Write a blog they said...

So the wifi is terrible, and hot springs has the worst call signal in the world. I'll upload more pictures when I can. The past week has been very tough physically and mentally.

4/19 Day 30! Happy one month trailiversary to me!

Pecks Corner Shelter - Davenport Gap

Oh..my..god..

The 6am air mattress deflation has begun, the headlamps are on and the rain has not stopped. Everyone's moods are always rather low, even if they seem "happy". When it's raining up over 5,000 ft on a mountain it's no joke. We're still in our sleeping bags, trying to decide what to do. I think no matter what it's just going to be one of those days..

Sure enough, a few of us who stayed in the shelter decided to just cook in here. Now of course we were all extremely careful with our food (being in the shelter and all). The rain was coming down hard, and even some strikes of lighting and thunder. Therebwas one kid whobwas really butthurt about us eating in there, you know... Because of "bears". He mumbled some shit and told us that it's what separates hikers from tourists. Implying that we were tourists. I literally told him, "weird, I cooked in here last night too, see any bears?". He got pissy and left, so I said a nice "Okay, Byeee!". Don't fuck with me before I've finished my coffee, I'll end you.

15 miles today in a monsoon, can't wait to leave this place.

It was time to go, our rain gear was on, our packs were covered and we were off to conquer the day - or so we had thought. The rain was coming down hard, we weren't even on the actual trail before we were totally drenched. It was a big uphill climb to Mt Chapman, and it was yet another miserable climb

Hiked uphill Beautiful despite the rain. Debbie fell in the water Hotsauce cried " i dont belong here" Hiked more past shelter Rain stopped. Getting picked up by debbies parents. Going to town today instead Took a stick to the foot Debbie fell in the mud again but shes clean Did the last 3 miles, painful Foot hurts pretty bad Finally got to Davenport gap, debbies parents gave us a ride to hot springs!!

4/20 Day 31

I got food poisoning the night before. I threw up 8 times over the course of 5 hours. It was bad... Like I was ready to go to the hospital because I Was on the cusp of severe dehydration.

(4/26) update - can confirm, not food poisoning; Turns out I got Norovirus. The pain I had from this shit was unreal. Excessive vomiting, diarrhea, extreme hot flashes and stomach cramps from hell. Even hotsauce was tempted to bring me to the clinic it got so bad, I felt like I was going to die. Due to this, I was kept in hot springs for 3 days. I barely wrote anything, and what I wrote afterwards was still pretty shit. So enjoy the bullet point blog this week. 🙃

4/21 Day 32

Today was more shit. Upset stomach and nauseous. Walked around town and did some resupply shopping. Thinking it's Noro

(4/26) - see what I mean..

4/22 Day 33

After a few lovely bathroom visits, Im starting to feel much better. I'm pretty sure I got noro. Thanks to all you dirty ass people. if you're on trail, you can still have proper hygiene. Anyways, after a long two days off of recovering I'm ready to get back on the trail. We checked out of laughing heart hostel and are heading into town for a few last minute things and then getting a shuttle. I actually can't wait to get back on track. Our shuttle driver picked us up and we were on our way. After the long one hour drive to standing bear hostel we set up our tents and relaxed for a bit. My tent was pitched right next to a stream, it was nice to be back in the woods. Hotsauce, Debbie and I got a ride back to Davenport Gap, were we had stopped the other day. Our plan was to slack pack the remaining 3 miles to standing bear hostel. Slack packing is basically when you hike without your pack and only minimum gear. (Basically your phone and water). This is a nice thing to do especially when you only have a few miles to catch up on. So I threw on my hat and grabbed my Garmin and knife and off we went. (Did I mention I got a new hat?). The 3 miles went by super fast, at some points we were even running. Cool, so we all made it back to standing bear and just in time too, because they were cooking food! I got a cheese burger, corn on the cob and potato salad, and boy it was so good. Did a little fire, had a "safety" meeting and off to bed. Here's to getting back to the woods 🥂

Tomorrow is Max patch, and I'm SO excited! Cowboy camping under the stars and some real photo potential! It's going to be amazing.

4/23 Day 34

I woke up today realizing that it would be a good day, up until 20 minutes after, when both the girls decided they wanted to kind of just hang around for a while. I needed to get moving. Standing bear was cool and all, but it's so chill it's dangerous. They nickle and dime you to death, and your $15 tent site now costs you $50+ after all the food and such. It's also kind of a really low key trashy hippy village. It had it's ups and downs. Anyways, I was ready to pack up and get the hell out, especially after being sick and couped up in hot springs for 3 days. I was up and ready to go within 40 minutes, but not the other two. Music and laughing filled the area. My sanity dropped out into the stream just behind my tent, and I watched it float away. Not the morning I had wanted. I organized and packed my gear, and went to get some breakfast. They had made breakfast burritos, which admittedly we're good, but again more money.. at nearly 11 o'clock we were ready to move, and my hopes of spending the night on Max patch were over. 13 miles at noon didn't seem practical and especially not after the 3 zeroes. So today.. it's a big 8. Headphones in I moved ahead with annoyance in my steps. So to clarify, if one headphone is in I'm in a good mood. I'm ready to listen and talk. When both headphones go in, leave me the fuck alone, I'm about to make this mountain my bitch. I passed 3 people going up the hill, and nothing was stopping me until I hit the next water source. Only a few miles down was that stream, so I decided to stop and wait for hotsauce and Debbie to catch up. Because it was hot and I was sweating ass, I took off my shirt and shoes and filled up my water; Time to chill. The realization that I was only going 5 more miles is somewhat comforting but also aggravating as well as. I had big plans to camp on top of max patch under the night sky and get some photos I've been hoping for. But I guess that is part of the trail, "go with the flow".. but please, don't interrupt my flow. Let's see how tonight goes, at least I'm back in my happy place.

A few hours later I made it to the first shelter, accompanied by hot sauce (who had caught up during my lunch break). We figured we would check out the shelter for the hell of it, and it was kind of trashy. The shelter was full and tents littered the surrounding area. Guess we're not staying here tonight! Our choice but was deep gap (like the 3rd deep gap so far). It was actually a decent little spot to camp, so I wasn't entirely pissed. I set up my tent in the best possible spot, giving myself cover and distance from the dead branches in the other side of the area. I've was actually talking to Debbie about always checking for dead trees when tenting, and just as I was u huge chunk of bark feel from a tree and smashed into the ground. That could have been us. As usual, I stuck to my trail name and gifted my fellow hiking partners with a nice little fire. We all sat around and began to start coming dinner. Debbie and I took out our stoves and boiled some water within minutes, but hotsauce runs on a different level. She chose to make pasta tonight. A box of noodles, seasoning and a tube of tomato paste were out. She decided to use just the coals from the fire to boil her pasta, which not only took forever but also resulted in her spilling them into the ashes. Luckily only some noodles were lost to the fire. She couldn't finish the huge amount of spaghetti, so I agreed to eat the rest. Holy hell, tomato paste does not bode well as a sauce substitute. It was so acidic my mouth was burning from the acid of the tomato. I ate it all anyways. Dinner was done and the food bags were ready to find a tree. After a few failed attempts we found a better branch and got all three bags up on one line. Go me. We sat around fire and talked for a while, enjoying the nice summer night. And then it was bed time.

4/24 Day 35

I'm so sick of "hot springs". It's nearly 5 a.m, the slight breeze rustles my tent from atop max patch and the sound of frogs fill the distance; oh, and Debbie throwing up. That's it, Norovirus for everyone! It's taken us over a week just to get from Davenport to max patch, and we're still a two days hike from hot springs. This whole trip has been progress every day, but God damn this past week has felt like I'm going backwards. I was sick last week, and now Debbie is today... It's a vicious cycle. I'm actually starting to "dislike" the trail a little because of all the trashy fucking people that hike it. Lack of hygiene, etiquette and common sense are some common traits you'll find out here, which to be honest is surprising to me. Coming out here, I had a totally different perspective on the AT but it's quickly changing. I'm becoming bitter and tired and I hope it's just a phase. Camping on the summit of Max patch has been a bucket list AT item for a while, and it's finally here. Watching the sunset and then being able to see the entire nights sky is amazing. I had gotten some great photos with plans to take some more in the morning. I had positioned my tent doors East to West so could get the rise and set of the sun through my doors. Waking up at 3:30 a.m to the sound of violent puking is a mild cause for concern, and to be honest makes me a little sad. My dog dad reflexes kicked in within seconds of hearing the "sounds" and I flew out of my tent, like I was going to catch her puke or something... It took a second to get it all together, but I figured out very quick what the situation was and how the next 48 hours would play out for Debbie. I'm so exhausted, but I wasn't going to let her go through this on her own. I sat with her for over an hour and helped any way I could. But I'm back in my tent now, my eyes are dozing off and I think it's time for bed.

Woke up, Debbie got sick again. Decided she's going to town. She's not too happy about it but she needs to be off trail. I had to take down both tents. She got a shuttle, I had to run down max patch to give her her tent. Started hiking, a little frustrated. Having shoe squeek issues and pack issues. Oh, 16 mile day. Trail is nice, enjoyable scenery and flowers. Gone 5 miles so far. Going to stop for lunch in 1.3 miles. Stomach cramps, must ..get..to .privy. Body is still trying to adjust back to normal.

Ate lunch, decided to aim for the tent site before the shelter. Both sites were full, nowhere to tent. Decided to just hike 19 miles to hot springs. Involved night hiking, so we stopped for dinner at the water source before the shelter. It was cool. Sun went down and our night hike began. Glad I got a nice headlamp, really bright. Was a long hike, painful too. Foot issues. Barely made it to hot springs, foot about to give out. 1 mile away stealth camp for tonight. We're both cooked. Time for bed, so exhausted.

4/25 Day 36 Coming soon 🤷‍♂️