Date: 2016-05-23
From: Campsite at mike 439

To: Stealth Campsite .2 out of Damascus
Miles today: 28.9
Weather: clear sky

So I should begin this entry with the fact it's getting really old with the cold. I woke up in the middle of the night freezing. I don't usually get woken up by anything but this was cold. I put on all the clothes and socks I had and hoped it would keep me warm. I got up around 6:30 and noticed there was partial frost outside on some of the plants. Like seriously it's the end of May in the south and its this cold. I made oatmeal and coffee and shivered. I got packed up and shivered. I started on trail about 8:30 and still was shivering. The three people who camped across the trail on the side with the water had told me when I arrived that there was a bear spotted by a passing hiker right before I got there. We never saw the bear but something was crashing around in the woods when I laid down to go to sleep. My goal today was to get as close to Damascus as I could. Main Street in Damascus was 29.2 miles away. I pushed off and had a series of ups and downs. The trail at this point was fairly level in the guidebook which meant no really big climbs. However the reality is you would have a steep climb for .3 miles and then drop back down and the do it again another 22 times. This is what we call NUNDS. Needless ups and downs. Early on I arrived at Iron horse and had a second breakfast and signed the log book. I crossed TN 91 and went back to the ups and downs. I did come to a field which the trail went through and there were manycows. I got to walk amongst them and one of the cows had recently had a calf. The cord was still attached snd it was very neat to see the newborn. Mom was still cleaning the baby up. I should add the entire trail at this point is 6 inches deep with mud from all the rain we've had. It made it super difficult to walk period and took twice as much effort. I arrived at the next shelter double springs. I filtered water and took my boots and socks off to dry out. For some reason the boots I swapped out are giving me grief which they didn't do before. The last pair has faulty eyelits and were shredding my laces, this new pair is great but for some reason the side of my heel keeps getting a sore on both heels. This never happened with the last pair but it's rubbing but there is nothing inside the boot that I can feel that is rubbing. So I mole skinned the area and duct taped it to keep it secure. I walked several more miles snd my right foot was in immense pain. The moleskin must have slipped and was digging into my heel. Now the comedy of errors started. I needed to get my boot off and fix this as it was too painful to keep climbing this needless up. I begin to take my bag off which gets stuck on my arm. I lean forward to loosen the stuck shoulder strap and don't realize they Smitty (the walking stick) has slipped out and falls to the ground. I shake finally releasing my pack and I let it drop to the ground which it clips Smitty and the stick flips up and smashes me in the face. Needless to say a few choice words were said and I plopped onto the ground a bit defeated. I do manage to get all the old moleskin off and rebandage the sore. Good to go again and I push off for some more ups and downs. I'd rather have a 6000 foot climb cause I know at least over the summit we will go down for awhile. This .3 up and .3 down is exhausting. I arrive at Abingdon shelter and need to filter water. Of coarse the water is .4 down a super steep trail. Grrrrrrrrrrrr. But I don't feel so bad as the woman I meet at the bottom was nice enough to fill up everyone's water but then realized she had to carry it all up that hill. I offer but she said no no I'm determined to do this. I get back to the shelter and have a snack. Ompi was taking a zero in Damascus today for his birthday. Through texts he said if you get here I'm making steaks for my birthday. You can have one! Well I looked at the book and realized that I was still 9.4 miles out at 5 so I texted Ompi saying it would be so darn good but don't hold a steak I won't be near there till 9. Now I was more determined to get to Damascus tonight. I pushed off with 9.7 miles to go. 6.7 miles to the TN/VA border. The trail still muddy finally stayed in a down direction after another 73 NUNDs. I arrived at the border at 8:10 pm and was so excited to be entering Virginia. It's crazy to think I am almost up to 500 miles walked. I passed the last designated campsite in the book as it was dark and threw on my head lamp. I arrived at a small campsite just after 9:20. It's so close to town you can see houses. I started a fire and dinner after I set up my tent. Looking at mileage I walked 28.9 miles on the AT snd over a mile in water trails. So i basically did a 30 mile day. Holy crsp. I feel pretty darn good for just waking 30 miles. Tomorrow I have a short walk to breakfast and all the town goodness. Bed time for me as its 12:03 which is like crazy hiker midnight...