Date: 2009-04-27
From: Damascus, Virginia!

To: Saunders Shelter, VA
Miles today: 9.4
Weather: clear sky

Cell some, when you find the spot NW of the shelter. Not at the shelter or our tent.OG notesThe town vortex kept pulling on us to stay another day. We fought it off and started hiking again today. We made one final stop at one of the outfitters (C6 will explain) and then headed out.C6 covered today's hiking very well and I don't think I could add much. The weather was probably in the 80s and it was hot to hike in. The trees don't have their leaves yet so we didn't have much shade along the trail. We would stop whenever we got under an evergreen or Rhodadendron (Sp?) that did provide shade. I personally don't mind the heat, but I don't like the direct sun. We hiked alongside of a Rails to Trails trail called The Virginia Creeper trail. It is a section of old railroad bed that has been turned into a recreational trail. There are numerous outfitters in Damascus that rent bicycles and provide transportation up the creeper. The drop off is a slightly higher elevation so the bikers have an easy ride back into town. We AT hikers hike along the hillside next to the creeper, we have ups and downs just like everywhere else along the trail. In fact this shelter is considerably higher so that meant a real challenging climb to get here. In the morning we'll go down the mountain and actually hike about a half mile of the creeper, then we'll start some major hill climbs again.We chose to not do major miles today. We are satisfied with all that we accomplished today and the miles were respectable enough. We are comfortable in our tent tonight and passed on the opportunity to sleep in the shelter. Goodnight.C6 notesWe didn't put on a lot of miles today, but it was a very satisfying day anyway. Had a wonderful breakfast at Miss Ginny's B & B, then "Papa Doc" drove us to the Post Office to mail some stuff home and then he dropped us off at the other end of town to get on the trail. (The AT goes through the town, and we had walked it multiple times over the days we were there for meals, the laundromat, and one of the outfitters.)"Papa Doc" came in yesterday and stayed at the B & B last night. He's hiking huge sections of the AT, but not the whole AT this season. Very nice guy.After he dropped us off by "Fatty's" (a restaurant), we started hiking, but about 1/4 mile down the road we had a brainstorm and went back to the Sundog Outfitter. That's the outfitter that carries my backpack. They couldn't make an exchange for us on Saturday; the Granite Gear company was closed on the weekend. We decided to take a chance and see if we could talk to the company today and see if a trade could be made. Success! "Serial" (the Sundog outfitter emloyee who helped us so much...can't thank you enough, Serial!!!!) got us on the phone with Granite Gear. It was sounding as if the company wouldn't help us. After a while, the lady asked to speak with Serial. He spoke with her for a few minutes. We couldn't hear a word he said, but after a few minutes he hung up and said Granite approved the outfitter giving me a new pack. Granite Gear will send the outfitter a replacement pack, and the outfitter will send my old pack to Granite Gear. I was amazed...our names! weren't exchanged at all!The new pack is comfortable. I had no shoulder pain at all as we hiked today. What a difference! I'm sure I'll not be completely pain free, but I surely will have far less shoulder pain now. Nice!!! (PS My pack weighed 32 pounds at the outfitter before we left. OG's weighed 42 pounds.)We then picked up two Subway subs for lunch and headed out. Two miles out of Damascus we decided to see if we have cell phone service, and we did. So we called our kids and had wonderful, long conversations. Then we called the North Face company and told them about the holes in my rain pants (which started within 2 weeks after we bought them). Without any question, the representative set up an exchange for me. A new pair of rain pants will be waiting for me at one of our mail drop addresses in a few days. There will be something included in which I can return my pants. It's so nice to work with a company that stands by their product like that. After taking care of business and enjoying the conversations, we enjoyed our Subway subs lunch and moved on. It was HOT hiking today, so we didn't push hard, and stopped at the first shelter. It's nice here, and it's cooling down now, so it should be a very nice night. Samwise and Rolling Stone (with his dog, Coal) showed up not long ago. Nice company.Old Goat & Check Six