Date: 2005-04-17
From: Abingdon Gap 

To: The Place Hostel
Miles today: 10.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Miles hiked today : 10.210.0 AT miles + 0.2 miles of side trailI woke up this morning at 6:45 a.m. and was very tired. 3 late night hikers showed up around 11:30 p.m. last night and miscelaneous conversation ensued, with myself included, and I probably didn't fall asleep until at least 12:30 a.m. As I left the shelter this morning, I slammed my head into the low hanging roof. Ouch! As I was the first one up, I packed quietly while watching the sun rise.   I can't ever remember seeing the sun rise before and I was surprised at how quickly it rose. I was on the trail by 7:15 a.m.There wasn't much to the trail this morning, no real big ups and downs. With 10.0 miles to Damascus, I was expecting to arrive around noon. I was surprised when I hit the TN/VA border at 9:35 a.m., which meant I'd covered 6.5 miles in only 2 hours, 20 minutes.The only notice of the border change was the Mt. Rogers National Recreation Area sign. I propped my trekking poles and backpack against the sign and snapped some pictures before continuing on at 9:40 a.m. Minutes later, I was startled by what had to be the ugliest deer I've ever seen. It was grey in color and very lanky and bounded down the hillside as soon as it saw me.At 10:15 a.m., I reached a 0.2 mile roundtrip side trail for water with the lure of an old homestead at the water source. I've recently learned that I'm a sucker for old homesteads and the like. So, I headed down a very steep hill for 0.1 mile and was disappointed to find no sign of an old homestead and the water source itself was no more than a muddy hole in the ground. Oh well. If I hadn't taken the side trip, I would have wondered what the homestead looked like and the side trip only took 10 minutes.Back on the trail at 10:25 a.m., I was only 1.9 miles from Damascus. At 10:45 a.m., the city came into view as I rounded a corner and I was suddenly greeted by very loud organ music from one of the churches below. The music must have signified the end of church services and only lasted for about 10 minutes.I reached the city limits right at 11:00 a.m., having covered 10.2 miles in only 3 hours, 45 minutes. Granted that the last 3.5 miles were downhill, but I was still making good time. If the rest of Virginia is graded as well as the sections I hiked yesterday and today, I'll be very pleased. If not, well, I've got less than 546 miles of Virginia left.Right off the trail, I was walking alongside somebody's yard when he greeted me warmly. Walking down Mercedes Street and Laurel Avenue, which the AT follows through Damascus, I was treated to waves from passing motorists and pedestrians alike. I've heard that Damascus is the friendliest hiker town on the AT and these people were strong evidence. There are a number of interesting objects during my road walk, including a gazebo, a miniature train engine, and a red caboose offering trail information, very similar to the one in Hot Springs, NC. I also saw an old bridge crossing Beaverdam Creek, which is part of the Virginia Creeper Trail, a 300 mile multi-use trail, which was formerly the "Creeper" railroad route.I was planning on staying at "The Place," which is an unsupervised hostel owned by the Methodist Church. I walked a block past the church without seeing the hostel and had resorted to dropping my pack to check my hiker map of Damascus, when Buttah came out of another hostel and showed me where The Place was at.I was only about a block away and arrived at 11:25 a.m. The Place is available for both AT hikers and cyclists on the transcontinental bicycle path. The only cost is a $4 suggested donation, which is collected in a lockbox via the honor system. Good stuff. After grabbing a bunk upstairs, I went outside to sit and chat with other hikers.I was surprised to see Sunset Screamer on site, as she had sprained her ankle again right before the final stretch to Dennis Cove Road near Hampton, TN. After having done a yellow blaze from Hampton, she's doing a double zero here in Damascus to allow her ankle to heal. Shortly later, I was happy to see Red Rover show up, as she's ever amusing. She's zeroing today to pick up a maildrop tomorrow.After snacking on a banana moon pie, I headed to Sicily's for a Greek salad and a large calzone. I took them both back to The Place, ate the salad and half the calzone before heading to the laundromat. As my laundry was being done, I lounged in the sun and composed the bulk of this entry.After laundry I rounded up a small group to walk to the grocery store which was a little more than a 1.0 mile roundtrip. I picked up fresh strawberries, grapes, as well as some snack foods. I also picked up a pint of ice cream, chocolate milk, and orange juice, my favorite town staples as of late. I looked at my receipt today and the amount of grapes I purchased was close to 3 pounds. It looked about the same as what I'd bought while staying at Kincora, so that means I had previously stuffed myself with 3 pounds of grapes, not 1 pound as I'd originally though. Whoops.Before I hit the check-out line, I spotted a 25 cent weight analysis station. I hopped on, dropped a quarter in, and answered a couple questions about my height and build. The results were that I weighed 225.5 pounds, which means that I've lost right around 20 pounds over the last 5 weeks. The machine told me that my ideal body weight is 183 pounds and that if I maintain a daily intake of roughly 2,200 calories combined with moderate exercise, that I'll reach my ideal body weight in 123 days. What is the definition of moderate exercise? Does long distance hiking count? Another hiker, 6'6" tall Bones, was told that he was underweight and had a suggested intake of over 5,500 caories for the next 180 days without exercise in order to reach his ideal weight. We had fun imagining his new diet of tortillas slathered with Crisco.Our group ate our ice cream at the grocery store before walking back to The Place. We lounged around, with some people playing Four Square and basketball. I shared my grapes and strawberries and received some individual sized packets of baby carrots in return, which was nice, as I forgot to pick some up for the ponies in the Grayson Highlands.I polished off the other half of the calzone before heading inside for the night. I plan to update my Trailjournal at the library tomorrow, which is closed on Sundays. I find this a strange day to be closed, as I'd figure people would want to go to the library on Sunday.Bedtime at 10:00 p.m.