Presently in Damascus, VA

Tomorrow will cross the border to TN.

So far 1,715.3 miles have been completed, 463.0 to go.

Appalachian Trail - Part 10

Grayson Highlands - my 2nd Favorite day on the trail

20 October 2009

A cold night last night. Up in time to watch first light and sunrise through the trees. More SOBO's around now as the group compresses. These are the folks who are intending to be home in time for Thanksgiving. They are going to finish and know it. A perfect weather day for hiking. Ledge and Zombie hike with me for part of the day. The trail climbed to 5,000 feet and stayed there. Soon, it enters Grayson Highlands State Park. The area is popular with horseback riders and a group is just setting off for a ride. There are also "wild horses" roaming around. Lots of fields, old roads, and trails. For me, this is perfect trail running country and brings back memories of other excellent runs. It would be easy to run here for hours. At the end of the day, reached the Thomas Knob Shelter. Behind are some rocks where it is easy to relax and cook dinner. Several hikers ate dinner as the sun set spectacularly with colors including red, orange, and blue. Decided to camp nearby for the night.

Winter is coming on the Appalchian Trail

23 October 2009

First Snow!  Cold Nights!  Happy to have my nice warm down sleeping bag back.  On the positive side, the cool weather makes for perfect hiking.  The trees are colorful, and as the leaves fall, the views come more often.  Here is a nice section of trail just after the snow fell.

Mice!!!

23 October 2009

Checked into this lovely shelter after a day of hiking.  All seemed good, a well inclosed shelter on a cold night.  Then, during the night there were rustling sounds and the pitter patter of many small feet.  Our shelter was highly infested with agressive shelter mice!  They even chewed through bags that had no food in them!

Time to start using the tent again!

Hiker Hostel's

After nights in the woods, a Hiker Hostel or Hiker B&B is much appreciated.  The owners are always friendly, and make extra efforts so their guests feel at home.  No standard sanitized hotel rooms here!  Some examples are the Dutch Haus B&B  http://www.dutchhaus.com/,

Woods Hole - now run by Neville and thru-hiker Michael (Neville is the Granddaughter of the founder), where the buildings date from the late 1800's and are made of Chestnut logs,

The Happy Hiker (owners Rambunny and Aqua have a total of 10,000 hiking miles between them),

and The Hiker Inn in Damascus, VA where owner Suzzane really goes out of her way for her guests.

Some more photos...

This rock above the trail is called "The Guillotine"

Sign in the Catawba General Store

Shenandoah National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway

Long ridge lines, graded trails, excellent views into the valley below.  Shenandoah provides some of the nicest hiking on the trail so far.  You can get more information about the park at http://www.nps.gov/shen/index.htm

Friends Lynn & Cal together with their friend Tom drove up to join me for a few days.  It was nice to stay in a campground with hot showers, and to have some luxuries such as chairs to sit in during evenings.

One day two baby bear cubs and their mother came onto the trail right in front of me.  Since it is not safe to get too close, the picture is a bit fuzzy, but here is one of the cubs...

Also, finally caught up with Lady Jelly Bean and Fleegle.  We ended up hiking together for several days.

One day, Lady Jelly Bean Shakespeare wrote a poem about the Virginia Blues.  Since 23% of the trail is in Virginia, hikers sometimes feel they will never leave the state.  Perhaps you can zoom in and read her writing...