Ponies, Electrolyte Scaries, Damascus – Week 6 AT

My goals for the trail this week have continued to shift from “slowing down” to simply being present. It’s easy to get obsessed with where camp is and just wait for the day to be over, but that’s not the point of being out here. It’s so important to me to focus on being where my feet are, smelling the fresh air, listening to the birds, and admiring the growth of spring. My legs are getting stronger and we have been able to press bigger days with more elevation. Progress always feels good and this week we entered Virginia, where we’ll be for the next month, and passed 500 miles! We made friends with ponies and I healed an “injury” caused by electrolytes. Spring is in full bloom out here and it is amazing to see the ground get covered by green the past few weeks and the rhododendrons sprouting vibrant fuchsia flowers that smell amazing. Everything in spring screams, “rebirth.” Which is exactly how I feel out here. I have time to reflect, sit in my emotions, and move past them.

Electrolyte Imbalance’s Scary Warning

Almost as if I taunted the trail last week by saying, “I feel great,” the trail said, “Oh yeah??” Late last week after another 17 mile day, I started to feel this tight, cramp like pain in my left ankle. I couldn’t even describe it but after a while, it was the only thing I could think about and I started limping. That night I rolled out using my cork ball in a shelter that had gotten absolutely destroyed by the storm (repaired though, it kept us dry!) Whenever I feel injured out here, my anxiety starts to spike.

The next day, I felt that same uncomfortable pain but in the other ankle. What??? Is it cause I rolled out my left ankle longer? It made no sense. This next day was much worse and I was using my poles for crutches. Strider proposed the idea of getting off at an earlier road and getting a ride to Boots Off, not the 16 mile day we had planned to hike directly there. At first, this felt like failure, but I let my ego slide off my shoulders and decided this is what we should do. No use injuring myself more and no stretches were helping me.

At Boots Off, we saw our group we’ve been hiking with. I expected them to make fun of me for getting off early and having to do the 6 mile climb tomorrow, but they all immediately expressed their concern and offered potential solutions. That night, I ate a big dinner of Subway and McDonalds, 3 bananas, and two Gatorlyte drinks full of electrolytes. My ankle the next day still felt tight. Poppin’s aunt, who surprised him at breakfast at Boots Off, taught me a new stretching routine as she used to be a trauma nurse. She told me because the injury went to a different ankle it’s certainly electrolytes. I ate 4 more bananas and a man named, “No Rush” convinced us to Nero (near zero day) and only hike the climb and stay one more night at Boots Off. I loved that hostel so much! So we agreed and did that.

The next day my ankles felt completely normal. No residue feelings at all. Lesson learned. Electrolyte balance is essential.

Margaritas in Damascus?

A storm rolled through the night we left Boots Off and the wind blew water into our tent. As we were falling asleep, a branch snapped and landed right next to us. It was scary for a second, but I just put in my earplugs and went to sleep. I’m getting better at not being scared, just setting up my tent somewhere I trust and then putting my earplugs in. 

We initially planned two nights to Damascus, but when Rorschach texted us his wife would be in town the next night and it’s Cinco de Mayo, we can get margaritas, we changed plans. My legs held up great, and as long as that lasted we could push two 20+ mile days. Everyone kept talking about the “marathon to Damascus,” so I guess we’re doing our version of that.

I spent most of the days this week listening to a historical fiction audiobook about the Dust Bowl, The Four Winds, that I downloaded last minute. A little sad, but it kept me completely entertained, and the miles flew by.

The weather has been so nice! 55 degrees as the average high and a nice breeze for the climbs. The weather turned on us once, just after we filtered water. Cold rain and then hail. My hands were frozen and my feet were sloshing through puddles, but my umbrella kept my core dry. I was starving by the time we started the descent and dreaming of food but didn’t want to stop and dig through my bag, so we just moved faster. We crossed into Virginia and rolled into Damascus soaking wet but relieved. The church hostel gave us beds and hot showers for $10. Absolute luxury. I looked through the logbook and found names of friends from past years. That hostel has been around since 1975, and the showers felt like it. But I was so grateful.

After dinner, we grabbed a beer at the distillery with Rorschach and his wife, who just flew in to hike the next section. The only place that sold Margaritas was a half mile walk, and we didn’t want to do that after a 24 mile day. The irony!! We enjoyed talking with them and when we got back to the Church, I stayed up late texting Bryce about the Met Gala.

Ponies!!!

The next day out of Damascus we hiked 9 miles after slogging around all day and then slept well in the first shelter, falling asleep to a Netflix show that Strider and I have been watching some nights if we’re not too exhausted. Coyotes howled loudly nearby and mice scratched in the ceiling above us. Neither of these sounds bothered me. I just put my earplugs in and went to sleep. I woke up with sunlight in my eyes, east-facing shelters are underrated, and made my way to the privy, which felt like a luxury after Tennessee.

We had a slow start, stretching and eating breakfast before finally hitting the trail. It was a mellow day overall. We didn’t see many people but chatted with a couple named Milkshake and Ratatouille, and a southbound hiker who had apocalyptic stories about being in Damascus during the hurricane.

We crossed a cool old railroad bridge on the Virginia Creeper Trail and ate lunch at the top of the big climb while I listened to a podcast on Ancient Egypt. After lunch, the pace slowed, but we eventually took the side trail to summit Mount Rogers, the highest point in Virginia. No views, just a quiet marker in the woods. We left our packs at the junction and laughed on the way up, feeling like we had moon shoes on.

The shelter nearby looked a little grim, so we kept walking to find a tent spot. It took forever, and we finally gave up and pitched on a slanted patch. As we were about to fall asleep, we heard an animal come running up and started munching grass right outside our tent. Ponies. Someone had briefly mentioned this to us in Demascus but I had no clue what he meant. Before I could think about it, one stuck his head into the tent and started chewing on my backpack string until Strider yelled at it. I tried to google, “Are wild ponies dangerous,” but had no service. For the first time in a couple weeks, I felt scared. They ran circles around our tent and were kicking and biting it to taunt us. It felt like we were gonna get trampled. We just laid there, earplugs in, and waited for them to move on.

The next morning was my favorite on the AT so far. When we woke up finally to dawn we both had gotten about 4 hours of sleep and Strider had a really sore back from the bad angle our tent was set up on. We started making breakfast when all of the sudden, the ponies were back. They were hardly scared of us and literally seemed to be begging for food. Obviously, they had been fed before and now we were paying for someone else’s poor decision. There was a dad, a baby, and a very pregnant mom who wanted nothing to do with us. The baby was so cute and got zoomies at one point. Strider became friends with the dad and he only seemed to listen to him. It looked like rain was coming so we finished packing up and got on the road, our new pony friends following us until the gate. I literally love those ponies. Even though they freaked me out in the dark hours of the night, during the day it was a completely different story.

We hiked to the 500 mile point!! How exciting! Crazy how on the CT I stopped here but now I have 1,700 more miles. Now every step is a PR for me which is really cool. The morning continued with a bueatiful foggy hike through the magnificent Grayson Highlands. Ponies were everywhere. Rugged rocks and shrubbery. A mystical fog that even started to lighten up where I saw a grand view.

We sent home our cold weather layers in Demascus and my second tent that we never used once. My pack feels so light now, even with full food and half the tent Strider and I share now. I am so grateful!! I took note that for the past few days and today, nothing hurt. It was mostly downhill and my pack felt so light so the uphill felt easy. Eventually we hit trail magic where I drank a PBR and ate chips with some young folk who were also thru hikers. We did the final climb to the shelter and pulled up where a whole bunch of people were getting ready for the storms tonight. It was such a good crowd. A south bounder who I named Yelp (he gave us hella reviews), an older woman named Boujee, an Australian lady, and a presumably houseless man who we met about 100 miles south. He has no pack or hiking shoes or food. I’m not sure how he got here but he seemed friendly and kept to himself and I felt safe since there was a bunch of others here. Water boy, a younger guy we met at the trail magic, showed up and decided to stay even though the skies were blue at the time and who knows if the projected storm would really come. We all had a great time hanging out and telling stories. None of us had met before so there was a lot to tell. It reminded me of the first few weeks when we pulled up to camp early and just talked for a while. Except we pulled up at 5 pm and hiked 15 miles instead of 7.

Thanks for reading about my adventures this week! I have been blown away by the amount of support people have been giving me through my blog posts and my instagram. It really is such a blessing to be living my dream with my best friend out here while getting random support from my people and also strangers. There truly are no bad days. Thank YOU!