"Ahuned Miles"

I asked ChuckWagon (or "C-Dubs" as it's been shortened to) to write down his thoughts, memories, etc. so people could hear them from his point of view.

"Ahuned miles 

 

This past week I hiked 100 miles on the Appalachian trail. 

Through all the blood sweat tears and absolutely the worst smelling clothes on the planet, I think that will cherish that hike forever. 

The first couple of days were definitely rough. Just getting on the trail and realizing I might be out here for a couple weeks was just so mentally tough. 

The first night we camped at one of the most beautiful spots in all of Virginia called three ridges, but don’t be fooled by beauty, the climb up was a staggering 6 miles of straight up hill. 

The second night we decided to go a whole lot farther and ended up going 20 miles to a sweet little town called Waynesboro. Got some Pedialyte, ate some Panera, showered up and went straight to bed in a hotel.

Day three wasn’t much better. We hiked 17 miles to a small shelter and camped there, and at that shelter is when I realized that I was going to be out here for a whole lot longer and have to hike a whole lot more miles.   

We hiked to a large campground called Loft Mountain. And just a couple of hours before we got there we were eating dinner and started to talk to a guy with the trail name MoneyStash. This guy was extremely nice and he was hiking the whole Appalachian trail. If I ever remember one thing from this trip it was some advice that he gave me. He said that I should forget the schedule get my feet under me and start hiking. Once I started to do that time went way faster, my pace was faster, and I was overall in a better mood. 

Day five we camped at this place called High top hut and met some more very nice folks. 

And at our final night at Bear Fence hut is when it hit me that I was 85% of the way there from going 100 miles. And on the final day we went 16 miles to sky land Lodge. 

It took me a while to realize I was done hiking. My whole mentality was wake up, eat breakfast, pack all my stuff up, and get to walk-in. 

I’ve learned so much from this trip such as how to filter water, how to pack a backpack for the wilderness and how to take down a tent and put one up in less than a minute. 

I also learned that for every raindrop in Virginia is a 16 ounce bucket of water being dropped on your head in Utah. 

It is a whole different world in the long green tunnel. Time moves differently, your body acts differently and you forget about everything else except for you and the trail. 

Your diet will change drastically from eating a couple meals today to eating pop tarts salted nut rolls pro bars carnations and rice. 

I feel so blessed I can say I went 100 miles in a week on foot in the Shenandoah National Park. 

And to conclude this glorious adventure I went to Dominoes and got a pizza to myself. When we got home I took the longest shower of my life. 

And now I can say I went Ahuned miles."