Damascus and Virginia mile 466.9

Into Virginia done with Tennessee

Made it! Trailtown USA

At 9:30 this morning, I entered the fourth state on the AT for northbound hikers... Virginia!  I am now relaxing in Damascus, Virginia which is known as the friendliest town on the trail.  I already know that Chuck, who recently opened the Woodchuck Hostel where I am staying, is a great guy and his brand new hostel is awesome.  I just went out to Dairy King for a light lunch (bacon double cheeseburger, slaw dog and chef's salad) and one of the locals - Cowboy - sat down at the table with me and chatted during my meal... nice!
So here is a recap of what I hope will be the worst of the Winter weather I will experience on this trail.  I left Erwin, TN on March 24th planning to do only a 4 mile hike to the first shelter to test my right shin out... since the shin splint was feeling better.  I knew that the weather forecast was calling for some snow that night followed by a day of very cold temperatures.  I made it to Curley Gap shelter as planned and awoke to that beautiful 3" snow that you saw a picture of earlier.  I was thinking "OK, snow done... now one cold night and on we go".  I was still planning to go slowly for a few days to let my shin heal, so I didn't leave that shelter until about noon.  What I didn't realize was that I would soon be hiking in a heavy wind-driven snow that was falling sideways.  I soon found myself crashing through 2' drifts.  Late that afternoon I was passing through a camping site just south of Unaka Mountain.  There was a sign pointing out that a water source was available over the ridge, but when I went over and looked in that direction I was pointed straight into the snow and wind and I could not see a thing.  I decided I would forego water at the moment and try to press on over Unaka Mountain.  I started up over the mountain, but by that time the snowfall and drifts were making it near impossible to see the white blazes marking the trail.  I couldn't see the top of the mountain - just an ominous looking dark winter scene.  I changed my mind and came back down towards the camping area, and when I found a "somewhat" flat spot that was partially protected from the wind I used my boots to kick away as much snow as I could and then set up the tent.  I skipped any real dinner that night since I had no water to cook it, and just ate a powerbar and some snack food.  That was the very cold night (guessing it got to about 10 degrees), but I knew I would be OK in my 6 degree Sierra Designs bag with the thermal liner.  I knew the weather was going to warm up the next day... and I let the sun get pretty high in the sky that morning before emerging from the tent.  The weather was fine the next day, but I had to break through drifts and post-hole to the next shelter. 
On Saturday, March 29th the forecast was for heavy rain in the afternoon turning to snow the next morning.  I hiked in the morning down from Roan Mountain to a great shelter that had been converted from an old barn and decided to hunker down and wait out the rain.  Four other northbounders - Heiko (from Germany), Rategast, Fancy Pants and Green Bean - and the two awesome section hikers from Ft. Mill, SC (Rob and Dan) were also doing the same.  As we sat and chatted that afternoon there were several heavy downpours that made us all glad we were sheltered.  Sometime during the night the rain turned to snow, and again, it was wind driven.  Sometime before midnight Dan yelled "It's snowing in the barn!".  The barn had a solid roof, but had spaces purposely left in the wall slats (I guess to allow drying of hay?).  The third of the barn that was facing the wind was receiving an accumulating amount of snow, so all of those who were in that third had to pick up and move.  (Fortunately I was near the middle and only had to move my sleeping bag a few feet away from an exterior wall.)  The next morning was very cold.  My boots were frozen so solid I am not sure I could have gotten my feet into them.  The wind continued to howl outside.  Two other northbounders that I had not seen since Fontana Dam - Icicle and Quail Man - had arrived during the night.  Icicle checked the weather and told us that winds of up to 50 mph were scheduled to last throughout the day.  All of us thru hikers decided to take a zero and stay in the shelter.  Rob and Dan decided to press on since they were section hikers and had to stick to a schedule.  Late that evening two other section hiker came in.  One of them was a big guy - I'd guess 6' 2" and 250 pounds.  He said that the wind had literally knocked him to the ground.  I was glad that we had chosen to stay put.  The next morning called for beautiful weather - and it arrived.  I'm hoping that is the end of the bitter cold on this trip.