Back with the Wolf Pack in July!

Hello Everyone,

It has been too long since I have posted on here and time for an update. YES, I am planning on getting back on the Trail just after the 4th of July!  These charities are far too important and deserve better than a 700 mile effort because some cowards broke into a building. The plan is for me to pick up most of the Wolf Pack near the NJ/NY border and bring them up to the property for the 4th and a few days of R&R. This will allow some of the other Wolf Pack members, who have gotten off the trail for a few days for various family events, to catch up as well. Then we all meet up and get back on the trail together…to include my niece Mattie and hopefully Vicki depending on a potential job opportunity in the UK. I will have missed approx. 600 miles of the trail, but that still gives me just under 900 miles to go so I am ok with that.  Disappointed that I cannot say I am a "Thru-Hiker", but still a wonderful experience!    

I am using some of the time I have at home to upload photos into the previous posts.  I have only made it to the end of March, but there are photos now for those that do not have Facebook and would like to see some. I shall update you all again as I turn my attention from the house back to the trail. Thank you again everyone for all your support with both the WWP, H4H and with my situation. I am truly blessed to be surrounded with such wonderful friends and Family…I am honored to be a part of your lifes.

Scott    

Crazy two weeks...

Hi Everyone. It has been a CRAZY two weeks...highs and lows. I will fill in the details in a few days. Quick an dirty is that I went to Hilton Head for a week, got back on the trail and had food poisoning for 4 days, then found out that some cowards had broke into my house in NY. SO...I am typing this from NY as I am back to deal with this ridiculous lowsome act. My plan is to get back on the trail, but when and where is dependent on how quickly I can sort out the mess here. Mom sent my laptop up so I will post more details when that arrives on Monday. Until then, here are the basics. Hope to have better news soon.   19 May, Day 62, 0 miles, Holiday Lodge, Pearisburg VA at AT mm 629.8. Great zero with everyone! Walk-n-Eats folks flew into town and 30 Packs Dad drove in as well...regular PTA meeting. As I am 5 months older than Cheeks father, I was her stand in Dad for the night. :) 20- 25 May, Day 63-68, Unexpected "Sand Blazin"!! 0 miles, Hilton Head Island, SC at AT mm ????? Had a very unexpected opportunity to head to Hilton Head Island to see my Mom for the week without missing any of the trail so I took it. :) 26 May, Day 69, 0 miles, Holiday Lodge, Pearisburg VA at AT mm 629.8. VT dinner with My good friend Bill Gould. Food poisoning or something that was NOT fun arrived in the middle of the night.  27 May, Day 70, 21.7 miles, VA 635, Stony Creek at AT mm 651.5. Do not hike with food poisoning and and "squirly innards"... What a crazy long day. That goodness for 30 pack.  28 May, Day 71, 10.3 miles, War Spur Shelter at AT mm 661.8. Still sick. Need to eat.  29 May, Day 72, 12.2 miles, Sarver Hallow Shelter at AT mm 674.0. Still sick.  30 May, Day 73, 14.9 miles, VA 620, Trout Creek at AT mm 688.9. Still sick but kept food inside for more than 10 mins :)   31 May, Day 74, 7.9 miles, VA 624, North Mtn Trail at AT mm 696.8. Felt much better. Finall got a signal on Dragons Tooth and received the word the the house had been broken into. The Incredible's had an aunt and uncle lived near by, came and picked me up. Rental car at Roanoke airport within 3 hours. 30 pack and I found rest of Wold pack...lucky. Reunited 30 Pack, spent the night.  1 June. Drove back to NY with a very heavy heart. 

Days 59-61

16 May, Day 59, 18.6 miles, Trent Groceries Campsite at AT mm 605.5. What a great day! We were dry, the sun was out, the terrain was great, we passed the 600 mile mark and finished it up with a burger. :) the hotel we stayed at was great...clean, comfortable and very friendly. The husband of the lady working at the hotel provides a shuttle back to the trail head which was really great. So we had a laid back morning and got a ride back around 1030. The plan was to go 14ish and stop at a campsite. That site wasn't in my guide but it was around the 600 mile point. So off went 6 of us. It may not come as a big surprise, but I am one of the slower hikers in our group. I'm twice the age as most and my pack weighs twice as much...not complaining, just saying. Add in the stops for water and all the things with Mojo and Skye and that takes time. So A few were ahead of me and I just kept plugging along expecting I'd see them and stop for lunch. After a very quick 8 miles I didn't see them so I had a leisurely 45 min lunch and hit the trail. After another fairly quick, feeling good 6 miles I saw a campsite that might have been where we were to stay but did not see anyone so thought maybe it's across the road so off I went. Well, There was no campsite and as I started up the hill I realized I was in front and because the terrain was so favorable, no one caught me. You never want to backtrack on the AT so I just kept going. ;) I figured I'd go a couple miles and solo camp on top of the Mountain which was about 3 miles up. I arrived at the top and found a perfect campsite...but as lick would have it, 30pack, trucker, Hobo Joe and Ragweed were sitting there taking a break. They were not with us in Bland so i actually caught someone. They suggested we head to this store only 2 miles down the trail at a road crossing for a burger and i thought that was a great idea...so off I went. That is how my 14 mile day became 18.6. I felt great so less I have to do tomorrow. I will assume the 5 members of the Wolf Pack I left behind realize I went ahead and don't go back looking for me in some ditch. :)  17 May, Day 60, 13.9 miles, Woodshole Hostel at AT mm 619.4. Woke to a great morning. The sun was out and the campsite was next to a horse pasture so it was very peaceful. I walked The 100 yards to Trent's and got a coffee and some donuts and had a relaxing morning. Hit the trail at 1030. Some of the guys we have been hiking with and around had decided to do a "24 Challenge"...meaning hiking 24 miles to Pearisburg while drinking 24 beers in a 24 hour period. They started last night and drank a bunch...the tactic being less to carry today. It was fun watching the "challenge" unfold as we leap frogged each other a few times. I had lunch with three of them and they did not look happy. I had four miles to go and they had 16. I headed up the hill and said "see you when you pass me"...they never passed me. :) I made it to Woodshole Hostel which was amazing. It's a few cabins that were built in the 1880's that have been turned into this awesome hiker hostel. All the cabins were full but I tented and enjoyed an excellent dinner on the front porch in a rocking chair. There were 40 of us there so great company and a great night. Mojo and Skye had a great  night as well running around the yard and playing with the owners dog. We crawled in the tent around 9:30pm and then a huge thunderstorm hit...so our timing was excellent. :) by the way, two of the 24 challenge guys came walking in just before dinner so that was what we call a "trail fail".   18 May, Day 61, 10.4 miles, Holiday Lodge, Pearisburg VA at AT mm 629.8. Woke to another great morning and frankly, it was hard to leave Woodshole. The plan is to do a zero day in Pearisburg tomorrow but Woodshole is so relaxing I could have easily stayed and just sat in the rocking chair on the porch all day. But it's 30 Packs 25th birthday and I wanted to spend it with him so off I went. It was a shortish 11 miles into town. Some beautiful views and a nice walk all around. For my european friends, i passed the 1000 Kilometers today so that is a good milestone. Walk-n-Eats passed me on the trail so he, 30 Pack, Trucker, Ragweed an Hobo Joe were in the Mexican Restaurant when I got into town at 4pm. It was right across from my hotel which was convenient so after a quick shower, call to Vicki and settling the boys in the room I headed across the street for some birthday cervesa's with everyone. It was a fun evening. Around 8pm walk-n-eats and I headed to the Chinese buffet next door for dinner. Will not bore you with the amount we ate but suffice it to say, they did Not make any money off us. :). That pretty much ended the night as the food commas set in. So today is the end of month number 2 so here is the update. In the last month we have walked 355.9 miles giving us an average for the last 31 days of 11.86 mIles per day. That's much better than our 8.8 avg for the first month. Overall we are at 629.8 miles so our average for the trip is 10.33 miles per day. This at least gets us to Katahdin before the 15 Oct deadline. :). Our mileage and average will most likely pick up this month to give us a little breathing room with that date. The boys are still having a great time, all the equipment is still working really well, and the body is holding up great. All and all an excellent month. Having a zero tomorrow so will recharge the batteries and get back on the trail on Sunday. 

Nearly 600 miles

12 May, Day 55, 11.6 miles, The Relax Inn Motel, Atkins Va on I-81 exit at AT mm 542.2. The shelter location was excellent and the pizza had me sleeping great last night. Today's hike was a relatively short one by our upgraded standards. The scenery is starting to change a bit. VA is by no means flat, but we are walking through more open spaces...mainly cow fields. It's a nice change of pace and we all like the views. Today's short day was on account of meeting Truckers Dad at Atkins. The plan was to pile in his truck and go to a cabin he is building approx an hour away. We arrived at the road with plenty of time which was great as there is a restaurant called "The Barn" which as a hiker burger...1lb of meaty goodness. So we all had to order that, with cheese and bacon of course, and it was delicious! Even had fries and was considering desert but thought that may be too much after the pizza last night...its all about proper portion control. When truckers Dad arrived there was 14 of us and two dogs trying to figure out how to fit all of us and the packs into his truck. It just wasn't going to work so i gladly opted out and got a room at the hotel down the road a few hundred yards. Saph, Walk-n-Eats, and Golden joined me as well which was great. So we watched them cram into the truck and sent them on their way. We checked in, did laundry, had a shower, had dinner at a Gas station next door, grabbed a few beers And had a good evening just chatting in the room. All on all it worked out really great. 13 May, Day 56, 18.4 miles, USFS Road 222 at AT mm 560.6. The plan was to meet back at The Barn around 1000am. We got up around 0730, packed, checked out and went to the Barn for breakfast and to wait. The breakfast was great and fortunately they had free coffee refills as the rest of the crew did not arrive until 1130 :). That was fine with us as the four of us were in no hurry and had a nice surprise has a very nice lady bought all four of our breakfasts...We knew it was going to be a good day. They other nice thing was that Truckers Dad offered to "slack pack" us...meaning he would take all our packs up the road and meet us so we only had to hike with water and snacks. Any mile I do not have to carry 50lbs is good by me. So we loaded up the truck with our packs and hit the trail feeling very light indeed. Even Mojo and Skye got to slack pack so they were in heaven. It did start raining at about mile 9 but I had my jacket so was all good for the day. The rain just got heavier as the day went so I was pretty soaked when I got to camp. Trucker, 30 Pack, Atlas and Cheeks "volunteered" to watch our bags and hang out with Truckers Dad. It worked out great as they had everything covered and dry when we got into camp, and had a big fire going which was very nice so we got to dry out a bit.  Due to the rain though we just put up our tents and crawled in for the night. It is suppose to get worse the next two days so could be a wet week. 14 May, Day 57, 14.6 miles, Jenkins Shelter at AT mm 575.2. The weatherman got it right...unfortunately. It rained most of the night and we woke up to rain. Waking up to rain means there is this very long 10 or so minutes where you lay in your warm, dry sleeping bag and contemplate just staying there all day. Then you realize you would be bored silly and walking in the rain is all part of the journey...yea yea. So I packed as much as I could in the tent and then just got soaked packing up the tent...which means the back pack gets soaked as I pack up the dripping wet tent and the put it in the pack. Basically there is no good way to tent and pack in the rain. Not surprisingly, Rocket and I were the only ones to break camp and hit the trail. The first 4.5 miles was uphill, in the rain but it brought us too a very nice shelter where I had lunch. The rain stopped and the sun actually came out a bit so after approx 8 miles I was fairly dry. Unfortunately I had to go ten miles and the skies opened up 2 miles from the shelter. So I set up camp just as I had tore it down...wet and in the rain. Did I mention there is no good way to tent and set up in the rain either. Anyway, I crawled in the wet tent with my wet dogs and managed to dry off to an acceptable dampness and have not moved since. I even cooked in the tent which is the first time I've done that. There is a town 13 miles from here which I had not planned on going too, but if the rain keeps up I may have to just to dry out all my equipment. Watch this space.  15 May, Day 58, 11.6 miles, Big Walker Motel, Bland VA at AT mm 586.8. We woke up to a cloudy but relatively dry morning. So we actually took our time packing up. The plan was to head 14.6 miles and we had good intentions to make that. It started raining again about half way into the day. Not bad, but just enough to make us lose our motivation. We all had wet socks and boots so a few miles from the road that took us Bland, we decided our feet, which looked like a ham that has been submerged for 15 hours, needed to dry out before we did some real damage. So we got to the road, hitched a ride to the hotel and here we are. It turned out to be the correct decision as a few folks feet needed some help, and as we were eating at Subway, a flash flood warning came into effect for this area. So good call all around. Again we are at a hotel off an exit... I-77 this time, but it makes for a good phone signal and wifi. So today's walk was really pretty good but it's great to be able to dry all our stuff off. Back on the trail tomorrow with a few 16 milers scheduled the next few days. We would have hit 100 miles in 7 days if we did not detour into Bland, so our pace is picking up nicely. I am currently only three days behind my itinerary so very happy with the progress and trip so far. 

Day 49 - 54

6 May, Day 49, 10.2 miles, The Hike Inn, Damascus VA at AT mm 466.9. It has reached a point that it is exciting when I wake up and know I am heading into a town. :) it's also nice that a 10.2 mile day is an "easy" day. Today was one of those days. We tend to walk down out of the mountains into a town which makes it an easy hike. Add the fact that we are out of food the pack is much lighter...for both myself and Mojo and Skye. So today without trying we were motoring. It was 6.5 miles to the state line and I covered that in two hours. Bear in mind I normally average 2-2.5 miles an hour. The last 3.7 miles we did in just under an hour so that was some good hiking. :). We found our way to The Hike Inn which was really great. Lee and Paul are very nice and could not have been more accommodating. We got settled and headed for lunch and ice-cream...check. When you do not have a spoon i recommend the 4 pack of heath klondike bars...very tasty :) The rest of the afternoon was just relaxing and getting our town chores done. We headed to the one bar/restaurant in town and had a great evening. Our friend Atlas, the one who has been carrying a guitar and keeping us entertained the whole hike, was allowed to play a few hours at the bar so he made a few bucks in tips. The bar closed at 1030 so i was in bed by 1100...a good day indeed. 7 May, Day 50, 9.4 miles, Saunders Shelter at AT mm 476.3. Yesterday I mentioned how great it feels to head into town...light pack, etc. It always feels good though to leave town and to get back on the trail, but its always with a full food supply and so far we always head uphill out of towns...an unfortunate combination. The cabin we were in had a brand new, calibrated scale so I know I walked out of town with a 55 pound pack. That seems to be my standard weight so I'm used to it. Its a heavy pack and i don't like it but I'm used to it. :)  The boys packs were 18 and 16 pounds. We did have a nice breakfast at a local coffee shop and puttered around town a bit doing some more chores before we left...All and all Damascus is a friendly, nice little town. We hit the trail around 12ish and immediately went uphill for 2 miles. :) I was ready for it so not a big deal. It was actually a nice hike as most of the day was walking near a beautiful creek/river. By the way, For those keeping track, I have lost 37 pounds...thats "2 Stone 10" for my UK family and 16.8 Kilos for my "everyone besides American" friends. I weigh 208 pounds (14 Stone 12, 94.34 kilos). I have not weighed this little since I was at Navigator School in 1988/89. My beer belly is pretty much gone (despite my best efforts in town) and if I were to shave I would probably look sickly. :). So the AT fitness program is in full swing...even with the Klondike bars. I told you it was a great diet. I'm not really sure how much more I can lose...i would not have thought i could lose 37 so it will be interesting to see what happens in the next month. 8 May, Day 51, 19.0 miles, campsite just past Thomas Knob Shelter at AT mm 495.3. My first 19 mile day...and I had to earn it. The shelter area we were in last night was really peaceful and great so slept in a bit this morning..0745am. It was starting to rain as we were packing up so I figured our good luck was about to run out...which it did.  But I had nothing better to do so we just started hiking in the rain. It was a pretty nice morning and we managed to squeeze in lunch at a shelter without to much rain. We then hit the bottom of Mt Rodgers and the rain hit. So the next 10 miles was pretty much up and wet. It actually worked out as I've decided walking uphill in the rain is better than walking uphill in the sun and heat. Plus since I am already wet I figure I might as well keep walking on the chance the sun will come out and dry me off before I get to camp. That has worked in the past...not so much today. The trail was muddy and rocky so we just plodded along through the puddles and rain. At some places the water was running down the trail...it was like we were walking up a stream. We arrived at the shelter we were going to stay but there were no good tent sights so we just walked a bit further. We are at the top of a fairly open mountain with the wind and rain beating down so we found a great little camping area hidden in the pines on the back side of the mountain so we are protected from the wind. Ill take a photo in the am if the wether cooperates. There are only 4 of us who have made it...we did not get here until 7pm so we guessed others made camp earlier. We had a slight break in the wether and tried to make a campfire but the rain came back so we all hoped into our tents. So here I lay in my sleeping bag with two very wet, tired, but very cute dogs laying their heads on my pillow and shoulder. So much for keeping the sleeping bag dry :)  When I was in Damascus I was 6 days behind my itinerary. Thanks to not talking a zero in town and today's big mileage I am now 4 days behind my itinerary. I think I may make up a few more days as Virginia's terrain is suppose to allow for some bigger mileage days. We shall see.    9 May, Day 52, 15.6 miles, Hurricane Mountain Shelter at AT mm 510.9. A big day for us today as we passed the 500 mile mark. :). It was actually at a shelter so we had lunch to mark the occasion. The day started pretty much the way it ended as far as the rain goes. We woke up to a break in rain so spent two hours getting a fire going and just as the water was hot enough for coffee the rain came back so back in the tent we went. We planed on doing 11ish miles today and it was getting late so I just accepted the fact that I would be wet and packed everything up and hit the trail at 1130am. We walked through an area called Grayson Highland Park which is beautiful open meadows on top of the mountains. There are cows and even feral ponies running wild. Well, between the rain and wind the visibility was pretty bad, then add to the mix Mojo and Skye, and I did not see much at all. Others saw loads of ponies. Cheeks even had one poking it's nose in her tent last night as she was cooking. Oh well, I would rather walk with my boys for 6 months than see a pony for a few minutes...I'll go to a petting soon when I get done. :). So it rained all day and we just got on with it. During lunch I saw in the shelter log that Atlas and Cheeks were ahead of us and trying to catch us...they had passed us when we were in our cool pine tree camp site and didn't realize it. So Star (Spirit Wolf), activated Spirit Wolf Speed and took off after them. As you can see by the milage we did, he did not catch them until after our planned stop. Thats ok though, less mileage to do tomorrow. We're at a great campsite with the water source right next to the campfire which is a nice change. We even managed to get an excellent fire going, cook our dinner and hang out a bit despite the rain showers so a good day and evening. The one downside is that with the bad weather and our extended miles, the wolf pack is spread apart. We will leave notes and I'm sure we will all be back together in a few days. Question for my Military Aviation friends...what low level training route flys over/near Mt Rodgers VA, near Grayson Highlands, between Damascus VA and Troutdale VA? During our campfire we had a couple 2 Ships and three four ships of fighters fly over. It was between 8pm and 9:30ish pm, Any of you guys flying tonight? At any rate, it was very cool. Could not see them but it was great to hear. Made me feel like I wasn't an old retired guy. :) 10 May, Day 53, 5.2 miles, Troutdale Baptist Church Hostel at AT mm 516.1. We woke to, dare i say, the sun. We knew we had a short day today as Rocket and I had to come into this town to pick up our mail drops. So we got the fire going again and enjoyed our coffee, breakfast and drying our stuff out before packing up. That worked out well because Trucker and Rocket, who had camped 3 miles back, walked into camp as we were still there. So at 1130 off we went and covered the 5.2 miles in an hour and a half...which is pretty good time. The town is 3 miles from the trail so we started walking. We went approx 20 minutes when a wonderful couple stopped and picked us all up and brought us to the church hostel. I had actually sent my mail drop to another hostel/store but that closed a few months ago so here we are. This place is great though. Two rooms with two bunks each and showers in the church. The sun was out in full force se we laid all of our stuff out to dry and enjoyed the afternoon. Rocket and I went to the post office and got our mail drops and Atlas and Trucker hitched a ride to the nearest place for food...a gas station that made sandwiches...4 miles away. This place is like the little town of Norway that Vicki and i live near...only without the General store and the "hustle and bustle"...catch that sarcasm? This is one quite town. :) Anyway, they were actually taken to the next gas station 14 miles away but were back within the hour regardless. :) So here we sat enjoying the day and our delicious gas station sandwiches when the nice couple who picked us up earlier came by with a crockpot full of homemade vegetable soup she had canned last fall, plus crackers and peanut butter for desert...awesome!! Thank you Trail Angles. As we were enjoying our dinner, Casanova showed up having gotten a ride form the pastors wife. That was the first time we had seen anyone from the church. I also need to mention that this very nice, well maintained and clean hostel is "donation only" and honor system...what a great way to live life. We will make a nice donation as this has just been the perfect place to relax after two long, wet days. Tomorrow the plan is to hike 14 (plus the 3 back to the trail) and go to a shelter where they will deliver pizza. Anything other than camp food is always a motivator so I'll let you know how the "shelter pizza" turns out. If its half as good as our gas station sandwich... We are in business. :) 11 May, Day 54, 14.5 miles, Partnership Shelter at AT mm 530.6. It got down to 31 degrees last night so it was nice being inside a great little cabin. A beautiful sunny day today so we made some coffee and enjoyed the morning on our little porch. I actually got two boxes of food here...one for the boys and one for me so, once again, myself and the boys packed out heavy. We left at 1000 and did not get a ride so walked the 2.8 miles along the road to the trail head. It was a great, sunny, standard hiking day so not much to report. We arrived at this very cool shelter and met up with a great group we have camped with before so lots of fun people. The pizza delivery was actually Pizza Hut so we all ordered pizza...which was awesome. Remember I mentioned the "hiker diet"? Well I just ate a medium, deep dish meat lovers pizza and a liter of Dr Pepper...and I do not feel bad about it! Don't judge me...it's hard out here man. :) so dinner was awesome but it doesn't help my pack weight as I still have 7 dinners I'm carrying around. Tomorrows plan is 15ish miles. We apparently pass a restaurant on the trail that sells 16oz burgers so I may gain back a pound or two of the 37 Ive lost. :)

Day 48 last day in TN

5 May, Day 48, 15.9 miles, Abingdon Gap Shelter at AT mm 456.7. It's nice having phone service two days in a row but it has just occurred to me that I now have to make way day of walking in the woods sound exciting. :) here I go.  Today our alarm clock was a very cool thunderstorm that passed by at 6 am. My tent is working great so the boys and I were snug as could be during the hour storm...lots of cool thunder and lighting. Some folks are getting new tents and bags when we get to damascus so they didn't enjoy the storm as much as I did. It cleared up enough for us to pack up without too much wet gear and hit the trail by 845ish. This section is not that difficult so it was a fairly easy day. That was alright as the rain and clouds stuck around for the first few hours. We were high enough that we were walking in the clouds and as such, walked more "through" the rain then "under it". I'm not sure if that is possible but the folks who left before us and were lower said they walked through a big storm where we were just walking through a wet cloud. We came across a very nice couple who had some trail magic for us so we enjoyed the cakes and sodas and chatted with them for a bit. We then walked a few hinder yards an there was another guy with trail magic so we had more soda and cakes. :) the best diet in the world is the AT Thru Hiker Diet...you can eat what ever and as much as you want of anything...the downside is you just have to walk 2200 miles. But we are all taking advantage of it while it lasts. :) so thank you Bob and Betty Davis and Patriot for the trail magic. Patriot retired from the USAF and was stationed at Offutt in Omaha the same time I was so it was nice talking with him...no I did not know him then. So jacked up on sugar we headed out again. We got to the shelter around 5pm and have set ourselves up for a relatively easy 10 miler tomorrow into Damascus. The standard town plan is in effect...try to get in by 1pm to get lunch, then resupply, laundry, shower, and have a few dinners and ice creams...I told you it was a great :)

Days 45-47

2 May, Day 45, 0 miles, Black Bear Resort at Dennis Cove at AT mm 416.3. I failed to mention that the wonderful place i stayed is called the Iron Mt B&B and/or the Creekside Chalet. The main house is the B&B which is very nicely done. The Chalet is the log cabin I stayed in which is also very very nice. This is a romantic weekend type place and I would highly recommend it. Vicki is the owner an she will take great care of you. Anyway, after a very relaxing night and a great morning, I left the sanctuary of the Chalet and headed to the new Black Bear Resort to meet the rest of the wolf pack. Again, a really nice place. More hiker oriented but still very nice little cabins, on a creek and wonderful owners. I could see us building something similar to that at the Tea Cup Street house for those of you who know what I'm talking about. We took a zero here, as somewhat planed, so not much to say other then Cheeks and I won a thrilling game of "drinking monopoly" and we had just a nice relaxing day at a great spot.  Two great places in two nights so all is well.  3 May, Day 46, 10.5 miles, Watauga Lake Shelter at AT mm 426.8. Enjoyed a wonderful morning chatting with everyone and the owners and their never ending pot of coffee. :) up at 7 but we did not leave until 10ish or so as it was so nice. When we started contemplating another zero it was time to hit the trail. This was probably one if my favorite days so far. We hiked past Laurel Falls which was awesome, then a few miles along the creek/river, up over a mountain and then ended at a beach on the lake and had a nice swim...what a great day! If anyone is considering section hiking for just a few days, i would recommend staying at one of the two places I just mentioned and hiking this section...it's beautiful. I will post some photos on Facebook when I can. After a hour or so at the beach, we went another 2 miles along the backside of the lake to the shelter. we are now 40 miles from Damascus VA so are considering two big days to get in there for Saturday night. It suppose to be a fairly easy section so we will see what happens tomorrow.  4 May, Day 47, 14.0 miles, Iron Mountain Shelter at AT mm 440.8. When Someone tells you a section is easy...do not listen. :) this was buy no means a hard section but we still went uphill 10-11 miles out of the 14. When we stopped for lunch at mile 8, those hills made our 22 mile day plan hit the back burner. Add the fact that for some reason there are no rooms available this weekend in Damascus, we were asking ourselves why we were busting our buts to get there. Even if we did 22 today, that left an 18 mile day tomorrow...why the rush? So we settled on 14 today, a 16 tomorrow followed by a nice little 10 miler into town on Sunday. Again the weather has been wonderful for us, the boys are doing great so I'm just not in any hurry. :)