Warrior Nation!

Mullens --> Devils Fork

My cousin Dylan Saunders Joined in on the hike from Mullens to Devils Fork. He's holding the map we needed to traverse this section.


My dog Sula taking a mud bath!



Beautiful day and fantastic views!


















Convenience in the woods is rare here in WV. Nice find today.

Pippi

Jo celebrating her car "Pippi" starting. I unfortunately don't have a pic of her disappointing reaction of its demise.

Sula

Sula after our hike into Mullens. My oh my! 13 miles tomorrow will bring more of this down time.

Thank you!

A huge thank you to my parents, who put this welcome home party for me and Jo together.  If not for them, this would not be possible. Thanks for making a cold, wet, rainy afternoon a time to remember!

Jo would like to add that she'd like to attach the helium balloons to her backpack. :)

Hometown welcome

A HUGE thank-you to all who came to the cookout to say hi to us!  It was awesome to see so many of you!  Another thank you to those whose thoughts were with us, but who stayed safe at home rather than chance the weather. It was pretty sketchy out there.

We had a pretty good hike from Twin Falls into Mullens today - even if we did get poured on.  Thanks Tim and Morgan and Sula for coming with us!

Bart, the mayor, and Jo

We were wet and stinky, but no one seemed to care - thanks everyone, for pretending we didn't smell!

This is Dewey, who is pretending that Bart doesn't stink.

 The parade through town led by Mayor McKinney, Police Chief Ray Toler, Fire Chief Chad Cox & local volunteers was a spectacular welcome-home for us.  Thanks to everyone for their love and support!

Hey Big Ed - your food was spectacular.  You wanna follow us to New York?  'Cause that'd be okay with us.

 

 Here is Jo spreading the good word about the Great Eastern Trail!  

 

Good buds!

Twin Falls --> Mullens

Tim, Jo, my dog Sula and Morgan rest on a fallen tree near Mullens.

Pineville --> Twin Falls part 2

 It's not all trudging through the woods: we got to rest for at least 20 minutes today!  Also, did you know that Hershey's makes pomegranate chocolate?!  Pomegranate chocolate!!!  HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS.

 I am okay with the lack of snow and blowing wind. 

You know . . . . I just don't know.

After 5 - 6 miles or so, we dropped down onto Cabin Creek Road.  Someday the trail will cross Cabin Creek Road and go back into the woods to follow a trail to the Falls Trail parking lot.  For now, we roadwalked on Cabin Creek.  Tomorrow: the woods again!

The term "woods"  comes from the Old English wudu, the Proto-Germanic widuz, and Proto-Indo-European widhu.

PS. POMEGRANATE.  CHOCOLATE.

Pineville --> Twin Falls

VP Paul and President Tim of TuGuNu Hiking Club leading us from Pineville to Twin Falls State Park.

Below, Paul and Jo pause for a pose:

Pineville HS

View from above at the old Pineville High School!

Baileysville --> Pineville

Beautiful today near Brenton WV. Tim and Jo lead the way.

 Bart checks out Tim's flagging technique as we flag a proposed route of Great Eastern Trail

A parade of . . . 3!

Bart, Mayor Ellison of Pineville, me, and Tim!
Kodak and Bart's dad also joined us.  Kodak drove the fire truck.

Delicious supper with Ruby, Paul, and Tim.  Thank you!!!

Mullens cookout

There will be a cookout this Thursday at the park behind the Mullens Middle School (the old high school).  Bart and I will be walking into town then, around 5:30 or 6:00 PM.  Come on out to see us at the park, have some food, and get a hug from two stinky hikers!  You know you want to.

Bigfoot!

Thanks to TuGuNu prez Tim for a lesson on Wyoming County wildlife. 

Adventures of the last week

We were really happy to hit the Wyoming County Line a couple of days ago, but I wanted to post this picture of Bart in Mingo County.  When we get the trail through Mingo, it will be spectacular.  For now, it is all roadwalk, but a big part of that roadwalk is simply beside a road and not on it.  Expansive views of Kentucky and West Virginia mountains filled the soul, and the occasional car driving past us 20 feet to our left did little to take away from the experience.  Wilderness trail it is not (for now), but it was nevertheless a beautiful experience.  Thanks, King Coal Highway!

Also, to everyone in Mingo County: Thanks for not running us over.  We appreciate it.  We realize that 52 is not made for pedestrians.  Trust us, we tried to find another way.  So, thanks for your help. 

Yesterday we were set to tackle a large portion of trail between R.D. Bailey WMA and Horse Creek Lake.  Bart's mom made us biscuits & gravy to power us over the mountains, his dad drove us to the county line, and we were off!  Thanks, you two, for all you've been doing for us!

It was the nicest day (weather-wise) we've had since . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Tennessee somewhere, I'd say.  I was so excited to revisit some of the trail I'd GPSed last year when I was a VISTA for this project.  I'd only ever hiked this section in the rain, and I wanted to see it in sunshine.  Tim was coming with us to help us not get lost and to tell us stories.  In short, everything was perfect.

Until my foot quit working.

Suddenly, our 13-mile day over unmaintained trail became a complete impossibility for me, and we had just our daypacks, so we couldn't camp out.  Bart's Jeep was 8 miles away at Horse Creek.  When we got to Big Branch (AKA "Burning Car Gap") Tim suggested we try to hitchhike to Horse Creek.  Hitching with 3 can be very difficult, and I was not surprised when no cars were pulling over for us.  (Tim also tried to thumb from an ATVer, who just grinned at us.  Yeah, right!)

All of a sudden, from the other direction, Paul and Ruby, our TuGuNu VP and Treasurer, pulled over!  They just decided to come see if we were out and about, and their timing couldn't have been more perfect.  What are the chances?!  They gave us a lift back to the Jeep.  Can't wait for them to join us on a deathmarch hike soon!   

We took today off to ice my foot.  I went from hobbling to walking normally in just 24 hours.  I think it's my boots doing it to me, and so I will wear my sandals for the next few days.  Sandals in this section is not recommended, but I've done it before, so . . . onward.

R.D. Bailey

Looking over at RD Bailey Lake.

Wyoming County!

Almost Heaven- me and Jo stare into Mingo County as we stand in my home county of Wyoming.