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.