Date: 2008-05-02
From: Damscus, VA

To: 2 miles past Lost Mtn. shelter
Miles today: 16.9

Wind is soughing through the pine trees in this hillside campsite just off the AT in Virginia. The sun has set, and the last light is leaving the skies. I am in my tent, enjoying the feeling of order around me: pack at my feet, sun hat hung up by its chin strap, with two wool socks balanced on it to dry. My bright yellow Waldies are set by the door, and my pack lid and clothes bag are next to me. The sleeping mat feels like a little raft tonight, one that will, with luck, take me into sleep soon. I still have my winter sleeping bag, and I can tell it will be a little too warm tonight after the summery temperatures of the day. Its been such a great piece of gear, though, for eight solid weeks, dependable and toasty. Its hard not to get kind of personal about these key items! Its a Mountain Hardware Phantom 15, women's model.   I had one of the best hiking days of the trip today, on parts of the Virginia Creeper Trail til it joined the AT up at a long RR bridge 10 or so miles out of Damascus.   We left Miss Ginny's after another beautiful breakfast, with full packs and a little bag of extras to take to one of the hiker boxes. It was warm and sunny, ideal May weather. As is often the case, getting back into hiking felt really good this morning, and today I planned to do as much of the Creeper trail as I could. It is a railroad bed that has had its ties removed, so is a very easily graded scenic trail that winds beside a rushing creek most of the way. Key to making this hiking day special was that I could hike and gaze at the scenery simultaneously. Usually I absolutely have to watch where I am placing my feet. Otherwise I stagger off to the side or lurch forward, that sort of thing. Smooth wide trail was heavenly, and I gawked at everything along the way.I started out doing a 2 mph pace, then picked it up to 3mph. I was able to get close to a 15 minute mile, but wanted to last the day and not burn out, so cut it back to 3 mph. Its amazing how much stronger I have become, and how delightful it was to stride along that gradual incline 3,5,7 miles and still feel great.   The creek being so close to the trail, I was able to take a lunch break sitting on a rock with my bare feet in the stone cold water. In 90 seconds, my feet started aching from the cold. But the intense sensation really made my feet happy for the rest of the afternoon.   I had a head's up about a couple of cafe's that were alongside the trail, so stopped around noon for a big old glass of iced sweet tea. A bicyclist approached us and asked about the hike, which opened up a good chat about how it is to hike the AT long distance. Later, a group of cyclists from Tidewater area hiking club stopped to talk, and I could see a few womens' eyes light up as we answered some questions and shared a bit of our experiences. You go, girls!   At the RR bridge turnoff, we met the Price family and although I couldn't help with locating some of their hiking friends, we had a great chat. Little Ernie, the miniature dachshund, was riding in the front basket of Mr Price's bike, totally at home, and clearly the master of this particular day's adventure!   It wasn't long before we reached Lost Mtn shelter. Virginia shelters have nice big airy outhouses! The shelter there was recent, a log structure with a nice deep overhang. We met Pearl, Nest, Trainwreck and Yazzie there, along with Nest's mom, Lost [Vegas]. Its hard to describe how very pleasant it was to see familiar faces here, and to catch up on who was where since we last met at Vandeventer. It was word of mouth from these folks that sent us two more miles up the trail to this peaceful and piney campsite. Yazzie took off first, and V8 and I came long next, so we have a small group here. Dinner was novel tonight because Yazzie is video taping material for a trail documentary, and he grabbed the camera and began asking us questions while we cooked and ate. It was lots of fun. Good night to all, Virginia, here we come!Marcia JamrogAuntie Mame