As I sit here and think about all the lesson plans I should be writing, I would much rather blog about my hiking trip. There has been an Appalachian Trail winter hiking trip in the works for a while now. The plan was to hike for 3 days a total of 12.7 miles and no more than 5.5 miles a day. Oooooh…how plans were changed.
There is one particular shelter along our original route that is very popular. We called to reserve it too late, so we had to change the route. This one we were told would start with a 10.6 mile hike to a shelter the the first day, an 8.5 to the next shelter the next day, and finally a 5.6 miler back to the car on the last day. This was still more than we bargained for, but we were up for the challenge. We…oh! I haven’t explained “we”. Zach and I went with with some sweet friends, David Riem and Abbey Gregory. Abbey did ridiculously well on the hike, I must say.
We started out and began our first 10.6 mile hike. It was NOT easy, but it was stunningly beautiful. For the majority of the day we had a clear view and could see the beauty of the mountain and the snow covered trees. The day was over and night had come before we made it to the first shelter. The noises that we hardly noticed in the daytime all of a sudden became perfect material for a horror film. We were a bit on edge and began doubting our route. We thought we might have passed it. There was a lot of ice, and each step took that much longer in the dark because of the precision it required. I think we all had a tumble on the ice at some point or another. I had about three. Ha
As soon as we were about to give up and make an emergency shelter or hike back to ensure that we had not missed it…we saw the sign. I had been telling God over and over again that I just needed a sign! We had not seen one for 6.2 miles. That’s a long time! My body did not want to go any longer. My feet didn’t want to pick up off the ground.
That was the longest 0.4 mile of our lives. That three-sided shelter looked like the Hilton when we got there.
I'm not sure why, but we did not take a picture of the shelter. This is one from the internet.
This was an incredibly long, cold, and sleepless night upon the wooden slab in my mummy bag. In all honesty, I probably got about one hour of sleep. I think Abbey related to this. I was a little bitter as I listened to my husband snore like a bear. We met a father and son in Peck’s Corner shelter. They are seasoned hikers, and they gave us lots of useful tips. He also clued us in that the hike planner that told us our hike to the next shelter was 8.5 miles was wrong. It was actually 10.6 miles. I was not very excited about an 8.5 mile hike after our hard first day, but I was REALLY unhappy about another 10.6er just to be at another freezing cold shelter. I’m just going to be honest, as Zach and I filtered our water in the snow at the water source I cried. I did. I really didn’t think my body could do it again. We walked back up, and we all decided that if we hiked another 10.6 it was going to be to the car. Then, I was a little more motivated. I made up songs of going to the car all along the way.
This is similar to what Abbey’s good ole Gertrude (her car’s name…don’t act like you didn’t name your car) looks like. This picture danced through my mind continually with lights shining down from heaven upon it. Look, I am not ashamed to admit that I was the weakest link of this hiking quartet. My little body just did not want to do it. I hurt all over, and there were points when I seriously thought that I would be okay if a bear came out and mauled me. I couldn’t have done it without the encouraging words of my sweet husband and his hands to help me across the tough parts.
Look at that snow all over us!
When we finally made it off the trail I began to sing hallelujahs until I nearly got knocked over by the wind. The only thing that saved me was that I was hanging on Zach’s arm. We celebrated as we looked at roughly 7 inches of snow surrounding Gertrude and the entire parking lot. You just don’t see this kind of stuff in Mississippi. We thought we might be sleeping in the car. There was a thick layer of ice that covered the vehicle. The doors were frozen shut, but they were finally tactfully opened. We sat for roughly 20 minutes to unthaw the windshield. It was 17 degrees. Buurrrr! We were fearful that once we got on the road it would be too slick, but there were many turn off sections on the side if that were the case. We got on the road, and it appeared that it had been previously plowed, but it was still covered in snow. It took us about an hour to drive 13 miles back to the visitor center where we found out that the road we had just traveled was closed. Our guys waddled like penguins 200 yards to the visitor center to call a ranger to unlock the gate for us as Abbey and I shared our thoughts of the trip and all of its adventures.
We hiked a total of 21.2 miles in two days.
I think that’s worthy of a bumper sticker!We have lots of fun stories to tell and a couple new wounds to prove our trek. Ha ha We all waddled like penguins for a bit because of the pain. I sounded like my mom for a little while as I walked. If you know my mom that’s funny. If you don’t, meet her, spend 5 minutes with her, and then you’ll understand.I didn’t even get to share all of the lessons God taught me through this hike or share the majority of the beauty that was seen. I’ll have to do a part two post, reader friends. Enjoy your last day of this 2012 year! Reflect on all that 2012 had to bring you. I know it was pretty eventful for me. Until next time…
Shaped by Grace,
Jessica Hardy
