Date: 2016-05-15
From: Daleville, VA

To: Konnarock
Miles today: 56.8
Weather: broken clouds

Day 52 on the trail (Monday, May 9th) started out great as I had a wonderful nights sleep in the hotel room and enjoyed the continental breakfast. After eating we went to the outfitter which thankfully was well stocked as I finally retired by Salomon Speedcross trail running shoes and replaced them with Salomon XA Pro 3D shoes. While I hung out in Shoe's room the rest of the morning Sea Biscuit, Sweeper and Caboose headed out. It was sad to see them go since for the first time I wasn't sure I'd see them again now that we have different agendas. While I'm still technically hiking solo the bonds you make with fellow hikers in your bubble (ie who hike similar mileage days and you've been around for a week or more) is quite special and I've hiked off and on with this trio since Hiawassee, GA which is a long time on the trail. I finally hiked out of town around 1pm and made it to Wilson Creek Shelter a few hours later. When I arrived El Tejano (a fellow Houstonian) greeted me and in addition to Spidey and Mismatch (who I already knew) a bunch of other hikers showed up (new friends haha). Tuesday morning was spent hiking in clouds which might sound cool but what it really means is low visibility and lots of moisture (ie I was drenched in sweat). Mismatch and I had lunch at Cove Mountain Shelter as we dried out our tents in the sun. The last push of the day was going up and over Fork Mountain before we arrived at Bryant Ridge Shelter. Holy crackers is it nice, the two story shelter fits 20 people, has a wrap around porch and a good spring for water right by the trail. The highlight for Wednesday was taking a bath in the stream at Matt's Creek Shelter. The water was quite cold but after sweating throughout the day it felt amazing to rinse off. I also had a big dinner: one ramen, 1/2 a pack of instant potatoes, tuna, twix and poptarts... I get so hungry after hiking 20+ miles. Thursday's goal was to get to Damascus, VA for Trail Days and my third and final hitch was by thru-hikers from 2005 named Fig and Just Visiting who took me from Daleville to Damascus (thank you so much!!). I spent the next few days taking in all the trail magic provided by Oneway Ministries, Four Pines Hostel and the town which included toiletries/resupply, food, laundry, showers, shuttle rides, etc... While being spoiled by these amazing and generous people I caught up with hikers I had met along my journey some of who I hadn't seen in over 4 weeks. At night we would enter the woods (literally) in tent city to drink and dance usually around a huge bonfire with a drum circle! Today I joined about 50 current or past thru-hikers as well as members of various trail maintenance crews to participate in the annual Hardcore trail maintenance event. We drove out to the scales in the Grayson Highlands and worked on adding steps either of boulders or logs. I have gained so much more appreciation for people who volunteer to maintain and upkeep the trail. We literally have to hike out the materials (sledgehammers, pickaxes, hammers, cuttermattocks, gravel, etc...) to build the trail and make it as navigable as possible for hikers. It was hard work but a lot of fun especially seeing hikers walk on the trail that I just helped make. Around 5pm we all came to Konnarock for the night and had a delicious bbq dinner and are now watching Pulp Fiction (on VHS haha).** By the way I type these paragraphs on my phone at night after journaling and I'm sure there are spelling and grammatical errors so I apologize. **