The Quarter Way Inn to Angels Rest Hiker Haven

As mentioned before I ended up at the Quarter Way Inn. I ended up staying the night, and had an amazing breakfast. One twenty mile slack pack later, I stayed another night and had another wonderful breakfast.

The twenty miles were wet, stormy and wet. Parts of the trail were basically rivers, again. The Quarter Way Inn was a warm refuge to return to at least.

It turned out, however, during the storm a tree a had been blown down and so we couldn't be dropped off at the same spot. Thankfully though, when we were dropped off it was sunny and remained so for the next day. There was rain over night occasionally.

Highlights included Dismal Falls, where I swam and/or jumped in water. It was fun.

The path eventually lead me to Pearisburg, and the Angels Rest Hiker Haven where I arrived on Thursday the 13th, and am now sat writing on the 14th as I take a zero.

Quarter way!

More rain. Is it day four or five that's raining? Is there such a thing as being dry?

The days have been uneventful since Marion apart from passing the quarter way mark. I did a short seven mile nearo to the next shelter and managed to hang around there from maybe one in the afternoon. It was a nice day of resting.

On Sunday, I planned to do a twenty mile ish hike. But still it rained. The mud was slippy, the rocks treacherous, the rivers high and fast flowing. I did not make it that far. I did, however, make it to the the Quarter Way Inn which is gorgeous.

Leaving the Highlands and heading for town

I was awoken on Thursday by the sound of ponies. A small herd of them had meandered over towards camp and then ended up in camp. They were surprisingly loud when I was trying to sleep. Once I grudgingly got up and started the day, they quietened down.
Not the nicest of alarm clocks...

Thursday's hike began with rain. It ended with rain. And there was rain in the middle too. It was just a damp day. I also did twenty miles in the damp rain.

Friday was similar but shorter. I ended up at the Mount Rogers Trail Headquarters. It has snacks and a few museum-y displays about the place. I also saw an Eastern Box Turtle along the way, which is very much a tortoise despite American naming customs...

Grayson Highlands

Wednesday started sunny. Then it got wet.

After a looong climb, because my pack is over full of food, I made it to a short climb. After the short climb, there was a bit of flat where I saw ponies in the mist.

The day continued in a similar way. I loved it. It was cool and wet and damp but not too soggy. And occasionally there were misty ponies.
Towards mid afternoon, the weather cleared. I also discovered there were free shuttles to a restaurant where one might have real food.

They also had a banana split....

One banana split, one burger, a portion of chips, a portion of mozzarella sticks, and two scoops of ice cream in a cone later (in that order), Hermes and I foot our free ride back to the trail and could barely walk. He through-hiked a few years ago, and is now out for a few days.

Grayson Highlands

Wednesday started sunny. Then it got wet.

After a looong climb, because my pack is over full of food, I made it to a short climb. After the short climb, there was a bit of flat where I saw ponies in the mist.

The day continued in a similar way. I loved it. It was cool and wet and damp but not too soggy. And occasionally there were misty ponies.
Towards mid afternoon, the weather cleared. I also discovered there were free shuttles to a restaurant where one might have real food.

They also had a banana split....

One banana split, one burger, a portion of chips, a portion of mozzarella sticks, and two scoops of ice cream in a cone later (in that order), Hermes and I foot our free ride back to the trail and could barely walk. He through-hiked a few years ago, and is now out for a few days.

Post Damascus

At Damascus I had a rather pleasant surprise. My two bounce boxes were there at the post office, but not only those: care packages from home had finally arrived along with a replacement battery! A small resupply of 8 dollars wort of spam, and an oversized lunch left me happy to continue. (I'm still not sure how I feel about the fact that I seem to like spam. I hope it's just hiker hunger..)
Having done that I marchés another six miles into the woods with an overly heavy pack.
And so ended Monday.

Tuesday was a short day to the next but one shelter. Not much of note happened beyond discovering my pack is very heavy and I wasn't just tired on Monday.

The 'Tennessee Turnpike' and Damascus

Having left Boots Off and made the climb up out of Hampton, I was well and truly on the 'Tennessee Turnpike'. So named because aside from a climb up out of Hampton and a climb down into Damascus, both of which are relatively easy; the 30+ miles between the two are some of the flattest, smoothest and straightest parts of the entire trail. There was even a Disabled Accessible portion of trail!

The only downsides are a lack of views and a lack of water in some place - a whole ten miles between water sources, gasp! How ever were we to manage. But I've now made it into Damascus for lunchtime this Monday. Hopefully the friends I was supposed to meet here won't be too long....