Mountain harbor to Damascus, VA

Last seen, we were staying at a bed and breakfast. In the morning, the B&B held up to the second B and we enjoyed the best breakfast we've had on the trail. We picked up some food for the next week and hit the trail around 11am. It is also important to note that on the previous day, we met Rob Bird at the gap just before the B&B. He was giving out trail magic and trying to recruit hikers to help him collect wood for trail days. After talking to him for a while, we ended up exchanging numbers and planning to ride with him from Abingdon, VA to Damascus for trail days (since Damascus is so small, the hotels were full for Trail Days and the nearest vacant hotels were in Abingdon, where Rob was planning to stay). More on Trail Days later in the post.

The day we spent hiking out of Mountain Harbor was incredible. We saw two waterfalls, a mountain cemetery, and we hit the 400 mile mark. We also camped at a little stealth spot right next to the Upper Laurel Fork river, which made for good white noise as we slept. 

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The next day featured some easy hiking for the first half. At one point we walked through an area of the forest that was burned (but only on one side of the trail). We also hiked past another waterfall and followed the river to another beautiful campspot. 

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We didn't get going until about 2pm the next day since there was a thunderstorm in the morning. We made it over the next mountain in the afternoon, but couldn't go too far since the next area was in a bear watch. We camped right outside of the zone in a designated campground that was created last year for the very purpose of keeping hikers out of the active bear area, which is right around Watuaga Lake. There ended up being a bear hanging around our campsite that night anyways and we had to scare it off on multiple occasions. There was also a thunderstorm that night and I started to feel nauseous toward the morning. It was probably my worst night yet. 

On Thursday, we called an outfitter in Damascus to shuttle us in to town from a road just past Watuaga Dam. We got to the dam but didn't realize which road we needed to be at so when I got a call from the driver asking where we were at, we were surprised we didn't see him. It turns out we needed to hike another mile to get to the correct road. We also met three other people that needed to shuttle into town so that made our ride much cheaper. 

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We didn't spend much time in Damascus on Thursday. We got another shuttle into Abingdon, checked into our motel and I slept most of the day (I was feeling even more nauseous and had a fever). I felt much better in the morning and was able to eat some food. I was worried I had the noro virus, but my symptoms only lasted 24 hours and I never threw up. Plus, Leap never caught what I had, which we were both grateful for. 

On Friday morning, Rob drove us back into Damascus, where Trail Days officially kicked off (http://www.traildays.us/). 

We got some free food, listened to a lot of music, met trail celebrities, watched a food eating contest, and caught up with other hikers we hadn't seen in a long time. And I got a new haircut from Rob! The Mohawk is the only style he does, but hey, beggars can't be choosers. 

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On Saturday, we walked in the annual hiker parade, where those watching the parade hose down the hikers. There was also a hiker talent contest that filled our need for laughter. 

On Sunday, we helped Rob tear down his gazebo in tent city and said goodbye to the hikers we had met during the weekend. We got a ride back to the road where we had shuttled from that Thursday and began hiking again. I could go into a lot more detail about trail days and the fun we had, but it would take way too long to write. 

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We are back in Damascus now, having hiked into town this afternoon. We are officially in Virginia now and will be for probably the next month or more. Approximately a quarter of the entire Appalachian trail is in Virginia. When we are done with this next state, we will be almost half done. 

Until the next town,

Leap and Frog