On Again Off Again, but Mostly On

Updates from the Mountains

Episode #8: On Again Off Again, but Mostly On

Originally, this title was referring to to me being on the trail since I’ve gotten off trail twice not just to go to a hostel. But I think the title is more apt as a reference to the weather lately. Congrats! We’ve made it to mid-May in Virginia. You know what that means? RAIN! Ah, home soggy home. 

But back to the original message:

The last few weeks have been a little different. I’ve been doing all the same things while on the trail, but with specific pickup dates and setting locations to be picked up from two weekends in a row, the hiking was a lot more “scheduled”. Last weekend my dad picked up Eitan and I to bring me to a friend’s wedding (it was so beautiful and amazing). Fortunately it was pretty close to where we were in trail, but I still had to be driven there. That meant a full zero off the trail at a REAL hotel!? AND I had to make myself look presentable for a formal occasion, which was quite something. It was SO lovely to see my dad, too. He brought trail magic to share with other hikers, shuttled us around until we both found new shoes (mine died a sad death after 600 miles), and made sure we were comfortable and well fed- including with fresh watermelon and hand-picked strawberries!! He’s the best.

This weekend, Eitans dad picked us up to drive us up to Maryland for the Hozier concert. AHHHHH!!! We’re technically not going to have a full day off trail, but we are going to have two days where we only go 2-4 miles which is essentially nothing. So timing has been weird lately- pushing through to get to every sun spots but also slowing down to time the pickups and having multiple days off the trail. But it’s all good! A lot of people are getting off trail this weekend for Trail Days in Damascus, VA, so hopefully we’ll catch up with them again when they get back.

Now to the weather:

It’s wet. The rain has been on again off again, but mostly on. But honestly, rainy weather out here isn’t quite as bad as it may seem. The leafed-out canopy certainly helps create a natural umbrella to limit how much rain actually gets to you as a hiker. The worst parts are having to pack up a wet tent and when many days have gone by before things even get a chance to dry out, forcing you to put on wet shoes and/or socks and/or other clothes for multiple days in a row. And that’s happened a couple times recently. Oh the sun came out in the latter half of the day? Don’t bother setting your stuff out to dry overnight because it’s just going to rain again. Or it stopped raining? Well it’s 1000% humidity so actually everything will still be wet.

As I said, though, the rainy days aren’t all THAT bad. For one, it feels like home. I’m certainly no stranger to rainy Virginia. The rain also can make for lovely hiking conditions: I love a foggy morning when the leaves are all wet from the night before and look extra green, and the forest looks spooky and smells extra earthy. Sometimes it’s cool enough on a misty morning that I’m not getting sweaty in my rain jacket and I can very comfortably walk in the rain. Rainy days also mean the salamanders come out! The other day I counted 101 red efts and one chonky salamander just along the trail. It was glorious.

ALSO (slightly off topic), the rhododendron and mountain laurel and lady slippers and four-leafed milkweed and other flowers are blooming now!! It’s very scenic. Ah, spring.

During the time I’ve actually been on the trail the last couple weeks, I’ve also passed a few iconic spots. One is the Keffer Oak, which is (allegedly) the second largest tree on the trail! Naturally, I hugged it. It’s doing great.

Even more iconic (potentially one of the MOST iconic) is the Virginia “triple crown”- including McAffee’s Knob! The “triple crown” (Dragon’s Tooth, McAffee’s Knob, and Tinker Cliffs) are all gorgeous spots with great views and cool rock formations. But McAffee’s knob is one of the highlights of the whole trail. I of course insisted on getting up for sunrise on the knob, so Eitan and I met some of our trail buddies up there. As expected, it was stunning!! It was the second time I’ve watched sunrise there, and hopefully not the last. We all got some awesome pictures up there then made our breakfasts as we hung out along the cliffs.

Apart from getting on and off the trail and the frequent rain, Virginia has felt different because I’ve gotten to areas that are actually familiar. As we walked along the Triple Crown area, specific memories were being conjured up from a backpacking trip I did with a W&M group in Fall 2022. I recognized the trail and the overlooks and even the places I had pitched a tent or where I played hacky sack. Even the mountains and the ecosystems are looking more familiar to me; with the trees having leafed out and the rolling hills of the Blue Ridge, I’m walking through familiar forests. Just recently, I even crossed the James River! Over a hundred miles from Richmond, but the river and the railroad are the same. It’s a familiar sight that feels like “home”. (I keep joking that I’m going to build a raft and float home from here)

I’m sure this will continue as I enter the Shenandoah area. A lot of the hiking I’ve done in the past has been just west of Shenandoah National Park all the way until just before Harper’s Ferry, WV. It feels strange to have walked almost 800 miles and to suddenly feel like you haven’t gone that far because everything is all too familiar. But it’s also comforting. I’m hoping to see more friends in the coming weeks as I pass through the northern section of Virginia (shoutout to John Scott who met up with us near Tinker Cliffs- and he saw a bear!). It’ll be very exciting, but probably add to the strangeness of feeling like I’ve walked so far just to end up where I “started”.

Onward I go, into the places where I first started truly hiking. I’m not the same person I was when I first hiked these areas; I’m certainly a lot hungrier. So if there was a book about my life, this would be a great opportunity for parallelism of place alluding to character development.

Thanks for tuning in to another episode of my sporadic trail updates. Gonna go scream my head off at a Hozier concert now. AAAAAHHHHHHHHH 🤩🤩🤩

P.S. I’m temporarily bringing back the song requests for this episode: On + Off by Maggie Rogers