Choices---Pearisburg to Damascus or Shenandoah AT Section

[tawa]

Leaving for a section hike last week of Sept into first week or so of October. Ended my thru hike at Damascus a few yrs ago due to the failing health of my father. Yes was really bummed out when I came home but in hindsight best decision I ever made as my father passed away the next yr. Just never went back and it has bothered me as unfinished business. So now ready to get back on the trail and complete sections .
Will be 65 next month and would like to shoot for completing the trail by age 70.

Have narrowly this upcoming trip to the two options in title. What are the pro and cons of both and which one would you favor.
Will be travelling from Southern IN --not yet decided if I will drive down and shuttle or ride the dog into closest town possible and take off from there.
Thanks in advance for your advise and suggestions.

[ratfaceraines]

Don't know the pros and con's of the two sections, but I do know the transportation options of the pearisburg to Damascus hike. Roanoke airport, car rentals, greyhound and mega bus( to name a few). For more details feel free to call anytime @540-921-7433

[Dobie Swift]

The Shenandoah Section was quite a special section for me, tons of memories and really sticks out as my best section hike to date. If you decide on the Shenandoah section, I can recommend Sharon Johnson for shuttle/logistics. Call her and inquire about all the ways she can assist. She was a Godsend for me when I hiked Buena Vista to Front Royal.

Sharon's ShuttlesSharon JohnsonFront Royal, VA(703) 615-5612Waynesboro, VA to Waynesboro, PA andall airports.

[Just Bill]

With plans to finish it all-
Section hiking tends to work best if you pick up where you left off. That way you won't end up with any little holes to plug (as many do, me included).
If you jump around too much it gets messy... might as well get on where you got off and head North... end up where you end up and then you know where to start next time.

Generally- Harper's Ferry, Waynesboro (Staunton), Pearisburg or Daleville, Damascuss... all good towns to break up VA broadly speaking.
Since you're planning on doing it all- I'd check out the basic break ups so you are getting on/off each section with ease of the next one in mind.

What happens to lots of folks is you end up short a town so you get stuck hiring a shuttle on both ends (to take you south of town, then pick you up north of town) to get back to public transportation in the center of a stretch.

[windlion]

Leaving for a section hike last week of Sept into first week or so of October. Ended my thru hike at Damascus a few yrs ago due to the failing health of my father. Yes was really bummed out when I came home but in hindsight best decision I ever made as my father passed away the next yr. Just never went back and it has bothered me as unfinished business. So now ready to get back on the trail and complete sections .
Will be 65 next month and would like to shoot for completing the trail by age 70.

Have narrowly this upcoming trip to the two options in title. What are the pro and cons of both and which one would you favor.
Will be travelling from Southern IN --not yet decided if I will drive down and shuttle or ride the dog into closest town possible and take off from there.
Thanks in advance for your advise and suggestions.Hi, tawa, 64yo recent Virginia section hiker here. My impressions --

Shenandoah NP. Less profile, some interesting side turns. You might think about starting a little south of SNP and start your hike with a climb up to Spy Rock via Crabtree Falls. *Lots* of support in SNP until the end of October and much lower human population by the end of September. The overcrowded black bear population may be hungrily bulking up for hibernation. No problems or even in-camp encounters with the bears myself, but I do keep seriously clean camp and tent.

SNP timewasting trails off the white blaze you might think about -- Dark Hollows Falls, Pinnacles, White Oak Falls, and Old Rag Mountain.

Damascus-Pearisburg. More profile, starting with a set of pointless (IMHO) climbs that tempt the most diligent purists to take the flat bike trail shortcut. Mount Rogers isn't much unless you're bagging highest peaks in each State, but the rocks in the Grayson Highlands area are worth the climb even without the ponies. (If you have an available grandkid, get her/him out of school to go responsibly berserk over the ponies with you. Worth it.)

Further north, I caught a decent sunset at Knot Maul shelter, and a great stay at Woods Hole Hostel. The boulder maze at Angel's Rest above Pearisburg is another one of those places where Someone or something was clearly having fun tossing boulders around to make a fun maze out of a simple ridgeline ... and, it's all downhill from there to Pearisburg.

You might want to come back in May to see the azaleas in bloom and the foals taking their first steps.

Again suggesting a stretch option -- if you reach Pearisburg and still have some time, think about going on to visit Virginia's Triple Crown -- the Dragon's Tooth, photogenic McAfee Knob, and Tinkers Cliffs. Dalesville Howard Johnsons at the north end of the Ridge has the only brass lettered sign pointing to the hiker box that I have heard of.

Your hike isn't mine, but I would go for Shenandoah this fall and save Mount Rogers for the springtime, either ahead of or behind the northbound "party bubble".

Happy trails!https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170905/81f0c4594d7e3af376f0e91df0c5671e.jpg

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[Slo-go'en]

How much effort to you want to expend? Shenandoah is easy, both in terrain and logistics - lots of campground stores and restaurants.

Pearisburg to Damascus is a lot harder. This is one of the two sections in VA with a lot of ups and downs. Water sources might be problem. You cross a lot of farm fields. But of the two, the Pearisburg to Damascus section is to me the more interesting, as I typically dislike National Parks.