Date: 2018-05-20
From: Uncle JohnnyÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs, Erwin

To: Beauty Spot Gap
Miles today: 12.5
Weather: overcast clouds

I woke up around 6 still and had a delicious breakfast with fresh fruit. Everyone was taking it slowly and enjoying much needed sun. I got out around 9, just after Spiderman who was booking it even more than usual to get to Damascus in six days.When I left the room, I noticed Spiderman had left his thru hiker tag. This is a little orange piece of plastic that has your number and some other info. The color changes every year and some people wear it on the outside of their packs. I brought it to the manager who shrugged and was like ¢I guess we can put it in our list and found...¢ I replied that we filled out cards with our contact info and he shrugged again and said ¢no one really fills those out anyway¢ even though I was there the day before when we did it. So long story short, he was not interested in helping. So I took the tag and will somehow get it to Spiderman... not sure how because I don¢t have any contact for him and he¢s so much faster than me.Anyway, I left and it was a beautiful morning uphill on the trail. I passed an older section hiker named ¢trail dad¢ and another guy while snacking at a shelter.I lunched at Indian Grave Gap which has a large parking lot and right off a major road. Since it¢s the weekend, I was kind of hoping for trail magic. A few people passed me but just waved (maybe the smell kept them away). Trail dad showed up and we were talking about being low on water but would continue on when a van showed up and two older guys got out. Turns out it was someone dropping off from Trail Days. He asked if we wanted beer, but when we replied with water he had that. The trail will indeed provide!I spent a while retaping my feet... they got pretty tender from the friction from wet socks so hopefully a day of dry weather will help.All afternoon I was thinking about logistics in my head. Normally there is not much to worry about- look at how many miles until the next town/resupply, figure out how many days that will be and what food is needed. But I have to switch out to my summer gear (lighter clothes and sleeping bag) and most people do that in Damascus. The trail goes through town right by the post office so super easy. But the schedule I was headed on had me getting there on Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning of a holiday weekend, and I wouldn¢t be able to pick up/send out until Tuesday. Plus, other places may be closed and hostels full (Damascus is right by the Virginia Creeper Trail which is popular with cyclists). So I could either book it doing 22 mile days, go super slow doing 14s, try to have it sent to a drop and pay someone to mail out, or utilize a different town. Easy, right?! As I have mentioned I am a big picture thinker (i.e. I want to hike a lot) and struggle with the details.As I was trying to work all of this out of my head, I got to a beautiful view aptly named Beauty Spot. Someone had left styrofoam coolers with trail magic, but when I opened they were only filled with trash. There was a parking lot close by, so I asked a couple if they didn¢t mind carrying it out. We started talking and probably could have gotten some magic from them but I turn around and Rick was there! He looks so unassuming when he walks, but must have really booked it to catch up.We continued on to what we thought might be q possible camping spot. Trail dad caught up and there was a lot of confusion with the different guides and maps of where we trying to get. Since it was only 2:30, I was like either way I¢m going on!We got to what was probably the correct site a couple miles later. All of the spots were sloped and at the bottom of the valley, so went back to the road. Even though it was only gravel, I don¢t love camping near roads. Both the noise and shady locals usually turn me off. The next official site wasn¢t for another couple uphill miles and shelter after that. But the skies were threatening and time passing so we ultimately decided to set up camp even though just a twelve mile day. This would give our feet good chance to air out and would still keep us on schedule (he had mail drops planned). Trail Dad and another guy, Still Eric, joined us later so we figured we had power in numbers.After all that, it turned out to be a beautiful evening but oh well what can you do and was nice to get done with everything early. Although we hadn¢t seen any fellow hikers go by and assumed they all camped atop Beauty Spot!