Date: 2016-04-10
From: Hampton TN

To: Damascus VA
Miles today: 50.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Kincora Hostel to Damascus 4/21/16   From Kincora Hostel we walked down the road .3 miles to get back on the trail and very soon we entered the gorge of the Laurel Fork River. Very nice area with a big waterfall. At one point, the trail follows a narrow rock ledge between the river and the wall of the gorge. At several places up near the top of the gorge the trail follows what appears to be an old railroad grade with some fairly deep rock cuts. I don't know what the railroad would have been used to haul, but it's long gone now.    We came to US Highway 321 and after taking our lives in our hands getting across the road we were on the shore of Watauga Lake, another TVA reservoir. From this point to just beyond Watauga Dam, all camping has just recently been prohibited due to bear activity. After a two year closure camping had been re-opened on this three mile stretch but a couple of bears came and tore open people's tents to get at food left inside (a big no-no) so they had to close the area to camping again. Now they want hikers to go through the area without even stopping to eat. We were happy to oblige.    We ran into a little trail magic today. After we crossed the dam we found a cooler of cold soda beside the trail a little way into the woods. Very nice of someone to carry that in there.    Ended our day today at Vandeventer Shelter where the view behind the shelter was great but the water source was .3 mile away and down a very steep trail. I made sure I got all the water we needed in one trip. We squeezed seven people into the six person shelter because rain was forecast for the overnight and nobody wanted to take down a tent in the rain in the morning. 4/22/16, end mileage 458.6   We got on the trail in the rain this morning and did 11.4 miles in the rain over some pretty easy terrain. That brought us to TN highway 91 where there was some trail magic waiting for us. To be fair, our speed this morning was also due to the fact that we knew about the trail magic the day before and not much will make us go faster than the promise of cold sodas and Krispy Kreme donuts. The first trail magi we came to was a cooler full of soda and snacks left by a local church just before the road crossing. Very welcome, and thank you to the church. The second magic was at the parking lot by the road, where Mary, the wife of Nail Gun, one of the thru hikers we were with at the shelter the night before, was waiting for us in the rain with a real feast of carbs, which we all happily devoured. This one included the previously mentioned Krispy Kremes. It was hard dragging ourselves away from that, let me tell you! But we did, and by then the rain had let up some. We crossed the road and immediately went in to a pasture for some scenic rural hiking.    6.5 miles after highway 91 we crossed another road at Low Gap (there's a lot of Low Gaps on the trail). Some nice folks who drove down from Indiana had a couple of shelters set up here and were giving out hamburgers, hot dogs, beer, soda, and a whole bunch of desserts. They were all former thru hikers so they knew what to bring. This is something they do every year, just because they like to. After we ate our fill again there we reluctantly dragged ourselves away again and went on to Abingdon Gap Shelter and tented for the night. We had a thunderstorm during the night but after that it cleared up. 4/23/16 end mileage 469.0   Today we had a short day, just 10 miles to Damascus, VA. During the day we completed another state when we crossed from Tennessee in to Virginia. It will be a while before we complete another state because over 500 miles of the trail is in Virginia. We set up our tents in the back yard of a place called Woodchuck Hostel and it turned out to be a really nice place. There's a house with rooms you can rent and a couple of small cabins out back with bunks in them, in addition to the big lawn where all the renters set up. And in the morning they serve up a nice breakfast of waffles, fried potatoes, juice and all the cereal you can eat. They also have a pavilion out back with a grill where you can cook your own burgers if you want. And they had probably the best shower of any hostel I've stayed at so far.    Kelly an I went out and did our resupply and then went out for dinner at a restaurant called Bobo McFarlands. It was a nice place and the burgers were good. The fries left a little to be desired.    One little side note on how not to operate an ATM when you do a withdrawal. So I went to this bank's ATM to get some cash out of my account and the money came out just fine. As I was writing this down in my register before I took my money from the machine, the machine started making noises and took my money back in, but it didn't credit it back to my account. Now it's a week and a half later as I write this and I still haven't gotten my money back. So I guess the lesson is...take the money out of the machine first, then write it down, especially when you're at a different bank's ATM. Rant and rave over. 4/24/16   Spent a zero day in Damascus doing not much. Walked around town a little. Took another shower because I could. Cooked burgers on the grill for supper.