From Trail Days to Pearisburg, VA

Wow! So much has happened since Damascus. Our group (aka Chicken Pot Pie) has been doing great. There's six of us total, including Eric and I. There's Hotsauce, Speakeasy, Left It, and Mr. Tea. We've done really good about sticking together. We hiked a little bit of the Virginia Creeper Trail, which was absolutely beautiful! Once we got to Adkins, The two girls had to get off the trail for Left It's brother's high school graduation. It was kinda a bummer to see them go for a week, but we knew we were getting them back! Plus, Left It's feet were pretty bad, so she needed to get off them for a couple days. We had some pretty nice campsites lately- we camped on an island one night! Anyways, as we were hiking into Bland, VA we got picked up by a chuch for some trail magic. Hotsauce cut on his phone and found out that his brother had been hurt while in Afghanistan, so he has left the trail to spend time with him and help with his recovery. His brother lost a leg, but we all hope that his recovery will go well. We will see Hotsauce again once we get to Harper's Ferry, but it was certainly a sad day to see him go. From Bland to Pearsiburg it was just us and Mr. Tea and we've been hiking with some different people which has been nice. The girls came back on the trail yesterday, so Chicken Pot Pie has been reunited :)

Well, that's all for now. I have to let other people use the computer so I'm signing off! Until next time...

Trail Days

Wow! What a blast Trail Days was! I still think that Hot Springs was a better time overall, but Damascus definitely was a good time. We stayed in "Tent City", which was packed of both current and former thru hikers/section hikers. Saturday was the big parade... which was basically just a giant water balloon fight between the hikers and the townies. It was a blast! There were vendors there (and eric and I bought kilts for the rest of the trail), along with free gear repair. There were bon fires and drum circles and dancing and food! Everyone got a chance to rest up and heal the feet, which was crucial! The town is pretty cool for letting so many hikers just come in and pretty much take over their town for a weekend. Good times indeed!

From Erwin, TN to Damascus, VA

YAY!! We made it to Trail Days!! This is a 3 day festival for hikers here in Damascus, VA. There's a bunch of vendors selling gear and they also have tents set up for free gear repair along with a bunch of other services for hikers (like showers and foot massages and food). The hike from Erwin to here was hard. There were some beast of mountains, but the scenery was breathtaking! I wish I could figure out how to get pictures on the blog instead of just facebook. I'm sure I'll eventually figure it out.

I only have 15 minutes at a time at this particular internet cafe... so its really hard to recollect everything on a time limit! We saw a rattlesnake... in fact, Eric about stepped on it! I saw a bear cub and hauled because I didn't want to see mamma bear! That's really about all the "scary" wildlife we've encountered so far though. We have an amazing hiking group right now. There's 6 of us and we call ourselves Chicken Pot Pie (long story from Hot Springs).

Anyways, we're doing well! I about had a mental breakdown one day after going uphill for 3 days (or close to it), but I managed to get over it (literally). Physically, we're both doing well. Our feet are good and my ringworm is about gone :)

We hiked 26 miles to get to Damascus yesterday (its friday the 14th today) so I'm still a little tired from that. Anyways, I'll hop back online before we take off on Sunday and update again. We've really apprecaited all the support and all the people that are sending us messages! Keep the love coming people! We'll continue to need it!

Hot Springs, NC to Erwin, TN

Hey there!! Well, here we are in Erwin, TN. We crossed our 300 mile mark and still expect to be in Damascus, VA in time for Trail Days (May 14-16). We had an absolute blast in Hot Springs!! The Springs were amazing and there was a cool music festival there that we got into. It was good times all around! We've got a group of 7 that we've been hiking with for a couple weeks now. Its a good group- we have way too much fun out here!

I tried to get pictures on this blog but was unsuccessful, but I do have pictures on facebook, so check those out! Eric got a mohawk here in Erwin, and it actually looks good! I got ringworm on the trail :( Its not really a worm, but it is a fungus... and its kinda creepy! Woof!

The trail has been absolutely beautiful lately! Plants are blooming and we're finally seeing some green instead of brown. We've been crossing small waterfalls and the trail has been going over ridgelines so we get some killer 360 views! We'll have some more pictures posted on facebook later and we'll be sure to check in soon! If nothing else, we'll update everyone in Damascus.