Virginia Vistas

I have made it 1/3 of the way through Virginia. There have been Long stretches of ridge walking, and some beautiful rolling farm country. The trail is less remote and rugged here and the climbs are getting smaller. Many of the hiking packs of thru-hikers that reformed after Trail Days have begun to spread again. I'm meeting new folks every day, but I sometimes miss the folks I've hiked with for a while. There are some difficult and lonely days, but the Trail generally brings me round with a great view or waterfall. I'm looking forward to the Shanandoahs coming in a few weeks.

Old Dominion is Beautiful!

I had a good time in the hiker parade at Trail Days, which as, usual, turned into a running water fight between water balloon armed hikers and hose and water pistol armed onlookers. It was great fun. After Trail Days, I signed on for Kincora Hard Core, two days of trail building, which meant I got to re-climb two of the toughest climbs of the last three weeks to make them easier for others.  It added up to almost a week without much northward progress, but it was rewarding and time well spent. I have started rolling north again and am making good time. The "hiker legs" have really kicked in. It helps that the terrain has also become far less rugged.

More Trail Moments

More Pictures (From the last few weeks)

The view of Hot Springs hiking out from Lover's Leap.

The view from Beauty Spot

Overmountain Shelter

The Trail up Big Hump Mtn.

Falls north of Roan Mtn TN

Damascus: or an Interview with Gravity

It has been an interesting couple of weeks since my last lengthy post. From the Mountain Harbour hostel, I made the transition over to Bob People's famous hostel "Kincora" and enjoyed the harrowing ride to Elizabethton with 13 other hikers packed into a capped mini pickup bed down a windy mtn road. The morning hike out Through Laurel Fork Gorge is among the most breathtaking of the trail so far; a winding creek, steep stone walls, mountain laurel exploding into bloom everywhere, an a three teired curtain falls about 50 feet across dropping about 50 feet. On the climb over Pond Mountain I stopped for a bit to help Bob and his trail crew including a couple of folks from the Appalachian State trail club (Thanks Maura and friends for your work!) Pulling a two man saw for a while definitely worked different muscles than hiking. I camped that night on the shores of Lake Wautauga after a swim and that night our camp got buzzed by bears. Thank you "Bear Blaze" for earning your name that night and luring the bears to another shelter by leaving. Only lady I ever met who had a bear pink blaze after her so I renamed her.
Then came the mileage down the Tennessee Turnpike a 40 mile ridge with nothing in particular to notice. At the end though is the promised land Damascus, Virginia "The Friendliest Town on the Trail" It is a beautiful little town in extreme southwest Virginia that sits along the AT and the Virginia Creeper Trail a very popular mountain biking and horse packing trail through some gorgeous country. I came through Damascus last weekend and headed out, planning to return at the end of this week for Trail Days, when 30,000 AT fans and hikers decend on the town for the biggest party on the trail. All of the guidebooks say that the section from Damascus to Troutdale is among the most beautiful on the trail. I headed out slowly, (took us til 11:30 to get out of town) and made the first shelter and spent a crazy cold night. Then made our way up the Mt. Rogers massif  to Buzzard Rock and Whitetop a bald up over 5000 feet. it was a day of 3000+ feet of climbing and I turned my ankle a bit before the climb. We camped in a grove on Whitetop and woke in a pea soup fog. I couldn't see "Mad Mike's" tent. I didn't want to walk this beautiful section in 0 visibility so we caught a ride back to Damascus. I wanted to do some hiking today but arranging shuttles to the trailheads I'd need has proved difficult, so I may not make any more progress until after Trail Days, which would be OK, just not ideal.

More Thank Yous to Trail Angels

Thank you to these wonderful people.

"Yonder" and Janet who met us at Devil's Fork Gap with handmade pizzas in a gas fired coleman oven.

My hiking partner of late "Mad Mike". These ladies are the folk duo Alathea. Please look them up on their website and listen because their music is amazing.

"Shortbus" who finished a thru-hike last year and came back with goodies to surprise this years' crew at Wautauga Lake.

The great guys showed up with breakfast at our campsite at Watauga Lake in the morning. Thanks guys, congratulations on your graduation and good luck in school!

"Gweem and Pop" making the rounds on the "Tennessee Turnpike".

One of the many anonymous or semi-anonymous boxes left for hikers. This one by a Baptist Church group near Shady Valley TN.

Thanks to all Trail Angels who make hiking the trail easier and more fun.

Goodbye to the Southern Mountains and Heading for the Virginia Highlands

After a few restful days in Hot Springs, I climbed up and out with amazing views of the town. We camped near a fire tower and had some trail magic (pictures and thank yous to come when I get to another library. The weather crossing Big Bald was torrential and spent a cold wet night in a crowded shelter. We spent some time in Erwin and covered some big miles over Beauty Spot, Roan Mountain, and the surrounding balds and had an amazing run of trail magic and hostel stays so I am still carrying the food I bought in Erwin. The Breakfast Mary and Terry make at Mountain Harbour B &B in Roan Mountain TN is the best I've had anywhere. Pond Mountain was the last major climb before VA and a few days ago we left NC for good. On to Damascus and Trail Days.