Damascus AT Hike Page 2     page 1 is Here

Wildflowers included tons of fire pink and spiderwort.

Flame Azaleas dotted the mountainsides above 3 thousand feet.

Just goes to show ya that if a tree is bend and looking dead, it springs to life in different ways.

We pushed on to meet jackrabbit, Will at Iron Mountain shelter where we all took a mid afternoon respite.  It was very hot those first few days and we were climbing and descending.  The trail traffic was light by this point and scenery was just beautiful.

The Grindstaff monument.  He lived alone and died alone.

This is what thru hikers call "trail magic".  A church had left goodies in the form of cold soft drinks and snacks for us Appalachian Trail hikers.  This kind of thing gives you renewed faith in mankind.  I hadn't had a coke in three days and that was a super kind gesture.  It was ice cold so someone had put it there that morning.  It was right near the junction of US 91, which we crossed via a cow pasture.

This was our biggest day of hiking, 14 miles to be exact, and we were ready to make camp.  My feet, along with others, were aching and ready for a sit down.

3 miles after the road crossing, we approach Double Springs shelter.  That's where  we encountered a guy that Will had met on the trail three weeks ago when he was doing an AT section outside of hot springs.  I think his trail name was fruit cup or something but I kept calling him Phillip.

Scooter couldn't wait to shed some nasty britches.

It's almost as if they knew he was coming.

I was having some serious issues with chiggers, as you can see.  They apparently embedded themselves in my socks and had a feeding frenzy.  I itched and scratched for 5 days.  They get on me at the strangest places, up under pack straps, the bottom of underwear, anywhere there is some pressure from clothing or the pack, I got chewed up.

After a very restful night at Double Springs, it was time to move forward to our last evening at Abingdon Gap shelter.  Today was going to be a light day since we had pushed on so diligently for the past four.  That's when Will Howe decided to push on and do 18 miles into Damascus.  I suppose that he had enough of our stink and funk and decided to bail on the trail.  And that is how trail names are received.  Dr. Trail Bailer.

This is looking down towards the town of Shady Grove, TN.

Our hiking on Tuesday was some of the most panoramic of the trip.  We encountered a few Southbounder thru hikers but largely had the path to ourselves.

We were headed for McQueen's Gap.  So named for our Livvid Privvies Diva, Candace McQueen who has hiked with us before, sort of.....

Know what that is?  Chestnut shoots.  They all died off many years ago due to blight but these sprouts are encouraging.  They don't get very big.

Here ya go Candace.  Clark and I made a special stop just for you.

Shortly thereafter, Grady did what I call a little bit of trail dancing.  He made a huge sidestep to avoid one of the most beautiful timber rattlesnakes I have ever seen.  My pictures didn't turn our so well, I had to crop and enlarge it to give you a view of him.  But if you look in the middle, you will see his stripes of a gold and black.

There he is.  He had about 3 buttons on his tail and rattled a small bit at Grady as he passed.  We saw several snakes on this trip, Martin saw a rattler and I came across three garter snakes at various times.

This is some type of "emergency" shelter.  Looks like a snake farm to me.  We pushed on to beat the approaching storms.

This is our last night's resting spot, Abingdon Gap shelter.  We had a lot of company there and when the rain started, we all crammed into the edifice for a couple of hours.  When it stopped, I retired to the tent.  The cold front cooled things considerably and we rested for our final 10 mile push down into Damascus.

Wednesday morning, we were moving like lightning.  It only took us about 2 hours to do five and a half miles as we dropped elevation towards Damascus.   We were starting to get Pizza Eyes ourselves and were moving fast.  This sign marked my official end of miles in Tennessee on the Appalachian Trail (ok, I have a 2 mile section to pick up outside of Big Bald in Erwin)

Scooter was already feeling elated.

Then, five miles later, we popped out in Damascus, just in time for lunch.

Victory!

Will found us gorging ourselves at the Pizza place and Dennis was already in town somewhere.  He is a lifesaver, that Dennnis.  Best shuttle guy around.   It was one of the most fun sections of the trail I have completed and having Will and Martin along just added to the adventure.  50 miles is a good 4 night stretch for anyone considering testing their trail legs.  I backpack quite a bit but my feet were feeling like hamburger.  My pack weight was 37 lbs with water starting off.  That's heavy but I can't eat dehydrated stuff.  We also took some summer sausage and comfort foods.  External packs are nice for the ventilation in hot weather although there are many new internal designs with mesh that reach the same result.  I had to get back for a meeting with Superintendent Ditmanson over the backcountry fee the next morning.  We will cover that in a separate correspondence.