Damascus VA.

We arrived in Damascus VA. yesterday and are taking a day off today. Days off are good for both of us. We have now completed 460 miles of the AT and three states. We have seen some beautiful country and met some great people. I really want to come back to Georgia and North Carolina and do some paddling there are some great rivers that need exploring. Everyone that is a paddler should consider coming down here.

I was last able to post in Erwin TN. Since then we have lightened up a bit. We both have new packs and new Therma Rest pads. Our old packs were great packs, but weighed in at over 8 pounds. Our new packs are around 3.5 pounds. Saving 5 pounds is huge. We did not save as much with the new pads, but our old pads were older than a lot of the people we are hiking with. They were some of the original Therma Rest pads. Anyway Patty is a lot happier and so am I.

We left Uncle Johnny's on 4-22. It was cloudy and about 60 degrees. We even had to wait for a train as we went to work for the day. Just like in Little Falls. We really enjoyed Erwin and Uncle Johnny's. He was very helpful and it was a great place to stay. After hiking 16 miles we stopped for the day and about an hour later we were joined by 13 High School students from Kent Ohio on a hiking field trip. Supposedly there were 4 groups fo 13 who were all hiking different sections of the AT. They were pretty tired and were a pretty quiet group. We set up the tent near the shelter. We try to camp at shelters because that is usually where the water is.

On 4-23 we crossed Round Bald and just happened to meet Bob Peebles. Bob runs the hostel near Hampton TN called Kincora and told us if we made it to the hostel on Saturday by 4pm we could go to church with him as he was the head usher. We hiked on and came over another huge bald and had thoughts of camping on the top because the views were fantastic. It was a little windy and then I noticed that we were not alone. There was a herd of about 15 Texas Long Horns and some of them had really long horns. Patty took one look and started moving. I did get the camera from her and shot a picture. They seemed pretty docile to me. After coming down from the bald we hiked another couple of miles and camped in an open area that still had a pretty good view. The balds are areas on the tops of mountains that have been cleared and kept cleared for some reason. They are nice because they offer great views of the surrounding area.

On 4-25 we were both a little tired after a couple of hard days and we stayed at the newest shelter on the AT. It was built by Bob Peebles and his crew in 2006. It was actually a triple decker. We thought it was going to rain, but, as it turned out we stayed dry all nite.

On Saturday 4-26 we left the shelter at 7am and started the 16 miles we needed to go to get to the Kincora Hostel. We actually made it in by 2:30 so Patty and I had plenty of time to shower and get ready for church with Bob and his wife. The hostels are first come first serve and one of the hikers we had met gave up the "tree house" for us. It was a great spot up the hill from the main hostel and really was a tree house. It did have a double bed. I will try to post a picture so you can see some of the places we are staying.

We left Kincora on Sunday morning about 10:00 am and walked by some of the best scenery we have seen so far. The first 5 miles went along a river and then by Laurel Falls. Huge cliffs and great views. It was also just nice to walk along the river. It started raining on us just after lunch and we made it to the shelter we planned on staying in by around 3 pm. When it is raining it is nice not to have to set up the tent.

On 4-28 we woke up to more rain. It was not raining hard but enough to be a nuisance. We crossed the Wautaga Dam, a TVA project from the 30's after walking around Wautaga Lake. As we walked it started raining harder and harder and then it turned cold. We made it to the next shelter and were glad to get out of the weather. It really rained all nite long and we would have been soaked in the tent. There was a lot of lightening and thunder and even some hail. We woke up after a damp cold nite to frozen boots and temp's in the upper 20's. It took a while to get feeling in our feet and hands even after cooking a hot breakfast. We walked through some snow that had accumulated and it warmed up later in the day on the 29th.

We camped at the Abingdon Shelter and actually had the entire shelter to ourselves on the 29th and then walked the 10 miles into Damascus on the 30th. It was mostly downhill and we into town by 11:30, or a little better than a 3 mph pace. We usually figure we travel 2 mph or better over mixed terrain of ups and downs. They say it is flatter in VA and we are looking to possibly do some 20 mile days.

We are staying in the house of the woman who runs the Hikers Inn. She has two rooms she rents upstaris in her house. We have a huge room with a great King Bed. She let us use her new Mini Cooper to get groceries last nite and we really had a feast for supper. You should never let a hungry hiker shop for food. We had shrimp, steak, a couple of sides, some beer and Patty even finished off a bottle of wine by herself. We were joined by a couple of other hikers and had a great time. I even found a new beer, "Flying Dog". Pretty good stuff.

We are just lounging today, a little reading a little shopping and a little eating. Doing what a day off is supposed to be, Off.

I am going to try and post a couple of pictues of places we have stayed or camped. I think Patty and I have worked out the numbering system. I found out that she was using a different number than the one I was using for the photo's.

I will try to post again in a week or so from Rural Retreat VA. We have a mail drop going to the Relax Inn there so I guess we will probably spend at least one nite.

Hope all is well with everyone.

I put up a new link on the blog called Trail Journals. Many of the people we are hiking with have journals on this site. Some even have pictures of us on them. If you are interested and want to check some of them out you can go to the link and then check out journals for the following people; Sea to Land, No Car, and Pip's. We also ran into the guy who does most of the posting on the White Blaze site. His name is Mountain Squid and he was going to mention that we were making progress on our hike.

Until next time, Red Dog and Lucky Dog.