Date: 2009-05-23
From: Laurel Fork River, TN

To: Watauga Lake, TN
Miles today: 8.8

The Road Back to DamascusWe took our time leaving our little bend of the Laurel Fork River. While we were eating breakfast, Farsee, SnP and Walking Home came hiking by and stopped to talk. We informed them that we planned to stop at Lake Watauga when we got there to swim at the public beach. Farsee thought it sounded fun and asked if he could hike with us. We were happy to oblige. The major obstacle that lay between us and our swim was Pond Mountain. Between our campsite and the Pond mountain turnoff a few miles up the trail the hike was quite pleasant and easy terrain along the banks of the river. But once we got to the sign indicating the turnoff to Pond Mountain, the trail took a sharp turn and went straight up. it was one of the steepest climbs of the AT that I can remember, which was made much harder by all of the loose shale along the way. Even Einstein struggled to make the climb. We paused a few times to take in some scenery from a picturesque overlook, but it was really just an excuse to take a longer break than usual. We finally made it to along flat ridge at the top. While we sat on a rock, sharing our estimates of the tough climb and congratulating ourselves for reaching the top, a southbound hiker passed us and warned us of how steep the climb went from there. We were devastated to realize we weren't at the top, but saddled up again and pushed on. It was steep, but luckily not as bad as we were led to believe or had already climbed. When we actally reached the top, which we were able to confirm from some other southbounders, we took another break at a spring with some of the best tasting water we had ever had. So we emptied out all our water bags and refilled them from the spring. The climb down from Pond mountain wasn't as steep, which was good because my knees were shot, It was a nice long descent with a lot of switchbacks that led down to Lake Watauga, which we were told was a nice clean lake and great for swimming. It was a very welcome sight wehn we emerged from the woods and followed the trail across a road through a patch of trees onto a busy public beach. We must have been a sight as well. Several of the people spending Memorial Day weekend at the beach came by to ask us about the trail and share some of their food with us. It was a beautiful day, so we spent a few hours swimming, soaking up the sun and placing all the phone calls we could since we had gone weeks without phone coverage. Several other hikers stopped by and moved on, warning us about a pesky bear at the next shelter. Nano and Scree Freak also emerged from the woods and decided to stay for a swim. Nano is a soft spoken but extremely nice and funny guy from Michigan. Scree Freak is from England and only on the trail for a few months until he has to return home. Just as we were sitting around debating whether to hit the trail or go back into town for dinner, and wishing we could just skip back up to Damascus, a white van pulled up with the Mt. Rogers Outfitters logo on it, which is an outfitter in Damascus. John was the driver and had just shuttled some hikers back form Damascus. He was planning on going to dinner locally and offered to take us all in and bring us back to the lake afterwards. So The Phlo, Graveyard, Farsee, Nano, Scree Freak, Dizzy Bat, Einstein and I all piled in and went to dinner. John, a Damascus local in his mid-60's, kept us entertained with some stories, jokes and a Pink Floyd album he would periodically crank up. Along the way we encountered a string of cars stopped on the road and discovered a bear lying on the road that had been hit by a car. It was still breathing but didn't look like it had long to live. We asked a woman who lived in a house nearby to call the forest service and continued on to dinner. The must have come because when we drove back by after dinner the bear was gone. On the way back, John mentioned that he was heading back to Damascus and offered to take any of us back for free, Just as we were debating the possibility, I realized I had left my phone back at the restaurant which was on the way back to Damascus. We figured the trail had spoken again, so Damascus it was. On the way back to Damascus, we were discussing where to get dropped off and stay for the night. John warned us that our options were limited because of the holiday weekend. He thought about it and offered to let us pitch our tents in his Dad's yard. We took him up on it, and were again camping in Damascus, VA, right across from the site of Tent City the week before.