4/26-5/7: Damascus, VA -> Woods Hole Hostel

The “Virginia Blues” is a well-known phenomenon on the AT, where once NOBOs reach Virginia, the novelty of the trail has worn off, the days get repetitive, and some people get depressed and question the future of their hike. It has been a long time since I wrote, and part of the reason was that I felt like there was less to talk about on a day to day basis. Some of the novelty has indeed worn off, and some of the days and terrain and facts of daily life have started to blend together. However! I’m still having a great time – no blues about it! At this point, I’m about halfway through Virginia, and a LOT has happened to write about! So much, in fact, that I’m splitting this into two parts, hehe.

I left Damascus on the afternoon of April 26 after a nice double Nero day there. Rest, and ibuprofen, were definitely helpful for my knees, and I was also determined to take it easier over the next section. I certainly accomplished that, doing only a ten mile day the day after I left town and gradually bumping up my mileage over the next few days, to great effect; I felt much better this way. I hopped shelter to shelter in this leg since there was a lot of overnight rain in the forecast for these few days, and ended up spending every night with Dapper Dan and Blazes; it was great to travel with them for a while and have friends around. Of course, I also saw plenty of other trail friends, new and old, that came and went.

The highlight of this section was the traverse of the Grayson Highlands, a highly anticipated section of trail in southern VA famous for its wild ponies! I saw plenty of ponies throughout the day (after seeing plenty of…evidence of them the day prior). I even saw some pregnant mares, and a foal right on trail with its parents (I assume). It was absolutely delightful!! What a special day.

The Grayson Highlands also happened to be a beautiful area with some really nice views. I also crossed 500 miles in this section, and took a side trail to reach the viewless summit of Mt. Rogers, the highest point in VA, like the filthy peak-bagger I am.

The day after the Grayson Highlands and the ponies, I (finally) saw cows on trail!! I was equally delighted, especially since it was wholly unexpected. I had been tricked before: we had already passed through several cow pastures and hadn’t seen anything. But this time, there they were, right by the trail!

I took a nero day in Marion, VA, where I stayed at the nice Merry Inn hostel (it took me a while to get that pun). Marion was a cute town, with an awesome free town shuttle service! Not only was this very handy for us thru-hikers, but I saw many locals using it to get to and from the grocery store and around town. You love to see it!

I spent the morning with a new group of trail friends, including the Sun God, Legs, Hooter, and more. We had a great breakfast at Sisters Café, right next to the hostel. Later, I went out to a Mexican restaurant for dinner with my trail friend Teressa and her friend Cassidy who was joining her for a section. (I had enchiladas, naturally. iykyk) We had a lot of fun!

Heading out of Marion, I experimented with a new hiking strategy: drastically reducing my step-by-step pace and hiking longer hours instead to maintain/increase mileage. I was amazed at how well this worked. It felt like I was putting a lot less pressure on my legs and was able to sustain 17-mile days for the whole section without much difficulty or pain.

On my first day out of town, I passed an old schoolhouse, and inside, I found amazing trail magic! There were a ton of good snacks and even fancy backpacker meals.

That day, I was thrilled to cross the quarter-way mark! First, I passed the “official” (and false) 1/4 way sign on a tree. This wasn’t technically the right mileage since the trail’s distance changes every year (and always seems to get longer…), but it was still really exciting. It sort of snuck up on me! I wondered if I would feel overwhelmed at all to have “only” come 1/4 of the way, but I honestly only felt excitement. About a mile later, I passed the true quarter way mark! I can’t believe I already hiked so far. Onward!

The next day, I had a new experience when I forded a creek for the first time! It was sort of chilly, but that felt nice on a warm day, and it was otherwise straightforward. I was glad to have good weather and an easy crossing for my first ford.

I was absolutely awed by a Virginia view from a ridgeline that afternoon. There wasn’t really anything particularly remarkable about it, but it was still one of my favorite views on the whole trail so far. That’s the magic of the AT; every day, every mile, there’s a unique beauty to be found.

That night I stayed inside the enclosed Chestnut Knob Shelter, which had been converted from an old fire warden’s cabin. It was a cool experience to sleep in such a different sort of shelter. I was glad to be totally out of the wind! The shelter overlooked Burke’s Garden, a large, geologically unusual valley formed from a collapsed mountaintop.

May 4th was my two month trailiversary. In contrast to a month prior, it was a pretty tough day, and rather uneventful. The weather was beautiful, but the terrain was quite rocky and difficult. Mostly, I really missed Sophie. Being alone on trail felt harder than usual that day, thinking about her and the great times we had had together on trail, especially on our one month trailiversary. I treated myself to the backpacker meal I had gotten from the schoolhouse for dinner that night.

The next day featured a stop at a popular trailside restaurant, where I also resupplied to get me to Pearisburg, VA. This technically made it a hero day, by my own definition, but it surely would’ve felt different if I had had to get a ride into town instead of just stopping right at the side of the trail. I crossed 600 miles that afternoon!

The following day, I lunched at Dismal Falls, which did not live up to its name. It was actually quite nice, worth the side trail to get there. While I was there, I ran into a couple of trail friends. I suddenly felt very lonely seeing them there. I missed sharing cool spots on trail with Sophie; I missed Macy at home. After a few relatively flat, easy, and not the most interesting days, and a long while hiking alone, I was looking for some more excitement and motivation on trail.

And boy, did I ever get it! That afternoon, I decided to finish my day with a big, steep climb rather than saving it for the morning. This turned out to be one of the best decisions I had ever made on trail. Up on the ridge, I met One Lung, who told me about a very special event happening the next day at Woods Hole hostel, between there and Pearisburg. A couple was getting married(!), and thru-hikers were invited to the wedding(!!), and it was all being “trail-magiced” somehow?! I could hardly believe what I was hearing. I called Woods Hole to find out more, and next thing I knew, I was going to a wedding the next day. Naturally, it was a bit of a change of plans, but I was so glad to seize the opportunity for such a once-in-a-lifetime trail experience. Say yes to things!

I was giddy that night with excitement and the spontaneity of it all. I camped up on the ridge, right behind a cool rock outcropping. I cooked a relatively extravagant dinner out on the rocks, and ate while I watched the sunset.

Sunday dawned on one of the most wild and interesting days of my whole life. The birds woke me up even earlier than my (rare for the trail) alarm, and I watched said dawn on that rock formation, with a perfect view of a beautiful sunrise. It was a quick morning hike into Woods Hole hostel. I ran into Leaf, who was also going to the wedding, and it was nice to hike in with her!

I can’t say enough good things about Woods Hole hostel. I was immediately taken with the rustic, wholesome, hippie venue in a gorgeous location. I loved their garden, from which they source as many delicious ingredients as they can, and their kitchen – I hope that’s what my kitchen can look like someday! I loved sitting on the porch of their bunkhouse and chatting while we sat out a thunderstorm. I loved the owner, Neville, and her awesome group of former thru-hikers staffing the hostel, especially Migrator. Everyone was so friendly and fun to talk to!

The wedding was scheduled for 4pm, and actually got pushed back a bit due to the thunderstorm. That left the rest of the afternoon to enjoy the wonderful location, try their delicious homemade cookie bars (Neville gave me the recipe so I can make them at home later!), and meet a ton of awesome new friends: Bagel, Vango (as he spells it), Renegade, Lucky Colleague, Reese’s Cup, and Scoops, who is a 2013 Pittsford Mendon grad! It was such a fun small-world moment to meet another thru-hiker from my hometown. I felt like I hit it off so well with them all; being in such a place for such a special occasion was a great bonding experience. I was so glad to be there with them, Leaf, One Lung, and more.

Soon after I arrived, we hikers were invited to share lunch with Neville and the wedding party since they had leftover food (and thank goodness for that!). The bride and groom, Liz and Lex, were so welcoming and fun to talk to. They were covering all the hikers’ stays and meals for the night: the best trail magic ever! It was so cool to be included, meet Lex and Liz, and hear their story.

Lex, aka Commander Shepard, and Liz, aka Aquamira Snotrocket, had met at Woods Hole during their own thru-hikes in 2018, 5 years prior to the day of their wedding! They then didn’t see each other for 1253 more miles on the AT. But they stayed in touch, and later thru-hiked the PCT together. They had a lot of fun stories about their thru-hiking experience, especially coinciding with a budding romance. They have a great energy and sense of humor, and this certainly came out during their wedding.

Eventually it was time for the ceremony, and it was unlike any wedding I had been to before. The dress code was “hiker casual,” and the thru-hikers wore whatever loaner clothes we could find. Scoops and Bagel found dresses and they actually looked quite nice; most of us weren’t so lucky. It was the first and probably only wedding I’ve attended wearing my pink Crocs. The wedding party was in more traditional garb, though Lex did get married barefoot!

The ceremony was brief and lovely. It only felt a little strange to be at a stranger’s wedding; after our lunch, I felt like I knew Lex & Liz already, and the ceremony only made me want to get to know them more! There were several funny moments, such as the couple loudly deriding a certain pass on the PCT, or grabbing each other’s butts during the ceremony. It made for a wonderful and whimsical vibe. At the end of the ceremony, they had the thru-hikers create a trekking pole arch for the couple to exit through! That’s right, turns out we were all IN the wedding, in fact. No big deal.

Before dinner, Neville led us in a huge gratitude circle that is a Woods Hole tradition. We all introduced ourselves and said something we were thankful for, and Neville read a blessing that a past thru-hiker had written. It was all very sentimental and perfect for the place and the occasion. Also, I’m just a sentimental person, so there. Afterwards, we had a yummy and very filling dinner which was a combination of homemade stuff from the hostel’s garden and farms and catered BBQ. The newlyweds had a gorgeous cake that looked like a tree stump; it even had a white blaze! I felt so full, in several ways ❤️ I had such a great time talking to hiker friends, the bride and groom, and other guests like Stumbles and Texas (who run another hostel in northern VA), both at dinner and around a big campfire afterwards. It reminded me of NEMC again (side note: how cool is it that I always think of camp around such positive experiences? Really speaks highly of NEMC). It was a lovely, magical night and such a grand adventure of a day. I was so happy, simply overflowing with joy!!

That was my favorite day on trail, without a doubt. And just when I needed it most! As Vango put it, “sometimes your fuel canister runs low.” This refreshing, invigorating experience certainly did the trick! I wish Lex and Liz all the best, and I am so, so grateful that I could be there and be included in their most special, most wonderful celebration. As I said in our gratitude circle that night, I’m so thankful for the trail, and what it gives us all.

Part II coming soon!