Friday, May 16, 2008
Rural Retreat to Bland, Virginia
May 8-11, 2008
Total Miles: 579.2
Not much special about this 45 mile section of the trail. I took a zero day at the Relax Inn in Rural Retreat due to severe thunderstorms, but since I’d allowed four days for this section, it did not hurt my schedule. I knocked it out in 3 days of 14, 19, and 12 miles. Walked thru a couple of pretty farms, but otherwise, a boring walk. Due to the storm and the limited shelters, plus the threat of more severe weather, a large bunch of us thru-hikers ended up in a cluster of about 20 hikers for these three days. I was very excited about the upcoming visit with my daughter and granddaughter of course.
Total Miles: 579.2
Not much special about this 45 mile section of the trail. I took a zero day at the Relax Inn in Rural Retreat due to severe thunderstorms, but since I’d allowed four days for this section, it did not hurt my schedule. I knocked it out in 3 days of 14, 19, and 12 miles. Walked thru a couple of pretty farms, but otherwise, a boring walk. Due to the storm and the limited shelters, plus the threat of more severe weather, a large bunch of us thru-hikers ended up in a cluster of about 20 hikers for these three days. I was very excited about the upcoming visit with my daughter and granddaughter of course.
Damascus to Rural Retreat, VA
May 4-7 2008
Total Miles: Over 500 Miles
This stretch included climbing over Mt. Rogers (highest point in Virginia) and crossing the Grayson Highlands. Wow? What awesome scenery in this section. It was like being on the set of an old TV show like “The Big Valley” or “Bonanza”. Wild ponies roaming the range, beautiful green pastures with cows and bulls grazing, flowers, and flowering trees blooming. In more than one place, I stood and just slowly rotated, clicking picture after picture, in an attempt to try to capture the 360 degree magnificence of the landscape.
This is the country side that inspired songs like, “America the Beautiful” and “This Land is My Land”.
My words cannot do it justice. I hope the photo’s help. Certainly the weather Gods were with me this week providing 70+ degree sunny skies to match the perfection of the landscape.
Along the way, I took a 2 mile road walk detour into Troutdale, VA where I dined for dinner and breakfast the next morning at Jerry’s Kitchen and spent the night as the guest of the Troutdale Baptist Church Hiker Hostel, which was also arranged by Jerry. Jerry is a really sweet guy, in his 40’s I’d guess. Likely works seven days a week at his family restaurant/grocery store in tiny Troutdale. I suspect he dreams of one day being free to hike the A.T. I hope his dream comes true.
The following night was spent at the “Partnership Shelter” also known as the “Pizza Shelter” because it is collocated with the Mt. Rogers National Recreation Area Headquarters on a major road and local pizza places and other restaurants will deliver fool there.
Well, me and four other hikers had a major feast from the Tuscany Grill that night. I won’t go into all the details, but will say I spent $27 just on my portion and could barely crawl into my sleeping bag when I got done!
I also met another hiker named “August” – a 17 year Army vet – who had brought a small chess set as his luxury item. I won 3 our of 4 games with him, though all four games were closely contested.
On May 7, I rolled into the (tongue-in-cheek) 5 star Relax Inn in Rural Retreat where I would resupply and rest up for next leg of my journey.
Total Miles: Over 500 Miles
This stretch included climbing over Mt. Rogers (highest point in Virginia) and crossing the Grayson Highlands. Wow? What awesome scenery in this section. It was like being on the set of an old TV show like “The Big Valley” or “Bonanza”. Wild ponies roaming the range, beautiful green pastures with cows and bulls grazing, flowers, and flowering trees blooming. In more than one place, I stood and just slowly rotated, clicking picture after picture, in an attempt to try to capture the 360 degree magnificence of the landscape.
This is the country side that inspired songs like, “America the Beautiful” and “This Land is My Land”.
My words cannot do it justice. I hope the photo’s help. Certainly the weather Gods were with me this week providing 70+ degree sunny skies to match the perfection of the landscape.
Along the way, I took a 2 mile road walk detour into Troutdale, VA where I dined for dinner and breakfast the next morning at Jerry’s Kitchen and spent the night as the guest of the Troutdale Baptist Church Hiker Hostel, which was also arranged by Jerry. Jerry is a really sweet guy, in his 40’s I’d guess. Likely works seven days a week at his family restaurant/grocery store in tiny Troutdale. I suspect he dreams of one day being free to hike the A.T. I hope his dream comes true.
The following night was spent at the “Partnership Shelter” also known as the “Pizza Shelter” because it is collocated with the Mt. Rogers National Recreation Area Headquarters on a major road and local pizza places and other restaurants will deliver fool there.
Well, me and four other hikers had a major feast from the Tuscany Grill that night. I won’t go into all the details, but will say I spent $27 just on my portion and could barely crawl into my sleeping bag when I got done!
I also met another hiker named “August” – a 17 year Army vet – who had brought a small chess set as his luxury item. I won 3 our of 4 games with him, though all four games were closely contested.
On May 7, I rolled into the (tongue-in-cheek) 5 star Relax Inn in Rural Retreat where I would resupply and rest up for next leg of my journey.
Damascus, Virginia
May 2-3
The so-called “Friendliest Town on the Trail” and the home of the largest annual hiking festival “Trail Days” held med-May each hear. People have been talking about Damascus for weeks. Being the contrarian that I am, I’ve been lowering my expectations consistent with everyone else raising theirs. I was not disappointed. Damascus is a little bigger than Hot Springs, but otherwise similar. The A.T. runs right thru the middle of town. It has all the usual hiker stuff: hostels, B&B’s, outfitters (multiple in this case), a bank, a few places to eat, a Laundromat, a Post Office, and a Dollar General store.
I, however, found that Damascus had a harder edge, was a bit dirtier, and lacked some of the charm and naiveté of Hot Springs. Perhaps the success of the “Trail Days” experience has ruined the small town feel of Damascus that once was. In any case, I walked into town about 12 noon on a sunny Friday. The town was bursting with hikers and tourists. I was fortunate to get one of the last available beds in the whole town. I had to take two nights, given that it was the weekend. So, I ended up at the truly lovely “Victorian Inn”, a B&B in a restored 1906 home. The innkeepers were retired antique dealers from Phoenix, so the house was jammed with awesome Eastlake antiques. I felt like I was back in Woodruff Place!
With my extra day in Damascus, I did an 18+ mile slack pack, which allowed me to finally get totally back on schedule. I’d been 1-2 days behind ever since my first zero day at Fontana Dam.
Oh, Mrs. B&B made some great breakfast treats as well, so my committed effort to stop losing any more weight is starting to work. Putting weight back on while hiking the trail is not likely possible – but, I think if I really stuff myself in town at every opportunity, I can at least stop the downward trend. Then I hope to gain maybe 5 pounds or so during the two weeks I’m off trail in June. Other than the weight loss, I’m doing fine physically.
Oh sure, I have aches and pains every day. My knees hurt every night as I go to sleep – but not enough to keep me awake. My shoulders scream at me every afternoon starting at about 2 p.m. from the pack straps cutting into me. But, almost miraculously, I have not had a single blister, and my feet rarely, if ever, hurt at all. So, I am in much better shape physically than many other who are hobbling along beside me. And, I am very grateful for that!
The so-called “Friendliest Town on the Trail” and the home of the largest annual hiking festival “Trail Days” held med-May each hear. People have been talking about Damascus for weeks. Being the contrarian that I am, I’ve been lowering my expectations consistent with everyone else raising theirs. I was not disappointed. Damascus is a little bigger than Hot Springs, but otherwise similar. The A.T. runs right thru the middle of town. It has all the usual hiker stuff: hostels, B&B’s, outfitters (multiple in this case), a bank, a few places to eat, a Laundromat, a Post Office, and a Dollar General store.
I, however, found that Damascus had a harder edge, was a bit dirtier, and lacked some of the charm and naiveté of Hot Springs. Perhaps the success of the “Trail Days” experience has ruined the small town feel of Damascus that once was. In any case, I walked into town about 12 noon on a sunny Friday. The town was bursting with hikers and tourists. I was fortunate to get one of the last available beds in the whole town. I had to take two nights, given that it was the weekend. So, I ended up at the truly lovely “Victorian Inn”, a B&B in a restored 1906 home. The innkeepers were retired antique dealers from Phoenix, so the house was jammed with awesome Eastlake antiques. I felt like I was back in Woodruff Place!
With my extra day in Damascus, I did an 18+ mile slack pack, which allowed me to finally get totally back on schedule. I’d been 1-2 days behind ever since my first zero day at Fontana Dam.
Oh, Mrs. B&B made some great breakfast treats as well, so my committed effort to stop losing any more weight is starting to work. Putting weight back on while hiking the trail is not likely possible – but, I think if I really stuff myself in town at every opportunity, I can at least stop the downward trend. Then I hope to gain maybe 5 pounds or so during the two weeks I’m off trail in June. Other than the weight loss, I’m doing fine physically.
Oh sure, I have aches and pains every day. My knees hurt every night as I go to sleep – but not enough to keep me awake. My shoulders scream at me every afternoon starting at about 2 p.m. from the pack straps cutting into me. But, almost miraculously, I have not had a single blister, and my feet rarely, if ever, hurt at all. So, I am in much better shape physically than many other who are hobbling along beside me. And, I am very grateful for that!
Dennis Cove Road (Kincora Hostel) to Damascus, VA
April 29- May 2, 2008
I spent 2 nights at the Kincora Hostel. The guy that runs it is truly a trail angel. It’s run strictly on donations – suggested $4.00 per night, when the for profit hostels all charge $15.00 per night – and he gives free shuttles to town twice a day, plus free slack pack shuttles, provides laundry soap, shampoo, TP, razors, you name it!
In a supreme example of how life is unfair, I heard from another hiker that his wife has a terminal illness for which there is no cure. People said it was quite unusual that she spent so little time out in the hostel with us. The God and Goddess must have very special plans for Pat in her next reincarnation, I just hope that her husband somehow gets to join her too.
Speaking of Karma – on my last morning at Kincora, Miss Willow was just arriving. You remember her – she was one of the four that survived the bear attack with me and that later tormented me for snoring in another shelter causing me to get so mad I broke contact with her and hiked away. Well – completely unsolicited by me, Willow sincerely apologized from the heart for poking me repeatedly that night and expressed remorse. She said she was sorry and hoped that it had not broken our friendship. I told her I was very glad that she apologized because it really did bother me a lot being poked and jabbed when trying to sleep. I accepted her apology and said that of course we were still friends.
I fell much better about this now because the last thing I came out on the trail to do was to make enemies. Rather, I hope to find friends!
The hike to Damascus was otherwise uneventful.
I spent 2 nights at the Kincora Hostel. The guy that runs it is truly a trail angel. It’s run strictly on donations – suggested $4.00 per night, when the for profit hostels all charge $15.00 per night – and he gives free shuttles to town twice a day, plus free slack pack shuttles, provides laundry soap, shampoo, TP, razors, you name it!
In a supreme example of how life is unfair, I heard from another hiker that his wife has a terminal illness for which there is no cure. People said it was quite unusual that she spent so little time out in the hostel with us. The God and Goddess must have very special plans for Pat in her next reincarnation, I just hope that her husband somehow gets to join her too.
Speaking of Karma – on my last morning at Kincora, Miss Willow was just arriving. You remember her – she was one of the four that survived the bear attack with me and that later tormented me for snoring in another shelter causing me to get so mad I broke contact with her and hiked away. Well – completely unsolicited by me, Willow sincerely apologized from the heart for poking me repeatedly that night and expressed remorse. She said she was sorry and hoped that it had not broken our friendship. I told her I was very glad that she apologized because it really did bother me a lot being poked and jabbed when trying to sleep. I accepted her apology and said that of course we were still friends.
I fell much better about this now because the last thing I came out on the trail to do was to make enemies. Rather, I hope to find friends!
The hike to Damascus was otherwise uneventful.
Friday, May 9, 2008
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