Zero in Princeton, WV – The Walk

Sunday, May 24, 2026

I see bears for the first time near the Appalachian Trail and find a great place to spend a zero. I share some insights from the walk so far.

Princely reward

ohI originally planned to drive Christiansburg, Virginia since I wanted to restock at ALDI and it was the closest. I was struggling to find a grocery store that I was sure had point-of-sale seating, which I learned last weekend was essential for me. Some of the Krogers had potential, but determining if a grocery store has fast WiFi, power outlets, and ideally no «time limit» without being there is basically impossible. I thought about a call, but part of me was ready to plan to go to Starbucks. That got me looking into closer cities and I realized I could save a lot of driving time by heading north toward Princeton, West Virginia. It was a shorter 30 minute drive there and a bit shorter to the next trailhead in Pearisburg, Virginia as well.

I figured I would start with my resupply and then head to Starbucks to blog and watch Formula One action. Once in town I was a little surprised to find a Subway restaurant in the grocery store with seating and power outlets. I refilled, consumed 2 pounds of low-fat yogurt, and even got a tire rotation at a nearby tire center. By the time I finished the remaining coverage of Formula One Qualifying, the Metro was open and I confirmed I could spend the day eating, blogging and watching F1. The Princeton gamble had resulted in a princely reward.

This generates joy

Understandably, my family would prefer that I not encounter bears while on the trail. Paradoxically, I would love to see a bear or two at a safe distance. Last night, while blogging in my truck, in the light of the setting sun, I was visited by not one, not two, but three bears. They had just crossed the street and passed right by the van. When I discovered that the first one was a bear and not a big black dog, the other two were running quickly. I didn’t have time to take a photo, but now I can confirm that there are bears around!

This morning I noticed the stars aligned and one of my blog posts was among the 3 that appear on The Trek home page in the Appalachian Trail bloggers section. I’m sure featured posts are selected randomly or based on posting time, but it was nice and rewarding to see a post I had written on the home page of a website. I’m glad I can appreciate little things.

Reflecting on the past week

I made a lot of effort during the last 6 days. No less than 21 miles covered each day despite the scorching sun and pouring rain. For the week I walked 141.2 miles, more than 20 miles a day, even including my zero today. That’s exactly the pace I need to maintain to finish my hike at a reasonable time of year.

Also, I wrote all my blogs before starting my zero. Crucially, this allowed me to polish them all up and schedule them before the Formula One race. After the race I had time to finally finish all my retroactive updates to the blogs I already published. Now that I no longer have to go back to old posts, my zero days will be less full and hopefully calmer.

On the not-so-good side of things, forgetting about breakfast during my return to backpacking was a disappointment. Although I made a smart pivot with my itinerary, I probably could have done an even better job just getting back to the van on my second day. I wouldn’t have had to jump around the trails as much and I probably could have backpacked a little more.

I also continue to struggle with heavy rains. I was very lucky to avoid camping in the rain and having to deal with a wet tent. I still don’t know if I have a solid plan for keeping the inside of my tent dry in the rain. Back-to-back rainy days can be a serious problem if I can’t keep the interior dry. Time will tell. The decision to use my old waterproof jacket was a fail, but I’ll just put it away and not use it unless I’m packing on a particularly windy day. That means it dries out more and more, which doesn’t seem like a guarantee.

next week

Speaking of rain, a lot more is predicted for next week. I’m also going to work on doing more backpacking this week. I may find out sooner rather than later how well prepared I am for wet conditions. The store is not my only concern. Keeping my shorts dry doesn’t work particularly well even when I use the rain poncho. My shoes and socks get wet no matter what. I can only bring a limited number of extra pairs of socks, so back-to-back rainy days are cause for concern.

There is no Formula One next weekend, so for now my plan is to go hiking next Sunday. I’ll need to find a place to spend a few hours posting blog posts. I’ll probably try to work overtime to create some space for a near or zero so I can find a place to do my posts.

Analysis: some trail data

Since I am, by the way, required to meticulously track some of my hiking data, I thought I would share a little of that here on my blog. So far I have accumulated the following:

• 1,209.9 miles traveled
• 278,742 feet of ascent and descent
• 2,654,619 steps

I’m also tracking backpacking versus backpacking miles. I’m closer to 50/50 than I thought:

Finally, I keep track of the nights camped in my truck, my tent, and shelters. I need to put up my tent!

Analysis: trail food

I believe that a proper diet is essential in all circumstances. Only then can you pamper yourself sporadically without feeling guilty! This is especially important on the AT when diets plummet to zeros or Trail Magic settings. I’ve been using a spreadsheet to track my food intake since 2012. I have no problem eating the same foods day after day. For my AT hike, I put together a diet plan to make sure I met my nutritional needs, avoid loading up on unnecessarily heavy food, and avoid unnecessary costs. I’m not a dietitian, this is not a recommended eating plan for hiking, just what I personally eat while on the trail.

First let me rank the things I buy for food and how much they cost me on a typical day:

It’s pretty simple. I keep the 3 “meals” in a bag with some measuring cups. Buying large quantities of food instead of prepared and packaged meals saves a significant amount of money.

This is all well and good and wonderfully cheap, but I also keep track of the exact nutrition of each item. Factoring the item’s nutrition by the quantity and adding them all together results in a nutritional profile for the day:

My goal was to consume over 3,000 calories per day with approximately 0.7 grams of protein per pound of body weight. Since a gram of fat has 9 calories per gram, while carbs and protein have 4, I relied heavily on high-fat foods (peanuts, sunflower seeds, whole milk powder) to save weight. I also made sure to get plenty of electrolytes (sodium, potassium, and magnesium) to keep my muscles working well.

That should be more than enough data analysis for one post. Some bloggers write about their zeroes laughing with their tram in hostels while enjoying home-cooked meals. I think a little data analysis is just as entertaining. If you’re up to this point, thank you for indulging me.

-See you tomorrow

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