So yeah... it rained a lot but it was still awesome!
After the Damacathon, took a zero in Damascus May 5th. Stayed at Lady Di’s BnB Hiker Hostel “Where hikers are treated like royalty”. It was really nice. Clean house with clean beds, laundry, bicycles to use for grocery store run. York peppermint patty on your pillow and top notch breakfast the in the morning including blueberry cornbread, eggs, sausage, and fried potatoes.
The serving size was enough to take a 2nd breakfast and first lunch ToGo. Nice hot coffee. It was hard to leave especially because it was raining HARD.
But we came to hike not hide, so into rain we walked.
Wednesday, May 6th, hiked18.9 miles, and it rained most of the day. My grocery bag and duck tape waterproof sock covers last about 2 hours. Most of the day was cold wet slog up hill
The next day Thursday May 7th, I woke up to thick fog, basically in a cloud. It stayed that way with small showers, when not dense fog until mid day, when I reached Grayson Highlands State Park, home of wild ponies. The fog lifted while I passed through the prairie and scrub hills allowing me to see a small herd of wild ponies pass through. As I was leaving the state park the fog returned and the finished with cold light rain and mist. Being wet and cold for so long was bone chilling so we cooked inside our tent vestibules and went to sleep early.
The next morning the sunrise was stunning.
Saturday May 9th short hike for a Nero in Marion at the Merry Inn. It was a Hostel above an outfitter. AT and Windbreaker were very excited because the guy who runs the place (Coach) is apparently YouTube famous. So they were all excited. I was excited for Shushi at the place on the corner. That evening I had a long phone call with Jane. I can’t wait to see her at Trail Days.
Then next morning while waiting for our shuttle back to the trail, a plate of pancakes with honey, banana slices and ice cream was handed out a window to me. Best trail magic ever. A couple hikers I had talked with at the waterfall the other day had booked the private apartment in the back for their Tramily and they remembered me and decided to share their breakfast! Yum!
Once I got back on trail I ran into Roux. Back Story: Roux was the 2nd person I met on the 1st day at the top of Amicalola Falls after Master Chief the older man that I started the approach trail with. Roux was whistling a tune. So I call her “Whistler” even though her official trail name is Roux. Sub Zero also met Roux on the first day and we shared stories of her not knowing they were the same person. I mentioned her exceptional whistling skills. Sub Zero mentioned her surprise when Roux’s ride said, “Do you have Andy?” And Roux pulled out Ziploc bag full of ashes and cheerfully said, “right here!” Roux’ is recently widowed, and this hike is part of her restarting life process after her husband’s tragic early death from cancer. We shared stories all morning. Honestly sharing stories with fellow hikers is probably the best part of the trail.
By the end of the morning I missed Andy and I had never met him but he sounded like an incredible person. I told Roux’ about Jane and how we had met. She commented that she would like to hear Jane’s side of the meet/cute story as it sounds like a story best told together, which is true.
I had not seen Roux in a month until just recently because she hikes farther than I do per day. But she had taken a week off to go rock climbing with friends.
This sort of thing actually happens a lot on trail. You will meet someone- then not see them for days, weeks or even months. Then poof y’all pop up in the same place. You may have only be a day ahead or behind or in other cases like Stanimal and Dolly you leap frog each other camping in different places but still see each other every couple days.
Their story is pretty interesting too. Both their parents used to be Amish, and they still have a lot of ties to Amish communities. They have a YouTube Channel and a blog. Stanimal’s mom shares their stories with an Amish friend and somehow that makes it way to a weekly column in an Amish newspaper the “Budget.” I really want a copy. I had no idea there was national weekly Amish newspaper. I am totally intrigued.
There was trail magic at an old one room school house around lunch time. Pretty nice. A local church stocks the plastic bins with Gatorade and snacks every day. While sitting on the picnic table out side I spotted beer can stuffed in the wooden shutters of the school house. Figuring it was empty, so I ignored it until another hiker found a full beer in a tree just behind me. I figured if the tree beer was full then maybe the shutter beer was full too! Double trail magic. Thanks trail angels for the IPA!
Monday May 11, woke up to rain, hiked in the rain. Hung out with a hobo and his dog under a pavilion and shared provisions and a little time not getting rained on, but ultimately after a sock change, I moved on as the rain was not going to stop. It was a long wet day ending at Chestnut Knob Shelter at the top of a hill. The rain did stop long enough to run a clothesline and dry out all my stuff again. The shelter was fully enclosed with a door. I opted for the shelter that night. I sent a picture to Journey Man. He knew exactly where I was. He commented that Chestnut Knob has the best Privy view on the trail. Which is true. There is no door and you could watch the sun set from the outhouse. The view the other way was a spectacular sunrise.
Tuesday morning the valley below was filled with mist and looked like cauldron or lake of clouds below. Short day only 15 miles to Suiter Road. But awesome campsite and running river with a great swimming hole. I actually got AT and Windbreaker to go in with me. It was freezing cold. We started a 3 count, but on 2, AT slipped and fell in. We all laughed and made him do it again together on 3.
Wednesday, May 13 was a long 18.8 mile day, at 7 miles there was a road crossing and a little market called Brushy Mountain Outpost. They had limited resupply, so bought instant mash potatoes and ramen for dinner later that night and honey buns and pop tarts for breakfast the next day. While I was there waiting for the Tramily I also ate 2nd breakfast - eggs with sausage biscuits and gravy and then lunch, pulled pork and French fries.
The extra calories were good. Later that day I jogged a few miles to Jenny Knob Shelter arriving just before the sky opened up in rain and later thunderstorms that night. The evening had sounds of thunder followed by gobbles of startled wild turkeys.
The next day was a breezy (kind of cold but nice) 6 mile walk down hill to mile 610, and the inter section of the trail and Va 606, where Brian (Simmer Down’s husband) picked us up to drive the Tramily back to Trail Days, in Damascus.
As I write Jane has already landed in Charlotte. She is driving toward our AirBnB, which is a treehouse. Epic!
Next post will be about Trail Days. Until next time happy hiking!
Looks awesome homie,try give us a week notice before you get to pa.
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