5/9: Lick Creek to Site by Spring

• 

• 

• 

• Miles 563.8-579.2 (15.4 mi.)
• Total ascent 4662’; descent 3766’

As much as I try to live in the moment out here, Rachel and I had a heck of a lot of fun dreaming about our visit to Washington, D.C. today. We hashed out plans to meet my family there in just over a month, when we hope to ride the train in from Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia. 

If I could pick any city in the U.S. to visit that I haven’t yet, it would be D.C. I want to see the Smithsonian, which is actually five museums and of which I’ll actually only get to see a few (Natural History, American Indian, and Air & Space, please). Near the National Mall are most of the other top attractions: some of the Smithsonian museums, the Capitol, the Library of Congress, the Washington Monument, and some other cool things I can’t think of without a map. I at least want to bike or walk by the World Bank and U.S. Department of State building. 

Speaking of biking, D.C. is supposed to have good bike infrastructure. We would love to rent bikes to see some areas further from Union Station. The Georgetown neighborhood is said to be particularly quaint and filled with coffee shops and restaurants. We enjoyed biking the Virginia Creeper Trail and would love to do a city. 

On the trail, we had a long day of our own making: We paused for two totally-worth-it Mother’s Day chats. We needed to pause regardless because where we sat also happened to be our last opportunity to get water for the final seven miles of our hike today. 

Tonight, we plopped our tent down as quickly as we could find a flat spot near the spring. We were hastened by the rain, which had just begun to fall for the last half hour or so of our hike. 

Around the time it began, in a period of relative calm, we witnessed another tree fall. Unlike the one that almost hit me, this one was a behemoth. It took down a leaning brother, if not a second, and collapsed 150 feet behind us across the trail. The hikers behind us will have quite a detour, we joked, racing for what we worried would be a popular site (we’re the only ones here, probably because it is a small, rooty spot). We don’t like to race other hikers for sites, but options are sometimes limited to 1-2 sites in 5+ miles. 

Well before we were looking for a campsite, we visited for lunch the only completely enclosed shelter we’ve seen on the trail: a small, rectangular stone building with four bunks, a picnic table, and a filled-in fireplace. The only occupant at the time was a man in his 30s who called himself Bluegrass, who’d attempted the AT before and who I gathered from his phone conversation was calling his mom on Mother’s Day. 

Tomorrow, our target is the outskirts of Bland, VA. We think a campsite exists between some power lines a mile south of the road at which we’ll need to shuttle or walk along to get to town. Bland doesn’t have great lodging options, and we had a zero in Marion, so we’ll return to the trail the same day we shuttle in. We plan to stay just north of the city the night of May 11. 

How wonderful it is to have freedom like this. How fitting it feels that Rachel and I will be seeing–for me, the first time–our nation’s capitol. And how incredible it is that my family is able to do it together, under these circumstances. 

My dad, who’d wanted for years to take us, is smiling.