It rained very hard last night starting at 6:30 (I was in a shelter) and on and off throughout the night. I got an early start at 6:30am in a damp fog but not too cold. It was nice to not pack up a went tent. This picture has a hiker I met named Little Kiss from Helena, MT. He’s almost 65 and is killing it on the trail. He started the same day I did and stayed at the Hiker Hostel the same day as well.

  
The sign is a little hard to read, but I just crossed into Virginia…

  
The trail is in VA for the next 500+ miles !
Damascus, VA is is known as Trail Town USA. Not only does the AT go right down Main St. but the Trans America bicycle route does as well. Their annual Trail Days festival starts in about a week, when this little town of 800 will swell to almost 30,000 !

The sidewalks are very welcoming 🙂

  The Hikers Inn is a great place to stay…a beautiful home built in 1847.
They even loan you hospital scrubs to wear while doing your laundry (a fairly common practice in the hiker-lodging community). The town looks like it’s hosting a Surgery Convention with everyone walking around in scrubs (or rain gear…another common laundry day outfit)

  This is from a great art studio in town, Matt has some other very unique work…check it out here: AsTheSawTurns.com

I found a beard trimmer and took about 15yrs of gray off my face.

   I’ve reworked my rough schedule since I was about 5 days early arriving here. This is what it might look like depending on how things go.

A couple quick videos to give you a taste of the trail in Tennessee:

Much too late now…good night.

A foggy start to the day, but very comfortable temps for walking.

I crossed paths with Tough Love after leap frogging since Hot Springs and we hiked together for a good part of the day. We were treated to some cold Pepsi left in this bear proof locker. Oddly, they only had zero calories Pepsi Max…trail magic is always good but we need every calorie we can get! (it still tasted good 🙂

Walking briefly through some pretty rolling farmland…

then reentering the woods.

Home for the night. It’s odd feeling like I’m cutting my day short after 19 miles, but it was only 3:15 and the weather was great. I had gotten word of some big rain and thunderstorm rolling in by 2pm, which then became 5pm and at last report was 8pm. I was able to check the radar on hill right before the shelter and it looked like a can’t miss storm regardless of the exact time, so I called it quits a bit early. Either way I will be getting into Damascus before noon tomorrow. Salty was a bit behind me all day after a late start. When he showed up ~4pm he had decided to push on to town for a 30mi day (easier terrain today) and had booked a place to stay knowing it probably be getting late and he’d prob be wet. We had already reserved a place to stay for tomorrow night so I will catch up to him later.

There were quite a few tents set up by the time the rain came at 6:45.

Looking forward to crossing into Virginia tomorrow and the easy walk into Damascus with plenty of time to take care of a long list of town chores and hopefully some relaxation.

I’ve started writing down some of my profound Trail Wisdom I come up with while hiking (typically shared in the shelter registers, so I thought I’d share on the blog as well:

1. Maine won’t come to you
Meaning,no more sitting around the shelter or hanging out in town…you need to keep moving!

2. Slack-packing is just a gateway drug
Slack-packing is hiking without your pack because either you or your pack are getting shuttled. Lots of lodges/hostels will offer shuttles so you can do this…and stay at their place for 2-nights instead of one. The gateway drug reference is b/c at first  you justify slack packing is OK cause you are still “hiking”, and the next day you will be justify skipping whole sections of trail. It’s a slippery slope!

3. You can’t slack pack your mind !

This is a logical follow up to the previous statement. While you might be able to slack-pack your pack/gear, the bigger problem for most folks is their mental state…and you can’t slack pack your mind!

This mornings hike started along the Laurel river…with the rhododendron starting to bloom.

Laurel Falls was quite impressive.

Salty negotiating some tricky trail.

It rained a bit in the late AM then the clouds started to lift. We will hike around and along the lake in the background for much of the afternoon.

After a long descent we made it down to the lake and had a snack as the clouds lifted.

It was in the mid 70’s today with 90% humidity which made for some steamy climbs.
I felt surprisingly good at the end of a 22mi day with a lot of climbing, but I’m definitely ready for bed !

  This was our campsite next to the Elk River…just about perfect other than all the dew on the ground and tents in the AM.

This was a good looking shelter about 4 miles up the trail. I stopped for water and a quick bite to eat.

Such civilized hiking… a comfortable park bench to kick back on and enjoy the view (this had to be 15 miles from a paved rd. in either direction)

The View…
this is the ridge line and Balds we hiked over yesterday The trail made a giant horseshoe over the last 30+ miles.
A quaint little cabin, but a bit drafty.
There was a forest fire that came through this area the week before. We were glad it wasn’t worse and we could now hike through. It still smelled quite strong,like a fireplace that needs cleaning.
More great views

We finished our 19 mile day by 4pm at a road crossing and being that it was supposed storm around 5pm we decided to get a cabin at the Bear Resort 1/2 mile down the road. Plus, they had ice cream, cold drinks, and all sorts of other hiker goodness. Around 5:30 the skies cut loose and we were feeling pretty smart. Several other hikers arrived during the rain completely soaked (not as smart).

Inside our cozy cabin…we shared it with another hiker (AJ) from Littleton, CO.

It was great to get a hot shower and have the time and room to clean and organize gear. We weren’t expecting to have time to do a lot of these chores until we got to Damascus in 3 days. Damascus is one of the best Trail Towns on the whole AT, plus, it’s the first town we will hit in Virginia! It’s setting up nicely for us to have a short day into town for resupply, laundry and relaxing before heading out mid afternoon the following day.

Pretty much all the nagging aches and pains have gone away, even the back muscles felt better today. Hopefully, they stay away for good. That would make the rest of this hike primarily a mental challenge. As I say, hiking the AT is 20% Physical, 90% Mental 🙂

Woke up to a cool foggy morning on top of Roan Mtn.

Some great view from the Balds on Little Hump Mtn.

The red barn has been converted into an AT shelter. What a spectacular setting!

Hiking up another Bald.

We’ve been crossing back and forth between NC and Tenn since we got to the Smokies. Now we say goodbye to NC.

This is Mountain Man. He started a southbound thru hike last August and left the trail in January and restarted mid March. He’s in the home stretch now. .

Even though we had a big 22 mile day planned we still managed time to hitch a ride 5 miles into town for Milkshakes et al.

Our driver, Mark.

AT hikers destination of choice.

This was my ride back (Mom was driving).

Jones Falls about a mile before camp.

Wound up doing 23 miles today with some minor side trips and detours. Felt surprisingly OK at the end of the day, though definitely ready to stop…at 7:45. It’s almost 10pm and I can barely keep my eyes open.

This little guy greeted me just after my 7am departure. I think he’s a newt.

More great views.

This is DirtMan, a local trail angel giving out bananas and Mtn. Dew

This would have been a great camp spot.

I met Lucky at a shelter during lunch. He’s doing a small section hike but he finished an AT thru hike last year at age 72…so impressive!

View from High Rock Knob

Delicate flowers on the way up Roan Mtn.

We entered a very dense Spruce forest before summiting Roan Mtn, our last peak over 6000′ until the White Mtns of New Hampshire.

It was a long day with a lot of climbing but definitely feeling strong and the minor nagging pains are getting better. My back still has some muscle tightness…too much constant tension between hiking and bending over (filtering water, setting up tent, etc). A good massage would be great in Damascus, VA.

It’s almost 10pm, well past hiker midnight (sundown), I’m going to bed!

The Noilchucky River flowing near Erwin, TN.

A view of the Mountains we descended from town.

Salty and I are riding bikes from our lodging into town (4-miles) for breakfast at the Huddle House (think Waffle House). Salty had coffee, two eggs, waffle soaked in butter/syrup, a double order of French fries and a milkshake. I had OJ, waffle, fries and a vanilla shake (pics next time for sure).

Ran into Odie with the Hiker Yearbook again (last seen on Day 3).

This is a footbridge over a creek we followed on the pleasant hike out of town.

Someone got creative with their log end cuts.

Trail Magic stop #1 today (sweet tea, Apple and a brownie).

The view from Beauty Bald.

Trail Magic stop #2, a can of Coke to go 🙂

We pitched our tents just in time before the rain came around 7pm on this wonderful bed of pine needles. Luckily, the rain cleared for a bit before bed.

The following are some pics Salty has taken (of me) over the last couple days. iPhones’s AirDrop makes backcountry file transfers a breeze!

I didn’t even realize we stayed in the same room as Earl Schaffer (the first AT Thru Hiker) in Hot Springs.

  This is our campsite we left this morning. A couple other folks were camped near us.
   I started hiking at 7am and climbed to the top of Big Bald by 8am…a bit windy but impressive clouds.

  
Big scary trees near the Bald…

  
Kind of looks like a haunted forest.

 
Drying sweaty gear out in the sun at a lunch break (love the hiking pole sick drying technique).

This is a video of Salty doing log Acrobatics:

I hiked with Apple Cheeks the last 6-miles to Erwin. We’ve leapfrogged her the last couple days. She’s one of only a handful of folks I’ve met who’s clearly on the “Varsity” team, bustling out 20+ mile days.
This is the same bear from several days ago…Salty forward me the pic he took.

I got into Erwin,TN today a popular trail town the AT skirts. I picked up a resupply box Andrea sent to me that should get me most of the way to Damascus, VA, one of the most well know towns on the AT (the trail runs right down main st.)

I totally forgot o get a picture this morning of our great campsite in the meadow…I need to be better at remembering those pics. The pic above is from some Trail Magic at Devils Fork Gap. Ice cream Sandwiches and soda…perfect snack eight miles in on a beautiful sunny day.

A selfie shot with some other hikers and our Trail Angel to my right. He drives his camper around all summer up and down the trail giving out trail magic.

A refreshing cascade coming down Laurel Mtn.

Salty assessing where we’ve just climbed from with the trail switch-backing below us.

This is a pic from one of the shelter registers. Andrea drew this awesome Bug Juice pic and I had it made into a stamp. The registers are a good way to keep tabs on people you’ve met who might be ahead of you and also pass along useful info to other hikers (spring is dry, bear activity here yesterday, etc).

Some wildflowers are starting to bloom.

This is how Salty (Legs) got his name.

Hiking into the early evening through a beautiful high mtn. meadow.

20 Miles has been the magic number lately as camp spots seem to keep popping up at this distance. My Achilles tightness and foot bruise was significantly better today. I was feeling strong with no discomfort until about a mile before camp. Today’s biggest bother is some muscle tightness in my lower back…oddly not from my pack. If someone out here has a foam roller I will be all set !