Southwest Virginia

[CentralVaAt]

This earlyspring/summer, I plan to finish my section hike of Virginia. I have Damascus to Pearisburg left, about 160 miles. While I would like to do this entire stretch at once, I have a young daughter and don't want to be away from home that long and depend on someone else to watch her. Does anybody have any suggestions for dividing that section into two trips where there would be good parking to leave a car at the end of the section as well as have decent resupply along the way? Any hostels on this section? Thanks for any input!

[turtle fast]

Woods hole hostel south of Pearisburg is a classic that first comes to mind, and south of Pearisburg is a nice vista that overlooks the town. Its a few miles, but its a very nice section...especially the wild Ponies in Grayson Highlands north of Damascus...perfect for a young daughter to enjoy.

[Slo-go'en]

Marion or Atkins is about half way. Marion has the advantage that it has a Greyhound bus stop and you can get to the trail head by taxi. I've started or ended hikes there at least 5 times now.

You can probably park at the motel everyone stays at in Pearisburg, the "Rendezvous Motel" which is basically on the trail as it skirts the town.

[Slo-go'en]

Since the OP shows her age as 27, I hope the daughter is much younger then 9!

[HikerMom58]

Ok so in Bland VA/ Bastian VA US 21/52 there is a hostel run by Nigel Collins. 12235 Grapefield Rd. Bastian VA 24314
I think he does shuttles as well. Trubit is his trail name or something like that... ... the SOBO girls that stayed with me will be staying with him ,soon. He seems nice. Sorry I don't have his phone # maybe someone else on here does. Hope this helps....

[FarmerChef]

In order to split the trip into two parts, consider parking at the Mount Rogers NRA Headquarter Building. I parked there on my last section from about 40 miles north of Pearisburg down to their. Depending on your pace your about 3 to 5 days out of Damascus.

As HikerMom pointed out you may be able to park a few more miles north (about 13 trail miles or so) in Bastian and that might split the trip more evenly for you. Check out this link (http://appalachiantrail.rohland.org/) for detailed parking information and updates but also check out the trail alerts (http://www.appalachiantrail.org/hiking/trail-updates) posted by the ATC which note a string of vehicle thefts along certain sections of the trail in Southern VA.

As for hostels, I can highly recommend Woods Hole Hostel just a little south of Pearisburg. They can also shuttle if you're looking for that.

[CentralVaAt]

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I'm looking forward to this section. My daughter is 4, so she won't be hiking with me on this trip. Two or three mile trips are what she tolerates with me now. I'm hopeful for a future hiking partner though. I've been to Grayson highland before but never overnight, and defiantly want to plan my trip to camp somewhere there one night!