Father's Day

This is Garrett's Dad. Had a great father's day. My father and I drove up Saturday to meet up with the boys. We got to Mount Roger's Headquarters (adjacent to the Partnership Shelter) about 5 minutes after the boys arrived. They were resting and thinking about ordering a pizza.

Garrett had been having more foot problems (blisters on both feet). We picked up Garrett and took him into Marion for lunch and to pick up a few things at Wal-Mart.

We drove up to the trail crossing on Hwy 11 near Atkins, VA, to meet up with Spencer and Ben. We hiked in about 45 minutes to try and meet them on the trail. We met up with them as we hiked back to the road.

After Ben and Spencer checked into their motel and showered, my father took us all to dinner at the Barn. The boys each ordered two meals each, and ate every bite. They mentioned that they might order pizza when they returned to their room.

We dropped Ben and Spencer off at their motel then drove Garrett to Pearisburg, VA. Garrett wanted to move ahead so that he could gradually build up his hiking so that he would not delay the other boys any more than he already has. We checked him into a motel about a mile from the trail so that he could get a fresh start Sunday morning, then drove the 3-1/2 hours back to Hickory (arriving around 12:30 pm). I enjoyed the day, seeing the boys and spending the day with my dad.

Ben and Spencer appeared in good spirits and traveling well. They appear to be having no problems staying on their schedule. I am glad to report that Garrett called today and said that his blisters have nearly recovered and he was staying at Niday Shelter this evening (Monday). He plans to be at the Johns Spring or Catawba Mountain Shelter Tuesday. He plans to wait for Ben and Spencer at Glasgow, VA.

Back to the Trail

We are finishing up another delicious meal at Jerry's Trading Post in Troutdale, VA on this foggy morning. After just beating out the thunderstorm yesterday, it is likely that we will catch part of an afternoon storm today. We have decided that Garrett is going to get shuttled up the trail ahead of both Ben and I so that he can taper his mileage back up. Mr. Dixon is meeting us today for a resupply and will pick Garrett up at Partnership Shelter while Bandanna Ben and I continue. They will then meet us at US 11 where we will go in to Atkins, VA. The shuttle is waiting, so we must be going. That's all for now, stay posted for any updates.

Troutdale, VA

After leaving Damascus around 7:00 yesterday morning we've found ourselves back in town sooner than expected. We made the 28 mile trip up to Thomas Knob Shelter yesterday and had a fairly easy day up until the last 6 or so miles. The weather turned for the worse and we found ourselves drenched in rain and dodging a thunderstorm. We got to the shelter around 5:30 and changed into dry clothes and were able to call it an early night.

This morning we got going around the same time and set out to go a longer day than we've done before, 35.7 miles to the Partnership Shelter. Partnership is only .1 miles up the trail from the Mt. Rogers Ranger Station where you can use a pay phone to call for pizza. So with pizza on our minds we set out for the day. It was a very gray morning in the Grayson Highlands as the weather hadn't fully burned off and we were in foggy/cloudy weather all morning. We made it to VA16 where the trail branches off to the Hurricane Campground at around 3:30 and could hear the thunder really rolling in strong. We made the decision to not ascend 700 feet to the highest point around called High Point at an elevation of 4040. So we walked over to the side of the road, stuck our thumbs out, and were picked up within minutes by a guy headed home from work. He said he just couldn't leave us out in a storm like that because he saw it really coming down just over the mountain we decided to not climb. Good choice for us!

We are now at Jerry's Trading Post eating dinner and e-mailing. Hopefully the weather will be better in the coming days!

More later,
Bandanna Ben

Photos

We are just finishing up a pizza dinner at Sicily's in Damascus and they happen to have a public access computer here. It has a very fast connection and moreover, Active X capability so we can upload more than 5 pictures at a time (what we were doing at the library). So feel free to look through our "Trip Photos" gallery for pictures of our adventures from the last few weeks. We're off again in the morning. We'll most likely finish our stay in Damascus with another Dairy King milkshake. Happy trails!

Bandanna Ben

Zero Day #2

Writing to you all from the Damascus Public Library the "Friendliest Little Library On the Trail" we are currently taking zero day #2 and now stand at 459.5 miles into the 2,175 mile journey. The trip is currently into Virginia and we have 3 states under our belt.

Last night we were treated by Mr. McKay to a wonderful dinner at a restaurant in Abingdon, VA called the Peppermill. I endorse this restaurant if you find yourself up around these border towns. After dinner, we went and saw the Pirates of the Carribbean 3. It is always nice mentally to do something "normal" when out in the wilderness for long periods of time. We miss music and movies a whole lot, and we really enjoyed the movie last night.

Tomorrow we leave from the friendliest town on the trail and head on up White Top Mountain down into Elk Garden and then up the tallest point in Virginia, Mt. Rogers. We will be staying at Thomas Knob Shelter up on the ridge between Mt. Rogers and Grayson Highlands. This is a very beautiful stretch of Virginia, and was the same stretch that my dad chose to do during his 50th birthday celebration last October. The weather is great up here the temperatures are around 75-80 as the high and at night it gets to 50 at the lowest right now with some afternoon storms starting to develop almost daily.

Finally Back to the Trail

I will be driving up to Damascus today with Spencer's Dad to reunite with the boys. It has been way too long since I left the trail. I cannot wait to meet up with the team today. We are going to go see Pirates of the Caribbean 3 and they are going to take a zero day on Wednesday. We will blog more tonight about stories from the trail, and we will add more photos to our collection.

In health news, I have new shoes that have more ankle support and are a hybrid between a boot and a running shoe. I did 13+ miles on Monday in about 3 and a third hours to try and get back into the swing of things. I was still rolling my ankles too much at the sort of speed that we hike. I bought these new shoes with the hope that I can do high mileage without ankle problems and without much more weight as well. Thanks for all of the concern that people have shown for my health this past 10 days or so; we really could not accomplish a trip like this without the help of others and everyone has been great in that respect. More to come tonight...

Mile Marker 400

Spencer and Ben have passed the 400 mile of the trail today. At 3:00PM they still had a six mile descent into camp left, ending at the Laurel Fork Shelter. They believe they will arrive into Damascus VA on Tuesday afternoon around 6:00PM. Garrett plans to ride with me to rejoin the team. It sounds like the cramping is under control, spirits are good, just exhausted and looking forward to a zero day.