AT Thru Hike Day 51 - Ridge walking with lots of rocks

Good morning on day 51. What are you doing? I'm washing dishes. Still at Woods Hole this morning? Yeah. So what's the plan for today? We're gonna do like 19 miles to the campsite. And then... Yeah, let's go! We're the Six Pack Hikers! This is the bunker where we stayed. Really nice. The beds are incredibly comfortable. And then we just slept with our sleeping quilts on top of the fitted sheets. But you have your own fan, your own outlet. Places to hang your bags. Just an overall comfy place. So the kids had this corner of four, and then David and I had the next two bunks. This is kind of the common area where the kids were coloring. We've got games. Abigail's looking at a comic on the wall. A little couch. Then the pellet stove that kept the whole place nice and warm. The front of the bunkhouse. We've got all our bags packed up. Ready to hit the trail today. And that's the main house where we ate our meals. They also have lodging in there. Thank you to HB Shuttles for carting us around. So we're heading back to where we ended yesterday. Alright, how's shuttle life? Bouncy. A little bouncy. A little bouncy on a gravel road. Good on a bumpy road. Yeah, gravel road. We got a good driver today. Yes. I just finally got my license. Is that right? Yeah, yesterday. Amazing, you're doing so well. Well, it only took me 40 years, but I finally got it. We are back on trail this morning after another great sleep at Woods Hole. And another delicious breakfast. Our packs are quite heavy. We're doing another 5 day food carry. And we're starting the day with a 2.5 mile climb up to a ridge. Fun fact, we'll be on the ridge for about 12 miles. It's the longest ridge walk on trail is what we've been told. It's a beautiful day. We should have some incredible views. Virginia has not disappointed so far. So we're going to get back to climbing. And we'll see you at the top. Currently filtering water from a pipe spring here. This is the last reliable source for 12.5 miles. So we drank as much as we could from each of our water bottles. And we are now topping them back off to last us the entire ridge walk. Made it up to the ridge. So begins our 12 mile ridge walk. And our longest water carry to date. So we each have a full liter. I'm carrying another 2 liters in a bag. I think David's got another liter or two in his bag. We are going to enjoy these sweeping views for the next several hours. How's that bread, Roadrunner? I'm going to get in your face. Not dry in a bad way. It's wonderful. It's delicious. Nice with some butter, but it's really not dry. No, it's pretty fresh. It's very fresh. Just making sure I don't get attacked. It was so cool to see Mark Trail and Roadrunner. They stayed in a hostel in Parrisburg last night. And then they're doing a 22, I think she said, 22 mile southbound slack pack. And then we're looking at 19 or 20 today northbound. We might cross paths with them in the next couple of days. We'll be a few miles ahead of them tomorrow. But they are fast, so we shall see. But it's always nice to see familiar faces on trail. Because some days you hike and hike and hike and you don't see anybody. So always a pleasant surprise to come around a corner and see someone you know. We've gone about seven miles total. Snack break. How are y'all feeling, leaders of the pack today? Good. Legs aren't too sore? No, ma'am. Awesome. What do you think about the ridge other than the kind of lack of clear views? It's been pretty easy. It's a little bit boring. I mean, you can see me. Up, down, up, down. There's nothing like, all right, mentally prepare myself for that. Right, we all have to do those. Not for a little while, do we? Beep boop. What song goes really well with the trail? Oh. You see my face. I can go the distance. Almost anywhere to find where I belong. Finally popped up out of the woods. Got another view. This area is called Willis Field. Very pretty. It's a really big moth. Salanne told you a little bit about my knee yesterday during our slack pack, but it's feeling much better today. I think I must have hyperextended it on day 47 just when we were stepping over a stump, but I think my leg is feeling much better just because I have a supportive wife and awesome kids who helped me. So we had a short day going into Woods Hole yesterday being the slack pack. Salanne carried the majority of the weight for us so that I didn't have to, which was incredible for my knee. So even though we got the mileage in, I didn't have to do that pounding, and she endured it like a champ. And as we're leaving Parrisburg with a five-day food supply carrier, our bags are heavier than normal. She and the kids took more of the meals on. So it's just feeling tremendously better because of my family. What's for our lunch, or our mini lunch? Blueberry Nutella bagel. What do you think? It's good. Yeah? Fill you up? Energize you for the last big climb? So today's been a little tougher than anticipated for a few of us, me being one of them. But we've got about three miles to our campsite. We're going to call it around 18 miles today instead of pushing 19-plus. There's a good tenting site there and a water source, so we're just going to stop a little bit short and rest ankles and knees. There was a lot more rocky treadway than we were expecting today up on that long, long, long ridge walk just based on what we had heard from other folks, but it was beautiful, but difficult to film. But yeah, so we've got about three miles, so we're going to stop and set up tents for the night and then hopefully tackle some bigger mileage tomorrow. We're working to get ourselves set up for the Triple Crown in just a couple of days, which is so exciting. You got it. Nicely done. Nice. How many have been out on camp, and what's slowing us down? Buds. They don't look like much on the map than you see the trail on it. So there's a nice trail that goes this way, so it's flat. The other trail goes... You're like, we can't go that way. Because we're staying by the creek, but we keep hiking away from the creek way up high. Then we went up, down, up, down. Well, we're at the top of the last one, we think. So less than a mile, I believe, to camp. I neglected to mention earlier when I said that we were stopping shy of what we had initially planned, there was another factor for that. We stayed at Woods Hole this morning for a delicious breakfast. The shuttle picked us up at 8.30, and we didn't really get on trail until almost 9.30. So starting a couple of hours later than normal kind of put us behind for the day. So we will attempt to get on trail earlier in the morning and make up for some of that distance. So if we don't find anything on the other side, we can come back. We're crossing the big stony creek bridge and looking for campsites. There were some on the other side that we just left. But we're going to see if there's anything over here before making a decision. Dinner tonight by the creek is a ramen bomb with ramen and mashed potatoes, and I think some stuffing and bacon. So nice and filling. Serenity's going in. Dub? Dub? What about you, Energizer? Yum! He says. You pleased, Remy? No? He wanted to make it fancier, but didn't have enough time. How you doing, Toons? Good. I'm on my throne. Oh, enjoy the throne. One thing that isn't really talked about is the funky tan lines that thru-hikers get. See that craziness? So that's from her sun shirt. I have these little thumb loops. Yep, same as your pajamas. And then it's like, ah! And so I have the same situation going on. Remy's got the same thing. Tan hands and then white wrists. What about you? Um, I mean, not really. I've been trying to get rid of it, but in between the fingers is nuts. But where are your wrists? Show a comparison. Yeah. Thru-hiker tan. Energizer's ninja course. He told me to get up on this log to get a bird's eye view. Oh, boy. Keep in mind, we did an 18-mile hike today. Ah! So, we did about 18 miles today. After a lovely breakfast at Woods Hole. It was so good. The peach crumble or something. It was delicious. I got like three helpings of that. But we left. We did about 18 miles. Had a short climb at the beginning. But then we're just on a deceptively easy ridge. People have told us there weren't rocks. There were rocks. There were a lot of rocks. A lot of rocks. And the wobbly type. So, you step on it. It rolls your ankle with your pack. And you fall down. And it hurts. That sort of type. And then we got to sort of just cruise to camp with a couple of puds. Which was awesome. But camping by a creek tonight. So, that will make a nice sound machine. And good night.