Starting the last 5 days of our adventure with a lot of momentum. Averaging on some days 20 miles and feeling great! Weather is still hit and miss on the rain and storms but that has not gotten our spirits down...only a "little" wet :).

 

 

Tennessee GOODBYE.......and HELLO to Virginia!!

Hard to believe that this is all you need to hike for 3 weeks...that and a lot of energy....and cliff bars!

A flat and level path was a luxury, a real treat........and rare!

Wide open farm land was a treat to hike thru

Another "hiker friendly" farmer letting us use his property

MacGyver loves the easy and level walk!

Evidence of the farmers cattle.

Does this remind you of the Old Couple TV series....one is "Cluttered"....and the other..."Neat" :).

Made it to Damascus, VA at mile 470. The trail ran literally thru the town just like Hot Springs, NC. The following is a series of photos and a video:

Walking literally thru someones yard. I am surprised there wasn't a toll!

Very friendly hiker town

Out of Damascus there is a trail that tracks the AT for a few miles called the Creeper Trail. Best thing about it was that it was level! and NOT rocky!

And here is MacGyver "Creeping" down the Creeper trail.

Have you noticed that in many of the pictures MacGyver is always ahead of me....Couldn't be that he is a faster hiker, in better shape...and 7 years younger than me? Could it?? :)

There were dozens of great places we saw and experienced but near Mt. Rogers in Virgina was defintely in the top 5. Below are some great shots we took.

Felt like the Top of the World!!

We camped in a wide variety of place but this spot was unique as we shoe-horned our tents in and around the heavily wooded trees. Almost seemed like the trees were going to come to life at time!...like in the "Wizard  of Oz".....yes i am old enough to know the film and to have watched it dozens of time :)

Does Survivor look like he has been sampling some of those "Magic Mushrooms" in the woods?? Better check his pupils!...Well he WAS a teenager during the 60's :)

2 other big highlights durning the last few days of our hike were; hitting the 500 mile marker! AND hiking thru Grayson Highland State Park with the great views and the feral ponies and horses.

Even had a few cattle roaming in Grayson State Park.

The last night on the AT we decided to stay in a shelter rather than in our tents because the weather forecast called for bad storms. And they were right! Ironically the name of this shelter was "Hurricane Mtn. Shelter".

And these smiles are because we are safe and dry in the shelter!

After 3 weeks on the trail MacGyver and I felt emboldened to join a Bad Ass Hiker Gang, which brother Fred labeled, “Sons Of Arthritis”. And the initiation was to eat one of those orange lizards we saw a lot of!

.......And THEN, we came across a rival gang the "Matriarch Marauders"......what an intense standoff!! We were outnumbered!!!

After 3 weeks our last day was a short 5 mile hike from Hurricane Mtn. Shelter to our end point at Dickey Gap. Hard to believe our section hike this year was at an end. More on this in my Epiloge.

Happy Hikers!..and ready for celebatory drink!...and shower and a shave...and deoderant:)

And don't we clean up well!!

Latest comments