The calm before the storm

Hellllllooooo to my blog readership (all 8 of you). I'm currently taking my first true rest day (zero day in hiker speak) in Daleville, Virginia. Just outside Roanoke. I'm at mile 727 (about 1/3 of the way) and have been hiking for 45 days. It just truly hit me how much hiking I have to do if I want to finish in 100 days. By my math I'll have to average 26.4 miles a day, for 55 more days, to get to Mt. Katahdin in Maine by August 14th. It's gonna be really tough. I'm a bit intimidated to be honest, but I'll give'r my best shot.
The first few days after Bonnaroo were a little tough, getting back into the groove, and breaking in my new boots. It wasn't until yesterday that I finally got rolling again, and I wore my crocs all day so my blistered heels didn't hold me back. Yesterday was also my Birthday, yayyy so old! My mom and Connie came down for the weekend to meet up with us which is reaaally nice. I stayed 2 nights at a hotel and enjoyed a plethora of luxuries: comfy beds, restaurant food, pool, clean clothes, internet, watching a blue jays game and a movie, seeing my peeps, and some hard chillin. It's a bit eerie because it feels like the calm before the storm of exhaustion that will rage for the next 2 months. I wish I could divide this day and enjoy a bit of it everyday over the next 2 months. I really don't have time for any other slacker days. I'll barely have time for anything except good ole hiking. I'm still confident that this is what I want to do. A good example maybe is that I've never really got the people who do marathons just to finish and not worry about time. I'd rather see how fast I can go. I feed off the competitiveness. So I think I am definitely "hiking my own hike". Killer says she will try and hold on for as long as she can. Big props to her... she's given'r er real hard.
Here's some pics for ya'll!

Also thanks everybody for the birthday wishes!
That's all for now, l8ter!

Virginia and Bonnarooooo

Hey everyone, I'm in Pearisburg, Virginia, mile 635, day 39! Things are still going really well. We passed the 1/4 point (on day 33 I think, so I gotta get moving if I want to finish in 100 days) and are into our 4th state. Virginia is the state with the most miles of the trail (around 500) and is supposed to be a little flatter than the first quarter of the trail. In the first few days in Virginia we went through a park that has wild horses:

We also got to see and chat with this guy: http://www.runnersworld.com/elite-runners/updated-before-retirement-scott-jurek-attempting-appalachian-trail-record?cid=social46666436&adbid=10152810138731987&adbpl=fb&adbpr=9815486986
He was really, really nice and took the time to chat for 5 minutes and take some pictures:

His wife was walking with him at the time. She drives the support van and meets him at most road crossings along the trail. By the way, I would not want to run on the trail... too much steep downhill, and rocks and roots. What this guy is doing is really, really crazy. If he can do it in 42 days, I should be able to do it in 100.

We took a little break from the trail this weekend and went to Bonnaroo music festival in Manchester, Tennesee this weekend. It was an awesome time. I've been a few times before. The festival is huge, almost 100,000 people, almost all camping. The musical lineup is always stacked and very eclectic and the atmosphere is super fun and friendly. We saw some awesome shows and had a nice little 4 day vacation from the trail. Me and Gen had been doing around 25 mile days the week leading into it. Hiking that much really doesn't leave much free time. All we do all day is hike. But I like the adrenaline rush of pushing the mileage. I usually listen to music or podcasts for like two thirds of the day. Gen's doing it old school, without an ipod. I have no clue how she does it.
Me and Gen did a 5k fun run at Bonnaroo that was pretty fun. I'm glad I decided to just tempo it, considering the heat and fact that I haven't run in a month. Man was it hot and sunny... It's kind of funny that even though we've been in the south for a month, it really doesn't get too hot in the woods.
Big thanks to Skye's friends Jeff, Mark and Chloe for coming out of their way to pick us up, and Mal for bringing down a few things for us (I got a new pair of hikers). It wasn't the easiest thing to coordinate picking me, Skye and Gen up, because we were all in different places and not able to use wifi very often. I ended up getting picked up at 3 am while napping under a McDonalds sign where I had been loitering for like 8 hours. Then we drove to a hostel in the sticks to pick up Gen. Showing up in the middle of the night, searching through the hostel bunkhouse, shinning my headlamp on people, and whispering "Killer" (Gen's trail name) was probably the creepiest thing I've ever done in my life. We picked up Pop Tart a half hour away sleeping on a library's front lawn.
The Harrigans and honorary Harrigan at roo:

'Roo crowds:

Ok, that's it for now. I've gotta go meet up with Killer. She was 10 miles behind me so I'm chillin in town while she catches up and then we're meeting up on the trail and doing 7 or so more miles.  L8ter! 

Hike Your Own Hike

Hey everybody, it's been 27 days, 470 miles and we just entered our 4th state: Virginia. Biggest news recently is that me and Killer (Gen) have parted ways with Pop Tart (Skye) for the time being. Every hiker has their own pace and motivation, and the competitive spirit in me and Killer is encouraging us to push the pace a bit. At this point we know we're physically capable of doing the trail, so the next challenge is to do it faster. We're gonna take a stab at finishing the trail in 100 days, which is only 10 days less and 2 miles a day more than originally planned. Pop Tart's ideal hike is a more relaxing mozy up the trail, which is more the norm. Also he has a friend joining him for a week and has borderline trench foot:

So really, good on the kid for pushing through this first month, and keeping up with two sort of endurance athletes. A popular saying on the trail is to "Hike you're own hike." Keep on given'r Pop Tart!

I think the best part of the trip so far is the fact that we have no clue whats gonna happen next, who we're gonna meet, and what we're gonna see. One shelter we slept at felt like a hippie drug den, the next night's shelter felt more like a senior's home, everybody was asleep when we rolled in at 8:30. We stayed for a night at a resort town that was hosting a get together for Nissan sports cars, with events like an exhaust sound off. There was a beer pong tourney too which we were able to infiltrate.

We're meeting tonnes of cool people out here. Surprisingly, most thru hikers start solo. There's a few couples out here but I think we were the only group of three we've seen. Most hikers though seem to pair up or form groups, which we usually mistake for long time friends. The two most interesting hikers for me are the two guys we've met who are finishing the "triple crown" of U.S. hiking (the Pacific Crest Trail, Continental divide trail, and the Appalachian trail). These guys are legit. I love hearing stories from the other trails. The PCT is a bit longer, equally as hilly as the AT but with more more weather variation (desert to snow) and better views. The CDT is apparently a beast. Super tough climbs, very rugged, 5000 km, and not particularity well maintained. One of the guys refers to the AT as "bourgeois hiking" because of the well kept trail and the frequency of towns, shelters, privys and water sources. I'm not complaining, but more intense hiking does interest me. My goal is to not sleep indoors (hostels, hotels) during the trip, so I'm not indulging as fully as possible. Some people (slackpackers) even have their packs driven to from hostel to hostel. 

Some random thoughts cause I don't have time to make a nice cohesive post...

After a couple beautiful weeks weather wise we got lots of rain this week. Luckily most of it was during the night. We're still doing fine without tents, just relying on shelters.

 We saw our first bear today! Or at least it's butt as it scurried away. We've seen a handful of deer, some (huge) wild turkeys, a few snakes, enough mice for a lifetime, and at night I've heard some coyotes and wild boar.  

Also of note, I got pretty sick the other day. Puking and mad indigestion, not really sure what from. We took a half day (mileage wise) and luckily I was feeling better by the next day. Because we were in no man's land, not close to any shelters or campsites, it was a good chance to test out our emergency tarp, which worked really well. Thanks Anna for sending that down. And huge thanks to Killer for being super helpful during the ordeal.

Also I forgot my shirt at a shelter (a mouse had chewed some holes in it earlier so I wasn't heartbroken) so I didn't have a shirt for like 4 days, but was able to buy one at a dollar store.

Hiker problem: when it's really cold I have to wear all my clothes to bed, but then my pillow ends up being like 1 pair of socks...

I'm surprised how cold it's been. More so at night. There was a couple nights were it went down to 2-3 degrees Celsius. My sleeping bag is rated to 7 degrees... I guess I didn't really know how much altitude affects the temp. We're often at 4000 or 5000 feet.  

Thanks to Connie for sending me an awesome package in the mail... even though there was some frustration connecting me and it.

Ok, that's all I got for now. Pretty excited for some Subway tonight for supper.

L8ter