Virginia is for Hikers

Choo-Choo! All aboard!

The past 6 days have all been spent out in the wilderness, on the trail. Mamma took a break from being our Trail Angel to go home for a wedding, which left Daddy and I to fend for ourselves for awhile. We hiked almost 80 miles in 6 days, from the edge of North Carolina, across the Virginia border. It was a much different, much harder experience that the shorter overnights we've been doing. First of all, I was carrying several more pounds in my pack than I usually do, and believe me, I noticed the extra weight. Especially climbing the steeper hills. Also, there's something mentally exhausting about knowing that there is no Trail Angel waiting for you in the nice air-conditioned RV at the end of day #3. But, it was lots of fun regardless, and there were lots of exciting things to see. For starters, we accomplished two big milestones: reaching the 400 mile mark on the second day, and the TN/VA border on the sixth day.

400 Miles!

VA State Line! Don't laugh at my spandex. It was day 6 and it was the only piece of clean clothing I had left...

That means that we've hiked through 3 states (GA, NC and TN) and have 10 more to go. I didn't differentiate between NC and TN previously, because the trail doesn't differentiate either, since it literally follows the state line and it's impossible to know whether you're in NC or TN at any given time. VA is the state with the most miles of trail in it, so we'll be here for a while. From what I've seen so far, though, it's going to be great. The first three days of hiking were mostly through really dense, very green forest. The great thing was, although there were very few panoramic mountaintop views, there were lots of beautiful mountain streams and waterfalls.

Snacktime by a small waterfall on Day #1. 10 minutes after that apple was eaten, I was standing under that waterfall. It was amazing.

We camped by one of these small streams the first night, but the most amazing sight of this entire section was at the end of Day #2, when we got to Laurel Fork Falls. I think this is another proper moment to let the pictures do the talking.

Laurel Fork Falls

Crossing the Falls

Camp Nano at the Falls

Trail Leaving the Falls

This was, without a doubt, the best overnight yet, and it's the only place on the trail thus far that I absolutely plan on coming back to one day, if only for a weekend. I got to swim, wash some clothes, and fall asleep to the sound of rushing water. It couldn't have been more perfect, and it's probably not hard to imagine why we didn't leave that spot until 10am the next morning. Day #3 was also filled with beautiful bodies of water, namely Watauga Lake.

Shook Branch Beach at Watauga Lake.

Watauga Lake, Bird's Eye View.

The lake is one of the cleanest in the world, and very popular with the locals. It's big enough to get boats on easily, and people were enjoying their afternoon, skiing, fishing and swimming. It reminded me a lot of KY Lake, and made me more than a little homesick. It was nice to be near familiar surroundings, though. We camped right by the Watauga Dam, and had yet another spectacular campsite, complete with swimming hole.

Watauga Dam, an earthen dam, land side.

Watauga Dam, lake side.

Dinner at Camp Nano, after a swim in Lake Watauga.

Sunset at Lake Watauga.

Not bad for three days in the wilderness, even though it was incredibly hot and humid and I probably lost about 10 pounds in sweat alone. The swimming holes at the end of the day made it all worth it. The next three days didn't involve any swimming holes, but they did involve some easier hiking through some beautiful forest, so we made good time. We met one of the few hikers we saw on this section, "Floater," who had had his food bag broken into by a bear the night before. He was camped just half a mile from us, so we silently thanked the Lord it wasn't our food bag, and gave Floater some of our extra to tide him over. I hope you made it to a grocery, Floater. Happy trails.

Floater and his toothpaste, with one giant bear-tooth puncture in it.

It rained at the very end of day #4, but it didn't start until 30 seconds after we got the tent up to camp for the night. Thank goodness. It was a very close call, but we stayed dry and the rain helped to cool things down quite a bit, which was wonderful. Day #5, like Day #4, was a 16+ mile day. Those long days really wear me out, but there was still plenty to see. One of the most interesting things we saw that day was a handicap-accessible portion of the AT, right next to a highway, complete with a gentle slope and a nice view at the top.

For Handi-capable AT hikers of all sorts.

Short, stubby me struggling to hop the fence at the top of the hill.

Day #6 left us with about 6.5 miles to go to the end of our long hike, and we made it to the trail town of Damascus, VA in time for cheeseburgers and root beer floats for lunch.

Welcome to Damascus!

I hiked that last 6.5 miles in about 2.5 hours. I've never been so motivated to get to the bottom of a hill in my life. Damascus is a great little town, full of southern hospitality and AT love. It was also wonderful to be reunited with the Trail Angel Mamma and have a real shower. Now I only have to do that little 80 mile adventure about 25 more times and I'll make it to Maine...

If that's not the quote of the day, I don't know what is...

Memorable Quotes:

"Me and You is friends.
You cry, I cry.
You smile, I smile.
You hurt, I hurt.
You jump off a bridge,
I gonna miss you."
- Sign at Damascus diner

"Uncle Nick Grindstaff. He lived alone, suffered alone, and died alone." - on a tombstone on the AT. Kinda morbid, no?

"I'd rather be fat than dead." -Me, talking about food, as usual.

Mileage Update:

Miles from Springer: 464
Miles from Katahdin: 1750