(Sat. 4/28/12) McAfee Knob, VA - Email and Photo From Hiker

I missed two calls from Brett, though I was anxious for an update. I was excited to get this email with a gorgeous photo attached.

We really enjoyed meeting your husband yesterday and hiking part of the way with him up to McAfee Knob.
Bob

(Thu. 4/26/12) Catawba, VA - Phone Update From Brett

After almost a week, I finally heard from Brett again. There hasn't been much cell phone service, especially in the valleys.

It was a tough week. In addition to raining almost all week, they got three inches of snow. Brett had a bad day the day before. He was freezing and tired. It's not fun and you start asking yourself "why?" He was staying at Four Pines Hostel, about 30 miles from Dalesville, VA. He felt a little better after showering, getting dry, and going out to eat. But he still hates going up hills. "You get sick of it."

Brett saw Ed a couple of days earlier. They stayed in a guy's backyard, hunkering down through the weather. However, he wasn't sure if he would see Ed again. Ed is pushing more, and Brett feels miserable hiking those long days.

(Fri. 4/20/12) Pearisburg, VA - Phone Update From Brett

Brett called from Pearisburg, VA. He had stayed at Woods Hole Hostel, about 10 miles from town. He came into town town to resupply, and will go another 7 miles to the next shelter. He said some bad weather was moving in. Brett gave me a list for a mail drop for Daleville, VA for the following week.

Brett thinks he may have a cavity (his first), which will be a little difficult to address on the trail. He's going to give another week and see how it feels.

Brett met up with Ed at the hostel, but they split up again with Ed moving forward more quickly.

In answer to the question, "Is Brett enjoying the trail?" Brett came up with kind of an analogy. He guesses it may be similar to childbirth on the "fun scale". Do you enjoy it? No you don't enjoy the pain. Brett doesn't enjoy every minute of the trail--certainly not every hill or storm. But ultimately, he is enjoying the trip because he is proud of what he has accomplished and is accomplishing.

(Wed. 4/18/12) Bastian, VA - Phone Update From Brett

Had a phone call from Brett this day. Brett made it to the small town of Bastian, VA, and resupplied at Trent's Grocery. He was able to take a shower, but didn't have soap or a towel. He set up in the yard of the owner's of the store. (Brett was chased by a duck while we talked.) It had rained all day and Brett was wet and cold. He expected to stay at a hostel south of Pearisburg the next day. Brett had not seen Ed in a few days. Ed was pushing on more. Brett's had about three toe blisters. He asked me to send him his Chaco sandals, saying that his toes want to spread out a bit. There is an outfitter about 100 miles north of Bastian where Brett could pick up a mail drop.

I told Brett that a lot of people ask me, "So, is Brett really enjoying it?" I never know how to answer that question. Brett agreed. Answering "yes" or "no" isn't really accurate. It is hard work. But with that hard work comes a sense of accomplishment. It is personally satisfying. One of the hard things for Brett is going uphill. There are a lot of false peaks, and sometimes Brett is just ready to get to camp. This day Brett crossed 600 miles. That is a lot of miles! Hiking the trail is a good experience. Town is fun. And it is nice living in the mountains for months.

Brett said that the water situation had not been good that week. There had not been any rain until that day.

The trees are really showing the light green of Spring. In two weeks Brett's expects to be in full shade in the mountains from the foliage. Brett saw the biggest toad in the middle of the trail. A huge, two-pound (exaggeration?) toad! He has found tons of ramps, an onion/garlic bulb that grows wild in the mountains. The leaves are strong, but the bulb is mild. Brett picked some and sauteed them with his dinner. He also found a Morel mushroom, but didn't gather or eat that.

Brett has been eating the mess out of fruit roll-ups. He has been able to resupply fairly easily. Most every small town has a Dollar General, which is where he ends up going a lot.

Virginia is pretty, though he has gone through some "dumpy" towns. The lower elevation has a lot of pastures and climbs that aren't as big.

He came across two sisters (and their dog) on the trail who grew up in Pensacola. There were going rather slow.

(Sat. 4/14/12) Atkins, VA - Phone Update From Brett

I wasn't expecting to hear from Brett so soon, but I was able to talk with him an hour and a half this evening. Although they stayed in a hotel last night in Marion, Va., the two guys Brett was hiking with ("Tater Tot" and "Buzz-Kill") wanted to stay in Atkins, Va., tonight. So they are enjoying a second hotel stay.

Brett expects to be in Pearisburg, Va., in about a week where I may send him a mail drop.

This morning the guys had to hitch-hike from Marion back to the trail. They tried calling to arrange a ride through the county public transportation, but the Friday driver didn't mention that the dispatch office was off on Saturdays. They would have needed a more direct phone number for the Saturday driver in order to schedule a pick-up. Once on the trail they hiked about 12 miles into Atkins.

The reason these hungry hikers wanted to get to Atkins was to enjoy the famous One-Pound-Hiker-Burger at The Barn Restaurant. Apparently it was worth it. Brett said that it was, hands-down, the best burger he's had on the trail. It even rivals the burger he gets at Simply Good, his favorite local restaurant (a dive with a good burger and friendly employees). The Big Red Barn burger was made with two beef patties, whereas the Simply Good burger is made with one. Other than that, they were just about the same: good meat, good sauce, great burger! (I haven't actually had one of Simply Good's burgers. I think I need to talk Brett into taking me again.)

Brett found a good scale today and says he has lost a total of about 25 pounds. He feels better and stronger. Brett's beard is getting longer and is full of gray. Brett says he looks pretty rough, but he really doesn't mind looking the part of the mountain man.

Brett's feet are doing okay. He might get a little blister here or there, but they are not crippling blisters like the bad blister he had on his left heel. His first pair of shoes were his favorite before they started wearing down, but the shoes he has now are okay.

Brett and I talked about what he has accomplished so far on the trail. He has been on the trail for two months,  rain or shine, with a 45-pound backpack, and has hiked over 500 miles. That is something to be proud of. Even if he had to stop now (which he has no intention of doing), this would be a success story. He definitely feels the support from his friends and family. Looking back on what he has done so far gives him a certain amount of confidence and makes continuing on through the rough patches a little easier.

(Fri. 4/13/12) Marion, VA - Phone Update From Brett

Brett has been out of cell phone range this last week. I was excited to hear from him last night. Unfortunately, the cell phone quickly started breaking up and we had to cut our call short.

In Damascus last weekend Brett received his package with the summer-weight sleeping bag and lighter down pullover. He boxed up his winter-weight sleeping bag, down jacket, and long johns. Then at the beginning of the week a cold front came through and Brett experienced his coldest day on the trail--with only his summer gear to help him through. He said that it was warming up (it was only supposed to be in the 30's on Friday night), but should get a little warmer in a few days.

Brett called back today. He made it into Marion, Virginia, an interstate town a couple of miles from the trail. Last night he mentioned his plan to hitch-hike into town. I am assuming he was successful. Marion is a bigger town with a Wal-mart, hotels, restaurants, etc. where they were able to get some resupplying done. Brett, Ed and another hiker pooled together and got a hotel room. Brett said it feels good to be clean. He said it is the first real shower he has had in about two weeks. Apparently, the shower he had at the hostel in Damascus ran out of hot water quickly. Tonight they have plans to do laundry and go out for dinner.

Update/End of the night call:
Brett called me on his walk back from the restaurant to the hotel. It didn't sound like he had an impressive dinner. They just chose the restaurant because it was convenient to walk to from the hotel.

I asked about whether they had to hitch-hike into town. They didn't. They were able to use county transportation to get them from their shelter last night to town. Last night they stayed at Partnership Shelter, a really nice shelter next to a National Forest Service visitor center. They have a shower (with cold water) and a phone. Apparently, a traditional thing to do when staying at this shelter is to use the phone to order a pizza delivery. So, of course, Brett has to follow tradition. Brett said he suspects that the pizza is probably pretty good when you eat it in the store, but it wasn't that great by the time they got it. It was cold and kind of dry.

In the morning, they were able to use the phone to call the county public transportation and arrange a ride into town. They plan to use the public transportation tomorrow to get from the hotel back to the trail. Not a bad deal for $0.50.

Brett said that he offered to take the floor in the hotel tonight. He said that he is quite comfortable on his sleeping pad. Brett said that he would take sleeping in his cozy tent apartment over a shelter any day. The only thing he doesn't like is setting up or taking down camp in the rain. That is no fun. He has spent only two nights in a shelter so far because of bad weather. One night was the hail storm, previously mentioned. The other time was he chose to sleep in a shelter because it had been raining for an hour before it was time to set up and was expected to rain through the night.

Brett said he has been sleeping well. That is, before the cold snap came through. He couldn't sleep last night because he was so cold with all of his warm gear gone.

A typical evening schedule might be:
7:00pm - retire to bed
8:00pm - write in journal for a while; fall asleep fairly quickly after journaling
1:00am - wake up; toss and turn for a little before falling back asleep
6:30am - wake up
7:00am - get out of bed and start packing up camp
8:00am - ready to hit the trail
Brett did say the times are starting to get a little earlier than the above with the days getting longer.

(Sat. 4/7/12, Sun. 4/8/12) Damascus, VA - Phone Update From Brett

I had a couple of nice phone calls from Brett on Easter weekend. It was a treat to talk to Brett so long after not hearing from him much during the week because of poor cell phone reception.

Brett arrived in Damascus, VA, on Saturday and got the package he asked me to send him. He switched out his winter gear. Because it was Easter weekend, I included a small bag of candy and a few filled plastic Easter eggs. In addition to candy, I put a slip of paper in each egg with a sweet message. Brett opened up the box, saw the candy, and passed around the bag to share his goods with some hikers who were with them. Each of them reached in the bag and grabbed one of the plastic egg. They opened their eggs about the same time and read the sweet and loving messages inside. "Uhhh, Brett, I think these are for you."

When Brett called me on Saturday I was on the beach watching the sunset with my sister-in-law. I was glad that Brett was enjoying his own perfect spring evening in Damascus. Brett was walking down the small main street of Damascus. He said the weather was perfect, the town was quaint, and the flowering dogwood trees were beautiful.

Brett aslo called me on Sunday. He had spent the night at a hostel in Damascus. The hostel was an old bunkhouse, now run by the Methodist Church.

Brett enjoyed some trail magic in Damascus. The owners of a Bread & Breakfast (minus the breakfast) host "Sundaes on Sundays" each week. They have all the makings for sundaes including fruit, cookies, caramel, etc. Brett had a chance to talk with the owners and their daughter. They were really nice folk. Brett had a wonderful conversation with them. The father was a thru-hiker from 2000. The daughter, who was a thru-hiker from 2006(?) following in her father's footsteps, met her husband on the trail. During the course of their conversation, Brett discovered that this family moved to Damascus from Niceville about 8 years ago. The daughter graduation from NHS in 1998 and went on to FSU. They discovered some common acquaintances: Jeff W., and one of Brett's coworkers John Cl.

Brett really enjoys having intellectual conversations with people. Most of the conversations he has had with people on the trail is simply about:
1) gear
2) who you are, where you are from, etc.
3) why you are hiking the trail
Brett really enjoys former or more experienced hikers "What advice do you have me?".
[Unfortunately, I don't remember hearing if the owner of the B&B and former thru-hiker was able to answer that question for Brett.]

I was happy to hear that Brett had such an enjoyable weekend. I think it does a lot to keep one's spirits up.

(Fri. 4/6/12) TN - Phone Update From Brett

Brett called and said he expected to be in Damascus on Sunday, where he would spend a zero day.

His feet are feeling better, especially the blister on his left foot. However, the tops of the toes on his right foot were forming a blister where the leather of his new shoes is crimping in against his toes. He is going to try to reshape the shoe or figure something out to stop it from rubbing.

He is hoping for and looking forward to a visit from his Mom and Dad sometime in Virginia.

Virginia Timeline (4/7/12 - 5/19/12)

4/7/12 (Sat.) - Crossed the TN/VA border [463.2 mi.]
4/7/12 (Sat.) - Stayed at The Place, a Methodist run hostel in Damascus, VA [468 mi.].
Switched out winter gear for summer gear.
4/8/12 (Sun.) - Easter Sunday. Spent a zero day in Damascus, VA.
4/13/12 (Fri.) - Stayed in a hotel in Marion, VA [530.7 mi.].
4/14/12 (Sat.) - Stayed in a hotel in Atkins, VA [542.2 mi.].
4/18/12 (Wed.) - Stayed in a yard near Trent's Grocery in Bastian, VA [605.5 mi.].
4/19/12 (Thu.) - Stayed at Woods Hole Hostel outside of Pearisburg, VA [619.4 mi.].
4/20/12 (Fri.) - Resupplied in Pearisburg, VA [629.8 mi.].
4/26/12 (Thu.) - Stayed at Four Pines Hostel in Catawba, VA [696.8 mi.].
4/28/12 (Sat.) - Stayed at a hotel in Daleville, VA [722.5 mi.].
4/29/12 (Sun.) - Stayed at Fullhardt Knob Shelter outside of Troutville, VA [727.5 mi.].
5/3/12 (Wed.) - Resupplied in Glasgow, VA [779.3 mi.].
5/5/12 (Sat.) - Stayed at Dutch Haus B&B in Montebello, VA [817.4 mi.].
5/8/12 (Tue.) - Tented by the YMCA in Waynesboro, VA [? mi.].
5/15/12 (Tue.) - Stayed at Front Royal Terrapin Station Hostel in Chester Gap, VA [957.3 mi.].
5/18/12 (Fri.) - Hiked 1,000 miles! (VA/WV border)
5/18/12 (Fri.) - Camped at Blackburn AT Center,VA [1004.8 mi.]
5/19/12 (Sat.) - Crossed the (final) VA/WV border [1014.9 mi.]

North Carolina / Tennessee Timeline (2/27/12 - 4/7/12)

Feb. 27 (Mon.) - Crossed the GA/NC border [78.5 mi.].
Camped in Bly Gap (NC) [78.6 mi.].
Mar. 1 (Thu.) - Hitched a ride into Franklin (NC) and back to the trail the same night [109.8 mi.].
Mar. 13 (Tue.) - Finished hiking through Great Smoky Mountains National Park (NC/TN) [238.1 mi.].
Mar. 13 (Tue.) - Hiked 18 miles and stayed at Standing Bear Farm bunkhouse (TN) [240.8 mi.]
Mar. 17 (Sat.) - Stayed at Elmers Sunnybank Inn (old Victorian home) in Hot Springs (NC) [273.9 mi.].
Mar. 18 (Sun.) - Picked up in Hot Springs (NC) to meet up with the family for Spring Break [273.9 mi.].
Mar. 24 (Sat.) - Started back on the trail in Hot Springs (NC) after a week of Zero's with the family in Gatlinburg (TN) [274.3 mi.].
Mar. 29 (Thu.) - Stayed in hostel (Uncle Johnny's?) in Erwin (TN) [341.5 mi.].
Apr. 1 (Sun.) - Stayed at Overmountain Shelter (TN) [382.7 mi.].
Apr. 2 (Mon.) - Hiked about 8 miles and stayed at Mountain Harbour B&B/Hostel in Roan Mountain (TN) [391.9 mi.].
Apr. 7 (Sat.) - Crossed TN/VA border [463.2 mi.].

(Thu. 4/5/12) near Laurel Falls, TN - Phone Update From Brett

Brett has not had much cell phone service at all this week. He finally got a call in to me this morning to confirm the package that he needed me to ship today to send to Damascus, VA. Brett said they are about a day ahead of what he expected. They will probably take one "zero" day there, but he doesn't want to be waiting around longer for a package.

This is a fairly important package for Brett. It signifies a switch from some winter to summer gear. Brett and Ed will both be switching out their winter sleeping bags for lighter and cooler summer bags. I sent Brett his lighter down pullover jacket. He is also going to start using his converted aluminum beer bottle alcohol stove (a very nifty stove Brett discovered online and made prior to leaving).

Brett didn't ask for much in the way of food except a couple of Mountain House dehydrated meals (lasagna and BBQ beef). I also sent him a bag with some candy for Easter and a homemade card from me and the boys.

(Mon. 4/2/12) Roan Mountain, TN - Phone Update From Brett

Brett just got into Roan Mountain, TN, this morning after hiking 8 miles. They stayed at Overmountain Shelter last night, an old hay barn that has been converted to a shelter. Brett said it is huge and really neat.

They left the shelter this morning and had some of the worst weather so far. They were hiking in the pouring rain with 40mph winds. At some points they were essentially walking sideways down the trail to compensate for the wind. Brett said it was really tough.

What makes it sad is they were hiking from one high bald to another. They would have enjoyed some great views, had it not been for the nasty weather. ["bald", n. - (Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S.) a treeless mountaintop or area near the top.]

Brett picked up his package in Roan Mountain, sent the "old" shoes home, and put the new shoes on his feet. They feel better than the old pair. He thinks his feet have grown (or swelled) some. His left foot has a big blister on his heel; his right foot has a blister between his big toe and the next toe over; and he has blisters on the tips of his toes from the Crocs. He wasn't able to get mole skin or anything else to stick to help with the blisters. Hopefully, he will adjust to the new shoes and recover from the old ones quickly.

The weather was bad, but not miserable. It helped having town to look forward to, knowing that he would be able to dry out later in the day and escape the wet.

He took an ibuprofin in the morning to help with a headache he woke up with. Aside from that, he hasn't had to take any "vitamin I" to alleviate hiking pains and sore muscles.

Spring has almost fully sprung in the mountains. The trees are still bare, but flowers are blooming and the grass is green. They have seen a lot of mountain salamanders. Brett said they look cool. They are orange and almost look like a fruit chew. Brett also saw some deer that were not scared off by people.

They were staying in a hostel in Roan Mountain (Mountain Harbour B&B/Hostel?), and Brett was petting a billy goat as we talked. He said he thinks the hostel owner keeps the goats on his steep hill just to mow the grass.

Brett said his "hiker hunger" has finally set in. He is starved all the time and is really losing weight. Brett thinks he is down 20 pounds at this point.

Brett expects to be in Damascus, Virginia, around Sunday. Brett said that Virginia should be flatter and faster. It should take him about six weeks to make it through Virginia, reaching the "half-way point" in Harper's Ferry. He will be hiking summer in Virginia and will go through the Shenendoah Mountains. He is hoping that his mom and dad will be able to meet up with him then. I think it helps Brett to have something to look forward to along the way.

Brett gave me a list of items to put in his next package and warned me to open the package from him outside. He would be sending wet, muddy shoes and a raincoat. Messy and stinky.

(3/29/12) Erwin, TN - Email/Phone Update From Brett

Email Update From Brett:
I am in Erwin today. Just got in and have errands to run. It feels good to be clean. Can't wait for the new shoes. I have two new blisters from the Crocs. Love you.

Phone Update:
Brett called from a hostel in Erwin, TN. He's doing okay, hanging in there, but he needs his shoes. Four to five more days until Roan Mountain (and new shoes).

(3/28/12) Sams Gap, TN? - Phone Update From Brett

It sounded like Brett was enjoying a beautiful afternoon. He called from a nicely mowed field where he was lying down, enjoying the perfect weather--warm sun and cool wind.

He was also giving his feet a break. Brett's first pair of shoes started wearing down after a month of serious hiking. Brett had ordered a new pair and had me bring them to him in Gatlinburg. He wore them all week in an attempt to break them in, but was unsuccessful. The new shoes were giving him blisters, especially bad on his heel. He had hiked all day in his Crocs, which felt okay except that he feels every rock and root when wearing them.

He called the shoe company (Merrill) and was very impressed with their customer service. They said they would send him another pair of shoes--a different style and a bigger size. But he would have to hike with what he has until he gets to the mail drop. Brett expected to be in Erwin, TN in maybe two days, but the mail drop in Roan Mountain, TN, is beyond that.