Day 38

500-mile Marker Near Thomas Knob Shelter

Day 38

Starting mile 485.8

Today I was leaving Damascus. I had a great time here. I was able to see some people I hadn’t seen in a few weeks. My B&B was very comfortable with some real nice other guests. Unfortunately, it was time to go.

After another breakfast at the Diner, which was owned by the same people who owned my B&B, I met up with a few others who were sharing my shuttle back to the trail. The Creeper Trail is still closed from Helene so we had the choice of taking the Iron Mountain Trail around to the AT or we could shuttle up 14 miles to where the AT reopens. The four of us decided to shuttle up to the trail.

Our shuttle driver dropped us off about 9:30 and headed up the trail. We were heading up into Grayson’s Highlands. I was looking forward to the amazing views, but I also knew it was going to get cold up there. 

To get up into the Highlands we started with an almost 4,000-foot climb up. It took me about seven hours to make a fourteen-mile uphill climb. When I finally made it to the top I was surrounded by weekend backpackers. This is a very popular place, but I was hoping the cold weather would deter people, but I was wrong. I think I ran into four different Boy Scout groups out for the weekend.

The nice thing is that once you get to Mount Rogers you are basically at the top. I only had another 500 feet of elevation gain over the last four or five miles. I kept my eyes out for the ponies, but I didn’t see them in their normal places. Finally, about two miles from camp I ran into my first little pack of ponies. I sat and watched them for a minute and then headed on my way.

I made it into camp just after the Wise Shelter. You used to be able to camp right by the shelter, but now you must go about a quarter mile down to find a place to set up. I ran into another thru hiker, and he showed me his little secret spot. It was far away from the Boy Scout troop that was set up in the area. “Mariner” and I sat around and talked about Northern Virginia and hiking before retiring to bed.

Everyone, I started with this morning going to take their time to enjoy the Highlands, but since I’ve been here a bunch and it was going to be cold, I hurried through. All in I did 18.7 miles with about 4,500 feet of elevation gain.

Ending mile 504.5