Day 45-Into State Number 4, and Into Trail Town USA

May 2-11ish miles-Abingdon Gap Shelter to Broken Fiddle Hostel in Damascus, VA AT mile 471.0

Well, we did it! We left Tennessee behind. I must say, we entered Virginia with a little trepidation, but we have since learned that Virginia is not as restrictive as North Carolina was. Hotels are open. 

The day dawned with a beautiful sunrise. It was chilly, but I still started out in my hoody, and before long I changed into my stinky pink shirt. 



It’s so bright I can hardly see!

Of course, the big event of the day was crossing the Tennessee/Virginia border. 



Those rocks are the state line. 

LB in Tennessee...

LB crossing...

LB in Virginia (and Flat Will crossing too). 

Sure Foot with one foot in Virginia and one foot in Tennessee (which is the sure foot???).

One small step for Two Wheels...

Because we had it, we stopped for our first meal in Virginia before coming into Damascus. I found the perfect restaurant with a table for one (Sure Foot had to sit on a log). 

Garçon, I’ll have the special (tortilla with a third of a jar of Goober peanut butter and strawberry jelly).

After our fine dining experience (well, mine anyway), we hoofed it down into Damascus. As we walked I to town, a girl of about 9 or 10 ran out with some chocolate chip cookies for us. Her sister had made them. Okay! This town was looking mighty friendly!

The infamous welcome to Damascus arch. 

The trail goes right through town. 

Damascus is also home to the Virginia  Creeper Trail, so very bike friendly as well (the Trans Am goes through Damascus too).

We made a stop at Mount Rogers Outfitter where I got a new stuff sack for my tent (the paper thin dyneema sack is slowly disintegrating), there Mountain House dinners, some shorts (for town), and some new gloves (here’s the condition of my possum merino gloves)

More holes than not. 

We headed to the Broken Fiddle Hostel. A couple, Scout and Odyssey, who we have been behind since Franklin, have taken a double zero, so we have caught up to them. I asked Treehouse how the hostel got its name. He said back when they were just getting started, there were a bunch of instruments. They had an old fiddle (nice one), and some guy sat on it and broke it. They fixed the fiddle, but named the hostel the Broken Fiddle. 

Treehouse was ordering pizza, so we put in an order too, then went to the Dollar General to get our resupply for the next 4 1/2 days to Marion. We ate our pizza, and packaged all our resupply. 

Smiley arrived here, but didn’t stay. He planned to do about 10 more miles (he’ll be night hiking). We’ll head out early tomorrow. We’ll have about 15.7 miles. Oh, and we are now on the third map in Guthook. It’s Southern Virginia. We’ll be in Virginia longer than we were in Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee combined. 
Broken Fiddle Hostel

The gate into the hostel. 







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