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.
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