Date: 2018-05-12
From: Low gap campsite

To: Damascus Virginia
Miles today: 14.8

This morning I woke up early but ended up hanging out in my tent until 8:30. We were planning on getting into Damascus today. I drank coffee with Irish cream that my parents gave me in a drop package. Scissors and I talked about relationships and how it's hard to forget about someone you loved. She had a woman in her life that couldn't commit to her. I could relate to that from previous experience.At the other campsite Kamikaze and Theo had already left. The trail today was supposed to be pretty flat except the weather is going to be 84 degrees. I wasn't looking forward to hot weather. It causes my feet to sweat more and gives me blisters.We hiked 5 miles to the Abingdon shelter. The water source was about .3 miles down a steep hill and there wasn't another source for 8 miles. Scissors and I snacked there for a bit. I decided to get water since it was only going to get hotter. I grabbed an extra liter for Scissors, but when I got back to the shelter she had already taken off. That's where I met Pippen, Honey legs, and Zach. They were part of the crusty tall squaches crew. Pippen was from Cincinnati and we talked about how the city has revitalized over the past 10 years. Honey legs was from Taylor Texas which is close to Austin. We both agreed there wasn't anything to do in Taylor.I continued on from the shelter for another 4 miles and received a text from Scissors that she had met up with Kamikaze. They were 1.6 miles from the Tennessee Virginia border and were going to meet up with me to cross it. When I got there Scissors didn't have much water left. I shared the extra liter that I had been carrying. It was really hot to not be carrying much water. We headed to the border and got photos then headed to Damascus.  When we reached town it was a transition from the trail to perfectly manicured lawns. It would be amazing to camp on all that soft grass instead of the mud pads we sometimes slept on. We fallowed the blazes through town. Damascus is a super hiker town. They had murals everywhere about hiking.  We stopped at the Woodchuck hostel and checked in. They sold Ben and Jerry's by the pint. Scissors, Kamikaze, and I both bought one. We had been talking about ice cream since we crossed the border. We also ran into Pumpkin Spice, Bandito, and Pancho at the hostel. They were hanging out and doing laundry. We put our clothes in the wash and did the same. I found some epic town clothes. Jeans shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt from an old radio show. That it outfit would be the talk of the town!  I headed to the brewery in my town clothes. We met up with Wizard, Spineli, and Booger Bear there. They had live music and pretty cheap beer. We all hung around for a bit. Everyone got a kick out of my town clothes. After the brewery I stopped for late night snacks from Food City. Booger Bear was there doing the same. He had cut a lot of weight from his backpack for his summer shakedown. He mentioned heading out in the morning. I still needed to do town business and wasn't going to leave until late afternoon. I headed back to the hostel and filled up on grocery grub.Tonight I'm laying under the stars cowboy camping in the hostel backyard.