Blitz - Appalachian Trail Journal - 2014

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Deciding what Ramen to cook for dinner at the shelter

Our last night on the trail.

waking up early after a good nights sleep in Damascus we packed quickly for our 6:30 am pickup by Dave. The plan today is for him to shuttle us about 30 miles north along the trail and then we'll hike south back into Damascus where Uncle Ed will pick us up tomorrow to end our hike (or this portion of it anyway, since I do plan to continue). Dave drives us up to the Grayson Highlands, which are shrouded in clouds. The area looks beautiful, and I know there must be great views from the summits of the Mt. Rogers and Whitetop Mtn that we hike over, but in dense cloud we must make do with imaginary views today. It's quite chilly so we make good time to stay warm, but it's bittersweet knowing this is our last day. Some shapes appear through the fog and we realize it's a group of wild ponies that live in the area, including a baby - cute! We met "hippy kippy", a professor at a local university, here on an outing, who showed us an edible root, "ramps" which tasted between onion and garlic, quite nice.
Passed several shelters that were full of northbounders and dozens of hikers on the trail heading out of Damascus after the recent "Trail days" annual celebration of the AT there. So we were pleasantly surprised when we pulled onto the last shelter before Damascus, Saunders shelter, and found it empty! Quite luxurious for our last night. We're tired after the long hike, and plan an early start for the hike out to meet Uncle Ed Tomorrow, so early to bed.

Entry 37 of 39
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