Jayboflavin04
08-16-2009, 11:06
First of all I would like to introduce a new hiker to the community. I have dubbed him "Wee Man". This was his first backpacking tip.
We started at Massie Gap and were immediately greated by the ponies(Mother and Colt). Which really stoked Wee Man up. We really enjoyed the hightlands. Wee Man dubbed the large rock out croppings "Machu Picchu". We enjoyed the rest of our day at the Thomas Knob shelter, and took a side hike up to the top of Mount Rogers. And as everyone knows the hike up to the top is surreal. I kinda wished we spent the night at the beautifully groomed campsites just north of the Thomas Knob shelter. Wee Man enjoyed playing on the rocks out back of the shelter though.
Day two started out pretty uneventful. We reached Elk Garden(VA 600) about noon had some lunch, and Wee Man burned up to the top of Whitetop. The weather looked good on the way up (distant thunder), but when we reached the top the sky opened up. Being a concerned parent I felt we needed to get off the mountain and to lower ground(mistake). It turned out to be a 12 miles day. We pushed on through the down poor clear to Lost Mountain shelter. This destroyed Wee Mans feet. We also lost our best views of the trip. Whitetop and Buzzards rock. Lesson learned. It cleared up that night for a hot dinner and a lil drying out. People were gracious enough to make room for us at a packed shelter, but after clearing sky we set up the tent. About 2:30A the sky opened up once again and proceeded to "down poor" for about 4-5hrs. I am now totally confident in my cloudburst 2. Wee Man slept through the entire storm!!!! I was pretty jealous.
We started out day 3 in pretty good spirits. It was a short 6 mile day to Saunders. By the end of the day, Wee Man's feet were hurting badly and it took alot out of him to make it to the shelter. We got to the shelter with enough day light to make dinner, and set up the tent in the soft pine needles out back of Saunders Shelter(beautiful place to tent). Texas Ed, and his brothers showed up around 7. They really made Wee Man feel like one of the guys. Wee Man made the fire that night and they pumped up his ego by thanking him for their dry shoes and clothes. In an attempt to dry Wee Mans shoes out I melted the tips of his shoes. I didnt think they were that close to the fire.
Day 4 we made the decision to rest and as Wee Man put it...."Take a zero day." So we just play around the shelter and had a fire that night. We had the whole place to our selves. In the process of repairing Wee Mans shoes I put a large gash in the top of my thumb.
Day 5 was our last day on the trail and a 9 mile hike to damascus. We started at the butt crack of dawn. It was a good day of hiking with some minor foot complaints from Wee Man. We arrived at the the trail junction to drop down to the Virginia Creeper Trail, and made the decision to continue on the AT back to Damascus. What a little "purist" I have. I think he was more stubborn than anything and wanted to complete his AT miles.
Overall! Great trip. It didnt go as smoothly as I would have liked, but not once did Wee Man not talk about our "next trip" or the "trip we need to do".
In closing my trip report. I wanna tip my hat to the wonderful people of Damascus. They made us feel right at home, and we are looking forward to visiting again.
We started at Massie Gap and were immediately greated by the ponies(Mother and Colt). Which really stoked Wee Man up. We really enjoyed the hightlands. Wee Man dubbed the large rock out croppings "Machu Picchu". We enjoyed the rest of our day at the Thomas Knob shelter, and took a side hike up to the top of Mount Rogers. And as everyone knows the hike up to the top is surreal. I kinda wished we spent the night at the beautifully groomed campsites just north of the Thomas Knob shelter. Wee Man enjoyed playing on the rocks out back of the shelter though.
Day two started out pretty uneventful. We reached Elk Garden(VA 600) about noon had some lunch, and Wee Man burned up to the top of Whitetop. The weather looked good on the way up (distant thunder), but when we reached the top the sky opened up. Being a concerned parent I felt we needed to get off the mountain and to lower ground(mistake). It turned out to be a 12 miles day. We pushed on through the down poor clear to Lost Mountain shelter. This destroyed Wee Mans feet. We also lost our best views of the trip. Whitetop and Buzzards rock. Lesson learned. It cleared up that night for a hot dinner and a lil drying out. People were gracious enough to make room for us at a packed shelter, but after clearing sky we set up the tent. About 2:30A the sky opened up once again and proceeded to "down poor" for about 4-5hrs. I am now totally confident in my cloudburst 2. Wee Man slept through the entire storm!!!! I was pretty jealous.
We started out day 3 in pretty good spirits. It was a short 6 mile day to Saunders. By the end of the day, Wee Man's feet were hurting badly and it took alot out of him to make it to the shelter. We got to the shelter with enough day light to make dinner, and set up the tent in the soft pine needles out back of Saunders Shelter(beautiful place to tent). Texas Ed, and his brothers showed up around 7. They really made Wee Man feel like one of the guys. Wee Man made the fire that night and they pumped up his ego by thanking him for their dry shoes and clothes. In an attempt to dry Wee Mans shoes out I melted the tips of his shoes. I didnt think they were that close to the fire.
Day 4 we made the decision to rest and as Wee Man put it...."Take a zero day." So we just play around the shelter and had a fire that night. We had the whole place to our selves. In the process of repairing Wee Mans shoes I put a large gash in the top of my thumb.
Day 5 was our last day on the trail and a 9 mile hike to damascus. We started at the butt crack of dawn. It was a good day of hiking with some minor foot complaints from Wee Man. We arrived at the the trail junction to drop down to the Virginia Creeper Trail, and made the decision to continue on the AT back to Damascus. What a little "purist" I have. I think he was more stubborn than anything and wanted to complete his AT miles.
Overall! Great trip. It didnt go as smoothly as I would have liked, but not once did Wee Man not talk about our "next trip" or the "trip we need to do".
In closing my trip report. I wanna tip my hat to the wonderful people of Damascus. They made us feel right at home, and we are looking forward to visiting again.