June 13th: Our last few miles of Virginia!

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Back to the trail.

Dogs barked, cars drove by, hikers clomped around the hostel, we slept a
little late. 7:45AM we crawled out of our racks to start the day. We had our
last fresh fruit with cold cereal and a cup of joe for me. Packed our bags then
off to the outfitters for the pack weigh in. Mine was a bit heavier than I had
wanted, but we are packing some food, that is a treat. Fresh cheese, torts and
peanut butter, couscous and a few other things that we sometimes don't carry.
Headed out the door and the first drops of rain started coming down. We can walk
in the rain just as well as anyone, however to leave town in the rain seemed
un-motivating. We walked to the end of the park where there is a trail shelter
for people to look at. We ducked in there to see how long it would last and how
hard it might come down. After about 30 minutes we walked back into town. CC's
jacket has not really been a good one as far as I'm concerned. There is no hood
and too many seams and cloth. She thought she might get an inexpensive poncho, she got a better rain jacket. The poncho was to
difficult to get just right with her pack on. Mailed the red jacket home and hit
the trail in warm sunshine.
11AM we walked off the local road and into the woods after nine days off the
trail. Shoulders complained, feet ached, we huffed and puffed up the ever
present hill out of town. 3.5 miles later we crossed the TN state line. We have
finished VA, the longest state on the AT! We took each others pictures and moved
on. The trail was graded nicely and we were both pleasantly surprised at how we
managed to keep a fair pace. Damascus sits at 1,928’, the TN border is 3,250'
and the Abingdon Gap Shelter is at 3,785'. Even though we climbed most of the
ten miles to the shelter it seemed almost flat. We managed to do the 10 miles in
five hours total time.
The last few miles we were surrounded by claps of thunder every so often. It
seemed to be following us down the trail. We saw about a dozen NoBo's in the
first two hours of our hike, then we were alone for a long time. Just before 4PM
a fellow came up the trail headed for town. The thunder was real close and the
wind had picked up considerably. He told us the shelter was very close and we
should beat the rain there. He wanted to get to town today and was going on. We
made the shelter at 4:05 and at 4:08 the rain came down in sheets. In minutes we
had a small stream running down the hill towards the shelter and the drumming on
the metal roof was deafening. Wind and rain continued for almost 45 minutes then
slacked up. After about an hour and a half it had stopped completely.
We had an early supper and I went down the hill for water after we were done.
Five hikers came by the shelter after the storm, but they all kept on hiking
for town. CC and I are alone and all is quiet. Clouds cleared away and blue skies
returned for sunset. It is a large shelter and we have put the tent up inside so
we can sleep bug free and not have the bottom of the tent all wet in the
morning. Now 7:30PM and just about to crawl inside for the night.
While at Matt's I looked at all the comments people have made. There were a
bunch of messages also. Just a reminder.......

If you want CC and I to get your "COMMENTS" you need to click on the "COMMENT"
tab. If you click on the "MESSAGE" tab, Matt gets those in his personal mailbox.
Please send ALL your comments to the "COMMENT" tab. Thanks. I would also like
to thank all who are participating in our journey by commenting. We are saving
them all and will take time once we are done to write each of you.

Patrick, Deborah Mooney aka OD & CC
All Who Wander Are Not Lost

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