Hiking the Good Hike

4/3 Day 31 Overmountain Shelter to Mountaineer Shelter - 18 miles

After a good nights sleep in the barn we were on the move again. The hike this morning through the Roan Highlands was beautiful. We climbed up and down balds for about the first four miles and then hiked mostly down hill to a road crossing. We toyed with the idea of hitching to town for a meal but decided to move on instead. We hiked through some sort of golden warbler rehabitation project that looked more like habitat destruction. We took a short side trail to Laurel Falls which was definitely worth the time.

We arrived at the shelter fairly early. There were three people there but with the 20 people coming from the last shelter we knew it would fill quickly. We chose to grab a spot in the three level shelter as it was going to rain. The shelter did fill past recommended capacity quickly and then we had to deal with hikers whining about not getting a spot in the shelter and trying to squeeze in. Some people really love shelters. There are really a large number of people here but hopefully the crowd will separate as days pass.

4/4 Day 32 Mountaineer Shelter to Hampton, TN (Braemar Castle Hostel) - 18.3 miles

I had a surprisingly decent sleep in the overfilled shelter. It was cloudy when we woke and the rain began just as we started our walk. The rain wasn't unpleasant as it was relatively warm. The rain seemed to be becoming less pleasant and colder and as we approached the first shelter for lunch it began freezing. Freezing rain seems worse to me than snow or rain; you get wet and you're freezing. We continued on unsure of what our plan would be. Originally we planned to camp but with our cold and frozen gear we were considering other options.

We hiked on becoming more miserable as we went until we arrived at a road crossing where we saw Nomad's van. Inside was Long Spoon (Tom), Laser Death Kill (Jack), Witch Doctor (Jarryd), Tail Lights (Skyler), and of course Nomad and Shutterbug. We ate some snacks as we warmed up in the van trying to plan our next move. Nomad suggested we slackpack the next four miles (and 1 mile side trail) to town and find lodging there. We were agreeable. We left our packs and took off in the rain. This section of the hike was really nice. We arrived at the local saloon to meet Nomad and dried off there while enjoying pizza and good company.

We ended up at the Braemar Castle Hostel. This was a large stone building that was both a hostel and bed and breakfast. After settling in and changing into dry clothes we went to Arby's and for a resupply. The rest of the night we just hung out and relaxed enjoying being warm and dry.


4/5 Day Hampton, TN to Campsite at mile 437.8 - 18.6 miles

Nomad and Cassandra cooked a delicious breakfast for all at the hostel this morning. While they cooked, Laser Death Kill and I walked over to Brown's Grocery to pick up a couple things and settle up for our night at the hostel. We took our time packing up and even talked with Mom and Dad on FaceTime. We got on the trail at about 11:30 planning to hike about 16 miles. Our first seven miles were up and over a mountain in the fog. We broke for lunch at a lake and some went for a swim.

After lunch we hiked along the lake for a while before climbing again. It really seemed to take forever to get to the shelter where we planned to stop. When we got to the shelter we decided to move on another 3.7 miles to a campsite. We hiked as the sun was setting hoping to make it to our campsite before dark. We arrived just at dark and quickly set up and cooked before heading to bed. Tonight, Long Spoon (Tom) has begun reading The Princess Bride out loud to our group. It seems everyone else had fallen asleep as the first chapter is very boring. We're hoping to hike about 20 miles tomorrow to set up for an easy 10 to Damascus.


4/6 Day 34 campsite to Abington Gap Shelter - 18.9 miles

Today was a good day. We hiked our first several miles with Long Spoon (Tom) and Laser Death Kill (Jack) which made the miles go quickly. We visited the Nick Grindstaff monument which was inscribed "Lived alone, suffered alone, and died alone." That reminded us of the six word story contest Jack had told me about. We began brainstorming some six word stories of our own. We continued on to find Nomad parked at a road crossing. He had snacks and drinks for us. We hung out a while and he told us he had planned to be at the next road crossing that day with lunch. Double trail magic. We hiked on and then spent another hour or two hanging out with Nomad at the van as hikers came and went. Just before dark we moved on to the shelter where we all tented. We're left with just ten miles to Damascus tomorrow; we should make it in for lunch.


4/7 Day 35 Abington Gap Shelter to Damascus, VA - 10.4 miles

We were up early and hiking to get to town by lunch time. Town days seem to make us hike faster. The hike was super easy. We all hiked in a big train reciting our six word stories. As we approached the town we could see Nomad's van in the distance. He was waiting to eat lunch with us in town. We went to Pizza Plus for the all you can eat buffet and Nomad left and came back with AYCE. We weren't expecting to see him for several more days but there was a mix up with his mail drop causing him to have to zero. We got our money's worth at the Pizza Plus and then continued into town. We stopped at Mount Rogers Outfitters to pick up our mail drop and a couple items.

We ended up at Hiker's Inn for the night which was a really nice hostel/bed and breakfast in town. Damascus is super hiker friendly as the trail travels directly through town. Everything is within walking distance (I guess this phrase loses some of its meaning when you've walked over 500 miles) so it makes it a really cool place to hang out. After showering we did some laundry and finally ended up at the Blue Blaze Cafe for dinner. The place was filled with hikers. Our whole group of roughly ten was there as well as many other hikers we had been seeing since we left Erwin. Damascus has been good to us so far, we're looking forward to our zero here tomorrow.


4/8 Day 36 Zero in Damascus

After sleeping in (maybe until 8:00) we went to Cowboy's to have breakfast with AYCE and the rest of our crew. AYCE was getting back on the trail and had some big miles to cover to meet his girlfriend in a few days but we planned to meet up trail in several days. We had a great breakfast at Cowboy's and met some nice locals.

After breakfast we looked into some other lodging options but ended up arranging for another night at the Hiker's Inn because we had really enjoyed our time there. We went to the local coffee shop and each outfitter again just killing time. We sat on the porch and watched people walk by and talked to hikers as they passed (the road is also the trail in this section). There were many hikers in town today. Passover and Ember, who we had hiked with on and off since the Smokies, made it in.

Nomad had made friends with the locals we met at breakfast. It turns out they were from Texas (like Nomad) and had offered their yard for us to cook out and have a place to hang out for the evening. After grocery shopping and resupplying we all walked to their place to take them up on the offer. They were so kind to allow ten loud and smelly hikers to spend the evening on their lawn. Nomad grilled the hotdogs and burgers we had picked up at the store and we entertained with stories from the trail. Dot Com and Fidget shared with us some of their own stories from their hike last year. It was really a nice evening. At dark we all returned to our homes for the night. It was a great day. Damascus is a very friendly town and someplace I look forward to visiting again. I would like to stay longer but I'm also anxious to get back on the trail. Town days are something we look forward to and pass by quickly. Leaving town is usually mixed emotions; happy to be back on the trail but sad to be leaving a nice town, sad to be carrying so much food weight but happy to have a pack full of snacks. Tomorrow we'll spend half the day hanging out and get back on trail for a short day.

Thanks for reading,

Chris