Monday - We are still in Damascus, even though the "party" is over (Trail Days).  We decided to let the crowd get out on the trail ahead of us so we wouldn't run into full shelters at night.  Anyway, we had some laundry to do; and I needed to mail some things back home (like film, maps and books on the trail we just finished, souvenirs from Trail Days, and some long pants I don't think I will be needing until August).  We are reorganizing our packs and resupplying our meals, and we will be heading out tomorrow.

Tuesday - We started out slow today since Pooh Bear has just come back to the trail.    A little bit of history - the Virginia Creeper Trail follows the AT out of Damascus for about 300 yards and again for about 8 miles North at Creeper Junction.;   The Creeper Trail was first an Indian footpath that was later used by pioneers, including Daniel Boone.  Then, in the early 1900's, it was used for a railroad.   It had 100 trestles and bridges and many steep grades and sharp curves.  We only hiked 9 1/2 miles today and stayed at Saunders Shelter overnight.

Wednesday - It is raining like the devil and since we are ascending Whitetop Mountain and Mt. Rogers and are completely miserable, we stopped at Lost Mountain Shelter, only hiking 6 1/2 miles today due to Poohbears sore knees.  Mt. Rogers is Virginia's highest peak (5,729 feet).  The trail does not go all the way to the summit, but you can take a blue-blaze trail if you want to go all the way to the top.   Whitetop Mountain is Virginia's second highest mountain at 5,520 feet, and the trail does not go all the way to this summit, either.

There is a town called Whitetop close by, and it is the home of the Ramp Festival.   You would never guess what a ramp is unless you live here.  It is a two-leaf green edible plant that sprouts from an onion-like tuber. Hikers use it to spice up meals since they taste like onion/garlic.

Thursday - We hiked 13 miles today with the exception of Pooh Bear.  She did not want to test her knees on these big mountains so a couple of days ago, she decided to ride with another hiker's girlfriend who had her car up here and meet us later, maybe at Troutville.   It is still raining, and we stayed at Thomas Knob Shelter this evening.  This shelter was built by the Mt. Rogers Club.  I'm going to read up on (or look up) the amount of hours spent by volunteers keeping the AT, as well as its shelters, in such great shape.  I would think it would be in the hundreds or thousands of hours.

Friday - We stayed at Grayson Highlands tonight.  It is still raining like crazy.

Saturday - We are at Dickey Gap which is about 2.6 miles from Troutdale.  We are staying at the hostel run by the Troutdale Missionary Baptist Church.  We hiked about 16 miles today.

Sunday - About 15 of us went to the Sunday morning service today at the Church.   Well, guess who we saw today!  Miss Janet.  She was shuttling some hikers to the trail and decided to see who was at the church hostel.  Were we ever surprised to see her!  And you'll never guess who is at her hostel back in Erwin.  Fubar and Tripp.  I thought they were about 50 - 60 miles in front of me, and they are actually about 50 - 60 miles behind me, now.  We hit the trail again, hiked about 14 miles until we got to Partnership Shelter where we stayed tonight.

Monday - When we got to Partnership Shelter last night, we were quite surprised to see Dirty Frank sitting there.  He used to be a singer with a rock band.  He got really bored with the people he was hiking with so he stopped at this shelter to wait for us.  He has been waiting here two days!  But it's not such a bad place to wait.   This shelter is the nicest one we have seen so far.  The shelter is two-story and has a hot shower attached to the side. Close to the shelter there is a museum and payphone.  We ordered pizza from the closest town.  Of course, I ordered Mountain Dew, but some of the other guys offered big tips to the pizza delivery guy to bring some beer.  In fact, we liked staying here so much, we are staying here again tonight.

I can understand Dirty Frank waiting around to hike with people he enjoys.  You will remember me saying that the hike is really about not only the trail and wonderful scenery, but also about the people you meet.  Nothing is worse (well, almost nothing) than being out in all this solitude with people you don't enjoy being around.  It lifts your spirit immensely to have the camaraderie that we do with the 10 - 15 people we hike with.  And too, with this many people, if you ever get in trouble, healthwise, foodwise, or any other way, you have all these people to lean on.  This doesn't mean that we are all together all the time - a few go on ahead, a few lag back, but about 2 - 3 days per week, we all come together.

We will be heading on to Groseclose, Va. and the Relax Inn today.  Thanks to Charlie from Virginia and Dave from Florida for signing on my guest book.  If there is anything out here on the trail that you want me to report on, leave me a message on my guest book.  Thanks for listening.