Date: 2016-06-17
To: Today we hike south on the Appalachian Trail
Miles today: 0.0

FS 293 to US 19E When we first started planning this year's hike, we were going to pick up our re-supply and spend one night at Mountain Harbour, hiking north with six days of food today. Then Suuz realized we could get a shuttle to a Forest Service road intersection with the AT 13.7 mlles north of the B&B and slackpack south, back to the hostel to spend a second night. We'd be down to a 5-day food supply when we're shuttled to and hiked north from FS 293 on July 18. X liked the idea, and we booked Mountain Harbour's Hiker Special: two nights lodging, a boxed lunch for today and a shuttle this morning. Any stay at the B&B also includes what X remembers as "the best breakfast on the AT." Suuz is not disappointed when she see's the fabulous spread laid out on a large kitchen island. Many hikers who've spent the night in the Mountain Harbour's hostel or its tent site come up to the B&B for breakfast. We share a big table with couples who will be hiking a section from Ash Gap today and a young European woman who is taking a break from her career for a motorcycle trip in the U.S.After breakfast, we stuff the box lunch contents with water and snacks for the day into our packs along with rain jackets and first aid kits. We leave the rest of our gear in the room and set off with Mary Hill, who owned and operated Mountain Harbour with her husband when the Torverts stayed here in 2012. X reminisces about that stay and about Mary's husband Terry, who passed away in March. Though Mary has turned over the management of the B&B to her son Dave and his companion Shannon, she still bakes, drives shuttles and comes in most days to help serve the famous breakfasts.After we get our bearings and our gear, Mary leaves us on the forest service road, and we head south on the AT. It is a clear, relatively cool morning and we enjoy the easy terrain with gentle ups and downs through rhododendron thickets for most of the morning. There's little traffic on the trail this morning. We pass Jabba coming north and notice the Altra trail running shoes he's wearing. We stop to discuss the merits of the wide-toed shoes with the schoolteacher from Vermont. X has a pair at home that she's thinking of wearing for gravel-surfaced marathon this fall. She's happy to hear Jabba's glowing endorsement of the Altras for trail racing, and Suuz listens up when he describes how comfortable they are for hiking. We're surprised we don't pass any of our bubble of hiker friends who overnighted at Mountain Harbour until the afternoon. When we meet Serenity, she tells us they lingered over breakfast and got a late start. She's been further delayed by severe itching after hiking in shorts through a field where the trail was overgrown with nettles. She had to stop for a double dose of Benadryl. Still later we pass Puck, and Suuz notices one of his mesh pack pockets is filled with crab apples. We learn later he quartered and stewed the crab apples over the evening campfire with cinnamon from his pack stock of herbs and spices. When they cooked to applesauce consistency, he sweetened them with Jolly Rancher candies. He shared the dish with tonight's campmates who later confirmed it was delicious.Late in the day, we pass a group of five men hiking north. We learn that two of them are thru hikers joined for this section by their friends. They ask about tent sites on the trail ahead where they might stop for the night. We haven't seen many large enough for five tents but wish them well. We forget to ask trail names, but later learn from another friend who meets up with them in Damascus, that the thru hikers are Golf and Finn. By late afternoon we reach US 19E and again make the harrowing trek along the highway back to the B&B. We gather today's hiking clothes for the laundry. Fresh from her shower, Suuz hears a commotion near the front entry and recognizes X's excited voice. The cause for X's celebration is her encounter with someone she wasn't expecting to see here. She's come face to face with Joe Pearlman, who hiked the Inca Trail to Macchu Pichu last year with the Troverts. He's spending the night in Mountain Harbour's tree house before hiking tomorrow with a group from Asheville, and is as surprised as X when they recognize one another. We are happy to accept Joe's offer to drive us the few miles into the town of Roan Mountain (population 1,360) for dinner. We are disappointed to find that the BBQ place we chose is closed for a private party and our second choice, as well as most other restaurants in town, have closed for the night. Apparently, Roan Mountain rolls up its sidewalks by 8PM. We spot a full parking lot at Bob's Dairyland, find they're still serving and satisfy our appetites with barbequed chicken and pork plates. After thanking Joe for the ride and dinner--unexpected trail magic--we go back to our room to pack as much as we can for tomorrow's trek. The other two rooms on our floor are occupied, so it's not as quiet tonight. We've enjoyed our stay at Mountain Harbour, but look forward to more nights in our tent after we head north on the AT the morning. Dr. Suuz and X