I finally made it to Waynesboro. This is a town that I should have passed through 4 days ago but something came up. I got sick. Yep, you heard right. Spidy got the bug. Every superhero has a weakness and mine happened to be a mysterious super stomach bug.
So this is what happened. It started as another typical day hiking 18 miles across some steep terrain. There is still no full shade from the trees in the mountains by the way. The buds are only now just starting to grow into leaves. So the sun is having a field day roasting us. It was 85* in the little shade that was out there for sure, one of the hikers had a thermometer. I was so happy not to have died on the trail of “Fried to a Crisp Syndrome” (its a real medical condition on the AT). So we finally made it to Bryant Ridge Shelter. This is a sweet shack that is 2 stories and holds 20 hikers. One of the biggest shelters on the AT and 4 of us had it all to our selves.

After cooking a legit dinner of pasta alfredo and stuff, I called it a night. My stomach woke me up at 10 and told me to run to the privy quick! I made it in the nick of time and threw up all my food. My initial thoughts were “Well that sucks. Those are calories that I really need.” Haha! The AT has wired my brain to think differently out here. Well after that ordeal I went back to bed only to wake up 30 min later and repeat the vomiting. This happened over and over. Every 30 min like clock work my stomach was heaving. I was so miserable and tired of running to the privy by 2 am that I simply slept on the edge of the porch. That way I could roll over, throw up over the side, and roll back into bed. Have no fear, it all came to an end at 4 am. That is definelty going in the top 10 most miserable things that ever happened to me. I couldn’t eat anything for the next 3 days and only started eating a little food on day 4. By day 8 I was finally 100% normal. However, it all came at a cost. I lost 60 miles worth of hiking and 10 lbs of body weight that I really need. Remember me how I used to be, not how scrawny hiker I have become.
Anyway, enough with my pity party about weight loss. It was inevitable. Here are some pics of the AT:

The Continental Divide is an imaginary line that runs through the Appalachian Mountains. On one side of the line all the rivers flow down to the Gulf of Mexico. On the other side they all flow to the Atlantic Ocean.

This is a wall on Humpback Mountain that is the remnant of the Civil War era. I enjoyed standing there in front of that wall contemplating the historical significance that it holds.

This is one of the many millions of obstacles mother nature has placed on the trail for unsuspecting hikers. Many a times I have jammed by heel on one of those rocks when they were covered in leaves. Have no fear, I was able to quickly detect the danger and expertly maneuver around it without an incident.

As you well know, every shelter has a journal. Well, there is a shelter called the ‘Priest Shelter’. So all the hikers write a confession in the journal about doing something wrong on the trail. One person confessed to spitting out her gum into the woods instead of packing it out. Gasp! What of the little critters? You are probably wondering what my confession was. It went something like this: “I confess to sleeping with my food bag last night. I also confess to eating a ton of it at 2 am, i simply couldn’t resist the temptation. Sorry.”

Yesterday we had the most intense thunderstorms come through our area. The heavens opened up and buckets of water came down all night long. What used to be the AT turned into raging streams as you can see. I was walking through knee deep water in some areas. But my area wasn’t too bad. Some people had to wade through waist deep water! -on a trail that is normally dry.

I still try and get a little bouldering action whenever possible. There is another climber I met ‘Sprout’, he does the same thing. We simply spot a rock, drop our packs, climb around, then hike on as happy as can be.

This was one of my major goals to get to. Simply a fantastic place with phenomenal views. I got in trouble for this pic by mom. Sorry mom. I told her that I was Spiderman and I knew what I was doing. She still scolded me.

Well that’s about it for now. I’ll try to post when I get to Harpers Ferry. In the mean time I will be hiking through the Shenandoah National Park looking for a black bear. In fact, word on the trail is that these bears are super friendly and will come up to you fearlessly. You can pet them, take awesome selfies, have a friendly wrestling match… this is a magical place. If that is all myth and there are no bears to be found, I’m going to plan B. That is where I cover myself with honey and hike the AT. Wish me luck!
Spider