Ridges, Fireworks, and Flank steak

Day 44 on the trail and we are officially into the heartland of Virginia. After recovering from Girardia, I have felt my strength slowly return, and the pace of my hiking begin to speed up. Overall, our group mentality is to take more time enjoying scenary, watching our mileage so that we don't push our bodies to far, and making more town stops to resupply and eat greasy hamburgers. In many ways, this trip can be described as a hamburger tour of the east coast given that by my mark I have already eaten at least 100 since june. Another figure to think about is that we have officially gone over 600 miles (a notable feat and approximately 1/3 to 1/4 the total trail). On the way, we have passed some unbelievable views while hiking on the ridges. The terrain in Virginia usually allows you to spend hours hiking on relatively flat ground, above the cloud line, overlooking the deep valleys and green gorges below. We also got a chance to find a hidden falls where we spent an afternoon swimming with minnows that cleaned the dirt of our legs and large crawfish that painfully went for our toes. For the 4th of July, we climbed a mountain and spent the night setting off the largest fireworks you could legally buy in the state, drinking a bottle of rum that we transferred to a light weight container, and dancing around a mammoth bondfire singing (horrbily) the national anthem. Quite a unique holiday.

A few days ago, we bought large steaks in a town called bland, hiked up to the nearest shelter on the trail, and cooked them right over the fire. To do so, we first marinated the steaks in barbecue sauce, while building a large pit of ambers. Then we placed two large logs on either side of the fire, and laid fresh pine and hickory sticks (that we wittled doen to be flat on one side) across the simmering flame. While the steaks laid on the branches and cooked, we doused them with pepper, salt, and sarachi sauce. The end result was delicious! That meal was well worth the risk of attracting every single bear in Virginia to our campsite.

On the trail, there is a certain language hikers use that at first sound unfamiliar. Here are a few words that I have learned while on the trail that you can add to your "Hiker vocabulary"...

Puds: a term describing when the trail goes up a steep mountain unnecessarily simply to hike right back down. Stands for P.ointless U.ps and D.owns.

B your T: simple phrase meaning to brush your teeth. Hikers must force others to keep threir teeth clean by asking whether or not they have "B'd their T?

Daywalkers: those who take day hikes on the trail, rather than thru-hike or spend overnites. Usually, daywalkers are accepted in the hiker's society but looked at as lesser human beings.