Ben continues his assault on the Appalachian Trail. I've been told that if a hiker makes it through Virginia, it's likely he or she will finish the trek, and Ben has nearly finished that state. Fyi, he made up boxes with food and fuel in preparation for this hike, and his dad mails one every four or five days to specified post offices. When Ben picks up a package, his pack jumps to around 45 pounds. jm

June 19 (Day 53)

The two guys I slept with in the shelter last night, I believe, were the quietest sleepers I have encountered on the AT. They sleep as quietly as I do.

June 16 (Day 50) 

I tried to sleep in this morning, but I still couldn’t stay in my sleeping bag past 6 a.m. So, I got up and packed up and hiked the 3 miles out to the road where I would meet my sister and her fiancé.  

Amazingly enough, they showed up almost exactly when they said they would, which was 10 o’clock. They had their dog, Preston, with them also.  

June 13 (Day 47) 

It did rain last night, but nothing came in through my tent, so no problem.  

Today was my shortest day of hiking on the AT without going into some town or other place to resupply. I did a total of 8 miles today.  

Sometimes life throws you a curveball. Usually it's just to see if you're awake at the plate and not off in la-la land. Usually it's a swing and a miss. Strike 1! Sometimes you connect, fouling the ball into the seats, into all those people watching you where it usually beans some unsuspecting 40-year-old. Then sometimes you really connect. The ash meets the leather, the sweet spot gets sweeter, then everyone stands, hands shading eyes, and admires your big blast disappearing into the mists. We live for those big blasts. But last Saturday morning I got the curveball. Swing and a miss. Big time.

June 10 (Day 44) 

Even though I was camping in the middle of nowhere last night, no wildlife bothered me at all.  

After 2 miles of hiking I came to Stony Creek (I think it was called). It appeared that the AT crossed the creek, but there was no obvious way over. The creek was pretty wide, but there were no stones or logs in the water that you could step across on.  

June 8 (Day 42) 

The walk down into Pearisburg was steep, as it has been almost every time I come out of the mountains into a town.  

I ended up being completely alone at the shelter last night, which was nice. However, from the time that I arrived there yesterday afternoon, at least 10 other hikers came through, and all but one ended up pushing on to get into town last night. Comet I had met before, back in Tennessee, but all the others were people I hadn’t met before.  

June 5 (Day 39)

Last night was both the windiest night and it was the hardest downpour so far. Being up on that ridge was very loud. I was glad to be in a shelter even though the roof leaked a bit directly above my sleeping bag. I also had a mouse run across my head, but I slept pretty well all the same.  

There wasn’t any real water source along the trail for the first 10 miles. At one point a sign pointed toward water that was 0.5 mile off the trail, down the side of the hill. So, I did the first 10 miles quickly to get to some good water.  

June 2 (Day 36) 

I was able to move pretty quickly this morning. The terrain is not bad through this section and I was carrying almost no food at all.  

After several miles I got to the road crossing that I could take down into Troutdale, Virginia. Troutdale, as far as I could tell, consisted solely of an intersection with a restaurant/mini-market. I had breakfast in the restaurant, which was excellent. I had French toast, onto which I poured both the powdered sugar and the syrup.  

May 31 (Day 34)

Last night was one of the hottest nights I have experienced in a while. I lay there sweating until probably about 3 a.m. when it finally cooled enough to sleep comfortably.

I got up early and I went to Damascus Eats on the way out of town for an excellent breakfast of pancakes and bacon.

May 28 (Day 31) 

Another milestone today: I started hiking this thing one month ago.  

So, I spent last night in the bunkhouse at the Laurel Fork Lodge. I ended up being the only hiker there, so I had the whole bunkroom to myself.