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Damascus, VA and Biking the Creeper Trail
Day 129 Yesterday was a great day. Despite getting turned around and hiking the long direction, the ponies, views, and my campsite all made up for it. And now, today was another great day. Today is the day I hike into Damascus, VA. Damascus is famous on the AT because it is the home of Trail Days, a yearly celebration of the AT. Trail Days is practically one massive party that takes place in March, so most NOBOs get to be a part of it. Thru hikers from all years will come to Trail Days, and they have a massive parade of all the thru hikers from throughout the years.…
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Marion, VA & The Grayson Highlands
Anddddd we’re back. Can you believe it? I bet some of you gave up on my blog. But, as I told you, I will finish my AT story for you! Day 120 This morning I sadly left the gorgeous Woods Hole Hostel behind me. Tentatively, I walked south through the woods, nervous that at any moment, bees, hornets, wasps (you name it) would appear from the trees to chase me down and sting me once more… luckily I remained sting free and, after taking a short detour to Trent’s grocery store for some snackeronies (see below), I ended the day 20.8 miles down the trail. Day 121 Waking up the…
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Impatient for my next post? Check this out in the meantime
Hello to all of you wonderful people, who may be, at this exact moment, be wondering WHEN IS SHE GOING TO FINISH HER BLOG ABOUT THE AT? SHE’S GOTTA BE FINISHED BY NOW?! To all of you wondering the above, I say, you are correct, I HAVE finished the trail. For any of you who may follow me on any of my social media accounts (Queue shameless plug-ins: Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, I-just-created-this-tiktok-so-its-empty-right-now-but-please-follow-me), you know that my completion of the trail was immediately followed up with a ultramarathon, and then a cross country road trip. That, combined with arriving home amidst the holidays has made it hard for me to set…
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11 Gifts to buy this Black Friday for the thru-hiker in your life
Black Friday is HERE and it is one of the best opportunities for discounts on backpacking gear. I just finished my flip-flop thru-hike this last month (post summarizing those last few weeks are still to come) and here are some of my favorite items, and the Black Friday sales associated with them. 1. SOLE Shoe Inserts (25% off) I wrote about these time and time again. I went on a few backpacking trips before the AT and my feet were KILLING me. I got these inserts and wore them the entire time on the trail and they helped so much!! I also wore them in my ultramarathon after I completed…
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It’s Not Bears We Should Fear, its the BEES
“NOT THE BEES” – a quote not only from Wicker man, but from Reset, AT FF ’23. Day #: 119 Total Miles Hiked: 1,572 mi. Miles Remaining: 625 mi. This post can originally be found on The Trek. Day 115 – VA 620 Trout Creek (1501.7) to Niday shelter (1510.6) – 8.9 miles The day I waved goodbye to my family, also turned out to be a day of thunderstorms. My mom drove me to VA 620 Trout Creek in the afternoon. There we hugged, and as she pulled away, I began my climb up a hill. At this point, the sky was dark and cloudy, but no rain had…
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The VA Triple Crown: my sketchiest stunts, lowest moral, and a much needed family visit
Day #: 111 Total Miles Hiked: 1,501 mi. Miles Remaining: 696 mi. The Virginia Triple Crown The Virginia Triple crown is pretty famous on the AT. In fact, it holds one of the icons and most recognizable points along the entire Appalachian Trail, McAfee Knob. McAfee Knob is also the most popular hike in Virginia’s Blue Ridge. Needless to say, I was excited to finally have reached it. Virginia’s Triple Crown has three main viewpoints: Tinker Cliffs, McAfee Knob and Dragon’s Tooth (from North to South), all between VA 652 and VA 620 (Trout Creek). Tinker Cliffs give hikers a stunning view for 0.2 miles as one hikes along Tinker…
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Donations and Challenges via my website
Hello! It has been brought to my attention, that if you donated money through the portal on my website with the intention of giving me a challenge, that I never got your description of what my challenge is to be.If you donated money to me and sent me a challenge and you haven’t seen me post it yet, please email me at the.rambling.rover.blog@gmail.com to confirm with me as to whether or not I received your challenge.Moving forward, it might be easier if you send me challenges through my personal PayPal or Venmo. On both, you can write out your challenge as a part of the donation (I guess it does…
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South to Shenandoah + Trail Angels
Before Shenandoah Days 96, 97, 98, and 99, miles 1172.5 to 1229.2 (56.7 miles total). I took the train from Washington DC out to Harpers Ferry. On the train I ran into Geisha Girl who was planning on spending the night in Harpers Ferry. I then neroed out 4 miles to a campsite. Since I had just come from Maine where there was never ending water. I forgot that water was some thing that needed to be kept track of, and I learned that lesson hard when I got to the campsite and there was no water. I hiked from Harpers Ferry to Front Royal, averaging around 20 miles a…
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The Evolution of My Gear at the Half Way Point
If you ever want to hear a thru-hiker ramble on for an hour or two, just ask about their gear. Not to overexaggerate, because I’m not, but our gear is our life out here. We literally may live-or-die (okay that is a bit of an exaggeration) by our gear. Mainly though, what gear we choose will define how comfortable we are on the trail, and extreme discomfort can make or break our motivation to stay on and finish the trail. The main things I thought about when initially compiling my gear list were: quality, weight, cost, and quantity (not all are mutually exclusive, for example, higher quality tends to be…
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Trail Names
Many of you, my lovely readers, have requested hearing the stories of how thru-hikers obtained their trail names. Well, ask and you shall receive (some of the time at least)! I’ve reached out to some of the thru-hikers I met on the northern portion of my flip flop and asked them to tell the story of how they received their names. Thus, these stories are told from their point of view. I hope you enjoy! The ways in which a thru-hiker obtains a trail name can vary. As you will read, some came onto the trail with names already, either from previous thru-hikes, or life experiences. Others obtained their trail…
