Sam on the AT - Oh Shenandoah!

Sam and Sallie have spent the past several days on the Appalachian Trail in the Shenandoah National Park. The Park includes many of the higher elevations that overlook the beautiful Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. The AT in the park pretty much follows the path of the famous Skyline Drive at the northern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Being just a short drive from Washington, D.C. and other densely populated areas on the East coast, the park sees literally millions of visitors each year. The area is flush with wildlife and most weekends bring out hundreds of hikers walking the over 400-miles of various trails in the park.

Sam and Sallie are just over 840-miles from the southern terminus of the AT Springer Mountain, Georgia. They are averaging just under 20-miles per day – a fairly good pace and are on schedule to complete this 2178-mile epic journey around the last week in October.

The equipment is holding up well considering what it’s had to endure in the past 1300-miles or so. The Keen Shellrock Mid shoes are holding up well, although they can use a new pair of insoles. The Platypus hydration system has developed a leak that has rendered it inoperable until the next outfitter’s store. The Platypus consists of a heavy duty plastic bladder or reservoir and vinyl hose with a special valve on the end. The reservoir is filled with water and stored in a special pocket in the back pack. The hose clips to the shoulder strap of your rig making water available without having to stop or open a bottle. All other equipment is standing the test of the trail. The hammock or sleep bivy has performed exceptionally well as well as the backpack system. Sam’s self-designed and fabricated poncho and rain tarp have been the talk of the trail. This might be something to think about making and marketing later.

Sallie is Sam’s friend for life. This journey has bonded their relationship. Robert Ruark writing in the Old Man and the Boy said that every man deserves to own one good dog in his life. Well, Sallie has to be that one good dog. Though she’s had some pretty warm days lately, Sam has refrained from shearing her long coat. She’ll be needing it very soon as the pair heads into the highest elevations of the trail as it traverses North Carolina and Tennessee.

The weather is decidedly changing to fall in the Virginia highlands. Daytime temps this week have been in the upper 70’s while the nights are cooling down with some spots experiencing the upper 40’s for the first time since spring. Sam and Sallie are hiking between 1500 and 2500-feet following the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the weather can be good bit cooler higher up than down in the valley.

Wildlife sightings have picked up in the Shenandoah. Sam reports seeing black bear almost every day now. He’s spotted quite a few deer both the Virginian Blacktail and the Eastern Whitetail. Just the other day right at dusk, he came upon a very large bodied whitetail buck with antlers in velvet. He counted 12-points as he was snapping a photo of the animal no more than 20-feet away. Speaking of close encounters, earlier in the week, Sam heard a commotion just a few feet off of the trail. He turned just in time to see a bear cub scuttle up a tree less than a couple of yards from him. With Sallie on her leash (park regulations) they immediately began to back up the trail when, suddenly another cub spooked and began to run through the brush from a nearby side trail. Sam figured that this was a fairly precarious situation and it certainly held the prospect for getting worse if mamma bear showed up. Well guess what? Mamma bear did appear, but she was about 30-yards down the trail past where the first cub climbed the tree. She made a low grunting sound and both cubs took out to her. She turned and went back down the trail from the direction she had approached. Crisis averted! Several other times Sam and Sallie have encountered bear, each time the bears change course when they spot Sal. Other wildlife is in abundance in the park, squirrels and chipmunks by the “gazillions,” mice, and raccoons. Wild turkey feed across the meadows that the trail cuts. Sam was able to capture several different owls in photos while they napped on limbs during the day.

For the Appalachian Trail, Virginia has more miles than any other state with 533. Sam and Sallie are about 120-miles into it now. With roughly 4-weeks of Virginia ahead, it’s easy to understand why so many hikers drop out in this state. It seems like it will never end. As the trail heads southwest to meet up with North Carolina and Tennessee, the mountains begin to get higher with many elevations reaching the upper four thousand foot mark. Of course, if you climb a 4800-foot mountain, you’ve also got to descend that 4800-feet or at least a goodly part of it. That is where the work in backpacking the AT comes in. A 15 to 20-mile day can possibly see an elevation gain of seven to eight thousand feet in that distance. That is literally like climbing up a mile and a half. Remember also that Sam and Sallie each carry their own backpacks. Sam weighs anywhere from 32 to 38-pounds on this section of the trail while Sallie carries around 10-pounds most days.

So long for now. More updates next week as communication with the trekking pair gets a little easier. Don’t forget to check Sam’s personal blog at http://sambomc.blogspot.com/ . He’s updating it more often now that he has a little better web access. The blog with all of these accounts of Sam and Sallie can be found at http://samboat.blogspot.com/. Send Sam an Sallie a note of encouragement at mclemoresam@yahoo.com. He really appreciates all of the cards and letters he’s been receiving from the folk’s back home.

"Inch by Inch Life's a Cinch, Yard by Yard, Life is Hard!"