On the Road to Damascus

Hello from Damascus, VA!  Yes, we are finally in Virginia.  Two states down, twelve to go.*  Anyways, this past week has been super encouraging and I must get started since my session time is ticking on this library computer.

It seemed like the week was going to be a rough one.  While we zeroed at Uncle Johnny's hostel in Erwin, I ended up puking twice.  In retrospect, it was due to the fact that I had eaten waaay too much (four plates of pizza at an all-you-can-eat restaurant for lunch, a massive plate of chimichangas for dinner, an Mc. Donald's breakfast platter the next morning, and then two plates of pizza and a plate of salad at the pizza place).  Fortunately, the next day I was feeling great.  We took it easy out of Erwin doing only 10 miles.  It didn't help that I had packed waaay too much food (my pack weight ranges from 30-35 lbs with food and water, and leaving Erwin it was probably in the 35-40 lbs range, I don't know for sure, I was too scared to weigh it).

Out of Erwin we crossed Beauty Spot Gap.  Beauty Spot was. . . well. . . beautiful.  But there was no water and we had to move on otherwise we would have camped there.  We camped at the base of Unaka Mtn instead.  Then the next day we did 15 and caught up with the group of hikers we had hung out with at Erwin.

Together we did 16 the next day to get Overmoutain shelter, beating the rain.  Now this shelter is a renovated barn nestled at the head of a valley.  Most shelters hold between 6 to 15 people; Overmountain cold accommodate 30 to 40. That night, there were anywhere between 25 to 30 people there.  We knew almost all of them.  It was a thruhiker party.

One hiker, Wild, was talking up this burger that was served in Roan Mountain, a small town about 9 miles from the shelter. We all to sleep with burgers on the mind.

We woke up to beautiful weather and a gorgeous hike over Hump Mountain (I'm not kidding, that's the name of this mountain).  We did the 9 miles into Roan Mountain and were met at the trailhead by Dave.  He had a pickup offering free ride into town and a cooler of ice-cold cokes waiting for us.  He dropped us off so we could experience the Holy Cow burger.  This monster was 10 inches tall and proabaly weighed close to 5 lbs.  It had 3 patties, with bacon, turkey, ham,  and chili stuffed between the patties, and lettuce, cheese, and tomatoes topping it off.

It was delicious.

After the Holy Cow burger and a mango milkshake, we hike 9 more miles out town to the next shelter.  We met up with Snow, Crispy, and Tags and planned our trip to Damascus.

We gunned for Laurel Fork shelter putting in another 18 miles the next day.  5 miles out of the shelter, we hit some awesome trail magic.  Pancakes, sausage, coffee and fresh fruit (shout out to B-Team Trail Magic!!!  You guys are awesome!!!)  I did a quick resupply ion Hampton, TN, and picked up a dropbox from Kincora (aka "Catcora," the guy had a dozen cats, two racoons, an opossum, and a dog).

So far the weather had been great.  But the next day, Southern Summers reared its ugly head.  The humidity was so thick you could carve it up and serve it with gravy.  7 mile into the next day, the AT took us right next to Lake Watauga.  We stopped for about 3 hours and swam.  As always, I got sunburnt. . . on my back.  Yeah.  Backpacking with a burnt back is fun.  We went a total of 22 miles that day, but we did it at a lazy pace stopping whenever the humidity got to us.  We took so long, in fact, we ended up night-hiking the last 3 miles to the shelter.

Clouds rolled in during the night, so the next day was better.  The terrain leveled off and we cruised 26 miles into town.

Now we are resting up in Damascus, getting ready for the next portion.  It's exciting to be in another state, but we have over 500 miles of Virginia ahead, so I have no doubt that the novelty will wear off soon enough.

Keep on praying for our safety.  Especially for Crispy.  His feet are giving him issues.

Levi

Bonus pictures of Hump Mountain (top 3), my current favorite spot, with Carver's Gap (bottom 2) a close second:

 
*CORECTION AS OF 6/29/17: Actualy we have finished three state and have eleven to go.  TN, NC, and GA.