AT Happiness: Hello Damascus, VA

It’s been a while my friends so let’s catch you up. When last I posted I had just come across the humps in what was basically a hurricane and landed in the trail oasis that is the Mountain Harbour B&B, I’ll post more about them later.

Safely on the porch at Mountain Harbour B&B

I zeroed at Mountain Harbour and did a 4 mile slack pack before heading back to the trail.  The trail heading into VA is wonderful, nice grade, not real rocky and the climbs are smaller.

This allowed me to do my longest day to date a 21 mile hike into Kincora Hostel.  At the hostel I caught up with Jedi and he had already set up a shuttle past Wautauga Lake. There had been some aggressive bear activity and we decided to yellow blaze around it. So we bumped up 20 miles and between the bump and my long day I was now on pace to get to Damascus two days early.

The trails were magnificent and except for one very cold night the weather was perfect.  I hit the TN/VA border and 4 miles later walked into the trail town of Damascus.

This is the second town where the trail goes down Main Street.  So I stopped for a bite before going to the Old Mill Inn and had a great lunch and even better dessert.

I’m currently rehabbing my tweaked and beat up knees for a few days before doing a 22 mile slack pack on Monday and then back on the trail Tuesday.

Damascus has been a place to switch out gear, the folks at Mount Rogers Outfitters have been fantastic.  This has also been a place to catch up with hikers I haven’t seen in a while.

Me and Mighty Mouse

I’ve hit some milestones in the last week. Passed the 400 mile mark, finished my third state and did my longest day!  Other than my knees, things are great and I’m having happy days my friends.  – Rev Kane