Date: 2017-05-23
From: Abingdon Gap shelter

To: Damascus, VA - Woodchuck Hostel
Miles today: 10.2

From Fatboy:We had one of the most peaceful nights in a shelter yet.  There was minimal snoring and no one slept on one of those horribly loud air pads.  It was nice to get a decent rest.  There were reports of bear sightings very close to the shelter but nothing seemed out of place in the morning.  We started our day with coffee and oatmeal with fruit as usual after a long trek down the hill to get water.  The piped spring was way down a steep hill but not as difficult as the water source from Vandeventer Shelter.  We started hiking at 0910 leaving No Name sleeping in the shelter. I had discussed the distance from Abingdon Shelter with a hiker last night and told her the distance was 7.1 miles to Woodchuck Hostel.  There's a glitch on the Guthook app that I wasn't aware of.  If something is directly on the trail you get accurate trail mileage.  If a feature (Woodchuck Hostel) isn't directly on trail you get line of sight mileage.  The accurate distance from Abington Shelter to Woodchuck Hostel is closer to 10.5 miles.  I feel badly that I gave her information that was in error of about 50%.  If I meet her again I will definitely make my amends.The day started overcast and cool but without rain and we knew that was supposed to change so we set out at a faster pace than usual.  The terrain was almost flat and the trail was clear for the most part.  We hiked about 5 miles within the first 2 hours!  The rain started as a light shower and just kept building.  It was eventually pouring rain and the trail was a shallow creek in places.  Ginger's boots are waterproof so her feet stayed dry.  My shoes aren't waterproof and my feet were quickly soaked.  I was very grateful the temperature was warm enough that I wasn't cold as long as we kept moving.  We passed an old unlisted shelter (on Awol's guide) that was constructed using log cabin technique but the structure had developed a significant tilt and wasn't currently being maintained.  We did pass the sign showing the final trail crossing of the state line and we paused for some funny posed photos to commemorate our fourth state.  The trail continued mostly flat until the last mile or so and we were passing the miles quite quickly.  We heard the traffic a long time before we saw the road, as usual, partly because the end of Damascus nearest the northbound trail crossing is right on a sharp turn that requires all of the trucks to shift gears creating lots of truck noise.  It was wonderful to turn the last corner on the trail and see the entrance to town.  It was still raining hard but I felt a lot better knowing I would be in a warm and dry bed tonight.  Ginger was swinging her poles and almost skipping down the trail in this lousy weather and her joy was infectious.  We'd hiked over 10 miles in about 5 hours and my feet and legs were shouting at me in protest.  We checked in with Woodchuck, took showers and arranged for the shuttle to the grocery store at 1700.  Woodchuck gave us discount cards for the grocery store that were a great benefit.  We saved over 20% on our purchases!  This kind of detail of hiker service is what separates the best hostels from many of the other lodging facilities we've stayed with over our journey.  Woodchuck continues to provide one of the best no-frills places we've found on the trail.  We had salads and real bread with mustard for our sandwiches for dinner and retired to our cozy cabin very tired but grateful.  It was a wonderful happy hike today.From Ginger:No Name explained the whole hammock process for me last night. So interesting! I've been wanting to peek into one for months and try to watch folks put them up, but I hadn't actually asked anyone. He walked us through it. Pretty cool.Malibu showed up with Taquito last night as we were heading to sleep. Taquito climbed into my lap while her mom packed up this morning. What a treat for me.Hiking into Virginia feels a bit like walking home. As a kid, I only lived in Virginia for 2.5 years (we lived in Hampton while Dad was stationed at Langley), but until I got to Texas, I thought of Virginia as home. Mom and Dad were born there, much of our extended family lives there, and every school report I did on a state was about Virginia, which is a commonwealth.State bird: cardinalState flower and tree: dogwoodState motto: something Latin (LOL -- I'll have to look that up again sometime), not Virginia is for lovers.Nickname: Old Dominion stateState flag: I can draw itYou get the idea. I'm stoked to be here and at the possibility of seeing family along the way.And I put in a plug for Woodchuck Hostel at the last shelter register. AND saw Tequila Sunshine's last journal entry there, before she left the trail. Made me smile and tear up.