5/4 Thursday: Abingdon Gap Shelter to Damascus, Va. The Old Mill Inn (10mi)

Nice short easy day planned into Damascus. Our hard work this week will be rewarded with our early arrival into Damascus allowing us ample time to get settled and for me to publish these web pages and still enjoy the company of the other hikers tonight... We wake at 0630 and are on the trail by 0700. The temps are mild, 50 degrees, and dry air...grinz no dew on the rainfly...what a treat not to have to carry around the wet tent all day... Our hike into Damascus flies by...10mi in less than 3 hours... Course that was mostly downhill...;) I arrive at the Inn at 1030 and they show me to my room...how nice...:) They let me use their washer/drier in the maids quarters and by 1200 I'm all clean again...I head out to get my package from home and check on internet availability... I hope to upload images soon...
PICTURES:
1. We were quite happy to see this sign... Three states down... uhhhh... a few more to go...LOL
2. A boy scout eagle project welcomes all hikers into Damascus... The friendliess town on the trail... As long as you don't have a dog... We were hiking with a woman who had a beautiful dog and couldnt find one place to stay in town... She had to pay for a shuttle to Abington and stay in a motel... How unfortunate... The folks here are very friendly and I have had a wonderful time...
My next entries will be in about 7 days from Pearisburg, VA... Excuse the spelling... about 160 miles from here...

5/3 Wednesday: Vandeventer Shelter to Abingdon Gap Shelter (22.3mi)

We wake to a cool and foggy morning... Another big day is planned and were out early, grins..at least Steve is... At 0815 I bid goodbye to Zan and Mike (Australia University grads who were quite taken with Brysons' book)and hit the trail ... I keep my raingear on but by 1000 the skies clear and a beautiful day dawns on us again... Steve and I take a 45min break at the Iron Mtn Shelter about 1200, after finishing about 8mi of our 22mi day... The terrain levels a bit more in the afternoon and reach Low Gap, a 10mi distance, at 1530 for dinner. We finish our 1hr dinner and take time to speak to an retired gentleman on his way to a bike trail. He stopped to get water from a spring not a few feet from our picnic table. Steve and I replenished our water supplies there also. The number and quality of springs in this part of the country is quite amazing... The water is almost always crystal clear and quite chilled bubbling from the earth... What a blessing... The gentleman goes on his way and we hit the trail with only 5mi to go... We end up at our destination at 1800, set up camp and prepare for a peaceful night...
PICTURES:
1. The Nick Grindstaff monument... His epitaph reads: He lived alone; He suffered alone; and he died alone. Doesn't sound like a pleasant life...
2&3. We walk across what appears to be abandoned farm lands with more wonderful vistas...
4. Looking back on what I believe to be part of the Watauga Valley.

5/2 Tuesday: Moreland Gap Shelter to Vandeventer Shelter ( 23.6mi)

Big day ahead... We're planning our longest day so far... Were out early, 0715, and arrive at Dennis Cove where we meet Steech again just beginning his day... Steve and I are on a mission to knock out these 23 miles today and Steech slowly falls behind... At the Laurel Forks, we come across a wonderful Gorge with the Falls at one end and a number of camping spots along the banks of the stream... Quite beautiful... Its a steep climb down into the gorge and another one back out, but quite worth the effort... Upon leaving the gorge we continue to climb another 1700 feet to the summit of Pond Mtn. where we find a spring to replenish our water supplies. No sooner we get to the top of Pond Mtn, we begin our descent back down 1700ft to US321. A typical few hours on the trail, but the weather is magnificent with 70 degree temps and a nice breeze... We come across Watauga lake which stretches for miles. We picnic there along with some other hikers using the USFS facilities, now open since 5/1. Steve and I take about 45min before continuing our trek, with 6 miles still to go. On the trail to the Watauga Dam, I almost stepped on a 5ft long black snake... It kind of made me jump, just a bit...LOL... I had heard they were around from some other hikers, one hiker had a picture of a similar snake he claimed to be 8ft long... Anyway they all look like roots on the trail... Steve and I looked at him looking at us just a few feet off the trail...he seemed a bit upset that we made him move from his sunning spot...LOL... We had dinner at the dam at about 1530 and finally arrived at our destination at 1700. We had the pleasure of viewing Watauga lake and the surrounding valley below through our afternoon hike.
PICTURES:
1. Were in the Gorge at Laurel Forks where the trail goes right along the waters edge... Theres an alternate trail when the water is too high..
2. Tough to see but look carefully at this pic... I almost stepped on this 5ft black snake sitting right in the middle of the trail... LOL... woke me up... Looked just like another root. LOL
3. The snake was located near Watauga Lake... Here's the Watauga Lake Dam. We had lunch across the other side.
4. Lovely flowers on this tree...
5. Thats me as we exit/enter the Big Laurel Branch Wilderness
6. Loveley evening sky from the Vandeventer shelter looking down into the Watauga Lake valley
7. And heres another couple, they are from Australia and have just finished their studies at their respective universities.... Not quite ready for the white collar world just yet...
8. A pic from my tent of the sunset from Vandeventer shelter area... We would wake in the morning to a thick mist and no view...

5/1 Monday: US19 to Moreland Gap Shelter (17.7mi)

We stayed for Bfast, and a delicious one it was, at the B&B and by 0930 we were back on the trail... On our way up to the mountains again we noticed a distinct bear claw in the mud on the trail... Looked pretty fresh too...OH MY!!! Needless to say we were on our guard for the next few hours. I couldn't help think Id find "Steech" half eaten off the trail at any moment. Hes not very large, a professional musician by trade, and needs a bigger stick...LOL... Well we soon returned to our routine and forgot about the bear... The day was nice with partly cloudy skies, a slight breeze, a hint of rain in the forecast, and back in the 60s... We took a break for lunch and another for dinner before reaching our destination for the evening...
PICTURES:
1. Breakfast at the Mountain Harbor B&B just before heading out...
2. I'm not sure but them are some mighty strange looking boots... Steve and I were on the look out for bears after coming across this print in the mud on the trail...
3. Ascending from US19 we cross some abandoned farmlands with some nice vistas. This is all National Park lands. The residents were evicted years ago.... I would have hated to go... Very beautiful...
4. Pretty nice groomed trails for quite a ways today... Very unusual... But I'm not complaining...
5. I took a few minutes to go down a side trail to these falls... A detour well worth the additional milage..
6. DOUBLE CLICK on this image to witness some AT trail humor
7. Here's Cheto and Puffy, one of the many couples out here on the trail
8. And here's Tatoo and Pigeon, another couple enjoying the AT... Both couples stayed with us at the last B&B
9. That me getting some water in this ravine. Nice water source...unfortunate for the tree that located itself right on the source...

4/30 Sunday: Stan Murray Shelter to US19 Mountain harbor B&B (10.4mi)

What a night!!! Between Steve snoring and my feet and nose freezing, I didn't get much sleep... We woke to near freezing temps and misty skies and decided the only way to warm up was to get going... We were off by 0730 and stopped into see the Overmountain Shelter, a large converted barn that could sleep up to 20 hikers... The only one of its kind on the trail and apparently use as a backdrop for a movie years ago called "Winter People". They weren't any more comfortable there overnight with the wind blowing between the boards causing quite a draft... There was a number of good camp sites here though and a precious privy...the only one available for miles around... So yes we've been doing a lot of squatting in the woods over a hole.... LOL... After taking a few pics we were again on our way in time to feel the first of many rain drops of the day... Its still in the 40s and now its raining and were headed for a series of bald mountains. So with our rain gear on we set out to cross the balds... An estimated sustained 60mph wind was blowing the rain mixed with SLEET... That hurt... My fingers were frozen from the start and by the time we ended our trek across the balds, I could no longer hold my hiking poles with my hands. I tucked them under my arm for our descent and after being out of the wind for a hour, feeling started to come back... Steve and I had planned to get a hot meal off the US19 road but decided to stay the night to get the chill out of our bones... We found that we weren't the only ones to do so with the B&B filling up that night... We met "Steech" on the way to US19 and got into the B&B about 1300 and had a very pleasant evening there. Steech, Steve, and I all shuttled up to the nearest restaurant for a very nice meal. Steech headed back on the trail while we relaxed at the B&B warming up and drying out.
PICTURES:
1. The Overmountain Barn shelter and camping area...
2. Inside the 2nd floor of the "Barn" at Mountain Harbor B&B... Pretty nice accomodations... Thats Steve in the loft which sleeps 4.
3. Outside pic of the actual "Barn" that we resided in. Our entrance was in the back. Nice deck back there also..
4. Pic from the deck of the 3 horses that would come and go from the pasture...
5. Approaching view of the Mountain Harbor complex..

4/29 Saturday: Little Bald Knob to Stan Murray Shelter (18.5mi)

Steve and I awoke to misty skies, 40 degree temps. We packed up and headed for lunch at a hostel just .3mi off the trail. Everyone has raved about the meals at the Greasy Creek Friendly. Unfortunately Steve and I made a wrong turn on a side trail leading to the Friendly and found ourselves back on the AT. We shrugged and decided we best keep moving rather than belabor the point. We had lunch an hour later at the Clyde Smith Shelter... It didn't warm up much throughout the day and when we came into the Roan High Knob shelter at 1600 for dinner it was already dipping back into the 40s... We took about an hours break and headed our for our final destination...The Stan Murray Shelter... On the way there, we crossed some Bald Mtns with quite spectacular views, but the temps were dipping and the winds increasing...we estimated about 55mph now...enough to blow us side ways if we were not careful... We arrived at the shelter at 1930, with temps in the 30s and found "Chewey and Sleeper" there cooking supper. Steve and I also another hot meal, to try to warm up, before retiring for the night. There wasn't a descent tent spot around so we all stayed in the shelter. The temps that night dipped into the low 30s with the wind howling all night. Unfortunately, the 3 sided shelter opening was to the E, the same direction the winds were blowing all night... IT WAS MY COLDEST NIGHT OUT YET...
PICTURES:
1. Nice vistas while ascending Roan Mtn.
2. More extraordinary views from this special mountain range...
3. While ascending the first of Round Bald, we met some curious local folks who were quite taken with the long distance hiker thing...
4. A native cerimonial ground located atop Round Bald... Spectacular vistas in every direction...
5. Stan Murray Shelter were 4 of us would come close to freezing this night...
6. Chewey and Sleeper here with Steve having dinner... And yes its as cold as it looks... We move the picnic table to the back of the shelter to avoid the wind... Yes...that meant that the wind was blowing directly into the front of the shelter... COLD!!!!!

4/28 Friday: Erwin, TN to Little Bald Knob 17.9mi

Hello Everyone...Just arrived in Damascus, Va a few hours ago and after taking care of the essentials, laundry, shower, lunch, and picking up my care package, I'll take some time to update the blog... Unfortunately the public library wont let me upload any pics, apparently afraid I'll infect their computer with a deadly virus. So I'll do the text entries now and upload pics ASAP...

I departed the Holiday Inn Express in Erwin, Tn after sampling their continental breakfast and headed out with Steve on the 1mi hike to the trail... One of the free shuttles caught up with us and saved us about a half mile. We hit the trail about 0830 and started the ascent. Every time we come to a road we have to descend down to it and once there you have to climb back up to the ridge to begin your walk. These ups and downs are not as significant in north Tn as they were in Georgia...Thank God!The day was uneventful, with beautiful spring weather in the 70s and partly cloudy; great hiking weather... We made good time to our shelter and decided to have dinner at the Cherry Gap Shelter with a Father and Son hiking team... We finished dinner around 1800 and decided to get in another couple of miles to Little Bald Knob where we set up camp for a peaceful night at 1900.
PICTURES:
1. Nice view looking back toward Erwin climbing a bald on my way North...
2. Up, Up, Up, Talk about your trip hazards... I always take a moment to stop and look around... with trails like this you would roll your ankles otherwise... And this is a typical trail...
3. I really love walking through a pine forest... plenty of pine needles fallen to pad your steps...
4. Thats Steve on the left and Paul who is with his Son John at the Cherry Gap Shelter. We had dinner with Paul and John (John is Retired Navy also) before moving another 5mi to camp on the Little Bald Knob Mtn.
5. Nice sunset pic from beyond my tent on the ridge below Little Bald Knob... We chose to descend from the mtn. to escape some of the wind and cold... Found an pretty level spot on an abandoned logging road and set up camp... Nice night...