Date: 2015-04-08
From: Damascus

To: Lost Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 14.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Today was an extremely humid day, but fortunately stayed dry. It's almost a miracle considering how hard and how long it rained yesterday. My night was really excellent. I slept all the way through the night, for the first time since February. I wonder how much better I would feel hiking generally if I could sleep properly every night. I woke up about 7 and very slowly started to get ready. We all got up around similar times, mostly due to Brightside's watch alarm. We watched Blazing Saddles whilst we all finished our individual boxes of cereal. After that, it was a bit mad as everyone wandered around collecting and packing their stuff, then cleaning the cabin. We didn't want to leave it any dirtier than we had to, since the owners were such wonderful people. The final cost for two nights was $120, which was extremely cheap when divided amongst 7 people. I think all of us actually left $20 each, which was still far cheaper than almost all the other places to stay along the trail. It was well worth the money, and I would very happily recommend staying there (and I would return there myself, if I ever could).After that, the four of us girls (Brightside, Laughtrack, Dopey, myself) went to Mojoes, which is the only coffee place in town. Unsurprisingly, we met a bunch of other hikers there. I had a white mocha and an iced Cinnabon. For a little bit, it felt like I was back in the real world and just hanging out with friends in a coffee place.I left there at 10am, knowing that I had to do 14 miles and my blisters were still in the (frustratingly long) process of healing. The first little section out of Damascus was flat, and then the trail started going up. And up. And up. There were 2 miles of switchbacks up. Even without the sun, I was still so sticky and sweaty. I had to use my bandana to wipe my face repeatedly. Just before 12, the trail had a detour because of a washed out bridge. This wasn't especially surprising because there were many streams running through the trail, and there were plenty of times where I had to very carefully cross fast flowing streams. Most of them were actually longer than my leg strides and would be quite difficult for people with shorter legs. Only towards the end of the day did I slip on a small rock and soak my left shoe. Around the time of the detour, I met Axom & Shrugs and then I was passed by Frodo and then Laughtrack. The trail walked along the Virginia Creeper Trail for a while. It's a trail that used to be an old railroad, and is now used to by cyclists. It's a popular tourist attraction in Damascus- you can hire a bicycle and get driven to the top of the Creeper Trail, then it's a gentle slope and flats all the way down to Damascus. If it had not monsooned yesterday, I would have done it. There were a couple times where the trail today was just climbing forever and doing switchbacks over and over. It is definitely greener than the trail has been previously, though that's probably from all the rain. My new shoes were definitely well tested by the terrain though. There were plenty of rocks and roots for me to pick through and test the grip on. Only once did I roll my ankle, but that's probably less than average. My blisters were definitely a lot happier today. When I reached the shelter, I didn't feel the need to cut my own feet off out of pain. I have a new blister on my heel, but that's likely just from breaking in my shoes. So far, these new shoes are working out very well.I got to the shelter about 3.30pm, which was faster than I expected (5pm). I arrived just in time to get one of the last spots in the shelter, which is quite spacious actually. There was a long stream of hikers coming in steadily from Damascus, and now there is a small tent city around the shelter. There are definitely more than 20 people staying here tonight. Frodo said that its like being in town again, and I told him that this was actually louder and more social than my experience in town. I wonder if this is what it's like every night for the people in the hiker bubble. For dinner I had 'oriental' ramen with instant mash. I had also forgotten about the shortbread that Brightside's mum had sent to me in Damascus, so I got to enjoy that with some tea after dinner, whilst reading The Count of Monte Cristo. It was sooo good and I felt very civilised. Thank you to Brightside's mum for that lovely surprise! After dinner, I spotted a very small salamander on the ground. It was dark orange and brown. Frodo picked it up and moved it back into the forest.Tomorrow we will start by climbing Mount Rogers (which I desperately hope won't be terrible), and then we will go through the Grayson Highlands. It's famous for having ponies. It's a bit like Dartmoor, but on a much smaller scale. We will be doing either 17 miles or 23 miles, depending on the weather. It would be better if we could go further, since on Friday (the next day) it is expected to be a "total wash out". So, probably a miserable slog. I hope the shelter then will be less busy.