Day 39: 5/18/16 (Virtual AT 2020 Day 46)

We did it… we made it to Damascus today, finishing up Tennessee, and beginning our 4th, and longest state, Virginia.

We got an early start today, as we knew it would be a 22 mile hike to get to Damascus. Luckily it didn’t rain last night, and the morning was nice and clear. The day began with a bunny, sitting off to the side of the path, and it was kind enough to sit still while I snapped a picture.

The path continued into some pastures, where cows were grazing. Yes… there were cows directly on the trail,  one was even rubbing it’s head on one of the trail markers. I must say that this is the first time I’ve hiked past grazing livestock in a fenced-in pasture.

We re-entered the woods and climbed up to Double Springs shelter. Just before we got there we saw something running through the woods to our right. It was pretty big, and looked pretty dark. I’m thinking we had our first bear sighting. Our suspicions were confirmed when we reached the shelter, and one of the other hikers mentioned they had seen a bear in the area the previous night.

The rest of the day we just sort of put our heads down and walked. The clouds darkened and threatened rain after noon, but we stayed dry for most of the day. It wasn’t until we were about a half mile from town that the sky decided to open up with one of the most drenching rains we’ve experienced yet. By the time we reached town, we were already soaked, so we skipped the cover of gazebos that we passed and just walked in the rain to the center of town. When we reached the Hiker Inn  (where we’ve got a room for two nights), we were soaked. The proprietor of the inn wasn’t around, but kindly left a note on the front door inviting silver fox in. We took the invitation, headed up to our room and took some nice warm showers.

We finally did meet Paul, the owner of the Hiker Inn, and former AT thru-hiker. For an extra $5, he took our laundry and did it for us, which was great. We’ve got a private room in the house that shares a bathroom with 2 or 3 other rooms. There’s also a hostel attached to the house. It’s also right on the main street in town, so it was a short walk over to Hey Joe’s, a little burrito place where we completely destroyed a couple of good sized burritos.

We’ll be zeroing here tomorrow. We’ve got mail to pick up, resupply to do, gear replacement, and a brewery to visit.