We Found Virginia! Four States in 40 Days

Day 37

We hiked only 2 miles today into Hampton Tennessee! It was great to have almost a whole day of resting my feet. After finding the hostel we went to the grocery store where I bought chocolate milk and an ice cream sandwich. We then got directions to the diner for breakfast. In order to minimize our walking for the day we went straight to Subway to buy lunch the bought groceries for three days. Going to town is all about food!

A view of Hampton from the trail

It was strange to be inside all afternoon but it was great to be off my feet! I watched two movies and called my mom. Overall it was a good nero day.

Day 38

I woke up to clouds and cold air but it turned into a beautiful day. I Believe and her husband picked us up in the morning and dropped us off at the trail head so that we could slack pack for the day. It felt so different to hike without a pack on, I could tell I was using different muscles.

Watauga Lake from afar- we hiked from the bottom section of the lake, around the perimeter, to the dam across the way

 

 We hiked down to Watauga Lake. It was so pleasant to hike by water all day. We also got to hike over the dam. It is a very strange feeling to be walking across something that is literally holding back a lake and to see the vastly deep valley on the other side.

The location of the shelter tonight is fantastic. The opening faces west so I watched the sunset while playing the ukulele and staying warm in my sleeping bag. Just behind the shelter was a great view of the lake and a small town. I hope to wake up to watch the sunrise in the morning. 

Day 39

We managed to really luck out with weather today. Off and on there were dark rain clouds above us but they just kept blowing by. There was a box of trail magic in the woods. I had heard is was orange but I was surprised by the box itself!  We also hiked across a beautiful open field.  It was fun to watch the shadow of the clouds move by so quickly.  The one time there was a rain shower we had stopped at a shelter to get water and eat a snack.

This portion of the trail was also wheel chair accessible

I talked to a day hiker today from the area. After chatting with Chameleon and me for a bit he asked if he could take our picture. It was humorous to me- let's get a picture of real live thru-hikers!

We camped tonight and had another beautiful sunset over a lake and mountains. I feel so lucky to be spending so much time outdoors and to be so in tune with nature.

Perhaps I should mention that the trio I set out with is now down to two. Leap Frog is hiking faster due to a deadline of graduate school starting in the fall. Chameleon and I are still hiking together and all of us are still planning to hike to Katahdin.

Day 40

It was chilly this morning. The thermometer inside my tent this morning read 36° and that didn't account for the wind chill outside. It was quite refreshing and gave me extra motivation to get going on the trail.

 

Chameleon and I played the Alphabet game today.  Here were the results (that are true).

I went hiking on the Appalachian Trail and I brought:

Antibiotic ointment

Boots

Crocs

Dry bags (and dreams!)

Ear plugs

Fuel

Gators

Hat

Icyhot

Jacket

Knife

Leggings

Money

Notebook

Otter Case

Pan

Questions

Rain gear

Stove

Ukulele

Vitamins

Water  bottle

X-tra socks

Yellow rain fly

Ziploc bags

This is not a complete list of everything we brought but it was amusing (and perhaps a bit horrifying) to realize how much we did bring.

We hiked into Virginia today! We hit the fourth state on the 40th day. Sounds great to me. We will be in Virginia for a long time though, over 500 miles.

We hiked into Damascus and will be spending two nights. I'm excited to have a full zero tomorrow. There is a grocery store and a library in town so it sounds perfect!