Appalachian Trail - Virginia Update

Well I am in Waynesboro VA which is the 850 mile mark of my journey and the start of the Shenadoah National Forrest. Everyone says it gets easier in VA but the last 4 days or so have been some of the largest climbs on the trail. It seems like everyday we were going from about 800 feet to 3500-4000. I do understand that the rest of my time in VA will be somewhat easier.

A group of us doing the trip are talking about doing the half marathon or full marathon Jan 31 in Miami if anyone wants to join us. I have now lost about 36 lbs so this is probably a good time for me to run one if I am ever going to lol.

There are a few things I want to give updates on:

Food - I love the pasta sides that used to be made by Lipton. I think now they are by Knorr or something like that. I usually add half a pack of spicy tuna and some dehydrated fruit to it. I also use the other half of the tuna pack with a some bread or crackers. For Breakfast I use either honey bun or pop tarts. I am tired of pop tarts so I am going to try cereal bars this week. For lunch I usually do snacks like chex mix, cheese and crackers, candy bars, peanuts, dehydrated fruit, etc. I try to eat alot of peanut butter also to help with my protein, but I feel like I am still not getting enough protein.

Water - The water sources have been fairly good this year. I have only treated my water four times and I have not been sick from it yet. Some of the springs were dry from the drought the last couple of years but for the most part you have water every 4-7 miles so it is not to bad.

Ticks - During the good weather we had last week I found ticks on me everyday. I had two embedded in me this last week but most of the time you see them of feel them crawling on you. One of the guys I am hiking with shaved his head because he was so concerned about the number of ticks we have seen.

Photos - I have some great photos but the computer does not have a memory card reader and it is not recognizing mine. I am going to come back after lunch when the computer guy is here and see if he has one I can use that will allow me to post a few photos.

I hope everyone is doing great and thanks again for following my journey.