Date: 2012-04-24
From: Damascus. VA - Hikers InnÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ 

To: VA 600, Elk Gardens
Miles today: 23.5
Weather: clear sky

Day 30 - Tuesday, April 24thHiking Days 23/ Nero Days 5 /  Zero Days 2Start Location: Damascus. VA - Hikers Inn Mile Marker: 467.1Ending Location: VA 600, Elk GardensMile Marker: 490.6Time: 9h 50minMiles: 23.5Weather: very cold 34 with an official windchill of 24. Moderate to strong winds early increasing to strong wind advisory in the afternoon.  The sun came out a bit.  Temps in the low 40's.  Cold wind at times.  Chilling night temps but winds have died down a bit. Up at 6:50 after a good nights sleep.  Finished packing the final items.  Not a long day today just a lot of uphill.  Feeling pretty good after my rest.  It's hard to leave so that's when you know you must.  Lee and Paul made chocolate moose last night.  It had to set so they indicated to take one out of the refrigerator on the way out this morning.  Never too early for chocolate moose. So I did.  And enjoyed it to the last scrape.  7:50 and on my way to the dairy king one last time for breakfast.  French toast, 2 eggs and sausage.  Still hungry so I asked for an English muffin.  No muffins so I had a biscuit and gravy.  Two more cups of coffee for a total of four.  Had to leave so out I went.  The trail was almost right outside the door so I was on trail at 8:40.  Sounds late but for a town day that included a zero the time was pretty good.  My goal is to do about 16 miles to the Lost Mountain Shelter.  I stayed the on both other hikes.  It sets you up to do Whitetop Mountain then Mt.  Rogers and then the Grayson Highland State Park.  That would split the climbing over two days.  With the cold weather that set in for now it makes sense not to go over Whitetop until tomorrow since it is supposed to have been hit hard with the snow yesterday and last night.  The Grayson Highlands are perhaps one of the more beautiful sections of Virginia Trail but being higher and completely exposed you don't want to be on it in bad weather.  Even without wind forecasted it will be windy up there.  The first 12 miles or so of trail out of Damascus is probably the worst crap PUD there is one the entire AT.  Instead of running you on the Virginia Creeper Trail for 9-10 miles they stick you on worthless up and down trails.  The Virginia Creeper Trail is an old rail to trail that could be an incredible hike with a minimal grade change, a beautiful river running along it, great bridges and incredible scenery.  But this is wher you learn that the hikers take second seat to the bikers.  Biking down the trail is big business in Damascus and it wouldn't be good business to have hikers and bikers mix I guess.  In fact there is even a side trail at about 8 miles to the creeper but instead the AT takes a turn up a long hill ... To nowhere.  At about 12 miles it joins the creeper for about 0.7 miles just to cross a bridge then right back to the woods and climbing.  Best blue blaze of the entire AT.  But for the third time, I passed all the white blazes.  The day was supposed to be cold and windy.  It was at times when you where on the wrong side of the climb but when you weren't you had sun and minimal wind.  My hiking was constant.  I barely took a rest.  Even when I arrived at my intended stopping point I felt like doing more miles.  I was very concerned about Whitetop and I wasn't sure about any campsites.  But I went anyway.  On the way up Whitetop he temps started dropping.  The winds were also colder.  I was already committed so up I went.  It was cold and windy but also a lot of fun.  Near the top I ran into Steve-O and Doc. They had dinner together last night and now it looks like they may be hiking together.  At the too of Whitetop there certainly was snow.  I do think with the sun and temps in the low 40's that most of it had already melted.  Got to the top, flipped over and headed down.  At the bottom at VA 600, Elk Gardens there was an area suitable for camping.  The four of us stopped and shortly after there were about 6 more that showed up.  Also there are 3 section hikers here.  A mini tent city.  The night is chilling but the area is protected a bit from the wind.  I think I should survive the night cold.  As it turns out I am at the exact spot where I wanted to start my slack back to Damascus.   I'm here and I saved a lot of money by not slacking.  But I'm not in a nice comfy bed.  Oh well.  I like it here and glad I did the miles.  In all about 4000 feet in ups and