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.