This neat bit of trail is a few miles from Damascus,
Virginia.
Perhaps the most famous hostel on the Trail, "The
Place" is located in hiker-friendly Damascus, Virginia.
Damascus was great! Sitting
at about the 1/4 mark along the AT, Damascus was the first real sense of
definite progress. We had been
hearing about Damascus for some time, and the fabulous pizza at Quincy's, and
the hominess of the Place made for a great two-day break from hiking.
Since the AT follows Main Street through Damascus, almost every hiker
spends a night or two (or three, or four, or...) at the Place, so we were able
to catch up with a great many of our trail friends. We had a great reunion with Grey Bear and Long Pig, though LP
had bruised his knee and ended up getting off the Trail and returning to England
shortly after we saw him; was saw Copptertop and Gruff again (we would see them
a lot in Virginia), and generally had a great time. We would return to Damascus about a month later for Trail
Days, but more on that later.
Grey Bear and Long Pig at Quincy's
Grayson Highland State Park is home to a great many "wild" ponies, and I was able to see a few of them. Jason, however, had a couple of the tamer youngsters nibble at his gaiters!
The Nibbler
In Virginia the AT wanders along and through dozens of cow-filled pastures. Stiles, such as the one in this picture, can be used to clamber over barbed wire fences.
This sign-eating tree is a well-known landmark on the AT, located somewhere along Bryant Ridge in Virginia. There is a great series of photos in the Appalachian Trail Conference headquarters showing this sign slowly being devoured over time.
Rhododendron in bloom
Every year in May, Damascus invites all current, former, and future Appalachian Trail hikers (day, section, or thru) to town for a weeklong festival celebrating all aspects of Trail Life. By May 10, Jason and I were several hundred miles north, but through a series of hitchhikes (at least 7 or 8 different rides) and after spending a night at the home of an incredibly friendly family, we made it back to Damascus and another reunion. During the course of the week a makeshift "tent city" develops along the course of a local river; we stayed here with thousands of other hikers.
The Shenandoah National Park was home to well-marked,
reasonably (though not completely, as is often reported!) flat trail,
thirty-three road crossings in one hundred miles, great eating at the many
restaurants by which the AT passes, and, apparently, bears.
This is a shot of Coppertop attempting to hang her foodbag on the pole at
the first shelter. This shelter was host to another reunion of sorts; of the
hikers who spent the night here I would hike the next 500 miles with most of
them.
Oh yeah, and there were a LOT of very tame deer in the
Shenandoahs (no hunting allowed).
You're always hungry on the trail.