Date: 2017-10-11
From: Damascus

To: Low Gap, Tennessee
Miles today: 15.2
Weather: broken clouds

"Only losers are still in Virginia!"That was the greeting I received from Beast as I walked up to the signpost marking the border between Virginia and Tennessee. He was sitting with a dozen other members of the Sobo Mega Bubble -- Team KRT and his own mega-crew, dubbed The Second Breakfast Club -- just on the other side of the sign.After about five weeks since I'd crossed into Virginia on the outskirts of Harpers Ferry, it was hard to argue with his observation. Although I also couldn't help enjoying the irony that they were all sitting on the uphill side of the trail and thus, because the trail at this point was heading a fraction south of due west, it meant they were probably all actually sitting in Virginia.I opted to keep that point to myself and instead gratefully plonked down my pack next to all the others.This wasn't the only ironic moment of the day and it wasn't even midday yet. After a couple of chilly days as the remnant of Hurricane Nate blew through, today was soul-sappingly warm and humid, meaning I was sweating buckets as I ground my way up the hill out of Damascus. The ironic aspect of this was that my pack was now weighed down with much more warm clothing. This included the extra layers TG and Q had brought me a few days before but also a sleeping bag thermal liner I'd bought from an outfitter in Damascus that morning and which, along with a lightweight bivy bag, I was hoping would allow my 40degF sleeping bag to cope with the expected temperatures over the next month. Based on the temperature right now, it seems like I'd have been OK just with the thermal liner and without needing the sleeping bag at all, but the more rational side of my brain insists that over the next month, we'll progressively swap from warm weather with a few chilly interludes to cold weather with a few mild respites.A further irony came in the form of the "triple zero curse", where several days off from hiking has the counter-intuitive effect of making me feel less energised instead of being refreshed. Combined with the heat of the day, the outfitter stop and a couple of other town chores, I was definitely the last one out of town.I was grateful that the trail for the rest of the day after meeting up at the border seemed to revert to the long, flat and forested ridgetops that had characterised most of our time since New England.The Second Breakfast Club were aiming for two shelters hence, 18 miles from Damascus, but we were aiming for about three miles shy of that, at a camping site with a supposedly reliable piped spring.When we reached the first shelter at Abingdon Gap for lunch, we discovered that Footprint and Simpleton, who we'd last seen at Woods Hole, hadn't got word of our extra zero-day and had hiked into this shelter last night with trail magic for us.It was disappointing to have missed them but they'd hidden some of the treats -- beer, fruit and herbs -- for us to find, having provided the location as a riddle in the log book. Alas the cryptography was not of Enigma-style deviousness -- the riddle for the beer's location, for example, was "Your mind is in the G______" -- and had been worked out by those hiking ahead of us. All that was left by the time I got there were some sprigs of cilantro/coriander.Of greater moment was discovering that earlier in the log book Omega, the nobo who exemplified himself for hiking just in his "tighty whitey" underwear, had recorded the moment when he realised that this was appropriate hiking couture. "Day 65 from AFSP [Amicalola Falls State Park], Day 64 from Springer Mountain. "The other guy in the shelter had a fire going, trying to dry his pants which got soaked in the rain. Last time I hiked in the rain, all that got wet were my socks boots and underwear so hiking in my tighty whiteys is fun AND practical! Works great for me. No pants forever!"It sounded like it was a literal road-to-Damascus experience, although we wondered if this philosophy would work quite as well in the Presidential range...The rest of the afternoon dragged by. Sriracha was still feeling drained from his intestinal distress of the previous few days and I wasn't going much better but without an excuse other than being old and decrepit.I was grateful to find the roadside spring at our campsite was flowing slowly but steadily. I filled up a few litres then trudged up the hill to the campsite to cook. It's good to be back out in the woods again.Life is good.AT fact of the day: The Second Breakfast Club seemed like a cool group and it was good to get to know the other members a little better than I had in our brief encounter at Crazy Larry's hostel in Damascus. It was today that I learned that two of them, Jay and Ash, had got engaged on the trail in Maine and were aiming to marry on Springer mountain on November 11, the day after they plan to finish the trail. That's about when we were aiming to finish too and they've made it clear they want every hiker in the vicinity to feel welcome both at the ceremony and the reception afterwards. This is shaping up as a truly epic way to finish our hike...