Day off in Damascus

7/2 Met Grim who was the caretaker of Uncle Johnny's in Erwin. Not sure if he got his trail name from his demeanor but he seemed to have a grim outlook of the present and future. Went to a Mexican Restaurant which was the only place in town that served beer with dinner.
7/3 Took shuttle to breakfast which was the most basic and cheapest meal we had ever eaten. Saw Bellows and Huck Finn before heading out to the trail. Also saw Mad Patter who decided last minute to follow us. He had earlier received some gourmet freeze dried meals from a woman, and he shared them with us at Curley Maple Gap shelter. Craig lost the bear rope in the trees so we decided to sleep with our food. Man with boys (camp group) arrived late and stayed up making noise until midnight.
7/4 Camp boys left a mess of dishes and food everywhere around the shelter, so there was no need to worry about bears or other critters coming to our tent. Hiked thru a beautiful spruce area to a shelter where we met PJs, Bear Bag, and Hover. It stormed while we were at the shelter and stopped, and so we hiked on to a tent site further down the trail. This was the first of three occurrences that we timed out the storms perfectly to stay dry.
7/5 Went through Roan Mtn State Park which was very scenic. Hiked over lovely mountain top Meadows with great views in the misty rain which reminded us of Ireland. Also stopped at the shelter where there were "Steven Kingish" flies hovering over stained mens underwear. Stayed at Stan Murray shelter.
7/6 Hiked to barn converted to hiker shelter which had the best surrounding view of any shelter. Met Muddy, Spice Rack, Bear bag and Hover.  Moved on to Mountain Harbour Hostel near Roan Mountain where they had many farm animals and dogs. Met Catchup who was a very interesting professor in Hawaii. Tented there after going out for pizza at Cloudland Pizza. This wood fired oven pizza was the best we have ever had.
7/7 Best breakfast for the buck at Mountain Harbour;  very nice hosts too. Hiked to Jones Falls and tented at Upper Laurel Fork near another waterfall. Beautiful!
7/8 Hiked off the trail to Vango hostel where there was no one, and it looked like Hickville with socks and underwear hanging on the front porch. Met our first rattlesnake that would not easily get off the trail until we pushed it with a stick. It coiled and rattled fiercely as we all ran by. We could not simply walk around it since we were on a steep traverse, thus the difficulty. Walked to Black Bear Resort and met the friendliest folks. Marcus had a dog named Belle and gave Kayenta 6 days worth of gluten free dog food (John G is probably laughing). Marcus also gave us a Mountain House breakfast. Trail magic for all! Stayed the night in a cabin.
7/9 Everyone waived goodbye as we hiked out. Someone mentioned that Craig is lean (he's down 12 pounds). Nancy has gained 5 pounds (probably muscle weight). Stopped at Laurel Fork Falls where hikers Whitey and Red Headed Stranger drowned a few days ago; prayed for them. Tented near a road.
7/10 Rainy and cold in the morning. Kayenta did not want to leave but she was outnumbered as we needed to hike almost 20 miles. Sang 99 bottles of beer to get us to the end of the last few miles; Kayenta was probably humming along to the song. Stayed at double spring shelter. Read trail journal entries that were very touching from hikers who had known Whitey and Red Headed Stranger.
7/11 Ate many blackberries; who says you can't get fresh fruit on the trail? Then a hurricane type rain arrived and completely soaked our kilts and feet. Nancy faired better above her waist with her rain roof. Arrived at a very small primitive shelter which we mistakened for an AT shelter and stayed there. We saw the AT shelter the next day.
7/12 Hiked thru some major storm blow downs and crossed the Tennessee/Virginia state line. Met day hiker Lee who was hiking south; she gave us a banana to share. Turns out she is the owner of the Inn we are staying in Damascus. Arrived at Damascus at last!