Trail Birthday

Finally got a trail name! To tell the story, I need to give lots of background story though...

So first off, most or all of you know that my boyfriend Matt (trail name Rocket) started hiking the Appalachian Trail 3 weeks ahead of me. We talked about hiking together, but ultimately we decided that this was our own personal selfish adventure, and we would both gain the most out of it by going at it solo.

Fast forward a month into my journey. There is a trail festival called Trail Days that occurs every year in Damascus, VA. Current hikers, previous hikers, outdoor gear vendors, etc all gather in this little town for a weekend of chaos. I ended up hitching from Erwin, VA on Friday, 14 May, to attend, and met up with Rocket. Saturday evening, Rocket and I decided to hike together. So Sunday, I jumped up almost 300 miles, which I will go back and complete at another time, to Pearisburg, VA.

Fast forward to the next day, we were planning on hiking 17 miles or so. But a couple miles before the shelter we were aiming for, on the other side of a river, is a house. The Captain's house. The Captain is an older man, who has rigged a zip line from the AT to his lawn, where he allows hikers to camp out (since there was only a couple of us, we actually got to crash on his couches), lets them shower, and just hang out. So I zip line across, the Captain meets me, and this is the conversation that occurs next:

Captain: I'm the Captain

Me: I'm Ashley, no trail name yet

Captain: 600 miles and no trail name??

Me: Well, actually somewhere between 300 and 350. I skipped ahead to hike with Rocket.

Captain: Well, then your trail name is Skip.

So my trail name is Skip. Not the best reputation to have on the trail, but it's okay because I plan to still complete that section. And because the name came from the Captain. Which is super cool.

PS, make sure you go to my flickr, because there is a SWEET video of Rocket falling off the zipline into the river the next morning. You will pee your pants laughing.

Okay, on to the rest of the week. I just had a trail birthday! Which is just a coolish way of saying I celebrated my birthday on the trail. And I must say - best birthday ever.

Rocket and I hiked 17 miles into Daleville, VA after getting up at 5am to hike almost 2 miles to watch the sunrise at McAfee's Knob, and split a hotel room with another hiker, Stretcher. We were all just hanging out after a fun dinner at the Mexican restaurant across the street, when Rocket says something about taking a walk, which I found weird that he would be taking a walk by himself but whatever. Because 5 minutes later he comes into the room with a birthday cake and candles singing. Omg. For those of you that don't know, cake is my favorite food. Yum yum. And I had not had any cake since I left. Wowzers! Then he pulls some sushi out. Then he pulls out my fuel bottle, refilled. And *then* he pulls out a new sleeping pad, one that blows up and is waaay more comfortable than my flat one I had. Way more than I ever expected. So Rocket and Stretcher, thank you. And thank you Bennie for not giving it away, after you talked to Rocket and he told you what was happening. You guys are all amazing :)

So basically, life is great. It's been raining a lot. Since Rocket and I started hiking together, we've had 1 or 2 days where it didn't rain. Most of the rain has been intermittent, but since it's so humid, nothing has a chance to dry out between showers. Quite annoying. But it hasn't got us down yet! We're averaging 17+ miles a day, cruising along quite nicely :)

As they say, "if you're lucky enough to be in the mountains, you're lucky enough"

Again, be sure to check out my flickr photo updates. And that video. :)