Ogre

Whitetop Mtn to Old Orchard Shelter.

Now that I have the legally required blog post title out of the way, yes, I passed the 500 mile mark today!

Me at five hundred miles. Give or take a mile.

It was cold all day and damp this morning, but the sun came out later. Might be another cold night tonight. This morning, my watch said 36 degrees, even colder than the night before, but I was camped 2000 feet higher up. It probably won’t be that cold tonight.

I blue blazed a big chunk of the trail today. I cut across on Pine Mountain trail, about two miles long itself, bypassing 7 or so trail miles. So while I’m 18 miles farther along, I only really hiked about 13. If you’re keeping score at home, I believe this is the fourth time I’ve cheated like that. It won’t be the last. I don’t have any problem taking a few blue blazed shortcuts as long as I’m actually hiking the whole way. No cheating with vehicles (yellow blazing).

Saunders Shelter to Whitetop Mtn, 12 miles.

Still cold tonight, but the sun was out all day, so the day was nice. We’ll see how cold it gets overnight.

I slept well and plenty last night, but somehow this afternoon when I took a break around 3, I managed to fall asleep leaning back against my pack. Not really on purpose. I woke up again around 4 and pressed on. I wonder if anyone walked by me while I was napping? If I can do that on purpose when it gets hotter out, it’ll be a great way to skip the worst parts of the summer heat.

There is a guy on the trail named “Dirt Nap” for doing exactly that. I haven’t seen him for a while though, he was pretty fast. All the more remarkable because he hikes barefoot.

Shadow, Country Mouse, and Flute Walker had to go back to Damascus due to CM’s foot problems. I hope she gets it sorted out soon, I was really looking forward to having em around again. Maybe it’ll give me an excuse to take another extra zero somewhere if they’re about to catch up.

Damascus to Saunders Shelter, 8.5 miles.

It was COLD! If things had gone a little differently, I would’ve swapped my cold weather sleeping bag for my warm one at Damascus. And then I would’ve cursed myself through chattering teeth all last night. My watch said it was 37 degrees when I woke up and checked around dawn. And then went back to sleep because screw that. It might have been just below freezing at some point outside. That makes it as cold as the coldest nights I’ve spent on the trail, and here it is May already!

In any case, it won’t be allowed to get that cold again after Pearisburg, because that’s where lnorigb shipped my warm weather bag. I wouldn’t have died if I’d already done that, but it wouldn’t have been a fun night. With the right bag though, I was perfectly comfortable.

Location:Tennessee 133,,United States

Zero days in Damascus.

I’d decided I wanted an extra zero day before I got here. It fits my “schedule” anyway. although I’d had some shorter days around Roan Mtn and Hampton, TN, I hadn’t taken a full zero since Erwin two weeks ago. I generally feel like one zero a week is about right, and Damascus is a much nicer place for it. Everything is close together, and there are even multiple outfitters in town! There’s also a real full sized supermarket only half a mile from downtown. The markets in some towns are not super.

I had a goal of replacing my stupidly big 85 liter backpack with something smaller and lighter while here. I did that at Mt. Rogers outfitters yesterday, I now have a 65 liter pack that’s 2lbs lighter than my old one. It’s the same brand, an Osprey, very popular out here. Besides the pack, I also replaced my cook pot with a larger yet lighter (titanium vs aluminum) and non-stick pot. I bought an all new wardrobe for warmer weather and since I’ve definitely lost weight. Then I got a super lightweight rain jacket+pants. Not as durable… but so cheap I don’t really care, and also probably cooler (as in temperature, not fashion) than my old ones. Finally, I got an inflatable sleeping pad. It’s not any lighter (it might be a couple of ounces heavier) than my foam pad but it’s more compact, more comfortable, and will be cooler for warm weather.

I’m in a ridiculously large house by myself. I had lnorigb find me a place and that’s what she turned up. There are several hostels etc where bunk space or tenting would’ve been easy, but I asked for a private bed AND bath, and I know she went to a lot of trouble finding this at all. The B&Bs in town are either full or closed. Thanks babe!

Shadow, Country Mouse, and Flute Walker showed up around lunch time. I walked straight from breakfast at the coffee shop to lunch at the pizza place to meet em. Then I offered up my house’s washer & dryer for laundry. So while CM, Flute, and I went grocery shopping, Shadow went to the house and “did laundry”, which mainly involved sitting on the couch, wearing a towel, watching TV and eating my cheese puffs!

Later on though they cooked a steak dinner for all of us, then we all watched horrible reality shows for a while. Did you know I could be on TV just for losing a bunch of weight? What am I doing THIS for?!

It’s great to have the gang back together. I’ll hike out with the three of ‘em tomorrow. Which if things go like they used to means I’ll watch their backs for a few minutes, then drag my sorry ass into wherever we’re all camping an hour behind them. That works for me though.

Location:E Laurel Ave,Damascus,United States

Abingdon Gap to Damascus, VA.

Towns have a gravitational pull. I realized this a few towns back. When leaving town, I will go slower than expected, arriving at my first night’s destination an hour or two later than I thought. Then when coming into town, I’ll get there a few minutes ahead of my most optimistic prediction. Damascus was no exception, I figured I’d get here at 1PM at the earliest, and wound up where the trail meets the street at 12:45. Clearly there’s some physical force at work here pulling me towards each town. When I leave on Wednesday (I am taking two zeros here), I’ll probably make it a mile short and an hour late of wherever I think I’m going. Or maybe I won’t even achieve escape velocity on Wednesday and will just sit in a parking orbit until Thursday.

This was also the day I left Tennessee for good. I am now in Virginia for the next 500 or so miles. That’s more miles left in Virginia than I’ve hiked on the whole trip so far! VA is almost a quarter of the trail, the longest state on the trail by far.

Location:E Creepers Way,Damascus,United States

With your dam pictures.

Watauga Dam that is. Hiked from Watauga Lake shelter to just short of Iron Mountain shelter.

Hiked Iron Mountain shelter to Abingdon Gap.

Iron Mountain to Damascus is 26 miles, so Peaches, Trapper and Dube (pronounced Doobie) who were there decided to hold the first annual Damascus Marathon.

At the starting line.

I don’t know if you can read the numbers. They’re 69, 00 and 420. Dube did not wear 420, Peaches did. I know, right?

I’m still waiting to hear who won the marathon. I wasn’t up for 26 miles myself. At 16.2, it was already my second longest day!

Location:E Bank St,Damascus,United States

Laurel Fork shelter to Watauga Lake shelter via Hampton, TN.

I hiked into Hampton this morning, then back out to the trail on the road, bypassing 5 or 6 miles of actual trail. But adding 4 or 5 miles of road walking, so it’s only just barely cheating on distance. Where it’s really cheating is on elevation, those miles I skipped were over Pond Mountain, where the road walk was mostly flat.

Also cheating in that I had breakfast and junk food and laundry in town of course!

I can’t see the lake from Watauga Lake shelter, but I did get to hike next to it and stick my feet in the water at the beach.

That’d be the beach in question. There was a spot where several butterflies were just sitting there. I don’t know why, but they were totally unfazed by me taking pictures right next to them. They were alive, sometimes one would fly off or another would land. Hope you can see their markings in this shot.

Location:U.S. 321 Scenic,Laurel Fork,United States

For anyone wondering about the storms last night, I’m fine. At the shelter, the wind had pretty much stopped by the time the rain started. It wasn’t a very bad storm right there. I understand a lot of places around here were not so lucky, but it was “no big deal” for me.

Anyway, I hiked into Hampton, TN this morning, and had breakfast at a place with no name. “We’re out of biscuits and gravy” she told me. “What do you have?” I asked. “Eggs, toast, bacon, sausage,” she said.

“Fine, give me all of that” I told her. Yes, that’s right, I ordered everything on the menu! Finally my life is complete.

I am doing laundry right now, then back to the trail.

Location:Tiger Valley,United States

Mountaineer shelter to Laurel Fork shelter. 17.5 miles. The farthest I’ve ever walked in one day, not just this trip. If I say my feet are killing me, it could be literally true. Is it possible to die from sore feet?

There was an even more impressive falls today right at the end, I will get a picture up sometime. Too tired to fire up the SD card reader, so you just get words.

It’s been threatening to rain all day, and word is there’s a huge storm due to hit basically any minute. Weatherbug says 100% chance of precipitation and high winds just one hour away. I’m glad i made it to this shelter (which is old, but made of stone and very sturdy) The storm should be gone by morning. I’m a little worried about why there are two packs here without their owners, hope they’re somewhere safe or they make it back here before the storm hits!

Tomorrow will be a short walk into Hampton for breakfast and minor resupply. And a shower and laundry if possible. (there’s a hostel in town, that should get me a shower, and I think a laundromat too, or the hostel might have laundry). But then back to the trail. Damascus is only a few days away now, and it’s one of the most famous trail towns. Can’t wait!

Location:Stout Hollow Rd,,United States