Written by: Emily “Lightning” Ginger

It was Monday evening and it had been raining all day. We had just arrived at the shelter (three walls and a roof made of logs) where we were planning to stop for the night. At most shelters there is a notebook we call a “register” where hikers write a quote, tell a story about their day, or just jost something like “stopped here for the night on April 22,” or “in for lunch and water, heading 12 more miles today.” The shelter register allows us to keep track of how far ahead or behind a fellow hiker might be. We got to the shelter and immediately checked on the register to see which of our friends had passed through. There was an entry from our friends Yianni and Prophet inviting us to hike 4.5 more miles to Atkins, VA where they had rented a motel room.

We flew through those cold, wet miles and eventually came to a road with a motel across the street. At first I couldn’t see the motel (just the sign) because it shares a small parking lot with, and sits behind a dilapidating restaurant that looks as though it were abandoned at least 30 years ago. I spotted our friends’ door which was ajar, and located right next to the room where it was apparent that people were renting not just staying the night. This was evident from the house plants in the window, the motorcycle covered by a tarp, and the various other personal belongings being stored on the front stoop of their motel door. Though it wasn’t ideal, we had gratefully arrived at a warm, smelly, and moldy motel room where we could share some beds and a floor for the night. We got some burgers, chicken, and pecan pie at the gas station down the street (the food was actually really good), then enjoyed some steamy showers in the mildew covered bathroom afterwards. We were living large for the night!

On Tuesday morning we woke up and it was still raining, we stepped outside and the weather had gotten colder. We didn’t want to hike, so we didn’t. We decided to stay another night at the motel, and agreed that we would make up for our “zero” day by pulling some big mileage over the next couple of days that we hiked. We were trying to make it to the next town (Pearisburg, VA) by Saturday at noon when the post office closes. Also, one of Kate’s friends from high school lives not too far from Pearisburg so we wanted to be able to hook-up with him over the weekend when he is not working.

On Wednesday morning the sky was blue and the sun was shining! We set out to hike 24 miles. Kate left first, and I asked Brandon if I could follow behind him for the day. When I am faced with the task of walking 24 miles I get so overwhelmed that it’s hard to keep myself motivated. Walking 24 miles requires a lot of physical energy, so I wanted to save myself the mental expenditure it would take for me to keep myself motivated for such a long time period. Brandon and I walked in a pair all day, apparently it also helps him to stay motivated knowing that I’m right behind him. The hike out of Atkins, VA was beautiful. We walked over hilly pastures, meadows, and farmland all day. We came across a completely intact deer skeleton, turned a corner into a herd of cows grazing on the trail, got some “Trail Magic” in the form of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, sodas, and honey buns (left in a cooler near a trailhead, by a former thru-hiker who had attached a note and some pamphlets saying “how to find heaven from the Appalachian Trail”), and we then finished off the day with a four mile trek uphill on a beautiful mountain bald as the sun was colorfully setting on the distant mountain ridges. It was a perfect day! We continued a couple miles off the top of the bald, pumped some water, started a fire, threw up our tents, and cooked some dinner. There was a big full moon on the rise through the trees as we crawled into our tents that night.

Considering we planned to walk 26 miles on Thursday, we wanted to wake up early and get a nice start on the day. For some reason we have a really hard time getting up-and-going in the morning, so of course we slept through our alarms and didn’t get hiking until 9:30 am, but we were still committed to hitting the mileage we had set for ourselves- we wanted to hike a marathon! With such a high mileage quota again, I followed behind Brandon for the majority of the day. Around 7:00 pm we still had about 5 miles left to hike when we came to a road where a couple was handing out some sodas-what a needed boost! We had walked 21 miles, had 5 miles left to walk, we were tired, and it was getting darker by the minute. The marathon was calling our names. We set out to hike the last 4 miles of it together, and Brandon set an alarm so we would know when we could stop walking. We were running on adrenaline, and looking for a flat spot to throw our tents. When the alarm went off we stopped walking, and much to our luck there was a campsite right there with a fire ring. WE DID IT! A MARATHON! We set-up camp and for the rest of the night our joints were stiff!

Friday: 26 miles. We finished 14 miles by 1:30pm so we took a long two-hour lunch break, napping in the sun along a river. For the entire second half of our day we were crossing over rivers or streams at least once every mile but when we finished our hike at 9:30pm, there wasn’t a water source where there was supposed to be one and we had no water. Though exhausted and surrounded by darkness, we pushed on another mile and a half to “Wood’s Hole Hostel” which was the next closest place that we could get water. The sky was covered in stars and that last 1.5 miles was utterly beautiful. The hostel was a well maintained bunkhouse on the property of a large rustic home which was casting a warm and welcoming beam of light through the trees. We ran into a lot of hiker friends we haven’t seen in 2 weeks who were staying at the hostel that night (our big mileage days had allowed us to catch up with some friends). We were definitely happy to see our friends but after having hiked over 77 miles in three days, we were hungry and too tired to socialize. We just wanted food and sleep. We hit the sack around midnight.

Saturday morning challenge: Post office closes at noon, and there were 12 miles between us and it. Brandon miraculously woke up when his alarm went off at 6 am. He shook my feet and said “get up.” We hit the trail at the earliest time yet- 7:30 am. I honestly didn’t expect to be able to walk, let alone run after three marathon days, but I ran the whole way to Pearisburg. I think I was still going on adrenaline. The first thing I did when I came up to the road was stumble over to the motel across the street and buy a soda, then I stumbled to the grass and laid there to wait for Kate and Bran. We hitched a ride and made it to the post office in time. Much to our surprise we received a lot of wonderful care packages! Kate’s friend Sean came and scooped us up to feed us, give us hot showers, and a bed to sleep on. Almost three and a half marathons in three and a half days… it was worth the challenge for the experience! I never thought I would ever do one marathon, let alone three with 30 lbs on my back! Our bodies are sore so we’ve rested and pumped them full of calories. I look forward to getting back on the trail tomorrow morning!

Written by: Emily “Lightning” Ginger

First, I want to do a shout out to my Grandparents who have backpacked and hiked various sections of the AT- Thank you for exposing me to nature throughout my life, for your support in my adventures, and for following my blog! I am proud to be partaking in something you treasure!

It still amazes me that I get to walk up and down mountains all day, everyday! I am constantly reminded of how lucky I am to be alive and out here enjoying natural beauty because anytime I glance around I see an awesome setting rich with an assortment of plants, trees, rocks, rivers, streams, or mountain ridges for miles. At times the environment feels surreal and I envy myself for being so privileged.

I am impressed at how well our bodies have adapted to these arduous daily work-outs over and through the Appalachian Mountains. Since our strength has increased so has our daily mileage. Some days we walk 16 miles and on others we walk 24 miles. Also, we have entered into the state of Virginia which has a somewhat “flatter” terrain than what we were tackling in Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee making the higher mileage more manageable. With my body feeling strong and the terrain being easier, I have taken to trail running. I can’t run uphill, and I can’t run everyday, but on a majority of days I will do at least a portion of my hike running (so far I’m up to 10 miles). I get the same adrenaline rush when I sprint down the trail as I would from longboarding down the streets of Chicago or speed rollerblading along the lake front. I am hoping that after 5 months of hiking I will be quicker and stronger when I return to longboarding, rollerblading, and bicycling at home!

Regardless of whether you are walking or running, doing almost an entire marathon up and down mountains everyday with 30 lbs on your back burns a lot of calories. Out here, food has acquired an entirely different purpose for me and is no longer enjoyed for its flavor or texture. If there are calories in something, I’ll eat it! Every morning when I wake up I’m hungry so I eat right away. Breakfast is two packets of instant oatmeal, freeze dried fruit, and some-odd amount of powdered milk (sometimes I’ll add a packet of hot cocoa mix instead). In the interest of saving fuel and money I just add cold water to my oatmeal, stir, and then eat. It’s heavenly but not enough calories so I eat two pop tarts as well. I usually take a snack break after 3-5 miles where I shovel a couple heaping handfuls of gorp into my mouth and eat a Cliff Bar. This gets me to Lunch. For Lunch I’ll eat some tuna or peanut butter with crackers and more gorp or granola bars. By the time dinner rolls around I have already eaten more than I would in an entire day were I at home in Chicago. Hiking takes a lot of energy, and leaves me hungry, so like I said… I eat anything! For instance, a few weeks ago, we stopped for lunch on a rainy day and we were too cold/ tired to pump some water to make a nalgene of powerade. We wanted the electrolytes so we decided to just pour the powerade mix straight into our mouth, like a pixie stick. Since then, we often just pour a mouthful of “electrolyte powder” straight into our mouth and then wash it down with a sip of water. Another day, while sitting and enjoying a view, Kate snacked on some crackers and I mindlessly ate all of her cracker crumbs that had fallen on the rock. Whatever I drop in the dirt (whether it’s a sunflower seed or a melted piece of cheddar cheese), I pick it up and eat it. At night, instead of boiling more water for hot cocoa, I just use cold water and eat chunky hot cocoa, but I enjoy having the dessert!

Not only have my food standards gone out the window, but so have my standards of cleanliness. We have to filter our water, so we use it sparingly and try not to waste a single drop. When I wash my bowl after every meal I just rinse it with about ¼ cup of water and sometimes I will just drink that “dirty” water. Living outside I’m constantly covered in dirt, but I don’t bother to wash it off because shortly thereafter I will just be dirty again. It’s interesting how relative normalcy is and that nobody notices my “disgusting” habits because these are the norms out here- everyone is covered in dirt or drinking their dirty dish water. I look forward to seeing what other adjustments and changes I will experience while out here!

Written By: Emily “Lightning” Ginger

This morning I am sitting in the lobby of a Holiday Inn Express in Erwin, TN. As I sip my coffee and check my email on the computer there is a t.v. running next to me showing the Today show. The noise of the show and especially the commercials is annoying and just sounds like a bunch of noise. I know who some of these people are (the news anchors, Regis and Kelly, etc.) but I don’t understand why people watch them or care about who they are. Some of the information is educational and useful, however the majority of the Today Show’s content is full of unimportant irrelevant information that nobody needs to know nor would they care if it weren’t being presented on the t.v. by these people we “know.” Why does our society glorify certain people and credit them as being our authorities of truth? Why do we look to these strangers on the t.v. to see what we should care about? Why do we flip on the t.v. to “unwind” or “relax?”

We are all influenced by what we see and hear. I haven’t watched much television in the past six months (I dislike mainstream news and hate commercials), but only after being totally withdrawn from the incessant influence of advertisements do I realize that media is everywhere and unavoidable; turning off the t.v. and not reading the newspaper doesn’t remove me from the influence. There are companies telling people how to think, look, and act everywhere: billboards, bus stops, store fronts, public buses, public trains, gas stations, restaurants, grocery store checkouts… everywhere. It’s amazing how much these media influences shape our morals, values, priorities, habits, opinions, looks, insecurities, competencies, etc. At home I constantly felt like I needed things to be satisfied but out here, removed from all the influences of society I am totally satisfied. Perhaps if more Americans found creative ways to satisfy their “needs” that doesn’t entail watching others tell you what to do or think (i.e. the television, and commercials) then people wouldn’t have insatiable desires or so many things. I don’t understand why any home needs more than one television (unless you’re a big family) or 3 extra bedrooms. Having more than what we need is destroying our planet and leaving us dependent on “things.” Our gluttony is dangerous to our health both mentally and physically, but it is so embedded into everyday society that it’s nearly impossible to escape unless you just escape society itself. For me it’s a bittersweet situation- as much as the excess media and consumerism sickens me, it’s also comforting because that’s what I know. I can honestly say that I would have a difficult time parting with the familiar societal norms of excess. For now I am enjoying my temporary departure from the American “standard of living,” and I look forward to integrating what I learn about myself and my happiness out here into my life when I return to Chicago.