Date: 2010-04-20
From: Double Springs Shelter

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 18.5
Weather: scattered clouds

What a long night :SNot five minutes after the headlamps went off I heard Kelly start to growl. I listened closely and after a while I could hear the leaves rustling near the shelter. Kelly's growling at this point had gotten louder and I sat up and in the light of the stars I could see a shape low to the ground scrambling along the ground and up on a log close to the shelter. Stambler shined her light out and we discovered the culprit, racoons! I told Kelly to chase away the coon for us an she gladly obliged. Either it was a very stubborn coon or their was a whole colony of them for all night poor Kelly had to chase the bold coons away from our packs hanging in the shelter. This is the last night I will hang my food in the shelter, it's bear bags from now on!Around two in the morning I had enough of this racoon business and I stumbled around in the dark and set my tent up. Kelly and I had a long day and a long day tomorrow and the last thing we needed was to be up all night trying to protect our stuff. We both slept much better in the tent and from now on, rain or shine, the tents going up.Due to our lack of sleep and late night, I allowed myself to sleep in a bit and it wasn't until around ten o'clock that I headed out on the trail. I had eighteen miles to do before I hit Damascus, but despite the forecast for showers, the sun was shining and the terrain would be fairly easy.I was pretty dissapointed today that my radio didn't want to tune in very well to the country station, so Kelly and I headed down the trail in utter silence with the exception of the random woodpecker and songbird, which isn't all that bad. In the silence your mind tends to wander and it's amazing what your brain comes up with to keep you entertained. Usually though, you end up with a song that's stuck in your head for twelve hours which is what happened today.As usual, we ate lunch at the first shelter a little over eight miles down the trail, I discovered chocolate powerbar gels are absolutely disgusting, but the caffeine at lunch time really gives me a pick-me-up after I eat.The rest of the hike was downhill for the most part and with the sky clouded over and the sprinkles starting I really picked up the pace and although there was no "Welcome to Virginia!" sign, or even something simple to let you know you hit a new state, I did celebrate when I saw the sign that said "Welcome to Rogers Recreation Area". Something about that sign just told me I was in Virginia and it felt good, finally! I had walked completely across the states of North Carolina and Tennessee and it was satisfying As I descended into Damascus I had also been descending into the lower elevations where Spring had arrived and it was a wonderful feeling to be admidst the "green tunnel".Damascus reminds me a lot of Hot Springs except they aren't quite as dog friendly. I had trouble finding a place to stay. I was told the Hiker's Inn allowed dogs, but when I went over there I wasn't sure if I would be able to stay for the night. There was already a man with a very shy dog in the back room and the owner wasn't sure having two dogs in a hostel with the other guests would be a good idea. Fortunately one of the two guests without a dog told her it wouldn't be a problem at all, and Kelly and I settled in. Turns out Sandlewood and his niece Chatter were there and he had immediately recognized us from our trail journals. He generously offered up some trail magic and covered my stay for the night. The generosity of strangers on the trail still surprises and amazes me.The Hiker's Inn is a very nice place and the owner Suzanne is very hospitable. It wasn't long after I got in when she brought over a plate of brownies for us and a can of wet dog food for Kelly to enjoy that evening. She let me know of a good place to eat and after I settled in Kelly and I headed to "Quincy's" for dinner.As I tied Kelly to the bike rack outside of the restaurant imagine my surprise to look up and see Young One across the street! I figured he would be days ahead of me but he had apparently taken a few zeroes and was getting ready to head out the next morning. I asked him if he had eaten yet, he had, but like any hiker was willing to have a second dinner so we both ate and were able to catch up on things since we had last seen each other in Hot Springs, what a pleasant surprise! He had mentioned that the Traveling Circus, Prophet, and Yianie had all rented a house for the night so after dinner we headed over to hang out for the evening. It was awesome to have everyone back together again.