I hitched a ride into Mount Holly Springs this afternoon. I'm at a library with a keyboard for the first time this hike. It's nice.
Today I passed the halfway mark for mileage. I have a couple stories to tell but I want to mention some trail slang first. I didn't make any of these up and people use them all the time.
white blaze - White blazes are painted on trees to show the AT.
blue blaze - They show the way to things like alternate routes, overlooks, water or shelters.
yellow blaze - The road, for instance if someone skips miles hitchhiking.
pink blaze - Following women on the trail.
aqua blaze - Using a boat to skip miles.
slackpack - Using a small pack for the day. Usually a hostel will shuttle people so they carry less weight.
tramily - Trail family, group of people you hang out with.
wa wa - Water. I can't stand this one, luckily it's not used too often
hiker trash - A smelly hiker who has been in the woods a while. Usually looking for a ride to town and an outlet to plug their phone in.
trail magic - Free stuff like food or drinks people hand out on road crossings.
trail angels - People who help out hikers.
Some of the guys I hiked with leaving Daleville were Push, 2 Steaks, Flavor Packet, and Skywalker. Flavor Packet got his name because he thought the oxygen absorber packet in Mountain House meals was a flavor packet. People get strange names out here.
I lost most of those guys after a little while. I stayed with Skywalker a longer. One day I was ahead of Skywalker and trying to hitch a ride to a small store in Virginia. I tried for 45 minutes with no luck. He showed up, sat down, said 'what you looking for a ride?', stuck out his thumb and a car going the other direction flipped around and pulled up within seconds. I was annoyed but pumped to get going.
I had my longest day hiking to Seely-Woodworth Shelter. I hiked 34 miles and had to use my headlight for the end. I could hear coyotes yelping and didn't want to look around with my headlamp to see their eyes. I was tired getting to the shelter, but luckily I had it to myself.
After leaving Stanimal's Hostel in Waynesboro I was with a small group and my friend OD. OD (Overdose) started the same day as me and we'd hung out a bit but hadn't hiked together for more than a few days up to this point. OD's goal is to finish the AT in 90 days. The group we hiked with for a day were really fast. One of the guys hiked 20 miles by noon with a full pack, which I wouldn't have believed but I saw it.
Overdose and I traveled together through the Shenandoahs. The hiking was mellow and there were waysides throughout the mountains. It was easy to pick up food for resupplies and there were lots of hikers around.
After the Shenandoahs OD and I rented a car to drive down to Tail Days in Damascus. On the way we stayed at his family's property to shower and do laundry. Trail Days was a good time. There were vendors, a tent city, music, free food and a ton of hikers. We stayed for one of three nights because OD needed to get back and the car had to be back by noon on Saturday. Our tents were set up in a big open field, part of tent city. Then there was another part that was back in the trees. Different tramilies had camps all over. Many of them offered free booze and food. People even name their tramilies like; Riff Raff, Ridge Runs, or 20 milers. People are really into this stuff. There was a drum circle going on all night.
OD and I left Trail Days at 7am on Saturday and made it back to Enterprise just 10 minutes late. Luckily the assistant manager was still there. After that we walked through some busy intersections to Walmart and then a trail angel gave us a ride back to Keys Gap. Then we walked the 6 miles on the AT to Harper's Ferry.
We stayed at the Town Inn in Harper's Ferry. It's a 200 year old building. I thought the town was great and full of history.
A couple days ago OD and I split. He's going to push hard to get done as soon as possible. I decided to slow down a bit and take it easier. It was great traveling with him and maybe I'll see him down the trail.
The trail has been far less busy lately. I had a shelter to myself last night. Some locals told me I'm a about two weeks ahead of the bubble. It's nice that I don't have to scavenge for a campsite anymore.
Now the library is closing and I need to figure out how to get back to the trail. It's around 3 miles, hopefully I can get a ride.
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