They crossed into Virginia at 2:45 pm on Day 39 (May 9), and stayed at the Lazy Fox Inn1, which raised the bar for the best breakfast. Dad was drooling all over the phone just telling me about it.
They called on Monday morning, Day 40/May 10, from the laundromat in Damascus. They planned to hit the trail again around noon. Trail days2 are coming, and from what they've heard, they want to put as many miles between them and Damascus as they can before the big shindig ends, and people hit the trail in droves.
They do plan on hitching back into Damascus during the week-long Trail Days celebration - probably on Saturday.
The Five Month Trek
On the wall at Miss Janet's, Dad saw the following as targets for finishing the AT in 5 months:
| Month | Target | Actual | Diff |
| April | 400 | 314.4 | 85.6 |
| May | 450 | ||
| June | 500 | ||
| July | 400 | ||
| August | 400 | ||
Obviously, they're behind now because they had a few days off they didn't plan on so that Ruthie could get married..
References
1 Lazy Fox Inn -133 Imboden Street Damascus, VA (276) 475-5838
2 Trail Days, Damascus.org, Trail Days Events
Comments
It's Thursday and we're back in Damascus. We got a free ride Sunday fifty miles north of town. A section hiker named Paw Cat was just hanging around killing time and happened to randomly ask us if we wanted a ride anywhere.... It did actually take us a few minutes to realize that yes indeed we could make a trip in the car work for us. A little bit of trail magic from a young man from Oakland. We had met him at Apple Shelter just the other side of Roan Mountain (the town) and had seen him in Laurel Fork also.
Saturday we did stay at the Lazy Fox B&B with Jenny who makes her legendary hikers breakfast. Today we have stashed our packs on her porch till we really decide if we are staying over night, in which case we will have to tent as everything is booked up for the weekend.
So We got dropped off at Dickey's Gap at 4 pm just about 50 miles up the trail. We hiked about 8.5 miles to old orchard shelter. Where we met two people from Maine..!!! Meanderthal, who is thru hiking, is a journalist from Ellsworth and is doing some articles for said paper. and Searcher too, who is a section hiker from rockland. he isn't thru hiking because he is going to the Olympics in Greece this summer... poor guy..!
that night was our 3rd night in our new tent! All went well even with a little drizzle. Monday was yet another phenomenal day hiking across Mt. Rogers. It is mostly bald and pretty rocky. It has wild ponies and of course the many views. Yet one more section that I've marked to be sure to see again. We ended that day at Elk Garden tenting at little campsite just beyond the parking lot. From there we only had 24 miles to get back into Damascus. We were making good time so Mike wanted to go for his 'personal best' with packs and we thought it would be mostly down hill(hahaha)....6:30 found us dragging our butts into Dot's. Which is the first building you come to as you enter town and which just happens to be one of the few bars in town. Wendesday night we met Danny, the owner of the Rolling Rock B&B at Dot's. He was just opening for business this weekend and we ended up being his very first customers..!!! Unlike most century home B&B his is done in a Fifties motif and really is very homey. Good job Danny..!!!
WOW!!! You both are doing awesome. Keep up the good work. Ruth,you definately have something to tell your grand kids about now!! I'm sure all at Millers are missing you. best of luck, Bill
Great job!
It has been exciting to read about your progress. Marek and I hope to catch you in MD/WV.
Erin will keep us posted.
Best wishes!
What ever happened to our hikers? 10 days and no new word. Maybe they found some place to hide out and live the good life for a while. Tell us about it too.
Oxymoron and Maine dish - just wanted to say hi. I enjoyed being referred to as a "young man" in your post.
I'm back in Oakland and back to my job in telecom. The few days on the trail and the great people I met will be with me for a long time. As Oxymoron so bluntly put it: "So what's keeping you from being a thru-hiker, too?"
Best of luck to you, on your way to Maine.