Damascus

5/12/17

• Miles hiked: 8.2 into Damascus 
  
• Shelter: Dancing Bear B&B

The overnight thunderstorms were loud and kept us up most of the night but we woke up excited to get to the trail town Damascus. 

We packed up the tent in the rain and headed out. 

A few miles in we passed the TN / VA border. PUMPED to knock another state off our list we posed and kept on moving. 

We made it to Damascus!!!

Once in Damascus we headed to the local pharmacy for medicine Ziploc needed. He had been battling a sinus infection for the past few days and after a quick call from Teledoc, he had meds waiting for him in town. We are so thankful for this medical technology we have access to in the trail. 

Luckily for us, there was an all you can eat (AYCE) pizza place across the parking lot so our rain soaked jog wasn't very far for food. 

WE ATE A LOT. And for the record, we both also had salads, some of our first veggies on the trail. Haha. 

We walked back towards town and passed Laurel Creek, the "Creek" that runs through the town. It was swollen and moving fast but that didn't stop the wildlife from enjoying it. 

We moved into problem solving mode. We knew our B&B would do our laundry overnight for us but when you only have the clothes on your back, you can't survive 12 hours without them. We checked our AT guide and found only one place in town that offered coin laundry. It was a lodge just down the street. There was no one there but we called the reservation desk and they directed us to the facilities. Then put on our rain gear, and only our rain gear 😉 and started the wash. As we started the wash the rain came down. We took advantage of the shelter on the lodge's covered porch (no room in the laundry) and waited out the rain and the rest of the laundry. Soon we were in clean, dry clothes and the rain let up enough for us to walk to our B&B. 

We grabbed our packages from the post office. I had some new shoes shipped to me and a package from Papa Bear with my Bluetooth camera clicker and lots of snacks and supplies in it. The shoes didn't fit and it was quite the ordeal to return them as the closest UPS (free returns) place was 11 miles away and we have no vehicle. The lady at the Dancing Bear (and Jellybean) helped me get them back to UPS and I am very grateful to them for the help. I'll have to try it a different way next time. Either way we all win because now you will see more photos of Ziploc and I (together) since we have the new CLICKER! 

After showers, we walked in the rain to a burrito place for dinner and then afterwards to a local arcade/restaurant for a couple of beers and a lot of pacman. 

The next day we picked up our resupply and some hot dogs at a yard sale at the church across the street and headed out of town. 

Seems like every town exit is over a bridge. 

Oh and we stopped for ice cream on the way out! 

All we do is hike, hike, hike...

Quick live update: We are passing through Daleville VA this evening (6/2) and have hiked over 700 miles on the AT. I'm a bit behind on posting updates because cell signal (& good wifi, apparently) is very hard to find, plus sometimes all I really want to do is just eat and sleep. 😊 

5/10/17

• Miles traveled: 16.1
  
• Shelter: tent at mile 434.6
  

We headed out of the Black Bear cabin and into the woods. Damascus,Va in our future plans. The beginning of our day was amazing. We hiked around the Pond Mountain Wilderness, the Laurel Fork River and the trail ran right down to the falls. 

The trail was well maintained and unlike some terrain we have seen before. Steep rock walls and perfectly placed stones. 

We crossed quite a few bridges and followed a large creek through the mountains. 

All of lead that us to this...

It was roaring from the last few days of rain and it was beautiful. 

We tried to take a decent photo in front of the falls but the rocks were slippery and I didn't have my "clicker" yet so 10 seconds to run and pose was very awkward. Anyways. This turned out pretty good. 

This area was beautiful. The trail went right along the river on the rocks you can see Ziploc to the right on the photo below. 

 It was awesome. 

We hiked up and over Pond Flats. This was a 2,000 ft climb and immediate descent. There wasn't much of a view at the top and it was a LOT of work to get there. At the bottom of Pond Flats was Shook Recreation area on Watauga Lake. 

Beautiful view of Watauga Lake coming down the mountain.  

Ziploc took a dip in Watauga Lake. 

We crossed over Watuga Dam later in the day. The back side of the dam was a steep cliff and the front offered great views of the lake. 

5/11/17

• Miles hiked: 25.5!!! (Biggest day yet)
  
• Shelter: Tent at campsite 460.1

We had a great day! We woke up and got a move on. We knew we would be hitting Damascus soon days so we were excited to hike some miles. 

Early in the morning we hit Uncle Nick Grindstaff's grave. He was born 12/26/1891 and passed away on 6/22/1923. The epitaph on the grave read...

Lived alone, suffered alone and died alone. 

Haunting isn't it?

Looks like the trail has been well maintained in this area and it keeps us out of the mud and from slipping on wet wood. 

Later we came across some inmates working on a section of gate near the trail. It was a beautiful day. 

And then we walked into the most beautiful field. 

The trail winded around fields of wild flowers and then revealing the most amazing view of the valley. 

We continued from one field to the next for over a mile until ending up in a pasture. 

Ziploc making his way through the cows and cow patties. They moved out of the way for him. 

Adorable baby cows. 🐄

We hiked on into the woods. 

5/11/17

• Miles: 25.5!!!!
• Shelter: campsite at mile 460.1

Longest day on the trail so far. 

The terrain was very gentle today so we rocked it. The weather was nice and we knocked out miles with Damascus (and rain) in our plans for tomorrow. 

We walked ridges and down into gaps. The leaves are filling the forest with green so we didn't have many views today. 

I've started listening to audio books on my phone while hiking. It has definitely helped to pass the time and the miles. If you have any recommendations, send them my way. Ziploc still chooses to walk in silence. 

We walked all day and into the evening. We have been passing up tenting at the shelters lately. We are currently at the edge of "the bubble" which means shelters and campsites can be crowded. This leaves less than stellar campsites later in the day and more noise than we like. We grab water at the last stream or shelter and then walk on down the trail a mile or two further to a campsite. 

Today we picked up water at Abingdon Gap Shelter at about 7:30pm and we pushed on a little further. It was getting dark and we were expecting rain overnight so we wanted to settle in quickly. Coming around the bend in the trail we heard something BIG in the woods. We looked up and saw a bear crash to the ground from a tree. He was about 50 ft in front of us and he very quickly headed up the mountain, away from us. 

We were so excited. We finally saw a bear! We definitely agreed that it was the best scenario in which to see a bear. 

1. He saw us first and started moving away 
   
2. We saw him when we were hiking together (not alone)
   
3. He was headed in a direction completely different than our direction or the direction of the trail
   

We found a campsite and even set up before the thunderstorms came through. Excited from the day and what VA will hold for us soon!

You never know where you will end up.

5/5 & 5/6

• Miles traveled: 10 miles & a birthday ZERO
• Shelter: home, Valdese NC
• High point: JEANS, cotton socks, visiting with more family and friends
• Low point: feeling guilty about leaving all our fellow hikers in the snow and rain

When we woke up in our tent under the barn we realized it had stopped raining, finally. The sun was almost shinning but there was a chill in the air.





When we have cell service we try to check the weather as much as possible even though it is rarely accurate. We had been watching the weather for days and knew a cold front was coming. They were calling for snow at the higher elevations (right where we were).
Luckily I received a perfectly timed text message.

Lately we have been doing less "planning" and more "going where the trail takes us". We haven't been planning our days out or hitting a required set of miles. We have just been going until we are ready to stop and then we are done for the day. (Surprisingly, I am adapting well to this "less planned" lifestyle but more on that later.)
So... we opted out of snow and bad weather. Our trail angel/family friend/Russ' Godmother had offered to come and pick us up for the weekend and we took her up on it! We didn't have any other plans. My birthday was the following day. The weather was going to be pretty terrible, SO WHY NOT?!
We set a time to meet and then hiked 10 miles to meet Anita and Boyd. Those 10 miles packed a punch!
We started with Little Hump Mountain. The trail, on the left, goes all the way up the mountain in the "bald" spot and up into the clouds.

You can see Ziploc in the far left for size reference.

You can see the trail was a mess after all the rain. Hiking was very similar to trying to walk up a very soapy slip-n-slide.

The views were still amazing.


After we cleared Lil Hump Mountain it was on to Hump Mountain. More amazing views.

We have decided that this section of the AT from Carvers Gap to Hwy 19E (mile 378.9 to 393.7) would be an amazing weekend section hike. You would hike the balds, stay at the barn and catch all the views. It's on our list to revisit.
Anyways. After the balds we passed the LEAVING NC sign. We have been hopping the TN/NC boarder for almost 3 weeks. It's nice to have another state completely behind us, even if it is our home state.

We made it to Anita and Boyd and after a delicious lunch we headed home for two nights of rest.
Hiker trash comes home and airs everything out. Every thing stinks.

We visited with family and friends while we were home. We ate well and we relaxed. We also missed the snow and ice on the trail but we weren't too upset over that.

Happy to have this opportunity to visit with family and friends. Thank you to Anita and Boyd for bringing us back and Dad (Jay) for letting us in. 😂 We had no clue that morning that our day would bring us home... And it was just what we needed.