466.6 DONE!

Damascus, Virginia is the 466.6 mile marker from Springer Mountain, Georgia.  Hard to beleive we have hiked that far since September 2011.  But then again, lots of folks have done more than that quicker than that, so I guess we shouldn't brag.  However, I do feel proud of us.  It is quite an accomplishment to hike any length of time on the Appalachian Trail, 'cause this ain't for sissies, y'all. 

There have been times recently while out on the trail that I have thought to myself, "Why am I doing this?"  There have been times when I wanted to quit right then and go home.  Sometimes I think, "This is too much roughing it for me."  The advantage of section-hiking is that you CAN quit and go home just any ole time you get ready.  So we go home when we want to.

But before we get home we are already planning our next trip to the AT.  Somehow, it just gets in your blood.  I miss it when I am not out there.  Even now after being off the trail for two weeks, I still wake up at night and think I am on the trail somewhere.  Then I realize, "No, this bed is too soft, I'm sleeping too good." 

After awhile I forget the bad times, the sore muscles, the steep climbs, the monotony of the trail food, the scary nights, the fatique, the hurting feet, and remember the beauty, the serenity, the comaradarie, and the challenge, and I'm ready to go again.

So we will go again, we will go back to Damascus and head north again soon.  But until then, we have our memories and hope you will share them with us.

Click on the name of the section here to go straight to it, or on the tab at the top of the page:
Georgia - 80 miles - September, 2011
North Carolina - 90 miles - April, 2012
I40 north of Smokies to Sam's Gap south of Erwin, TN - 77 miles - March, 2013
Smoky Mountain National Park and north to Damascus - 225 miles - May, 2013

You can use the menu at the right side of the blog to see each day's entry.  Hope you enjoy reading.

Campsite to Damascus, VA

May 29, 2013
6.5 miles
6:15 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.

We were up early for two reasons.  One – we weren’t sleeping anyway. Two – we were excited that this is our last day of hiking for this trip.  We took down camp and got on the trail at 6:15 a.m.  As we went up the trail a ways, we heard the boys as they left their campsite just ahead of us getting there just before 7:00.  They were obviously excited about that breakfast.

We crossed the Tennessee-Virginia State line and had 3.5 more miles to go.  We hustled down the mountain and celebrated when we entered Damascus, this time from the trail. 

Damascus is a nice little, hiker-friendly town. In fact, it is called “the friendliest town on the trail.”  They have been hosting Trail Days in May since 1987.  The trail runs right along the main street where the Trail Days parade is held.  There are no chain stores, restaurants or hotels; but several folks have turned their homes into bed and breakfast establishments.  Also the First United Methodist Church offers a hostel for a small donation called “The Place” and Mt. Rogers Outfitters has a hostel called “Dave’s Place.” 



Entering Damascus

 

The trail passes through this sign in Damascus

 

Crossing the bridge going into Damascus

The trail goes right down main street

Dave's Place Hostel

We walked through town to our car and then went to Dairy King for breakfast.  Guess who was there?  Yep, the three guys were sitting there with big smiles on their faces enjoying that breakfast. 

We said good-bye to Damascus and the trail for now and headed to Knoxville.  We have been on the trail for 21 days and covered 225 miles.  Our longest section to date.  

Tennessee 91 to Campsite before Damascus

May 28, 2013
15.6 miles
9:45 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

The staircase leading to our bedroom at the Hiker's Inn.

We were up early and headed to the Dairy King for breakfast. We enjoyed French toast, eggs, bacon and home diced tators.

We had arranged for a shuttle from the Mt. Rogers Outfitter in Damascus. When we got there, we discovered that a man we had talked to in Dairy King was our driver. We left the car in their parking lot and he took us back to Tenn. 91. Today’s section must have been what folks told us about and we were expecting yesterday. From Tennessee 91 north into Damascus is a very pleasant hike; not too challenging, mostly along the ridgeline.

The main street of Damascus.

We leapfrogged with Tails, Chief and Lightening all day today. They were planning to camp in the woods tonight and get up early in the morning to be in Damascus for breakfast. We told them about the Dairy King breakfast and they said that’s where they were going. They were ahead of us as we took out from Abingdon Gap Shelter. We stopped at a campsite for the night and they went on a little further to another campsite.

The bunkhouse at the Hiker's Inn.

Early in the day, Wait-up discovered that he had inadvertently left his bed roll in the car this morning. Oh, well - too late now. “It’s okay,” he said, “I’ve slept on the ground before.” When we reached the campsite he began to stuff leaves into my bivvy sack to make his bed. It was a good plan – until he discovered that with those leaves came acorns. We didn’t sleep much that night.



A sign at The Dairy King.

Mt. Rogers Outfitter

The trail goes into a cow pasture north of Tennessee 91.



Our tent and make-shift sleeping pad.

Wilbur Dam Road to Tennessee 91

May 27, 2013
16.1 miles
9:45 to 5:00

Maggy the hiking Picanese/Chiwawa

Today we have to do 16.1 miles to get to the next gap. We looked at the elevation and talked to lots of folks who said it was not a hard hike at all.  So we took our car up to the road at Tennessee 91 and the shuttle driver brought us back down to Wilbur Dam Road to hike north to the car. 

 

 

 

Thank goodness we are slackpacking again today.  I was somewhat surprised at the number of uphills we had considering what we had been told about the terrain.  It was not rolling along the top of the ridgeline as much as we had thought.  We did go from a low of 2250 to a high of 4125, which is really not bad, just more than I expected.  After we passed Iron Mountain Shelter it got easier – but I was sure glad when that 16 miles was over.  I was very tired.  This is our longest mileage ever.

Our last look at Watauga Lake as we headed north.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Nick Grindstaff monument on Iron Mountain

Atop Iron Mountain we encountered the gravesite of Nick Grindstaff, born December 26, 1851 and died July 22, 1923. Epitaph on the chimney reads, “He lived alone, suffered alone, and died alone.”  Reportedly he lived more than 40 years alone on Iron Mountain after traveling west to win his fortune and being robbed of all his money during the journey.  He became one of the region’s most famous hermits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just before Tennessee 91 Highway we had a delightful surprise.  The GAs  and RAs (girls and boys) of Nelson Chapel Baptist Church had left a Trail Magic box beside a tree with a nice note.  They had snacks (which was all gone), drinks in cold water (which use to be ice), a garbage bag for our garbage, first aid, a journal and maybe a few other things.  We helped ourselves to a Faygo drink and an RC.  It was very refreshing.  Thank you, boys and girls, for thinking of the hikers. 

 

Wait-up taking the loot from the Trail Magic box.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The king size bed at The Hiker's Inn in Damascus

From Tennessee 91 we drove up to Damascus where we had reserved a room at the Hiker’s Inn.  It is a beautiful old home with three bedrooms upstairs that are rented out.  They also have a bunkhouse behind the house with two bunks and a private room.  We had the room at the top of the stairs with a king size bed.  Nice!

We had a burger at the Blue Blaze Café before retiring for the night.

Wilbur Dam Road to Dennis Cove Road, southbound

Wait-up and Harry, trying to get each other straight.

May 26, 2013
12.8 miles
9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

We shuttled to Wilbur Dam Road this morning to hike south back into Black Bear Resort.  We met Harry on the trail going north and, again, he was confused that we would be going the opposite direction. Again he asked, “You’re going back?”  We kept him confused. 

87-year-old Harry from Germany, thru-hiking the AT



Wilbur Dam

We crossed the road over the dam and then went up the mountain.  The first part of the trail overlooks Lake Watauga and is very pretty.  When got down to the lake, we met Frizz again.  We had not seen her since just north of the Smokies since we hopped up to Erwin from there (we had already done the section north of the Smokies up to Sam’s Gap south of Erwin).  It was good to see her again and know that she was still on the trail.  She did say she was getting homesick though.  She is going only to Harper’s Ferry and it seems she will be glad to get there.



Wilbur Dam Road

South of Lake Watauga, we crossed Highway 321 and went back into the woods.  It took us 2 hours to climb up to Pond Flats, then 1.5 hours down.  We thought we were home free because that is the highest point on the trail today.  Then we began a section that was very rocky with lots of people on it – day hikers.  There must be something in here that lots of people want to see, plus it is Memorial Day weekend. 

Watauga Lake

We met four young fellas that we first had encountered back at Mountain Harbour.  They were headed north, lickety-split.  One of them said, “We took a page out of your book and we are slackpacking today.”  Good for them.  We found out later their trail names were Tails, Chief, Lightening and Nature Boy.  Tails and Chief had served in the Marines together and conjured up the idea of hiking the trail when they got out.



Entering Pond Mountain Wilderness

A view of Watauga Lake from up above.

The rocky trail led us down to the creekside and went right along the edge on nothing but rock.  We kept following it, not sure we were on the right trail, but every once in awhile we would see a white blaze.  Then we saw what was attracting so many people.  Laurel Fork Falls.  It was beautiful!  People were sitting all over the rocks in front of it enjoying the view and the cool water.  We sat for awhile ourselves.  Then we started looking for the trail on to Dennis Cove.  When we found it, we were not impressed.  It was a series of rocky steps almost straight up.  At the end of a long hike it was pretty hard.  I really don’t know how folks do it that are not in shape.  But finally we got up it and had a pleasant final walk on to the road at Dennis Cove. 

The trail went right along the side of the creek. Interesting.



Laurel Fork Falls

Laurel Fork Falls

Laurel Fork Falls

The trail going up away from Laurel Fork Falls

We then walked east down Dennis Cove Road to Black Bear Resort. On the road there is a trailer with a fence around it with a sign, "Beware Killer Rabbits." Then we saw the killer rabbit --

 

That night we went into Elizabethton for a steak. It was good.