Date: 2015-04-04
From: TN 91

To: Damascus
Miles today: 21.7
Weather: scattered clouds

Happy Easter everyone. I should have written this and posted last night, but Grasshopper and Runiaway (2014) rolled into town last night and took control. They picked us up and drove us to Abington for dinner. The home town folks suggested Bone Fire for BBQ and they were right on. Afterwards we took a quick tour of the Mountain Laurel Inn where they stayed (Miss Ginny's was full when they called). It's another good alternative if we can't get into the Lazy Fox. The woodwork in the house is amazing, chestnut panelling everywhere, walls and ceilings, and unique antique furnishings - many original it appears. The portraits on the walls chronicled the family history. The inn includes an outside pool and the breakfast area is a closed-in rear porch. I think they're closed in winter, but just now opening for the summer season. We made one more stop, at the Damascus Brewery tasting room (Th-Sat only) and I checked out their Beaver Rage IPA, my favorite. The owners are extremely friendly and remember us every time. We realized at the end of the evening that we failed to take any pics, so Runaway took a selfie of the four of us. It's a bit dark, but I'll include it if he sends it to me, it's a reminder for us of a great evening with great friends. We're hoping that we may be able to connect again further up the trail.Speaking of the trail, our Saturday hike was a challenge - 21.7 miles. Sat weather has been a concern all week, earlier forecasts showed rain and cold moving in. The rain actually arrived Fri night, heavy, with lightning, but it was finished when we woke up. We cleared out of the Dancing Bear before daybreak and took our backpacks to the Lazy Fox where we will stay the next couple of days. The temp was still hovering in the mid 30's, but the challenge was the 20 mph winds, gusting higher on the open ridge lines. We got a shuttle from Mt. Rogers Outfitters back to our Fri end point, and Bill (and Dogi) got us there by 7:20. We remembered Bill from last year and learned that he just got married and plans to move to GA in the near future. So we'll know a driver in that area. I warmed up on the climbs and got by with a single layer shirt, but we wore our ponchos almost all day as windbreakers. I added a buff and heavy gloves to keep my fingers warm - that worked most of the way. But almost all the hike was ridge line, so we had a lot of wind exposure. The trail was in great shape in spite of the overnight rain, and we made good time - they call this section the 'Tennessee Turnpike' because it's a nice, well packed trail with very few rocky spots and relatively easy up and down grades. We made good time (for us) finishing in under 8 hours. This section of the AT has a unique feature (right at our starting point), a section of ADA trail that's accessible by wheelchair. It leads from a parking lot off TN 91 up to a meadow that overlooks a farm. Shortly after that point we entered the forest and started the climb to the ridge line. We saw Mobley at the first shelter where he spent the night and was just getting up. He said the overnight storm was ferocious with heavy rain. A little later we met 2 trail maintainers equipped with a saw and branch clippers who were working the trail. They planned to clear some blowdowns and low-hanging branches. We talked with them briefly and thanked them before the wind pushed us on. The ridge line crossed a number of peaks, sometimes the trail went over the top and sometimes skirted around one side or the other. We saw several familiar landmarks from last year, one for example was a shelter. We camped close to the shelter and I realized that we had set up our tent directly under a hornets nest. That was last year, this year the nest was gone. Around 11:00 the sun finally came out and the trail on the leeward side of the hilltops was nice and warm. About 4 miles from the end we reached a major milestone, we crossed from TN into VA. VA is our 4th state and also has the longest section of AT, so we'll be in VA for quite a while. It feels good to be in our home state. When we crossed the state line we had already started the long descent into Damascus. The trail actually enters town between 2 houses. Then we walked through the park where the vendors set up on Trail Days. On the other side of the park the AT crosses the Virginia Creeper Trail, a major attraction for bikers. Then the AT turns down Laurel Ave, pretty much the main drag in town. A big disappointment for us this year is that the Blue Blaze Cafe has gone out of business. It was the best spot in town to meet hikers, with good food and drink. And the Old Mill, another good eating & drinking establishment is closed until after Easter. There are still a couple of places to eat, Cavalier Cafe, Hey Joes and In The Country (I think). As we hiked into town down Laurel Ave, we met Grasshopper & Runaway who were just driving into town. We had been in contact and planned to meet here in Damascus. They had been doing trail magic on the AT with Fresh Grounds. We quickly arranged to meet later after we cleaned up. So we checked into the Lazy Fox, showered, did laundry at Crazy Larry's, and spent the rest of the evening with Grasshopper and Runaway as I described above. Tomorrow is a zero day for us here in Damascus.