Damascus, VA (5-7-10)

I've been neglecting writing for the past few days, so this post might be a long one.

After my last entry, I walked through some pretty easy, pretty low (non-mountainous) areas in TN. I walked through fields, and I walked next to bogs. It was a nice change of pace. I camped one night by myself next to a stream (Laurel Fork) where it joined another, smaller stream - very peaceful.

From AT 2010

The next night, I ended up at Kincora, which is a hiker hostel run by a guy named Bob Peoples. It was a pretty basic place - an addition on the side of his house - where he had space for maybe 20 people and a kitchen, shower and washer/dryer. Bob Peoples is a pretty prominent figure in the trail community b/c he pretty much runs the trail maintenance for this section of the trail. Bob is actually a New Englander and has an awesome, Elmer Fudd-sort of laugh.

For dinner/re-supply, he loaded up all of the hikers into his truck and drove us all to Hampton, TN - about 10 miles away, maybe. We had six people in the cab of the truck and 10 in the back. I was in the back, and it was pretty tough ride - and simultaneously awesome. He dropped us off at a grocery store with an Arby's next door - another epic trail meal!

The next day, the trail descended into the Laural fork gorge, where there was a pretty impressive waterfall. Then, there was climb up pond Mtn, where I was able to use my phone after a few days with no reception. I talked to Christine, and had (what seemed at the time) to be a disappointing conversation. The topic was when she would pick me up. The original plan was next Tues, but she was pushing for this weekend. She's going out of her way (literally) to pick me up, so it's her call - but I was frustrated, none-the-less. Up until that point, I hadn't really been prepared for leaving the trail. I was in the zone, and was prepared to keep hiking until Maine. But having an actual pick-up date reminded me that my time out here was finite.

After coming down from Pond Mtn, I got to Watauga lake - which had a recreation area, complete with a beach and grills. I got there pretty late, and found a bunch of fellow hikers sitting at a picnic table with some people I did non recognize. I got out my water and trail mix and was getting ready to chow-down, when someone said "you're gonna eat trail food, when we have chicken on the grill?" Then, it all started to click: the people I didn't recogize were trail angles (providers of trail magic) and they were preparing food for us hikers.

The next few hours were awesome. They made drumsticks on the grill as well has potatoes. They had snickers bars, beer and clean water. We sat next to the lake, went swimming and reveled in our good fortune. The trail angles consisted of a girl who had thru-hiked last year and her parents. They were from Boone, and the girl had convinced her parents to come to Watauga for the day and do some trail magic. Amazing!

That night, I ended-up at Vandeveer shelter - another 8 miles from the recreation area. To get there, you crossed over the Watauga dam, which was not made from concrete (like Fontana dam) - pretty impressive. I ended-up at the shelter with Barley and Legend. They had brought hotdogs with them, and were determined to eat them all that night. I obliged, and between the three of us, we polished off 16 hotdogs - and that was after I had already had my dinner.

From AT 2010

The next day was a huge day. One of the things I wanted to do on this trip was to pull-off a 30-mile day. Up until now, my highest day was 20 miles, so I knew this would be hard. Damascus was 33 miles away, and they other guys were planning on getting there the next day - so, I would have company on this sprint.

We got up pretty early (started hiking at quarter to 7) and were moving pretty fast. Half-way through the day, we came accoss a metal (bear-proof) box with cold sodas and little debbies - that helped a ton. Then, we came to a section of the trail which is handicapped-accessible, which meant that the grades were pretty easy. I took the challenge where you have to walk this portion of the trail blindfolded - I lasted for about five minutes doing that.

I didn't actually make it to Damascus like the other two guys, but I made it close enough to make today really easy. I had also accomplished my 30 miles goal. Needless to say, I slept well that night.