Date: 2023-03-03
From: Broken Fiddle

To: Lost Mnt 
Miles today: 16.5

Fri 3/3, our 32nd day of hiking Woke up early, made a cup of tea and then Snoopy and I were out the door at 7 to check out Damascus. It had rained overnight but was just a fading drizzle as we set out. Found the dog park and let Snoopy run around but no one else was there at that early hour. Walked for a while on the VA Creeper trail (more on it later) , past the pool (outdoor, so not open yet) back to where we came into town yesterday. Checked out all of the storefronts along Main Street and read a bunch of historical markers. Found the Mill. Then while waiting for the dollar general to open (only place on this side of town for groceries) ran into Pi±ata! It was great to catch up with her. After we grabbed some eggs cheese and other trail food, the Post Office had just opened so we went and picked up a very heavy pckg that Angie had mailed earlier in the week. Then we took all of our loot back to the hostel to make breakfast, see what we have in the box from home and load up the pack! All of those chores took till about 10:30. There is a fairly strong wind advisory (gusts to 40-50 mph) and one of the other hikers decided to take a zero day bc of it but I wanted to get back on the trail. As we made our way out of town we ran into a hiker couple that told me to go say hi to Crazy Larry (a trail legend) so we popped into his house and made his acquaintance. One more quick stop at an outfitters for another freeze dried meal or two and we were back in the woods. The afternoon started out nice but the weather soon deteriorated. The trail starts climbing up a good sized hill/mountain and I wish I would¢ve counted how many switchbacks there were on the way to Saunders shelter, at least 20-25, I bet. By the time we got to that shelter, it was blowing pretty good, but not yet raining so all of the dry leaves were getting whipped up by the wind. I kinda liked it but Snoopy wasn¢t having as much fun. He gets nervous about that kind of stuff. So we pushed on. On the way down the hill we passed two hikers and with a lab. I wanted to talk to them about their travels but the wind was so strong, we just could barely hear each other while yelling. It was only 6.5 miles to the next shelter but the rain started falling. Just mildly at first but it soon was a drencher. The AT parallels the Creeper trail for quite a while . It¢s nice to walk on a wide bike path (former railroad) instead of the one foot wide, trail sliced into the edge of a hill, roots, rocks, mud whatever, like so much of the trail has been. Anyway, when we finally got to this shelter (Lost Mountain) we¢ve never been happier to find a dry place to duck into. As soon as I took off my pack, bam, thunder and lightning, rain blowing sideways¢¦ it¢s a couple of hours later after setting up beds, eating dinner, looking over the guide for tomorrow¢s itinerary, etc. and the rain still hasn¢t let up. I doubt anyone else will be joining us at this point. No cell service and I can¢t even get the Garmin to find service in this storm. Hopefully this storm system will flush everything out tonight and tomorrow will be clear. But we have bellies full of town food, a pack full of groceries and goodies and a dry place to sleep. Goodnight to all!