Date: 2013-03-27
From: Double Springs Shelter

To: Damascus
Miles today: 18.2

Today turned out much more pleasant than I originally expected, especially considering the weather Dry Bones and I had faced the past two days. When we awoke in the morning we found the snow and wind had died down to nearly a dead halt, and we quickly tore down camp and hit trail. The night before I ran out of stove fuel just as I finished heating up water for my asian noodles with dehydrated shrimp, so I knew my options were only to reach Damascus or suffer with cold food. After hitting the trail we soon found it littered in spots with many drifts. Luckily the wind was mostly gone and I found the hiking quite pleasant. We were in a winter wonderland...hard to believe it will be April in only 5 days. Soon before reaching the road at Low Gap (3.5 miles in) we came across a family of 5 doing a southbound section hike. By now the wind had picked up to occasional gusts around 20mph, and I was quite surprised to see a family with small children on the trail. But the kids seemed to enjoying themselves as much as the family's pet husky despite the conditions. When we reached the gap we were in desperate need for water, and we knew the spring at the gap was the only one directly along the trail between the gap and Damascus (15 miles away). We couldn't seem to find the spring amongst the snow but luckily some unexpected trail magic arrived. A hiker (Diet Coke) was being shuttled to the nearby road by a worker from the Mt. Rogers outfitters in Damascus, and she happened to have some bottled water in her vehicle. This saved the day for Dry Bones and I, and I am very grateful to Diet Coke for giving us the water. After leaving the gap and heading towards Damascus the weather improved a lot. The sun struggled to break through the clouds. Although the sun ultimately lost the battle against the clouds the result was nothing short of spectacular, and it provided a beautiful backdrop against the winter scenery (along with some much needed warmth). Soon we found ourselves at the Abingdon Gap shelter, where we stopped for some lunch before heading out the last 10 miles to Damascus. As we descended from the ridges the snow slowly decreased, and soon after officially crossing into Virginia it disappeared altogether on the trail. Although this made for faster travel, the now exposed rocks and roots quickly took a toll on my heels. We reached Damascus earlier than expected, and after settling into the hostel I ventured to the outfitters to upgrade my thermarest and hopefully fix my pack. I gave Arrowhead my old thermarest in exchange for some arrowheads, emptied my pack and headed out. As soon as I walked in the outfitters I was greeted by the friendly staff, who knew immediately my pack could be fixed. As the employee replaced the support beam in my pack he explained that actually my pack was sized incorrectly, which led to the breakage. Since I am not quite in the market yet for new pack, instead he helped me to adjust my pack to fit me better, and I am hoping it will improve my comfort on the trail. I got some more stove fuel along with the new thermarest neoair (turned out a great buy so far-much more comfortable over the prolite) and headed back to the hostel for the night. I enjoyed an excellent lunch/dinner at the local diner Dairy King, followed later by a stromboli at the blue blaze cafe then hit the sack...