Still planning my VA hike, need more help please

[ScottP]

Shenandoah is bear central, and I think you need a minimal permit. If you're terrified of bears pick a different section--most of VA has bear hunting and additional bear-dog training seasons. Find one of those areas and you'll probably never see a bear.

Maybe I'm partial to the area I live in, but maybe south/central VA might be a better section for you. Lots of neat stuff to see.

Hiking from Damascus north to pearisburg would be a good section. There are wonderful people that operate low-priced shuttle services out of Damascus that you can probably locate on whiteblaze.

Park at the rendezvous motel in Pearisburg, VA. Give them $10 or $20 for looking after your car, and get the shuttle to drive you south to Damascus.

Hike north to Pearisburg. Send a resupply to The Barn restaurant where the trail crosses 81 (Rural Retreat, VA)

[Carl Calson]

Hike north to Pearisburg. Send a resupply to The Barn restaurant where the trail crosses 81 (Rural Retreat, VA)

DO NOT send your package to The Barn Restaurant. We aren't certain for sure, but in the process of our hiking partners' drop box being sent (by the USPS) to the place and them picking it up, someone broke into their box and stole prescriptions, a camera, and more than half their food. Some other person's mail was put into the box and the box was sealed back up. They normally wrap their boxes with brown paper and it was obvious the box and paper had been tampered with and been sloppily taped up. No one in the restaurant "saw" anyone messing with the boxes. We wrote in their register at the front counter that if anyone had any information or sees any of the missing things to contact us. We wrote nothing bad about the restaurant. The next morning we went back and they had cut out our entry. A little sketchy if you ask me. There is a motel right in town I'm sure they'll let you send your package to.