After taking a zero day to resupply and replace my lost camp shoes (unsuccessfully, after I noticed they werent on my pack one morning) I said goodbye to Damascus. I did a bit of road walkign through the town to detor around another bridge that was under reconstruction to make my way onto the Virgonia Creeper Trail section that runs concurrent with the AT. However, I wasn't on this path long as another section was closed due to hurricane Helene damage still being cleared. Still, I enjoyed walking the Iron Mountain detor as it lead to even more ridge walking.

The first night I stayed at Cherry Tree Gap shelter along the Iron mountain trail. It was a decent shelter, but had plenty of tent space for us all to use at its mountain top meadow. It got cold that night, so I had to sleep with my water filer and my long underwear again.

On day 2 I headed back to the Appalachian trail and the Grayson Highlands (GH). The GH were georgous rolling hills that cobrred the mountaintop snd sides as I made my way down Pine Mountain. Most of the vegetation was grass and scrub that was kept in check by the wild ponies that live in the state park. I got to see several foals with their matching mothers and even got to witness one in the process of giving birth right by the trail.

After that, I realized I had miscalculated how long the detor was or how long I thought it would take me. I had originally planned to stop at the Wise shelter, but I got there by 2pm, so I continued down the trial.

I'm glad I did as I ran into a huge trail magic party that was happening at the Scales Campground. There were trail angels thatbhad set upna car camping compound with food tents, a full bar, beer coolers, and hot food. I grabed a meatball sub and a beer as other hikers played field games the trail angels supplied. Sonhikers had been their all day, but I knew that I needed to get back to the trail so I could make my way to the Old Orchard Shelter.

Old Orchard was another great shelter with wonderful tent camping spots. A large scout troop would have no trouble using the site. I'm glad I decided to lrave when I did because it was quite chilly as I made my dinner after setting up my tent. By the time I crawled into bed, I was ready to be warmed by my sleeping quilt.

Around 1030, I was awoken by a group of about 7 hikers who came in late, probably from the trail magic. I imagine it got dark and they realized they needed some more miles to keep their pace. They werent too loud, I had ear plugs, but they kept shinning their lights all over the place and changing the brightness which kept me up until they settled in and made dinner. After tryinf to fall back asleep for about 30 minutes, I gave up and watched a saved video on my phone until they were done. All in all, not a big deal as I slept through most of the night afterwards.

On day 3, I made my way back up Iron mountain, passing within ~2 miles of the Chery Tree Gap Shleter by a side trail. I made my way down and around Hurricane mountain and towards Trimpi Shelter. I was making good time, making 12 miles by noon, so I decided to continue on to Partnership Shelter, ten more miles down the trail for a total of 24 miles today, my longest yet. Im glad I did as I ran into some hikers I had been seeing for a while, Leftovers, Stoney, and Shaggy. They had just resupplied in Marrion and were at the shelter that night. The partnership has to be the nicest shelter I had seen so far. It had two levels for sleeping, hot water sink and shower, along with a fully inclised brick privy that youbsee at many national park parking lots.

The next morning, I got anshuttle ride from the hostel I was staying at, The Merry Hiker Inn, into town. My driver, Phoenix, and I went to McDonald's for breakfast and then he dropped at the local food lion so I could get my food resupplied. I also picked up a T-bone steak, asparagus, and mushrooms for a fancy dinner as I had access to a stove and pans at the hostel tonight. It was delicious.

Phoenix picked me up after he dropped off antoher group of hikers and we went tot the hostel. This hostel advertized Epsom salt soaks, so I was lioking forward to some tub time. After I had gotten the trail stink off of me I did laundry, worked on my blog,and made an amazing dinner. I'm glad Inhad a chance to indulge a bit, because my next section to Pearisburg was going to take me five days.

Summary of Progress:

• Miles Completed: 63.1

• Total Miles Completed: 534.5

• Location: Virginia

• Weather: