Week 8 on AT: Saying Goodbye to My Toe + Trail Days Recap

Increasingly adapting

So maybe that was a clickbait title, but hear me out. I would say that for the last 20 years I have had an ingrown toenail that has caused me grief and suffering. For the most part, as soon as it started to grow, I would cut it off just enough to take the pressure off my toe and move on. This is pretty much what I did after returning to the trail from days on the trail in Damascus, VA. I cut it off and then got back on the trail at mile marker 430 and started putting in the miles. Little did I know, I would be in the most excruciating pain for the next 140 miles and I would finally be forced to do something about it.

NSFW

When I arrived in the next city after being on the road for a couple of days and realizing that I wouldn’t be able to handle this problem on my own, I contacted my good friend Grace from Florida and we arranged a pick up point along the way and I found a podiatrist in Pearisburg, VA who could help me. My friend Grace drove from Florida and took me to Total Foot Care who completely fixed me up! I am so grateful for my friend and also for Dr. Meredith who opened her practice on Memorial Day just so she could help me! I had both sides of my big toenail removed and at this point, I’m taking a double zero in Pearisburg, VA with the goal of getting back on the road as soon as possible.

If you look closely, the pieces of my toenails are on the left 😛

If I’ve learned anything since I’ve been on the road, it’s that you have to roll with the punches and keep your head up.

The stretch from Damascus to the exit of the road – Eternal humidity

I think the hardest part about sustaining an injury on the trail was that this particular section was one that many hikers look forward to. I finally made it to Grayson Highlands, which was the famous place to see wild ponies on the trail. Unfortunately, the day I walked through this area it was in pouring rain and the ponies must have been afraid of the rain, they were nowhere to be seen! For the entire eighth week that I have been on the road, the rain has been constant. Everything is always humid and while I’m grateful that it hasn’t been cold or humid, the muggy atmosphere has been pretty brutal and the perfect environment for some serious hiker has stunk.

Grayson Highlands State Park in Virginia

We have traveled 500 miles! I was hurting so much this day, but it was such an incredible milestone!

Just before a downpour…

I also reached the 1/4 way marker from Georgia to Maine! I felt amazing and since entering Virginia, I have been able to log more miles, despite the problems with my foot. I also have a new longer hiking day, which is 24 MILES! Over the past two weeks, my tram has been extended and a couple of members have ended up detouring, leaving me mostly alone. This has been a new experience for me because, as you may remember from my previous posts, I was lucky enough to form a tram from day one and for the first month we were all together.

Overall, I miss the people I was with, but I enjoyed having some solidarity along the way. Last year, hiking was a very important aspect of my free time and it was a time to be alone and reflect on the things I was dealing with. I was able to get back to that this week and by hiking alone it also forced me to meet even more people on the trail and make new connections. The day I walked 24 miles, it was with a guy I had just met the day before. That morning I encountered some magic at a crossroads, where he had been sitting. We ended up keeping pace together all day, which was motivating since he was going much faster than I normally went. That whole day we chatted about almost everything, from politics to our careers to our personal lives, everything was discussed. At the end of that day, I was truly grateful for the journey. I met someone new, I was motivated to try harder, and I made a new friend. What a unique experience it made me happy to have come here!

Only 75% is missing hehe

The 24 mile day was zoom all the way 🙂

How were the days on the road?

Let’s get to it, I loved and hated trail days. Hate may be a strong word but let me explain…

First of all, reconnecting with so many familiar faces was amazing on trail days. People I hadn’t seen in weeks were there and it was a great way to spend more time together instead of just passing by on the trail. I had a great time going to some of the bars and restaurants with riding buddies or just walking through the vendors’ tents, entering raffles and checking out new gear.

Glimmer, Krispie, Chef, Small Bites and Veto, Hoe!

Having a drink at the Damascus distillery

A really interesting story is meeting my friend Clyde (Haven) at Tipsy Bear. Last year, when I was contemplating a hike and had social media, I followed @havenwanders on Instagram. She was sharing her hiking journey in the form of daily vlogs and it was really inspiring to me and made me want to go ahead and try a hike. I told my aunt when she came to visit me in Boone, North Carolina, about my hiking plans and showed her the vlog Haven had on Instagram, and the next day I took my aunt to see Laurel Falls in Tennessee. Little did I know, that was the section Haven was in on her hike and we bumped into her while she was walking. Although I may not be a celebrity, that moment felt like a celebrity encounter and this year on trail days I ran into her again, which is the picture below! What a complete moment!

I met Clyde at the Tipsy Bear!

I will also post the photo from when we met for the first time in May 2025 🙂

Haven (Clyde) on her AT hike a year before I did mine 🙂

I also loved exploring the vendor tents, which had a ton of popular gear companies offering raffles, selling gear, and repairing gear that hikers brought off trail, which was an incredible resource.

I bought a new sun hoodie at the Florida Trail tent, it’s fun to see a tent from your home state!

An incredible number of vendors present at Trail Days!

Queuing for the parade!

The image above this paragraph is the schedule for the hikers’ parade, which took place on the Saturday of trail days. Basically, all the hikers, not just from our class of 2026, but from many years before, line up and walk down the main street of the city, being sprayed with hoses and water guns the entire way. It was a lot of fun, although at some points it felt like some kind of revenge that locals can have against hikers for all the fuss we caused.

I remember noticing a class in 1976, it was crazy to see how people who had walked the trail 50 years before were here walking with us and at the same time, cheering us on.

I was also very grateful for the churches during the walking days. Many churches came together to provide food, laundry, showers, transportation, and other services (INCLUDING HAIRCUTS!) to hikers without being pushy with their messages. Sometimes people may hesitate to accept resources because they feel they have conditions, but the churches in the days of testing were very tolerant and generous. I was even lucky enough to get a free shuttle back to the trail which was over an hour from Damascus, VA.

Amazing breakfast sammie provided by a church tent!

Some of the things about trail days that weren’t my favorite is that, of course, they weren’t very relaxing. Most of the time on trail days was spent walking, as all the hikers stayed at a place called Tent City, which was over a half mile from the main events in town. I also had a little drink, as one does during this time, and only had to return to my tent at the end of a busy night; I would have preferred to sleep.

THE SHOPPING CITY WAS POPPIN

I will also say that the raffles, which had lots of cool items to win and people could enter for free, required the winner to be present when they pulled their raffle ticket. This would have been fine, but since there were a hundred vendors present on the test days, it was impossible to be in several places at once to see if you won in a specific raffle. Many drawings were at the same time and I personally think I was only present in one of the drawings. Kinda stinky, honestly.

The good definitely outweighed any bad from that weekend but, as usual, I was ready to get back on track at the end.

Favorite photos of the week

After my 24 mile day, I was fortunate enough to arrive at the Partnership Shelter, where pizza was delivered and it was one of the few shelters along the way that had a SHOWER!

NO, THAT’S NOT A NOOSE. I LOVE THIS SHOWER!

SweetWater’s place was right off the trail in Marion, VA and was an amazing meal halfway through my hike!

I appreciated a little magic on the trails at Lindamood Schoolhouse.

I wasn’t Lindamood because of some fake magic trail here, pun intended

Thank you to the church that provided the magic of this school trail! I had some fruit gummies and cookies here 🙂

I’m not sure why, but I love adding a private service to these posts haha.

Doorless toilets are the most liberating!

What’s next?

I may have rambled a little in this post, but I’m pretty sure it’s all here. In the next few weeks I hope to stay dry and traverse Virginia, which is 553 miles and the longest state on the trail. I’m excited to get to Maryland soon and reconnect with some family and enjoy more hot meals and a good night’s sleep. Grateful to everyone who read this to the end and reached out to me encouraging me to keep going!

Thanks for coming to my in-store talk!