Virginia Part 1

Virginia: The big mother. The longest state on the AT with more than 550 miles of trail, it features a vast variety of terrain and attractions.

As of now, I have covered about 160 miles, from the West Virginia border to the town of Waynesboro. A good start, but still a long way to go to completely knock it out.

The majority of the miles have been spent in the Shenandoah National Park. I had spent a good deal of time in the park prior to hiking the AT, so it was a pleasant experience to pass through/spend time in places I had been to before. And the views weren’t bad, either.

It was also nice to simply be in a popular national park in the first place. At least once a day, the trail ran near a Wayside, or camp store/gas station with a short order grill.

Acquiring more water, additional food, and cold and delicious sodas was a great daily convenience. Especially the Dr. Whams. After a solid day of hiking, being able to enjoy a cold soda is a wonderful thing.

I even rolled straight out of Compton (rap music reference).

Yet I still nearly fell victim to the insane ignorance of inexperienced outdoorsmen. Observe:

The packs and food in the above picture belong to an outdoor education group attached to PRINCETON UNIVERSITY. You would think, then, that they would be smart enough to realize that leaving their gear, the entirety of their food, and all of their clean water completely unattended in bear country would be a bad idea.

Apparently not.

Outside the Shenandoah, however, there were/are still plenty of attractions to behold.

Like this cell phone tower. I hadn’t ever seen one this close, but the top of one of the mountains directly outside of the park was covered in them.

And now, I am in Waynesboro. Home to the trail-famous Ming Chinese Buffet. It was just as good as all the Northbounders had been saying since Maine.

I was also able to meet up with my old college roommate who lives in a town near Waynesboro, and was able to thankfully get a home cooked meal, a shower, and a bed.

Yet the enjoyment of the buffet and the welcoming environment did not last long. Thanks to a little protozoan known as Giardia.

Not to bore anyone with details, but essentially Giardia is an intestinal parasite. It mainly lives in contaminated water sources, and infects its hosts by ingestion. Although comparatively less common in places that are clean and have sanitized water, hikers are especially at risk to infection given the simple fact that our water mainly comes from untreated sources and we are generally not clean people.

Although I am meticulous about purifying my water, and I love my water purifier, it still appears that I got it somehow.

I admit, there has not been any conclusive diagnosis as of yet confirming that I do indeed have it, but I have been displaying symptoms of infection gradually over the last week and a half…fatigue, dehydration, nausea, diarrhea, the whole nine yards.

I didn’t have all of the symptoms combined, however, until last night. After which I promptly decided I would take a 0 day today and get to a doctor. Luckily I was in town when the hammer dropped, however, and I was able to get antibiotics and rest up.

I plan on going back out tomorrow, though. Now that I have the antibiotics, it’s only a matter of time until I start feeling better. At least I hope so. And I’d rather be hiking than sitting around off trail watching the days go by waiting.

It’s rather disappointing, though. I tried to be as careful as I could with purifying water and keeping clean and whatnot, and still ended up getting sick.

Frustrating.

Regardless, I will hike on. 854 miles to go.