Cruising in Virginia

Following an old trail hiking tradition we both took "trail names." LEGO for Jon and Redwood for Dave.

On April 21 we once again found it hard to leave a town but Damascus was especially difficult because we were there for two days. Just like every other town, we headed back into the mountains by going up 1000 ft in 2 miles. One cool thing from the day was that the AT followed the Virginia Creeper Trail for two short sections. The Creeper Trail is an old railroad bed that is one continuous slow climb as it follows a river. After 14.7 miles we called it quits and tented at Lost Mountain Shelter with 8 other thru-hikers and more then a half dozen weekenders.

On the morning of the 22nd, we woke up to "Cascade" playing his morning song "Eye of The Tiger" from the Rocky soundtrack. This got us in the mood to hike the 17 miles despite the low fog and high winds. The rain did come that day but it was fairly little and was on and off all day. The day started with a 1,400 ft climb to Whitetop Mointain. Next was a small dip and then up another 600 ft to the top of Mt Rogers (Virginia's highest point). After this point, most of the time we were hiking in grass fields with large rock protrusions in heavy fog. It was beautiful but disappointing because we knew there were views we were missing. Both of us were upset that when we entered the Garyson Highlands we did not see any of the wild ponies that live in the area. This was made worse when we found out that people before and after us had seen them. Wise Shelter was full with four other thru-hikers and four weekenders so we had to tent that night. After the weekenders finished their very luxurious meal, they offered it to all of us. Like true starving thru-hikers, we devoured the pork tenderloin and spiced oinon in just a few seconds.

In the morning, the very generous weekenders again offered us their breakfast scraps, breakfast burritos. After only a few miles of hiking all of yesterdays disappointments were made up for. Not only did we get to hike in beautiful fields with rocks and clear skies but we saw some ponies!!! The terrain for the rest of the day was very manigable. Since entering Virigina there has been ups and downs but with most gradual slopes and not nearly as high as in previous areas. In one of the gaps 7 miles later a section hiker was offering trail magic. There is almost nothing better then eatting a hamburger, two hotdogs, chips, several mini candy bars, half dozen cookies and a beer in about 15 minutes (This does not include what Dave ate). We hiked another 13 miles, making it exactly a 20 mile day when we reached Trimpi Shelter.

On Easter (March 24th), we woke up and were feeling especially good and flew the 10.6 miles to Partnership Shelter in just over 3 hours. Now Partnership is not your ordinary trail shelter. It has a shower and sink attached to the shelter. Also there is a visitor center within eye sight were you can have pizza delivered. So the night before we took pizza orders so the first people could make the call. It took 8 thru-hikers about 5 minutes to eat 4 large pizzas. Dave and I decided to wait for about a hour while we took showers and did some laundry. Surprisingly we still felt really good and made it to Chatfield Shelter in another 2.5 hours bringing the total trip mileage up to 525.2.

The next day we did the 4.5 miles to get into Atkins, VA in about one and a half hours. Once there we quickly resupplied at a gas station that is right on route 81. Then we moved across the street to a diner and grabbed a big breakfast. A few miles out of town we heard the rumble of thunder in the distance. We picked up our pace but we could not out run the storm on foot. For about 10 minutes it felt like we were in a wind tunnel with someone dumping buckets of water on us. Both Dave and I had to drag ourselves the last 2 miles of the 18.4 mile day to Knot Maul Shelter.

Leaving the shelter the next morning we had a few miles down before we hit the first major climb in several days. In 2 miles we went up 1,200 feet before hitting a grassy field and going up another 600 feet. From on top of Chestnut Knob we could see the 5 mile ridge we were to walk across. Dave was having a great second half of the day and beat everyone to Jenkins Shelter. Today's milage total was 19 miles.

Late last night several of the hikers decided to hike 11 miles hitch a ride into Bland, VA and then finish the day with another 13 miles to Jenny Knob Shelter. This would be our longest day. That's exactly what we did. As you may guess, the terrain is much more manageable in Virginia so doing larger miles just means hiking more hours. The first 11 where fairly uneventful. Hitching into town did take a little bit more time then normal but there where four of us and a dog. We knew it was going to rain but we were very lucky because it just started when we walked into the doors of the Dairy Queen. When we were at the DQ there was some hesitation of going back to the AT with the threats of high winds and thunderstorms bit once the rain had stopped we decided to not spend the night in town. After stuffing our faces at the DQ, we grabbed a few snacks from the adjoining gas station and then moved on to the Subway. We grabbed footlongs for dinner and then hitched back to the trail head. The first few miles were straight up to a ridge line. We traversed the ridge as quickly as possible as the wind picked up and black clouds moved in and out. Once again we were hit with a stroke of good luck because not one drop of rain fell until much later that night. Around midnight the lightning started and the whole sky was lit up like there was a strobe light. Heavy rains followed. Everyone in the shelter woke up and started taking pictures of the constant lightning flashes.

The sun was shining when we woke up on the 28th of March. The original plan was to hike to Wapiti Shelter, 14.2 miles away, then the hike the 6.4 miles in to Woods Hole Hostel the next day. After we were started hiking almost everyone independently thought we should just go all the way to the hostel that day. So that's what we did. The middle third was very easy because we followed a stream the entire way. The first and last thirds were still Virginia easy. My feet were not very happy because over the last two days I had developed four new blisters. We were making good time until what we thought was the last mile of the second 20 mile day in a row. When we go to the hostel we learned that there is an extra 1.6 miles that is not listed in any guide book. What horrible surprise!!! The hostel wasn't as nice as we thought it would be so we opted to pay for a cheaper campsite rather than beds in the bunkhouse.

On April 29th we hiked 10 miles into Pearisburg, VA, by far our shortest day since leaving Damascus. We shared a hotel room there with 4 other hikers making it a bit crowded with 6 total. We went to an all you can eat Chinese buffet for lunch then did laundry and resupplied. After a few other errands we went out for a great Mexican dinner and watched hockey.

First Zero

On the 12th, it was very hard to pull ourselves away from such a good place like Uncle Johnny's Hostel. Once we were moving the climb back into the mountains was not that bad. We made it to the first shelter fairly quickly but knew that we needed to move on. However this turned out to be a bad decision. As we climbed higher the temperatures dropped and the winds picked up. Before we knew it the rain started. This is were our luck of good weather from the last month ended. With the combination of being wet, the low temperatures, and the high winds made things very miserable. You could not ever walk fast enough to stay warm. Stopping to put on a rain coat did cut the wind but did little for warming up. At this point two fellow hikers (Cascade and Chainsaw) caught up to us and it did help mentally to know that we were not alone. To make things worse we had to climb another 1,200 ft and go another 4.3 miles before the Cherry Gap Shelter. At the top of the climb Cascade and I decided to started to jog to warm up. Dave's ankle was bothering him so he continued at a slower speed. The jogging did completely warm me up and we finished the last 3 miles in 45mins. To our surprise the 6 person shelter only had room for three more bumping the total up to 8. Cascade, me and Grandpa who we just passed on the trail. As quickly as posable I stripped off all of my wet clothing (which was everything) and put on all of my warm stuff. Dave rolled in about 50mins behind me however it was a great surprise when High Five and Enzed showed up about another 30mins later. I ended up giving my spot in the shelter to Enzed because there was no room for Dave and our tent needed to be set up anyway. Also she got her self dangerously cold and needed the warm shelter more then me. The day was truly one of our worst and it would be a huge understatement if I said it was difficult.

The next morning the sun popped out, of course. So we took all morning to have a fire and completely dried all of our clothing. We moved on to Cylde Smith Shelter just 9.2 miles down the trail. This was good for two reasons. First the next day we would have a large climb over Roan Mountain. Second Dave's ankle was still bothering him and my knee started to give me trouble.

So the original plan was to hike 14.3 miles to Overmountain Shelter (an old converted barn). The morning started with a couple hundred feet bumps before ascending 1,800 feet to the top of Roan Mountain. Despite being 6,285 feet high, Roan has no views so the only exciting part of reaching the top is the shelter there. The Roan High Knob Shelter is the highest on the entire AT and has four walls and a door (most shelters have only three walls). The next section of the trail was much more rewarding and enjoyable to hike because of a continuous bald that stretched over three little mountains. The views from there were much better. Later in the day we found a note from "Cascade" and "eNZed" telling us that there were going to Apple House Shelter which was almost 9 miles further than we had planned to go. After much debate we decided to push on as well because of the weather forecast (more rain). We finally arrived at the shelter around 7pm after 23 miles--our current longest day.

On the 15th we hiked a total of 18.9 miles for second straight long day and ended at Moreland Gap Shelter. The terrain was rolling with no big climbs. It was cloudy and pretty windy. The temperature was mid 50s. Nothing particularly exciting happened this day.

We woke up on April 16th to wind and rain. We made a mad dash to Kincora hostel only 6.1 miles away and spent the majority of the day there inside and dry. The hostel was run by Bob Peoples, one of the AT's biggest volunteers and a really nice guy. His hostel is run solely on donations (suggested donations is only 4 dollars per night) and provides free showers, laundry, and a shuttle into Elizabethton for dinner and resupply. We also received our first mail drop which included a bunch a goodies and a pair of sneakers for Jon.

The next day we left Kincora late because it's always hard to leave nice hostels. We started out moving pretty well. The trail followed a river for several miles before climbing steeply over Pond Flats Mountain. The climb wasn't really that bad until it got steep at the very end. We had lunch at Watauga Lake with some other hikers then continued on. From then on everything seemed to slow down and neither of us could move quickly even though the terrain wasn't particularly difficult. My ankle was hurting pretty bad and Jon got a new blister neither of which helped things. Somehow, despite being the last two to the shelter we managed to each get a spot in Vandeventer Shelter so we didn't have to set up our tent.

On the 18th we did another long day at 22.7 miles. The day was long but really pretty uneventful. None of the climbs were more than around 200 ft. My ankle was still hurting so it was a pretty slow day for me but Jon was drugged up on ibuprofen and was moving quickly. Once again we managed to get shelter spots despite being last in at about 7pm.


Anticipating reaching Damascus, VA we flew 10 miles in just 3 hours on the morning of the 19th. In the process we left TN for good and entered VA for the first time. Most of the rest of the day was spent relaxing and hanging out with other hikers. We went out for dinner and drinks in the evening and stayed at a somewhat sketchy hostel run by a church. There is really no caretaker so anyone can stay there so we didn't leave our stuff unattended.

Today (the 20th), we were a little more productive. It was our first day not hiking and we spent it doing laundry, resupplying, mailing home unused gear, and buying new boots for Dave. A good day off.

Next update in around 6 days give or take.

Jon & Dave

The Best Trail Magic Ever!!!

On April 7th after talking more with "Ewok" the south bound hiker who was finishing in Hot Springs we learned of some very valuable information: that there would be some excellent trail magic the next day at Allen Gap. He told us "don't eat breakfast" and that we would get it at the gap. So on April 8th we set out at about 8:30am and hiked the 4 miles to Allen Gap where we were greeted by a sign telling us to walk 350 yards down the state road and up a concrete driveway for a great 3 course meal. At the house two former thru-hikers, a very nice christian couple, treated us each to a Belgian waffle, a bowl of stew, a cup of hot cider, and our choice of 4 different desserts. It was amazing. They told us they moved to that location to help out thru-hikers and have served over 1,500 hikers over the past 7 years. After stuffing ourselves we had to hike another 11 miles, all uphill on a hot and humid day. Needless to say, it was tough but the extra calories helped. We finally made it to Jerry Cabin Shelter but it was the first time we thought that we might have missed it because it seemed to be a lot further than we thought it should be. That may have been simply because we were so tired.

At the shelter we met up with the group of people we had been hiking with for the last few days: "Cascade" (with his dog Sierra) "High Five," "Enzed" (from New Zealand), and "The Colonel." Were still hiking with them now.

April 9th was a lot like the day before: hot and humid. We hiked a pretty uneventful 14.7 miles. We did meet two fellow New Yorkers at the shelter at the end of the day but not much else really happened. The water source at Hogback Ridge Shelter is supposed to be 0.2 miles away but it really felt much more like 5 miles. It was a long walk at the end of the day.

April 10th started out as a great day. We planned to do 20.7 miles to get with 6 miles of Erwin, TN for a short hike the following day. After about 2 miles we came to Sam Gap where another former thru-hiker, "Quiet Paul," was serving massive plates of scrambled eggs, hash browns, sausage, and muffins. It was great! It's really amazing how much help people give to thru-hikers like us. Next we climbed about 8 miles up to Big-Bald which was a very beautiful big bald. We had lunch at the Big-Bald Shelter that was slightly under half way to our destination at 10.1 miles. The second 10+ miles was mostly downhill and a killer on our knees. We were exhausted but glad to be finished with this day. At 20.7 miles it is our longest so far.

Today was an easy 5.9 miles into Erwin, TN. It was mostly downhill but not bad at all. We checked into Uncle Johnny's Nolichucky Hostel where we shared a four person room with "Cascade" and "Enzed." We ate at an all you can eat pizza place with a delicious dessert pizza. We were both pretty stuffed. Later we resupplied at a Food Lion, and had a delicious, home cooked dinner with our friends.

We'll be in Damascus, VA in 6-8 days and about 120 miles. Next update should be around then. Until next time.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Well the 7 miles out of the NOC were not difficult but they were long. We were lucky because the forcast was for thunderstorms but no rain
fell during the day. Dave and I were the last two hikers to get into the 14 person shelter. That night the sky did let loose making it even better that we made it in the shelter.

The AT is not a race unless you want a spot in the shelter. On the 28th we raced the 15.2 miles to Cable Gap Shelter which only holds 6 which was significantly less than the night before. Both of us made it and got a spot in the shelter. The next day we descended close to 2000ft in 6 miles into Fontana Dam, NC. We took a quick resupply trip into the resort village so we could continue hiking and get into the Smoky Mountains. That night we were hit with a thunder storm and heavy rain. Luckily we stayed fairly dry in our tent.

On the morning of the 28th we woke up to fog and very little rain. With a couple more miles that morning we hit the unmarked border of Tennessee and North Carolina. This was slightly shocking to the both of us. Following the border, we hit some short climbs up to several balds. However we could not see anything as we were still hiking in a cloud. That night we packed 15 people in to a 12 person shelter. (in the smokies you must sleep in the shelter) The next day was very similar. Very little to see because of the fog and another packed shelter. One of our thru-hiker friends had the idea to wake up real early and hike up Clingmans Dome in the dark (highest point on the AT, 6,643 ft) to see the sunrise. So that's what we did. However that night the tempitures dropped below freezing and a winter storm moved in.

After reaching the top of Clingmans Dome we were greeted with a complete white out with 20 mph gusts of snow and wind. We rushed down to Newfound Gap and hitched in to Gatlinburg TN.

Gatlinburg is not a very nice city. It is a town that caters almost exclusively to tourists. The majority of the buildings are high rise hotels, resorts, and condos. There is even an aquarium. What, exactly, is an aquarium doing in the middle of the Smokey Mountains. Both of us and our trail friend Tim spent the night in the Grand Prix motel. The only place in Gatlinburg that caters to hikers. At $30 for a room it came out to just $10 per person. We had a late lunch at a bar and grill and the rest of our day in Gatlinburg was spent trying and failing to take the trolley across town to the grocery store. We finally made it there and back but the that should have taken about 1.5 hours ended up taking about 3.5 hours due to the crappy trolley system. And that was our day in Gatlinburg.

On April 2nd we hitched a ride back up to the trail at Newfound Gap. We hiked about 10 miles that day and it was without a doubt the best hiking day we've had so far. For most of the day we followed a ridge line at the top of the mountains, and for once, it was completely clear out. The views we had from the ridge line were amazing. We could see for miles and the surrounding hills and mountains were absolutely beautiful. It was just a great day. The following day was similar but the views were not quite as good. We walked about 13 miles in total and spent the night in yet another crowded shelter.

On April 4th we woke up early again in another attempt to catch a sunrise on top of a mountain. This time we were successful even though we left the shelter late and had to run flat out (after dropping our packs of course) for the last 0.6 miles to the mountain top tower. But after all that it was definitely worth it to see the sun come up over the hills and slowly light up the surrounding countryside. We made it out of the Smokies that same day after passing the only remaining shelter with a bear cage across the front. We dropped quite a bit in elevation and ended up spending that night at Standing Bear Farm Hostel to avoid the bad rain storm that was forecasted. The farm or hostel was a very strange and quirky place but the people running the place were nice enough and we even got to watch the NCAA men's basketball championship game. We also slept warm and dry that night while it rained hard outside.

On April 5th we left the hostel after a large and delicious breakfast and hiked about 15 miles to Roaring Fork Shelter. On the way we climbed over Max Patch, a giant bald on hilltop. It is a very popular spot on the AT and it was pretty spectacular but we didn't stay too long because is was extremely cold and windy. It would have been nicer on a warmer and sunnier day. We also ended up leaving behind pretty much the entire group we had been biking with. Hopefully they will catch up to us later.

On April 6th we hiked 19.1 miles into Hot Springs, NC. It was our longest day yet. With all the extra walking in town we probably walked over 20 miles in total. Despite the long day it really wasn't too strenuous. When we got to Hot Springs we stopped by the outfitter to get some stove fuel the had an enormous dinner at the local diner. Most of it was fried but it was great and we were both stuffed afterwards. Next we resupplied at a Dollar General and hiked down the trail to the river where we camped for the night.

On the 7th we hiked about 10 miles out of Hot Springs. Most of it was uphill. It was short compared to yesterday but a good easy day to help recover. We met Ewok who will be ending his flip flop thru-hike tomorrow in Hot Springs. It was pretty cool meeting someone on there last day of hiking. Some day we'll be there too but right now, more hiking.