered through the graveyard. The person who died recently was very close to me. I had spent about 2 weeks at the bedside. During that time the person told me they would signify their presence in the Afterlife as a butterfly.  

I was looking down at a grave marker when I noticed a fluttering shadow next to my shadow on the ground. I turned around to see if I was imagining this fluttering shadow and there was a dark orange Monarch Butterfly flying around behind me. I had to sit down.

Seated on the ground, the Butterfly flew around my head, then landed. I was amazed. Here it is middle of November and a butterfly not only flies around near me, it landed on my head. I took that to mean my deceased family member was coming to visit me.

Something I did not expect

When I arrived at the Hawk Mountain Shelter I said out loud “here is 2 things I did not expect to see”. One of those was other hikers. The other was a fire that the other hikers had started.

The Hawk Mountain Shelter is a spacious double decker shelter. I got the whole loft area to myself. When I went to put my food in the bear box, I looked down and there was a beautiful sight, an IPA, thank you trail angels! This was one of many trail angel experiences I would be blessed with on this trip.

As expected the war started around hiker midnight. The machine gun fire from army training was heard off in the distance as well as helicopters. At one point a helicopter hovered near the shelter for about 5 minutes. In an otherwise silent forest, the helicopter noise was deafening. Isn’t this how end of the world movies start?  What a great first day back in the woods.