Virginia

My trek into Virginia began on Christmas Eve.  I was emotionally preparing to spend Christmas alone and that was by choice.  I didn’t think it would bother me if I could stay somewhere amazing.  I was lucky enough to make that happen near a trailhead in the George Washington National Forest. 

I made a mad dash to Walmart just 5 minutes before it closed to grab as much propane as I could carry in order to survive some more cold nights.  I enjoyed a quiet night in the woods, playing Christmas music, and relaxing in the glow of the fairy lights.  I had enough cell reception to teach from this spot in the woods and I opted to work on Christmas morning (Forrest and Dakota have ensured that I have many bills to pay lately).  After work I cooked a big Christmas pancake breakfast and had a quiet, slow morning tucked away in the trees. 

I had a hike planned nearby and by the time we got to the trailhead it was 1pm.  This hike was 8.7 miles, so I’d need to hurry in order to get back to the van before dark.  We set out and kept a quick pace.  The views were incredible, and we made it to the peak fairly quickly. 

The route I planned was a loop and despite our race against nature’s clock, I decided to stick to the plan instead of going back the way we came, which would have saved us some time.  Sometimes when I hike, I get into almost a meditative state.  My feet just move but my brain is somewhere completely different.  I suddenly realized I was up on a ridge line overlooking the Shenandoah valley.  It was beautiful.  I pulled out the GPS to see how far I had gone and saw that I had missed my turn by over half a mile. 

Unfortunately, the half mile that I added was steep, so instead of adding 20 minutes to my hike, I added nearly 40.  I turned around and hiked toward the turn I missed.  On the way down though, I rolled my ankle.  It took my breath away and I froze.  I took a few careful steps on it and it felt pretty tender but not impossible to hike on.  I thanked my lucky stars and kept on hiking.  I was 3 miles in and had at least 6 more to go now, although I wasn’t exactly sure how much distance I had added at this point.  We hiked and hiked and I watched as the sun got closer to the horizon.  My hiking pace turned into a hike/run as I started to worry about being stuck in the woods after dark.  I had packed a flashlight and headlamp but one of my only other experiences hiking in the dark (my first backpacking trip) the trail was too hard to find, and we ended up getting lost.  We were backpacking so we just set up camp and spent the night, but I didn’t have that option this time.  I tried to just stay positive. The sunset was stunning and I tried my best to enjoy it while also knowing that I only had minutes left of daylight. 

I stopped to snap a quick picture and the rustling of the leaves under my feet were quiet for a second.  Dakota stopped too. That’s when I heard the rustling of leaves on both side of us, and remembered we weren’t the only creatures out here.  And then minutes later, it was dark.  Dakota and I were both exhausted and starving.  I had brought snacks but had eaten most of them and didn’t want to stop to eat the rest.  Luckily by the time it was completely dark, the trail we were on was nearly impossible not to follow so navigating in the dark was easy.  Dakota was spooked because we had heard hunters shooting guns in the distance and she spent a good chunk of the miles hiking so close to me that I could rest my hand on her back.  When we finally reached the van, we had logged 10.5 miles. 

I was drenched in sweat from running/hiking the last 7 miles and the sweat quickly cooled as soon as we stopped.  It was 25 degrees outside and I knew I’d freeze to death if we didn’t get the van warmed up.  I fed Dakota, then dropped a full bowl of water on the floor as my shivering hands tried to lower it and it slipped.  I grabbed the closest towel to soak the lake of water up (which I would later realize was my towel for showering, and the only cleanish towel left in the van).  I drove around for the next 30 minutes trying to get the van warmed up before heading back to our spot in the woods for the night.  As soon as I parked and climbed in the back to change my clothes, I nearly fell onto the floor.  My ankle couldn’t support my weight.  I had run on it for the last 4 hours and was fine, but as soon as the adrenaline wore off, I realized how badly I had hurt it.  I tried cooking dinner on one foot, while trying to ignore my throbbing ankle and the thoughts of how impossible solo vanlife would be with a broken ankle.  Nothing like a merry little misadventure to close out the holiday!

The next day I knew I needed to rest, which is hard for me even when I’m healthy.  I found a little park, set up my hammock, and relaxed in the sunshine.  My ankle was feeling much better and any worries that I had broken it were gone.  I met an awesome couple with a sprinter of their own, who stopped by while I was in the hammock to chat and to tell me they had seen my boyfriend/husband out riding on the trail.  I know they didn’t mean anything by it, but I sometimes wish people wouldn’t be so surprised by the idea of me doing this by myself.  They own a women’s mountain bike apparel company so they told me to stop by their van for a tour and they gifted me a jersey! 

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By the next morning I was ready to get back to adventuring and my ankle was back to normal.  I drove to Shenandoah National Park, which has been the first park I’ve visited since the government shutdown.  It was sad to pull up and see nobody sitting at the guard station.  I’ll leave the politics out of this, but I’ll share a little of what I’ve seen since the shutdown. 

Normally when I get to a National Park, the first thing I do is head to the visitor center and talk to a ranger.  I like to get recommendations and find out where I can and cannot take Dakota.  No guard stations are open during the shutdown, so it was up to me to try and get that information in other ways.  There was no cell signal, so I couldn’t google it, but I stopped at one of the first big trailheads that had some information posted to see what I could find.  Normally when you enter a park you get a map and a little newspaper with information in it (such as rules about dogs), but again, none of this right now.  I was luckily able to find this information posted near the bathroom and figured this would be a good time to use the restroom too.  Nope, restrooms are locked.  Now this isn’t a problem for me because I have a toilet in the van, but every other person who visited that park that day, and in the last month, has probably found a place to use the bathroom outside.  Think about the impact that has had.  Most of those people probably don’t know proper Leave No Trace principles for relieving themselves outside and therefore there is human waste left in places it shouldn’t be and toilet paper littering the ground.  Disgusting. 

Anyways, I found a hike I wanted to do with Dakota so we drove the beautiful road that makes its way though the park.  We stopped at a few spots along the way, which included a quick jaunt on the Appalachian Trail.  Just standing on it and thinking of all the incredible people who have thru-hiked it changed a part of my brain forever.  I’m adding it to my bucket list. 

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Next we got to the trailhead for Dark Hollow Falls.  I got all of my stuff ready, got Dakota out of the van, and approached the sign for the trailhead.  Right on the sign it was posted “No Dogs Allowed”.  I thought I had picked a dog-friendly hike, but I had apparently gotten two trails confused.  This wasn’t a long hike, so I decided to put Dakota back in the van and check it out myself.  Shortly after hitting the trail, I passed a couple that asked me, “Where’s your dog?”  I told them I had to leave her since dogs aren’t allowed and they assured me they wouldn’t have told on me.  I’m big on respecting the rules, so I never even considered it.

The hike was great and I met some interesting people near the waterfall who, of course, had lots of questions for me after they had seen me park my big van at the trailhead.  I checked out the waterfall and then hurried back to my pup, who desperately needed an adventure too.  On the way back, I saw a big family hiking down the trail… with their dog.  I’m always so conflicted about whether I should say something or just mind my own business.  I went with the latter, but it makes me sad that there were no park rangers there to enforce the rules.  This is why we can’t have nice things, people.

The next hike was a short and flat section of the Appalachian Trail.  I’ve been kind of obsessing over the idea of completing the Appalaction Trail or the Pacific Crest Trail someday after listening to too many podcasts about it and Cheryl Strayed’s book, “Wild”.  Maybe that will be my next adventure after vanlife?

It was time to make my way to the coast.  My next destination was Virginia Beach and I arrived midday and was ready to stick my feet in the sand.  This has been one of the only times I didn’t feel very safe.  I parked the van in a parking lot that had some shady characters wandering through and it made me nervous to leave my home there unattended for a few hours.  There were other people parking there and it was the middle of the day near a busy road, so I told myself the van would be fine, and I planned to not be gone too long. 

We made it to the beach and it was fun to know that Dakota has now seen the ocean.  Even though it was pretty cold, I took my shoes off and walked along the water.  Dakota walked down to the water with me and I grabbed my phone to capture her first steps in the ocean.  The waves crashed up on the shore and the water rushed toward Dakota.  She DID NOT like that and ran as fast as she could away from the water.  I nearly died laughing and all of the people around me turned to look and see why I was laughing to myself.  Each time she jumped out of the way of the waves I couldn’t help but crack up.  She’s a constant source of entertainment!

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After wandering the beach for a bit, I decided it was time to check on Forrest.  He was perfectly unharmed, of course.  Back in the van I was trying to decide where to go next. Up until this point in my journey, I’ve been extremely disciplined with my finances.  I don’t ever eat out, I always make my own coffee, and I have resisted the temptation of visiting any breweries.  I don’t spend money on anything that isn’t absolutely necessary in order to only work part-time. But I figured now that I’m working, it was time for me to treat myself to a beer. 

Up until about the time I went back to Michigan, I had been keeping a diligent journal of my journey in addition to writing this blog.  With each entry I also kept track of how many days I had spent on the road.  Since then I have fallen behind on my writing and day counting.  For some reason though, I felt compelled to figure out how many days I had been on the road.  And wouldn’t you know it, I was at exactly 100 days into this adventure.  That fact sealed the deal that I needed a celebratory beer! 

So I found a local brewery that allowed dogs, sat down at the corner of the bar, and bought myself a refreshing IPA.  I ended up chatting with an awesome couple that sat next to me and I shared my story with them and got some recommendations of things to do in the area.  They were just getting up to leave when a fresh beer was placed in front of me, courtesy of this nice couple.  I was overwhelmed by their kindness but also very happy to enjoy a free drink.  I had planned to stay just 20 minutes down from the bar but these beers were strong, so I knew I’d have to drink this one slowly. 

Just a few minutes later, a big crowd of people came in and all stood around the corner of the bar where Dakota and I were sitting.  It was the bartender’s last day of work and so everyone that worked at the bar and all of the regulars were coming to buy one last drink from her.  I was apparently sitting in the spot of the bar that the regulars usually sat in, so I ended up chatting with a bunch of them.  I was finishing up this second beer and sharing stories of my adventures just as more people were insisting on buying me a drink.  I mentioned that I’d need to leave while I could still drive and was told I could just stay in the lot behind the bar.  Perfect!  I went back to the van, fed myself and the dog, and then spent the next several hours closing down the brewery with some of the most wonderful people I’ve ever met.

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Unfortunately, I still had to work the next morning, and when that camera turned on and I saw my reflection, I realized I was looking as bad as I was feeling.  The headache that accompanied me that day was equal to the amount of fun I had enjoyed the night before.  A few of the people I had met that night were going back to the brewery again the next night so Dakota and I ended up back for a much more mellow evening.

It was almost New Year’s Eve and I had to decide what I’d do for the holiday.  I was ready for Christmas alone but wasn’t sure about NYE by myself.  I had a few options of things I could do in Virginia Beach with these new friends, but I also really wanted to ring in the new year with Dakota by my side.  I decided it was time to move on and keep the adventures going.  New Year’s Day would be my first day off of work since I started back in November, so I wanted to take advantage of being able to get off the grid.  There aren’t a whole lot of great off-grid options around Virginia Beach though, so I drove a couple hours to Merchants Millpond State Park, which is in the middle of nowhere just inside the North Carolina border.  I’ve also been saving money on this trip by never paying for a campsite and opting for free campsites (or Walmart parking lots) instead.  But tonight was a special occasion, so I shelled out some money and tucked away in the woods with my dog. 

New Year’s Eve is always an emotional holiday for me.  I was supposed to get married on New Year’s Eve before my ex got orders to deploy and we had to change the date of our wedding.  It’s also a holiday that seems to have huge expectations around it, as if it’s supposed to set the tone for the year to come.  Last year I had the most perfect NYE, bundled in a tent in the freezing desert temperatures of Escalante, Utah with the guy I was supposed to be in this van with tonight.  So I was preparing myself for some big emotions.

In order to make the most of my time in the woods, and finally being someplace warm, I was going to set up my hammock and sleep under the stars.  I got my campsite set up, caught up on some writing, allowed myself to be sad and lonely for a bit, and then was ready to tuck myself in for the night.  No sense in trying to stay up until midnight when I would finally have a chance to get some real sleep on my day off.  So I climbed into my hammock at 10pm, convinced Dakota to join me, and immediately fell asleep. 

Less than an hour later I woke up to Dakota jumping out of the hammock and running straight back for the van.  She has slept in my hammock with me a few times before but I don’t think she understood why we’d have to sleep outside when “home” was parked just a few feet away.  I knew there was no chance of getting her back in the hammock, and I had just written my post about her hospital stay in Arkansas, so I couldn’t stand the thought of not sleeping with her on New Year’s Eve.  I grabbed my pillow and climbed into the van with her.  It was incredibly humid out, 97% humidity and 65 degrees for the low.  There was so much moisture in the air that I could hardly see with my headlamp on and everything in the van that was cardboard (cereal boxes, box of wine, etc.) was now all mushy.  I had windows cracked, fan on, and this was my first night of sleep where I was HOT.  As uncomfortable as the humidity was, I was just thankful to not be cold for once.

The next morning I woke up feeling so refreshed.  Maybe it was the writing, crying, and processing I had done the night before or the promise of a fresh year.  Maybe it was the sunshine and being able to wear short sleeves again.  Whatever it was, I felt like I was glowing.

I was craving everything “camping”, so I pulled out everything I needed to make breakfast and cooked outside on the picnic table.  I drank my coffee in my hammock and let the sun warm my skin.  I wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote.  I saw the camp host drive past about 100 times and kept waiting to be told it was time to “check out” but it never came, so I just let myself stay as long as I wanted.  Eventually the dog and I both got restless so I tore down camp and we headed further into the state park for a hike.  We hiked past swamps that are apparently home to a couple of gators, and the change in landscape made me feel really far from home. 

The sun was setting and it was time to find a home for the night. North Carolina was promising to be a great adventure of visiting friends and family!

“There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.” -C.S. Lewis

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