Since my college days at Kalamazoo College on the Land/Sea orientation program, I have enjoyed backpacking. As a kid, you could NOT pull me from the outdoors. So, doing the AT just seemed perfect for me. Once I completed the AT, I found the desire to go long distance growing in me more with each passing year. This lead to the Colorado Trail (CT) 8 years later. Still the desire to go longer than the CT was there and growing...or was it!?
Possibly what was growing was the longing for the simplicity of life on a long trail as well as the sense of community/family. In 2005, I met a hiker on the AT who had just been served divorce papers & layed off from his job. He had heard about the trail family of the AT, and decided to come hike. Talking with a NCT trail angel, who is a past AT thru-hiker, while traversing o-HI-o, I was reminded of this sense of family/community. Maybe the lack of this is what is making my attempt of the NCT so challenging.
On Sunday, 23 May 2021, I flew to Pittsburgh, and was then delivered to the NCT at the point where it crosses the PA/OH border.
From there, I hiked ~14 miles, getting into Sprucevale Lock, where I set up camp for the night in an empty group campsite tucked away from the road.
Little did I know the park, which "closes at dusk" was a hot place for teens/college kids to meet up, hang out, party, or go parking. Many seemed disappointed to find a tent in the group spot best suited for such things. Luckily, nobody decided to bother me, and instead moved along.
The next morning I got up, packed up, & headed off down the trail in an overcast haze. Since northeast o-HI-o is the gateway to the Appalachian mountains, of course I had a variety of pointless ups and downs (PUDs), but at least I was mostly along the Beaver Creek.
It was a pretty, well maintained trail that made it easy for hiking despite the PUDs. Eventually, the trail came to a re-route in Beaver Creek State Park that took me from trail to back country roads. That was alright with me as it had started to rain, and the trails were already muddy. When the sun came out in the afternoon, it made for a muggy hike. I was thankful to get to Lisbon, OH, grab some chocolate milk & cold water from the gas station before working on a hotel room to share with the in-laws for the night.
It was great to see the in-laws and left me feeling ready like when they dropped me at the start of the AT. One couldn't ask for more supportive family. I was excited for the continued adventure.
As that 3rd day wore on, and I continued to walk on roads, after a beautiful 2.5 miles on a rails to trails bike path, I started to have a sinking suspicion that I had no place to sleep for the night. My plan was to stay at the Inn & Tavern in Hanoverton, so I gave them a quick call in the middle of the day to verify availability. I'm not sure if they're not open during the week or if they truly were full on a Tuesday night before Memorial Day weekend!? Anyway, my suspicion was confirmed.
So, when I got to Hanoverton, I found that it was so tiny I'm surprised there was any sort of inn. At a loss, I reached out to the NCT Facebook community starting with the women's hiking group to the trail angels and finally asking the general NCT community. Within 15min, I had responses from chapter volunteers and leaders working to help me out. Truly amazing. As a solo female, I'm a little skittish about people knowing where I'm at in the wilds. Anyway, I ended up hiking another 4 miles on the trail and getting a ride for the 2.5 miles to an RV campground.
The day left me feeling blessed with all the assistance being provided, but also with a keen sense of "I'm all alone out here. If something happens to me, how long will it take someone to notice?"
The next day I woke up early and departed from the campground on a 2 mile stretch that was not part of the NCT, but when hiked straight south intersected the NCT. While packing up that morning, I had dry heaves into puking. That set me on edge for the day, as I wasn't 100% sure where I was staying for the night. I had received notice from a NCT trail angel/maintainer that a gentleman in Malvern, OH was going to help me with camping spot. I was really hoping to make it to Waynesburg, which was beyond Malvern. Unfortunately, the sun gods and the miles on open roads past beautiful farm lands got to me causing further puking. No matter what I put in, it came back out tasting worse than when it went in. Therefore, I was wasted by the time I hit Malvern, and decided to get a hotel room for the night. Thank goodness for the trail angel, John, who was a past AT thru-hiker, and wanted to pay all his good fortune on the AT forward to other hikers.
He took me 8miles to the nearest hotel, and even came to pick me up after taking an unexpected rest day.
So, day 6 of this adventure, after a much needed rest day where I pigged out and slept a TON, John helps me skip the rest of the road section before the NCT joins the Buckeye Trail (BT), and he drops me off where there is actual trail. This is where I learned the true meaning of "be careful what you wish for." As I excitedly started along the BT/NCT, I was glad to finally be on dirt vs pavement. This eventually changed as the trail became less distinguishable the further along I went in my day.
I suppose the consistent rain with cooling temperatures did not help. Despite all that, I was still able to pull off ~22 miles for the day.
Unfortunately, it was this cold, wet evening that started my next halt in my adventure. As I huddled in my wet tent, tucked into my wet sleeping bag with my emergency blanket wrapped around to keep in the heat, I still found myself shivering. This brought up the thought again of how long would it take for them to find my cold dead body, since I was all alone. After a restless night of passed out asleep to awake and shivering to hip pain that made me switch sides, I woke up to the incessant morning squabbles of the birds. Once packed, as best I could to try to avoid mixture of wet & dry items, I headed out on the trail. The day started with light rain/mist as I broke my way through various thorny bushes and ducked under/over downed trees constantly watching for any hint of blue blaze.
After 2 wrong turns on trail due to not being marked well or too overgrown, I followed the 2nd wrong turn out to the road & decided to walk on the roads for the rest of the day. With the cloud covered skies, that was the best decision ever. Due to the stress/anxiety of the growing concern about being out there all alone and tough trail conditions, I found myself puking up sour tummy contents. Once on road & resolved to ask my friend if she could drive ~2 hours to come get me - to which she agreed- I was feeling better and trucking along.
I arrived to Piedmont, OH by about noon on the last day of this part of my journey, and found a place at Clay's Drive Inn to hunker down & wait for my ride. During this wait time, I was able to throw back some chicken strips and coke, while reaching out to my husband and mom. I ensured them I was going to rent a car and just drive the trail in o-HI-o...after resting out Memorial day weekend with my friend. To this my husband drops a logic bomb on me that now has me wondering what in the heck am I doing? - "I would encourage you to think about your why so that you can get what you need out of this summer." I hate it when he's right. 😉
So, at this time, I will spend some time in Michigan, trying not to overstay my welcome, and think about what I really want/need from this summer. Then, I'll hitch a ride with my in-laws to o-HI-o for my husband's 💯 mile race, crew him through that successful completion. Depending on what I figure out during the next couple weeks, I will either be dropped off at the OH/MI border with the intent to hike the state of Michigan (upper & lower peninsulas) on the NCT, or I will join my husband and dog home to Colorado with my tail between my legs, return to my PRN position with the clinic I left, and allow the super hero complex to die out. Right now, I'm leaning towards backpacking Michigan, but why? That is the big question, right now. 🤔🤨😬
