Date: 2016-04-05
From: McQueens gap

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 12.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Aerosmith: "I'mean Back in the Saddle Again."After a longer than planned break from the trail I'm back as of this morning. I got a ride to McQueens Gap and hiked the 12.4 into Damascus... I'll add more details at a later date... heading off to bed...Ok... for the details. I rented a car for my time off the trail and returned it in the morning they the guy at the rental place was giving me a ride back to Damascus where I'd have to arrange for a shuttle back to the trail. Having nothing to lose I decided to ask the guy driving IF he had to drop me in the city area or if he could drop me off any where. He said he's told to take the customers wherever they want to go! So I asked him if he knew where McQueen Gap was... he didn't have a clue and neither did I... I should have been paying attention when the shuttle picked me up.Anyway... the driver added if you can get me directions I can take you there. I said we could stop in town at MRO and get directions..So we stopped there and the guy was really helpful. He pulled out a map and showed the driver where to go.Even with the directions we drove past the turn and had to go back to find the US Forest Service road... a dirt/gravel road up the side of a mountain. I thought the guy was going to change his mind when he saw the road. But he kept going. After a few minutes I silently sighed in relief as the road was narrow enough that there was NO way to turn around... We arrived at the top after about a 20 minute climb with some sharp cliffs along the way. I felt a little bit guilty having him drop me off there so I got out pretty fast so he could be on his way. I gave him a tip and he was on his way...Only after he left did I realize my poor planning!!! I had originally planned to get into town, find a place for the night then call for the shuttle to slack pack... but the savings of the cost for a shuttle distracted me from that plan... so there I was at McQueen gap and I was still in crocks with no socks! I also realized I didn't have any water... but I did have a nearly full 2 liter bottle of coke from the drive the day before, a pocket full of change I had for tolls in Florida, a piece of birthday cake in a zip lock bag that weighed about 2 pounds and too much other stuff to list... I was not a boy scout and I was NOT prepared to hike...Anyway... I got my socks and shoes on, got myself situated and started walking he 12.4 miles back to Damascus. It didn't take long for me to start second guessing some of the gear changes I made during the time off. It was on the cold side and windy and I had left a lot of my cold weather gear behind. Once I got going I was warm enough but still... wondering if I should have kept a little more warmer clothes. Then, after a few miles my feet started to hurt. I was thinking it was just because I had too much time off. But then I was feeling every rock and root on the trail. It felt like I was walking barefoot! The new shoes I had felt amazing in the store but on the trail with a pack on they couldn't be farther from amazing! I took some ibuprofen and hoped that would get me into town.I passed a couple hikers at the first shelter that were packing up. Grandma and another guy.I'm not sure if I would let a trail name like grandma stick but this guy kind of embraced it... A little while later they both passed me like I was standing still. My feet were really an issue and I couldn't think of a day previous when they hurt so much... even with an infected toe. Still I was wondering if there could be wrong with my feet, if it was just from getting back on the trail after a break or it was the shoes... Being new shoes they were suspect. I didn't think it was due to them being new and needing to be broken in as they were light weight trail runner type shoes. I think it was more a lack of support collapsing my arches.Anyway. .. I made it into town and went to the Dancing Bear B&B for the night so I could watch the Women's NCAA Championship game... UCONN was playing for their 4th in a row and being from Connecticut I wanted to watch the game. After checking in and taking a shower I headed over to Hey Joe's for dinner. I couldn't decide between a chicken quesadia and the Hey Joe's nachos with pulled pork so I ordered them both. My feet were still killing me so I just sat there hanging out eating slowly and enjoying the atmosphere. The food at Hey Joe's is good but the place is not run as smoothly as it could be... but if you embrace the chaos and don't have your heart set on something specific it's a good place. This night they obviously forgot they were the only place in town open for dinner and were not ready for a busy night. They ran out of cucumbers for my salad... which I was fine with as they substituted red bell peppers and sliced mushrooms for... but then they were running out of some kinds of bottled beer other customers were ordering... the customers settled for other beers including bush light in a can... but not great for business in the long run!I finished up my food and went back to Dancing Bear to watch the game and finally update more of my journal entries!!! UCONN won by 31 and I went to bed happy!I have a song for that... Queen... "We (UCONN) are the champions!!!"