Pictures - Trail Days

Denali and Diane trying on handmade caps.  Free Trail Magic!

Some people have waaay to heavy packs!

Thruhike ® Crazyhorse - I first met him in 2007

Waiting for the raffle results

Vendor park

More vendors

Locations of hikers when Trail Days started

Trail Days

5/15/15 - Trail Days

This year was the 20th year for Trail Days and it was a good weekend for a festival.  I met hiker Forrest Gump, and went to a talk given by Jennifer Pharr Davis.  She holds the current record for the Trail, a bit more than 47 days.  Her husband provided daily support, so she didn't carry much beyond water and lunch.  We also went to Chris Galloway's movie about his 2013 thruhike.    

We toured the vendors, Denali got her pack repaired for free.  The crowds was thick but happy and peaceful.  It was a good time.

Tucson and CoEd, Sublime, and several others were down at the vendors.  I had hoped they would catch up, I've been camping with different people every night and it's good to see familiar faces.

5/16/15 - We stayed in Damascus long enough to attend the parade.  Denali walked with the 2007 group, I with the 2015 group.  Then Diane and Denali dropped me at Partnership shelter.  We didn't get there until after four, and it was raining a little so I hung out at the shelter and ate my Subway supper.   The rain stopped a bit before five.  There were some hikers who stopped to order pizza before pushing on into the woods.  I decided to spend the night in the shelter and catch Tucson and CoEd in the morning.

It started raining in earnest about 5:15pm, so I made a good decision to hole up in Partnership.  I'll restart in earnest tomorrow.

5/17/15 - A group from further south on the trail got to Partnership shelter about six.  One of them had a dog, which she invited into the shelter proper to sleep.  A couple found a ride into town and got beer, and proceeded to stay up and noisy until after nine.  The dog owner spilled beer on another hiker's gear in the shelter.  Apparently not the first time she's done that, I heard later. And I was awakened several times during the night.  So I woke at five this morning tired and depressed

I made the first seven miles by ten thirty or so and stopped for a snack.  That got my energy back up a ways and I made Atkins at one, a little less than 2mph.  I stopped for another snack at the Sunoco store.  The Relax Inn has been painted, has a new road sign and the burned out restaurant has been removed.  The owners are apparently trying.

About a half mile from where the AT intersects the Crawfish Trail, I was interrupted by a familiar buzzing rattle.  Right there next to the trail was the biggest rattlesnake I have ever seen!  He must have been close to three foot and was nice and fat with a three or four inch rattle section.  I backed off and after a bit he uncoiled, and slowly crossed the trail and disappeared into the bushes.

I made the Crawfish Trail intersection, 17.9 miles, about 5:30pm.  And the humidity proved prophetic as the rain started.  Fortunately it was just a short shower, and I had the tent up, supper finished, bear bag hung and water filtered for tomorrow by 7:30pm.  Unfortunately, I lost my blue bandana; probably back near the snake.  Hope someone brings it forward. 

Just after nine pm, a damn whippoorwill started up.  Ooooh, I hate those birds!

Pictures - Damascus to Marion

The trout limit is 6 per day, all must be 12" or larger

Grayson Highlands State Park view

Fat man Challenge - I fit!

500 miles completed

Grayson ponies visiting after supper

Leaving Grayson Highlands State Park

Comers Creek Falls

Marion Baptist Church with a storm line moving in

Damascus to Marion

5/8/15 - I didn't sleep well last night, even though the Hikers Inn has very comfortable beds.  It's a really nice place.  I either had too much to drink last night or middle age is catching up to me.  Either way, I had to go every two hours.  Plus, my right knee is aching quite a bit this morning.  Bleh.

The birds woke me about five, so I rolled over but finally gave up at six thirty and got out of bed.  Said goodby to Just Dave who got in yesterday and headed out.  I stopped and had a town breakfast, two eggs and pancakes, and hit the trail.  

I blue blazed the Virginia Creeper Trail for 13 miles instead of taking the official junction 0.4 miles outside of Damascus.  The VCT is a converted rail line for bicycles and is a constant 2% grade.  The AT crosses it at several spots, so I hiked it to avoid some pointless hill climbs and aimed for Lost Mountain shelter, 14 miles from town.

My right knee started twinging again as soon as I turned off the VCT and hit a moderate elevation gain on the AT.  I'm beginning to wonder, is it tendinitis or have I damaged my cartilage?  I ordered a new knee brace for delivery with my shoes next week, but I don't want to hurt all the way to Maine.

Shinner showed up, haven't seen him since before Erwin.  Snail says he saw Chipmunk in Damascus today.

5/9/15 - From Lost Mountain shelter to Wise shelter is about 17.5 miles.  The last seven or so are awfull.  The trail up Mt Rogers and over the Grayson Highlands is pretty much not really trail, just paint marks on a talus slope.  It took me from 7am to 5:30pm to get to Wise shelter.  'Course, that includes an hour break for a late lunch at Thomas Knob shelter.

The ponies were shy today at Grayson Highlands State Park, I saw only three and those at a distance.  The sky was clear though, so the views were good.   Or would have been had I not been cussing the rocks. Despite that, there were many more dayhikers out than AT hikers.

I was setting up my tent and realized I might have swipe the spot from a woman who walked up and picked up a nearby water bladder I hadn't seen, but it turned out she was the leader of an all women empowerment camping group called Trail Dames and was setting up to cook dinner. We got to talking and it turned out we had both hiked the AT in 2007, and knew the same people such as Tony the Tiger, Kokopelli, Chuck Norris, Tiger, and others! She hiked under the trail name Certain. I remember seeing her name in some of the journals.  Such a small world!

As we were finishing supper and the sun setting, the ponies visited camp!  Came right up looking for handouts.  The day was finally complete!

5/10/15 - I left camp near Wise shelterat 7am in the mist.  Bit of dew on my tent, I'll need to set up and air out later.  The mist was cool, but without much breeze it was tolerable.  The trail wound around in those hated Grayson Highland rocks some more.  The mist and my exertions made my glasses fog over. 

The mist burned off about 10am, and the day heated up fast.  I had three climbs to make and they were all tough due to the heat.  I finally made Trimpi shelter at 6pm, a distance of 19.1 miles.  My knee feels tight but hurt only a few times.

A couple hours into the day, I came upon a Konnarock trail crew.  They were doing a superb job of repairing the trail.  Then the trail crossed VA 603 and I ran into Hiker "Mr Don", a teacher from Maine.  He explained he had gotten off trail to attend the college graduation of Hiker "Tank". Hiker "Onward" passed me, she's being slack packed by her husband Anchor, who's now going by Shipwreck, since he's off trail with gout.  She's about a half day ahead of me.

When I got to camp, it was packed.  Tents everywhere. Hiker "Not a Bear" showed up, he's slacking from Marion back to Damascus for Trail Days.  Trixie and Gertrude, Flash, McFly (from Munich, Germany) and others are also here tonight.

5/11/15 - I left Trimpi shelter late, about 8am today.  The temps didn't fall very much last night, it was already warm by 6am.  Had a slow breakfast, said goodbye to Mr Don, whose trying to make up miles he lost getting off trail last week.  McFly is gonna be very slow today, he pulled his shin muscles yesterday and is hobbling around in pain.

The heat got bad by 9am, I was sweating buckets.  Today has a fair number of small elevation gains, which don't help.  I finally pulled over at 11:30 and draped my smoked short over my hiking poles and let the breeze dry me out and cool me down.  McFly caught up, his left shin just at boot top is red and swollen.  He's going to catch a ride into town and find a doctor.

I'm feeling very discouraged in this heat.  I have greatly reduced energy and strength and the elevation gains slow me to a literal crawl.  Fortunately I ran into a hiker headed south to Damascus who has done his thruhike, Double-Check.  He stated he did his in 200 days and told me to ignore all the kids passing me.  My schedule has me doing mine in 180 days, so I guess I can take a bit more time and relax.  Sending home my winter gear on Thursday will help as well.

My knee started acting up again about mile 8.  This is not good.  I reached Mt Rogers Headquarters and Partnership shelter a little after  1pm.  The area around the shelter was full of tents and the picnic table covered with food items.  A couple of hikers told me people were camping out in anticipation of a Trail Days and the food was an informal Hiker Box, take what I wanted.  Sounded like an invitation to suite norovirus so I passed.  I decided to call the Econolodge where I had a reservation and extend the zeroes while waiting for Diane and Tail Days.  

I ran into McFly after he finished his trip to the doctor.  He said the doc suspects not a shin splint but an infection caused by his blisters.  It's hard to keep stuff clean in the woods.  With medication, he should be okay in a couple of days.

5/12/15 - Zeroing in Marion for a couple of days before Trail Days, trying to heal my knee and improve my mood. It started to rain at supper time last night, the squall line was impressive as it moved into town.

Unfortunate town supper didn't sit well with my system, my outraged gut woke me several times last night in revenge.  As did the horns of passing trains, the tracks are between the hotel and I-81, about a ¼ mile away.

McFly caught a ride back to Partnership shelter late this morning.  I walked down to the local WalMart to resupply and looked at Verizon service plans.  AT&T is my current provider, but on the AT, it lags behind Verizon in terms of connections.  Both are subject to line of sight issues but Verizon seems to have more towers, especially in small towns.

Today was a good day to be hiking, once the morning drizzle lifted and the skies cleared.  I walked the four blocks to the Walmart and did most of my resupply for after Trail Days and talked to the Verizon folks next door.  Hiker Blackout and some others were at the Little Caesar's Pizza for lunch, they'll be at Trail Days too.  My knee is still tight.  Tomorrow I'll stop at Walgreens and catch the bus to do laundry.  I'm bummed and bored.

Pictures - Damascus area

Marker in the fireplace at Nick Grindstaff homestead.

The marker has cracked, hence the line around the chimney.

I don't know if he is buried here or not.

Nick Grindstaff homestead and memorial

I looks like the old well is just left of the tent.

Sundown

Trail Magic!

Thank you Nelson Chapel Baptist Church!

Disabled access section of the Appalachian Trail

Not far past the tall tree the section curves right and ends at 

a small bench allowing a nice view to the right. 

Queens Knob shelter

Small, no water, and on a ridge, but the roof is sound and the platform 

is in good shape.  Still, only a mile and a bit to the 

next, and better, shelter

Abingdon Gap shelter

I placed my tent pretty much where it was

in 2007.

Pink Lady Slipper orchid

State Line!

Wilson and Binjali crossing into Virginia

Damascus, VA

5/4/15 - The monument was a nice place to camp except for the lack of water.  The moon was full and the sky clear, was beautiful in the middle of the night.  The fire unfortunately was a bit too long lasting, I spent my last liter of water putting out embers this morning.  The morning was cool so we didn't immediately need water after breakfast.

We hit a stream about two miles out, camelled up on water and had a quick breakfast.  About a mile or so later we hit Trail Magic.  A church had left a steel box full of iced sodas, snacks and some small supplies.  A Little Debbie snack and a cold Coke sure was a nice start to the day!  

Papa Al and Conductor were there, we hadn't seen them since Neels Gap when I assisted Conductor with his new smart phone. It's fun running into people on trail after being separated for a while.

We reached Abingdon gap shelter just before 3pm.  Looking around, I could almost see the tents of friends I camped with here in 2007. We'll hike into town tomorrow morning.



5/5/15 - We woke up and hit the trail at 7am.  We reached the Virginia state line by 9:30 and the edge of town by eleven.

Hiking thru town, Wilson stopped at Mt. Rodgers Outfitters and got his broken hiking pole fixed for free.  I can't recommend Leki brand poles enough, they're the only ones I know of that provide free fixes.  

We caught a short ride to a small burger joint, ordered lunch, and Wilson voiced the decision he's been wrestling with for days.  He really isn't enamored of going to Trail Days.  Can't really blame him, he doesn't have family or off trail friends that will be there like I will.  So he's  hiking out of Damascus today.  I have to stay and zero, probably here and somewhere up trail.  I have worked my schedule over and over and I can't make Bland, VA even if I leave today.  And leaving now would put me in Atkins too early.  Plus, I need resupply, not just food but clothing, but especially shoes and socks.  CoEd and Tucson are somewhere behind me and, like Hot Springs, AT&T has lousy (actually nonexistent) cell service in Damascus.  So I can't even place a simple phone call!  Trail life isn't any fun today.

Talking to thruhiker Bayou, currently the summer caretaker for The Place, the Methodist hostel in Damascus,  he recommends that I not stay in Atkins but rather get a shuttle into Marion,VA from Partnership Shelter eleven miles before Atkins.  So I'll plan on sleeping in Marion I guess and tomorrow redo my schedule. Again.

People I met today: Marine One, Bayou, Ru, Icefire, Huck, Wanjana.



5/6/15 - I got to sleep last night around eleven.  I was tenting on the lawn at The Place hostel.  Turns out most hikers were at Woodchuck's hostel or Crazy Larry's hostel.  Today a fair number of younger hikers are wandering around; I'm told they probably got booted from Woodchuck's for alcohol or weed use.

I spent the day shopping, or trying to.  One outfitter had been expecting a shipment of my hiking shoe, turns out the shipment hasn't even left the warehouse.  He's not the only one irritated, Trail Days in Damascus starts next week and all the local merchants are pressed for time getting ready.  I replaced my shirt, got groceries, mailed some extra stuff home.  Then I walked around trying to find decent wifi or the elusive AT&T cell service.  Finally at 2pm, I gave up and checked into the Hikers Inn, which does have decent wifi.  I was able to get a Skype call thru to REI to confirm the shoes they advertise are the same model I am wearing.  So those are on order for next Friday during Trail Days.  I also booked a hotel in Marion,VA next Wednesday so I can get cleaned up before Diane picks me up Thursday.  Then I realized the schedule out of Trail Days wouldn't require the original re supply points, so I spent an hour or so on the patio reworking it and managed to find a way to bypass the difficult hitch into Bland,VA as well as avoid a difficult 21 mile day.  So things are looking up, even though I'm still bummed out.

5/7/15 - I piddled around today doing not much. The Wi-Fi at the hostel went down as I was trying to order new boots online this morning; turns out they are upgrading service, and the tech was supposed to show up yesterday.  He went into the crawl space under the house to run wire and came back up scared of an aggressive woodchuck.  So now the Wi-Fi is working in the owners section of the house.  They did have some boosters, but they aren't hooking up to the new router.  I finally stood on the back porch near a window and got my business done.

Why not use my cell service?  Because all of these little towns seem to be in dead spots.  More so for AT&T than Verizon, but both companies seem to provide poor cell service in town.  I actually get better 4G service up on top of the mountains out in the woods than in town!

Wanjana is getting a ride out to Abington with Quahog, who has finished his section.  Wanjana wanted to keep hiking, but he got a call to help with an emergency relief organization in Nepal, so he is leaving.

Tomorrow I'm hiking out 14 miles to the second shelter.  Then three more days until I can be picked up for Trail Days next weekend.

Dennis Cove - Watauga Lake

5/1/15 - Leaving Mountain Harbour.
I apparently slept poorly again last night, I have no appetite and my mood is depressed this morning.  Waking up to drizzle didn't help, although the rain has stopped, it's overcast and in the upper 40s.  We have twelve miles to Kincora hostel. I am not a happy hiker.

We started hiking at 10:30, and hit Dennis Cove Road at 3pm. Eleven miles, with 5-day food supply loaded packs, in four and a half hours. Nearly 2.5mph for the day.  Our trail legs are definitely showing.

The whole distance we were in the cloud.  I noticed that it apparently hailed, BB sized, and a lot of it, up on the mountain last night. It rained hard at Mountain Harbour and I think we might have gotten some small hail for a few minutes.

I got to the road wet, cold and still unhappy.  Took about 3 minutes to decide to walk to Black Bear Resort instead of Kincora Hostel, even though it's a 0.5 mile walk instead of 0.2 miles the other way to the hostel. nothing against Kincora, I'm just not feeling sociable today.

Got a small cabin with two bare mattresses for $45.  It's heated with propane, so I hung my sodden long sleeve wool shirt up above the heater.  Sat down to take off my shoes and the shirt slipped off the hanger onto the heater and burst into flames.  Lots of foul smoke but no damage other than the shirt, which of course is destroyed.  Sigh.  The weather is supposed to be in the seventies for the rest of the week.  I sure hope it is. I'd already planned on buying new pants in Damascus, guess a whole new outfit will be the actual purchase.

5/2/15 - Today dawned cool but clear.  Wilson, Onward, Anchor, Brokedown and I got shuttled out to Wilbur Dam Road crossing, about 13 miles.  Wilson and I slack packed back to Bears Den hostel, the rest are headed for Damascus as they slacked yesterday. I feel a lot better today.

We hiked around Lake Watauga, then climbed Pond Mountain.  It was a long climb, 1750ft, but it was good trail with plenty of long switchbacks. We passed Happy, Wild Turkey, Huck, Zen, Cuervo Fire and several others.  Johnny Adventure was camped at Pond Flats on the top of the mountain.  He got sick last night, vomiting and diarrhea, but thinks it was bad food rather than norovirus.  He's still going to camp out today as he's weak from nothing to eat since yesterday.  He also got bad news from home that will take him off trail a week or so, his 97yr grandmother peacefully passed away yesterday. Very sad.

The last segment was Laurel Fork Gorge.  The trail clambers over rocks and runs next to the creek. Its a beautiful area, and I saw my first flame azalea and wild rhododendron blooming, just like I did my last trek.  The falls were great, and we did the usual pictures.  It being Saturday, lots of day tourists had hiked the mile or so down from the road.  We hiked out and made Dennis Cove Road by 3pm, then walked the half mile to Bears Den.  Tomorrow we'll shuttle out to Wilber Dam Road again and follow the gang to Damascus.

5/3/15 - Ridges have Ruffles

We got dropped off at Wilbur Dam Road and started our trek to Iron Mountain Shelter.  Bob the driver from Bears Den stated Damascus was already full up and that we would have trouble finding hostel room.  So as soon as I got a cell signal on the ridge I called ahead and made reservations.  

The trail runs along the ridge above Lake Watauga.  Once the climb up to the top is made, there are a lot of up and down stretches, informally called roller coasters.  We got to Iron Mountain shelter a bit before three, so we tested a bit then pushed on a couple more miles to the site of a hermit's house.  The only thing left is the remains of the chimney and a nearby depression that's probably the well.  Nick Grindstaff's marker in his old fireplace states he lived alone, suffered alone, and died alone.  How sad.  The location has a nice view of the valley below and the town of Mountain City, TN.

We made a dry camp, there's no water source here.  Wilson walked up trail 0.1 miles to the next gap, but the water there is a bare trickle.  So we will walk dry in the morning.  I've got a liter now, so the day will start okay.