Central V.A.

There is a definite difference in the terrain from southern Virginia to central Virginia. We went from hiking through green farm pastures to rocky ridges. And from wide open space back into the wooded tunnel.





We had clear blue skies hiking up to McAfee's Knob. It was the same weekend as Virginia Tech's graduation so the trail was flooded with day hikers. The smell of TIDE laundry detergent filled the air.





We climbed another great rock scramble called Dragon's Tooth pictured below. And hiked about a half of a mile across The Tinker Cliffs.









We stopped off in Daleville for our next resupply and we had an unexpected surprise. After we had bought our groceries we were sitting in a cafe transferring everything to ziplock bags and as we sipped our coffee a girl about our age came up to our table and told us if we needed a free place to stay, shower and laundry to give her a call and she dropped her business card on the table.

Gregg and I looked at each other in disbelief. It took about a minute or less to decide our answer was yes! After work Lindsey came back and picked us up and then we headed to Roanoke for the evening. We went downtown with Lindsey and her boyfriend Will and found some live music and good food. They had completed a Southbound thru-hike in 2011. We ended up staying the next day to rest and enjoy the downtown of Roanoke.

- Huge thanks to Lindsey and Will




-Sherpa, Will and Lindsey










- enjoying some delicious pho!

The next three days we hiked 57 miles to meet up with friends at the James River Footbridge. My cousin Wes along with our friend Andrew picked us up and took us to Lynchburg for the evening.

After resupplying and finishing up at the laundromat we headed back to Andrew's apartment where he and his wife Hannah cooked a marvelous dinner. It was a great evening filled with good conversation. We spent the night and in the morning they made breakfast and drove us back to the trailhead.

Thanks Andrew and Hannah for your warm & loving hospitality.




And as always, we loved hanging out with you Wes!





- Posted using BlogPress from my Phone

Intro to VA

Crossing from TN into VA meant we wouldn't see another state line for over 500 miles. Just a few miles after the state line we reached the famous trail town of Damascus.
That Sunday some good friends of ours, (Sebastian, Leila, Sasha and Max) drove a few hours to spend the afternoon with us.

It was so great to see some familiar faces and hang out with friends. We talked about our first month on the trail and caught up with all the news from back in NC.

They even brought us all of our favorite co-op treats, fresh foods and Gregg's favorite, goat cheese.
Thanks so much to the Wolfrum family!
We left Damascus with full bellies and happy hearts looking forward to the Grayson Highlands. This State Park where wild ponies roam all over the mountainside was quite the sight. The landscape seemed much different then we had seen so far and we were able to see about a dozen ponies and a couple steers.


After the Highlands and a few days of hiking through luscious green pastures and wooded mountains we celebrated 500 miles with an early breakfast at a well known trail restaurant, The Barn.


The following 6 out of 7 days were rainy. On the 4th day we had to take a mental health day and we spent a day in our tent while the rain came down. We went into Pearisburg to resupply, dry out everything we own and of course, we could not pass up an all you can eat Chinese buffet.



We had heard some rumors about a huge hiker feed being put on for Mother's Day. So we stepped it up to make it on time and everything we had heard was true!



A group of ladies put this hiker feed on each year for the hikers, how awesome!
A few extra photos...


- The great Kiefer Oak. The largest Oak tree on the southern half of the AT.
Posted using BlogPress from my Phone

Location:Somewhere in VA