The next day as I was leaving the Highlands I had one last pony sighting of a young colt with his momma. The trail then passes by Comer Falls which in hindsight would've been a great place for a quick shower but I was trying to do 20 miles on the day so after taking some photos I was back to walking. The rest of the day seemed almost dull after the awesomeness of the Grayson Highlands. I hammocked at Trimpi Shelter and there were a lot of southbounders there doing a section hike into Damascus for the upcoming Trail Days Festival, I'll have to keep this in mind for next year.
Comer Falls
The next day started off passing through another cow pasture and I came to the conclusion that cows enjoy pooping right in the middle of the trail. It is like dodging landmines. At the far end of the field was a dilapidated barn that had a decaying recliner facing a corner, maybe it was a time out chair. Further up the trail hits the new Partnership Shelter which is next to the Mount Rodgers visitor center and you can order pizza! There is a minimum $30 order and a $5 delivery fee but I got enough hungry hikers (three) together to easily make that happen. I ate a loaded salad and half of a pizza. That night I stopped to hammock near Chestfield Shelter which is right beside a stream and had a laugh at some hikers having a really hard time hanging their bear bags. I was again thankful that I use an Ursack which I can just tie to a tree or log.
Decaying La-Z-Boy facing the corner...time out chair?
Next stop was Atkins, a short four mile hike into "town" which was a restaurant, two gas stations, and a seedy motel. One friend had a package to pick up at the motel and informed Billy and I that it wasn't that bad so we decided to stay there for the night rather than wait for a shuttle to the nearby real town of Marion. The plan was just to relax for the day and then hitch back to Damascus for Trail Days on Thursday. Aside from having an identity crisis, the seedy motel was terrible; wifi only worked in the parking lot, my leaky shower head had an attempted repair job with electrical tape and still sprayed water all over the ceiling, and there were a handful of doritos behind my nightstand. Luckily my hiker hunger was not strong enough for me to eat them. I mostly hung out with my motel neighbors, some older section hikers Candy Cane and Broken Arrow, the latter of whom talked exactly like Drunk Uncle on SNL.
Hikers walking down the road equipped with discreet black bags of "Irish sodas"
Relax Inn or Motel Restaurant or Village Motel?
We made it back to Damascus for Trail Days which was a crazy weekend. Tons of hiking equipment vendors where there giving out gear, the churches and fire department hosted big free dinners and pancake breakfasts, and hippie hikers made massive bonfires with accompanying drum circles. The town enforced an old "no tenting in city limits" ordinance so a couple thousand people camped in the woods near some baseball fields. I forded a river to an island so I could escape the noise and sleep when I wanted to and be able to use the river as a refrigerator for beers! A torrential downpour kicked up in the middle of the Hiker Parade and I was glad that my house was safely above the flooding water in my hammock. Some of my ground peasant (tenting) neighbors did not fare so well.
I caught a ride with a church group on Sunday who dropped me off at Atkins and back on the trail I went. A few miles in the sun disappeared for a few days and then the rains came to take its place, the AT's "welcome back" after Trail Days. I passed the 1/4 trail marker and met a bunch of new faces as trail days really shuffled up the bubbles of hikers. On Day Two, after crossing Laurel Creek's beautiful bridge, I ran into some trail magic from Bill Murray (trail name) who had burgers, beers, and misc hiker goods like ziplock bags. The rain held off until the afternoon.
The following day I ran into Bill Murray again at the next gap right as it started to rain so he invited me under his station wagon's tailgate and fed me beers. We drank and talked about van life, the housing meltdown, kayaking, breweries, and had a great old time for a couple hours until he had to return home to Richmond. The rain was on full blast but I was armed with a nice buzz as I blasted through the next 10 miles which included walking over interstate 77 where I stopped to do the "honk your horn" wave to truckers driving by. The weather was on repeat the next day with a dry morning that stuck around right until I arrived at the awesome swimming hole below Dismal Falls.
I spent the night hammocked outside of the haunted Wapiti Shelter where a double murder was committed in the 80s. It was pouring as I set up camp but I was glad I wasn't sleeping inside with the ghosts and the next morning I saw sunshine for the first time in days! I spent an hour at a rocky overlook where I dried stuff out, absorbed the rays, and appreciated how good the sunshine felt. I was feeling so happy and on top of the world that I decided to climb on top of the world when I came to some radio towers.
WARNING: the following video has language and danger. Any family members worried about my safety...you may want to skip this video.