Date: 2008-05-21
From: VA 601 Camp

To: Damascus
Miles today: 19.0
Weather: few clouds

We went to bed last night thinking through the possibility of taking our first blue blaze (hiking an alternate side trail to the AT), the Virginia Creeper. I read in the thru hiker book that this trail was originally a foot path for Native Americans, then was used by Daniel Boone, turned into a railroad and now was a popular biking and hiking trail. The home school mom in me said, that sounds great! But it's really Owl's choice. We studied the maps carefully and saw that it ran paralell to the AT and in some spots ran together. She liked the idea.In the morning we discussed it with Tigger and Soaring and decided to go for it. We had four miles to go before we came to the first intersection of the two trails.When we stopped at Lost Mt. shelter to take a short break we met several NOBO hikers. One of them made the comment that the Creeper trail was just straight and flat, the AT was much more interesting. As we hiked on, about two miles before the intersection... crossing the same rhododendron tunnels, streams, muddy trail (yes, it rained again last night) roots and rocks... I thought, I've seen this for 550 miles...I'm ready for a change.It was a nice change. Very refreshing. Yes, the trail was flat and smooth. I didn't really get bored with that until the very end. And then we saw the steep downhill to an even steeper stairway onto the highway where the AT reconnected and we were happy with the flat again.So today instead of meeting the hordes of NOBO hikers coming out of Damascus after Trail Days, we met tourists on bicycles and fishermen. It was nice, it was different. Some bikers stopped to talk, fascinated by what we were doing. Most smiled and waved, as did the fishermen.We had heard that when we came to Taylor Valley there would be two cafes. We had a discussion about that. The word 'cafe' in my mind brings images of sidewalks in Paris... not small country communities in southern Virginia. I just wanted to see these cafes.As we approached the community we saw a sign for the first cafe. It said 'fresh squeezed lemonade'. Wow did that sound good! I think we all picked up our step. When it came into view my mouth was watering at the thought of fresh squeezed lemonade. Then we saw the building. The sign on the front said 'CLOSED DIVORCE'. We were crushed! We walked away very sad. Someone made a comment that that is a very good reason not to get divorced... because then there is no more fresh squeezed lemonade. And that is such a sad thing.We didn't know where the second cafe was supposed to be. It appeared we were leaving the community and we started back into the woods. We were disappointed. Pretty soon though we saw something through the trees. It was another part of the community. Then we saw a sign 'Virginia Creeper Cafe'. It was a beautiful sight! It was a cafe. They had two awnings set up outside to eat under. And all thoughts of fresh squeezed lemonade went out of our minds when we saw the Hershey's ice cream sign.As we approached we could quickly tell that their regular clientele were bikers on the trail. There was a large group under one of the awnings that appeared to be a high school group. As we approached they all stared blatantly at us. It was really uncomfortable. I would have thought it was just me but as we set our packs down next to a table we all looked at each other at the same time and said... were they all really staring at us... yes, they were! It was awkward. But there was food to be eaten, so we ignored them.Owl got a double dip chocolate and raspberry ice cream cone. After eating that she finished off the second half of my Philly Cheese Steak and onion rings. She had already had lunch earlier. She was having a hungry day.The rest of the trail was uneventful. Twice we took the opportunity to walk beside Whitetop Laurel Creek to stop and soak our feet. We also learned from signs along the way about Warblers, Chestnuts and Trout. I'm glad we did it, blue blaze and all.We came into Damascus unsure of where we were going to stay. We had only heard of one place that would allow dogs and we hadn't been able to get a cell all day to call them. Turns out they were full, but gave us another couple options.We ended up at a B&B that doesn't take dogs. But she had an 'emergency' room in the basement that she would allow us to stay in. She wanted us to be very discrete about the dog being here. So I'd love to say thank you to her and give her kudo for her kindess, but I guess she'll stay anonymous. Very nice lady though, and we are thrilled we didn't have to hike on through town after a 19 mile day.Our plan tomorrow is to do some business... laundry, pick up a supply box we left with the outfitters, shop for some food and hopefully get out of town in the early afternoon. It's time to move onto the next section of trail.This was a great day.Rabbit, Owl and RooJoshua 1:9