Date: 2015-04-20
From: Damascus, VA

To: Marion, VA
Miles today: 62.4

Updated by Sean per Pat's email 4/20/2015.Howdy folks. I've caught up with Rise. On the morning leaving Damascus VA I stopped at Mojos for the cheap blueberry pancakes and bacon. I had the coffee at Mojos the day before and it was one of the tastier cups I've ever had. Plus I traded out the eggs option for extra blueberry pancakes and after getting what I thought was a full and fair plate, the nice lady brought me a huge wrapped homemade brownie because she was worried about shorting my portions on the pancake size. I hung out with the Canadian Twins who are heading all the way back to Quebec via the AT, and a bunch of nice locals out front. Damascus is filled with a bunch of good people and had some cool culture. The Canadians and I were told about the Virginia Creeper trail and how scenic it was. The Creeper trail follows the Laurel River (or stream probably) on the way out of town and we decided we would hike the Creeper Trail until it passed it's last AT crossing at a Creek Junction in 10 miles. Now, some hikers are real purist and even go as far as touching each white blaze on the trees and post. I'm not hitching rides and skipping trail but I chose the river hike, there is plenty of trees and woods to see up ahead. ALSO, for anyone who wants to join for all or some, I'd like to aqua blaze the Shenandoah¢s on the river. Our hike out of Damascus was a total of 12 miles to get to the shelter but it covered 14 AT trail miles. The next day I pushed for 17 or 18 miles with Shoelace (a section hiker) to get to the first shelter in the Grayson Highlands. That place was unbelievable. I pushed through Fat Mans Squeeze which is a rock tunnel that you need to squeeze through and came across tons of wild ponies in the State Park. The next day I had a 20 miler planned, still trying to catch back up with Rise. While eating lunch at the shelter 6 miles into the hike, Rise hikes up and said he heard and saw me talking from the trail. We hung out for a while catching up and losing time but we decided we would continue to make a push for the long day. After 7 nights Rise and I are back hiking the trail together. The next day Rise was planning on going roughly 10 miles to Partnership Shelter/visitor center which is in Marion, VA. His buddy Jason was going to scoop him so he could get some rest off- trail. Rise is a true champion and has not taken a single zero since leaving Springer Mountain, GA. I have taken quite a few but decided to tag along. Currently, we are in a cabin on a farm right off Hungry Mothers Lake. This land and organic farm is basically a dream spot my brother Matt would truly appreciate. Jason is working and running two different farms that provide food to locals. Today is our Zero day so I ran by the Atkins Post Office (no package), and we went back to Damascus to hang out and do Laundry at Jason's family house (no laundry in cabin). We resupplied yesterday at Food City so we are ready to hit the trail tomorrow and push to Pearisburg, VA, where I will stop at the post office for the camera memory chip.As a nice twist in the journey, my debit card was declined at Food City, Apparently my bank or CC number was compromised and money was spent at a Walgreens in Richmond, VA. Once all the negligent charges are done pending, I will need to call the bank so they can begin the investigation. They said Wednesday is probably when charges will clear but of course we all know I'll be back on the trail then. HAHA. Note to all, you are not safe from everyday corruption while out in the woods. I'll get all that squared away in the next week or so, my account is locked up now but I have a zero balance CC to use : )I'll catch up with everyone in Pearisburg, VA.