Start: Lost Mountain Shelter (AT mi 486.7). Stop: Damascus, Virginia (AT mi 470.7). Today’s miles: 16 miles. Total AT mileage: 1722.4 miles.
It poured overnight, I was grateful for the shelter and the fact that I was completely dry.. and so were my belongings. Finch, Lizard, and I had the place to ourselves. When it came time to get up, I didn’t want to. I tossed and turned a lot of the night and I’m dealing with a stuffy nose.. which I’m blaming the frequent weather changes on.
I did, finally, get up and start packing. Once breakfast was eaten, packs were packed, and all three of us were ready, we headed out of camp close to 8:30. We ended up hiking together the whole day, something I haven’t done since-well-for a long time. I can’t exactly remember the last time I spent the whole day with other people and not just in passing!
We stopped at a cafe in the middle of nowhere on the Creeper Trail. The AT and the Creeper Trail cross paths and share a couple miles together in a few places.. it’s a bicycling trail along a beautiful creek. We all three made the choice to walk to Damascus on this trail instead of the AT, simply because of all the reviews saying this one was more scenic. It was definitely scenic AND had a cafe! It felt like a no brainer to me.
The cafe was technically closed, but the lady smoking the pork for the following day was there and she brewed us a pot of coffee, opened the bathrooms, and let us use the WiFi for a bit. It was then, sitting there sipping coffee, that Uncle Keith called to talk a bit. I talked until we were all ready to start hiking again, and then we said our goodbyes because I wouldn’t have service away from the WiFi.
We hiked along the smooth, flat Creeper Trail and played games after we ran out of things to talk about. Finch taught me a Lyrics game where one person sings the lyrics to a song, then picks a word from that song, then the other people have to come up with a song with that word in it and sing the lyrics to it.. and on and on.. it felt like we played for hours, but I doubt it. It did help the time pass though.. and it was so dang funny!
We made our way into Damascus, Virginia. The trail walks right through the middle of town. We stopped off into an open cafe the second we spotted it. I got a pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw on top-and it was by far the BEST sandwich I’ve had on trail! It put the others to shame. I literally don’t think I took a breath while eating it.
Once our bellies were full, we walked to Lady Di’s bed and breakfast. She had 3 twin beds for us and we graciously accepted. Once the tour was given we took showers, got laundry started, and unpacked. Then Lizard and I walked to the post office for her to get a package and then to the dollar general to grab snacks and stuff for a slack pack tomorrow. We also passed an outfitter.. they had a CNOC bag!! I definitely bought myself a new one, happy to throw the old holy one away!
We walked back to the B&B and crossed paths with Finch heading to the post office. We agreed to drop our stuff off and then return to the downtown area to eat dinner at the only restaurant open, The Old Mill. We made quick work of it all and were back downtown pretty fast. We sat on a patio overlooking the creek. It was gorgeous. There were twinkly lights and this looked like a great place for a date night or something. We were all in hiker loaner clothes, slightly out of place, but it wasn’t very busy so it’s not like anyone noticed-and we wouldn’t have cared if they did.
I had red wine with dinner, which was wild mushroom Bolognese. It wasn’t as good as I thought it would be, but it hit the spot all the same. I got chocolate cheesecake too.. and it made up for the lack of flavor with my entree. I shared it with Lizard, she seemed to enjoy it too. Her dinner was pecan crusted rainbow trout.. it was the whole fish. Head and all. Been there, done that with Andrea in Spain.. no thank you. She ate it like a champ. I was impressed, because I don’t think I could have eaten it.
Anyway, two other hikers ended up joining us at dinner. They showed up after we had already ordered.. RoundHouse and his friend who’s name I forget. I enjoyed the mixture of new friends with known friends. It really was a good time. Before we knew it, it was getting very close to hiker midnight and we all asked for our checks and got ready for the walk back.
And now here we are. Lights out in the bunkless bunk room.. typing the day up, getting ready to go to sleep. It’s a bit stuffy in here, even with the fan on. I have a feeling I won’t sleep well because of this, even though the mattress is nice and the linens are comfortable. I’ll be giving it my best shot either way. Goodnight y’all.