October 14
Miles: 20
Total: ~1715
Our camping spot the previous evening was on an exposed hill, so we were a little apprehensive about crazy winds blowing us away into the night. But to our surprise the winds weren't too bad and when we woke up at 5:20 it wasn't even that cold (first morning in what feels like forever). This was an important factor for ensuring that we would get up and stay up, which we did successfully. We managed to get on the trail by about 6:30 which brought us to Buzzard's rock just in time for sunrise - beautiful! We really lucked out with our camping choice for the evening.
The reason behind our early wake up was to make a big push for town and get there at a reasonable hour. We had a great start and made it to the first shelter (about 5 miles in) in under two hours, but after lunchtime we slowed down a little bit. At one point we met a nice gentlemen with two standard poodles (great hiking dogs apparently, smart, generally well-behaved, and really long legs). He was curious about our experiences so we hiked with him for a couple miles so we pulled back our pace a lot. No matter, really, sometimes having a chat while hiking can really pass the time. He was even ready to offer us jobs with his company, but alas, we are not mechanical engineers.
Today had a lot of what are known as "pud"s - or "pointless ups and downs", where there is alot of vertical change without much of a view. We were sort of kicking ourselves for not "blue blazing" (taking a side trail off the AT) on the Virginia Creeper Trail, which was a gentle downward slope all the way to town along an old railroad bed. After seeing hundreds of bicyclists, however, we were glad we made the right decision to stay true to our trail. There are all sorts of outfits in Damascus that shuttle people and rental bikes north up the Creeper Trail and they then just coast back to town. We have been assured it is quite lovely and judging by the amount of people doing it I believe the hype.
Anyways, we finally made it into Damascus around 4 (not bad for a 20 mile day), but to our dismay the laundromat was closed. Soon, however, we were seeing fellow hikers wandering around in hospital scrubs, and, using our Sherlock-like powers of deduction, we figured that there was an alternative means of getting our clothes clean. Sure enough, the proprietor of the Hiker's Inn was nice enough to do a load for us for 5 bucks. Not a bad deal. But we weren't at the front of the line, so hospital scrubs it was to be!
The Damascus Methodist church runs an old house as a long distance cyclist/hiker hostel called "The Place". It can probably hold about 30 people between two floors, has a kitchen area, a bathroom, and a shower room. We even got hot water! They only ask for a six dollar donation. After getting set up there, we headed over the local food establishment/watering hole "Quincey's". To Jamie's delight they had a pinball machine which he played while waiting for the food to come out. We spent entirely too much money on dinner and drinks (considering it was a pizza place), but since our lodgings were meager we felt it justified.
Tomorrow is our third 'zero' day of the southern portion of our journey and we will be moving on from The Place to a new inn called the Clifton Inn. We will have a TV in our room and we are excited about that.
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