May 8, 2016   Damascus, Va
  Well, it finally happened. We have now officially crossed into Virginia, leaving North Carolina and Tennessee in our rear view mirror. That means there is only 550 miles in Virginia to go before the next state crossing... that's a quarter of the entire trail's length! The weather has been not so nice. Most days we get a combination of clouds and sun, and sometimes a brief period of rain. Fortunately for me, most of the heavy rain happens at night, and also fortunately, I'm usually in a shelter safe and dry.. with the mice. We have not seen or heard from a bear so far, though I have talked with several hikers who are convinces they saw or heard a bear. One hiker states he was sure he saw a bear.. while he was night hiking without a light. Spring continues to progress, though you can go from leaves out and green in the lower elevations, to brown and still winter at 6000'.
  After leaving Erwin, I was driven back to Beauty Spot by my host Mike at Cantarosa Farm. Once again, it was beautiful, but much of the mountains were shrouded in low clouds and seemed to be promising rain.I pasted the picture to Facebook and wished my wife a happy anniversary. It proved to be a fairly easy hike to Unaka Mtn. It is amazing how much energy you can still have if you let a vehicle make all your elevation gain for you! The summit, once again unlike most high mountains in the south, is completely covered by a pine forest, making one think of the mountains in New England. After leaving the summit the heavens opened up with heavy rain for about an hour completely soaking me, though the pack stayed dry. There is a mantra that hikers know and that is that nothing dries on the AT. Later the sun re-emerged and we were at least partially dried. I passed Greasy Creek and resisted the urge to visit a new hostel, and with the stories that later emerged, I am probably happier for it as the proprietor was already earning a reputation as being a little eccentric. It is interesting how many new start-up hostels emerge, and how many established hostels have closed. There is a limited amount of cash flow brought by hikers who tend to be very conservative in their spending habits. I spent the night at a shelter refurbished as an eagle project with Odie, Just Drew, and Hollywood. We had to choose our sleeping site carefully  inside as it was obvious the roof leaked.  Never trust a boy scout! We did get another rip-roaring thunder storm and tropical-like downpours that night which toppled a couple trees, but no one in the shelter got wet despite the leaks.
  By morning however, the sun was out, and it was once again a beautiful day to cover the 16 miles over Roan Mountain to Overmountain shelter. The climb up Roan was cool but long to the 6285 foot summit, only 3 feet lower than mount Washington. There were views but the summit is again largely covered by a pine forest. On top, we met an older couple who were doing the trail angel thing by passing out candy and oranges and apples to thru-hikers.It was beautiful through Carver's gap and up to Grassy Bald, but once again, thunderstorms chased the hikers most of the mid-afternoon. The shelter is actually a barn erected at the time of the revolutionary war. Yellow Gap is famous as a group of constitutional militia crossed the high gap and surprised and defeated the British loyalists on the other side. At the shelter, more than 15 hikers eventually accumulated for the night. Their was a mother/daughter pair who had decided to spend a second night there. The daughter had recently been discharged from the military, but was dressed in combat fatigues, and was open-carrying a 45 caliber weapon. I guess we new who was sheriff. Most authorities highly recommend that hikers not carry weapons by the way. Although they had the intention of doing a thru-hike, they had decided to quit the next day and family was picking them up. One less gun on the AT to worry about!That night, the rain was once again on and off, Although I was down below on the first level looking out over the valley, the women and the rest of the hikers were on the second floor. I had the misfortune of having a young overweight hiker sleeping directly above me who obviously had obstructive sleep apnea, and snored so heartily, the barn shook, and with that shaking the dirt on the floor under him found the passage through the cracks in the floor to my place of sleep, head and mouth! At 4:30 AM, I heard the two women up talking and laughing in full voice as though they were the only ones there. At 6:30, I awoke to smoke inside my sleeping bag. Looking out the two women had decided to start a fire on the dirt floor, ... inside the barn, preferring not to chance getting wet by using the designated fire ring. I quickly told them that this was an ill-conceived idea as a 200 year old barn would go up like a box of matches if it caught fire not only putting themselves in danger but also all the hikers still asleep above. They did comply and moved the fire to it's appropriate area. Several others were up but it seemed I was the only one to speak up; maybe the gun had something to do with it!
  That day of hiking, I braced for what I thought the weather predictions were for heavy rain. However, this once again never materialized. Going over the multiple grassy balds, the fog was thick, and I had sporadic showers, but no heavy rain. It was somewhat erie being out there alone and I thought it was likely similar to the Scottish Moors. At he end of the day, I arrived at Mountaineer Shelter, named after the adjacent falls which was the water source. This was a newer shelter built 10 years ago with the anticipation of more thru-hiker traffic. We fit over 15 people in the shelter, and still three others had to tent with the full house.
  The next days hike of 17 miles brought me to the famous Kincora, run for 30 years by Bob Peoples, who is an AT legend. He has been a force in trail maintenance and rerouting projects on the trail from Tennessee to Damascus. He built that new Mountaineer shelter. Nine years ago, his place was full and Sean and I had to tent. This time however, there were only 5 or 6 other hikers. The place had been let go a bit. He took in stray cats and provided a home for which the cats returned the favor by peeing on the hiker mattresses. There was a light out over the shower and I'm convinced this was a divine blessing so I could not fully see what was growing at the bottom of the shower. I did stay because he was a nice man, and I thought he deserved some hiker respect. I did get by and did a laundry and got a shower. Bob took us into the small town of Hamilton, Tn. for resupply where I bought a frozen pizza for dinner, and frozen burritos for the next days breakfast. The things we compromise in terms of niceties and diet while on the AT. The bar is obviously much lowered.
  After exiting Kincora, I made my way for Vandevetter shelter some 18 miles away. There was a stiff climb up and down Pond Mountain before starting the climb up the massif to  4500'.Once again the predictions were for a rainy day, but in the morning, the sun actually appeared. The air continued to be unusually cool, but excellent for hiking. In the process, I passed by Watauga Lake, a man-made lake in the TVA system. We were told not to camp or loiter at the lake as there had been a pesky bear problem. They had closed the shelter to camping for two years due to this smart bear. They had briefly reopened it earlier this year but like Yogi, the bear returned to pull his old stunts on the unsuspecting campers.. and mister ranger did not like that! I crossed the dam, and followed the ridge line up for miles giving outstanding views over the lake, arriving at the shelter by 4:30. At  6 PM, it started to rain with only four of us at the six man shelter. Then the hoards arrived starting at  6:30. We had 12  hikers all  wanting space out of the rain in that tiny shelter. We managed to squeeze in 8, but the rest had to set up their tents in the falling rain and falling temps which by then were in the mid forties. A fog  descended on the mountain, and all night the wind blew the rain and fog  into the shelter. Everything was damp in the morning. The temperature fell to 38' that night. I ate a brief breakfast, then got on the trail feeling that exercise was the best way to ward off hypothermia. Unfortunately within the first hour, I slipped in the mud. Once a 30 pound pack has momentum in the wrong direction, it's taking you with it. At this point I did a full spread eagle on the muddy trail. Fortunately neither my clothing nor any body parts were injured in this technical acrobatics which earned me a 9.9 score.The entire day, I was in the wind and a cold fog until I descended in altitude. I stayed at Double Spring shelter with Big Bird, a retired airforce helicopter pilot, and Vanderwort, a section hiker now committed to finish the entire trail now that he had retired from Publix Market after 40 years of managing the bakery section.
  The next day was a surprisingly quick hike of 18 miles to Damascus and the Virginia line. As I reached the sign post, marking the border, divine providence sent a troop of boy scouts, who were tech-savvy enough to use my phone and take my picture with Wilson. The first night here, I stayed in a hostel called the Place, run by the Methodist Church. Tonight however, I get a bed to myself (king-sized) in the Hikers Inn. I've spent the off day mostly stocking up on calories and enjoying the town. Plans are now to try to complete the 160 miles in 9 days and reach Pearisburg, Va, then drive to Roanoke and fly home for Sean's graduation, resting a week at home with family before returning to the trail.