Georgia...check, North Carolina...check, Tennessee...check

Greetings from Damascus, Virginia. Yesterday (Tuesday, March 31) we hiked over 26 miles to get to town (our highest mileage yet!). We spent the night at a Methodist church. This morning, we ate breakfast at the local diner (eggs, sausage, biscuits and gravy) connected to the gas station), did laundry, stopped at 2 outfitters, took showers , made a few phone calls, rented a hostel room ($10/person), and are sitting at the library to update our blog. We're always impressed what we can accomplish in such a short time when things are centrally located.

A BRIEF UPDATE!

Hot Springs, NC to Erwin, TN:
After leaving Hot Springs, "Wanted" signs were posted at each road crossing! The local Police department had posted photographs of a criminal hiding somewhere on the trail. Needless to say, we were a bit concerned. The posters offered very little information beside his photo, except that he was armed and dangerous, and immediately contact 911 if seen. At this time we were in a hurry to find some hiking partners (safety in numbers). Fortunately, we met up with Dustin a.k.a "Myco Polo."

Erwin to Greasy Gap Friendly (Hostel):
After leaving Uncle Johnny's hostel in Erwin, the rain began. Worried about another Tray Mountain experience, we decided to get off the trail and stay at a hostel. The Greasy Gap Friendly (she prefers friendly over hostel ;) is run by C.C. "C.C." stands for Crazy Connie or Cooks & Cleans, but we think the first name suits her better. It was nice to get out of the rain, drink hot tea, take a shower and sleep in a dry bunk house. After leaving C.C.'s house, we set off for some incredibly difficult climbs in horrible weather. After our hostel stay in Greasy, our hiking partner numbers increased by two (5 of us in total) - Cody a.k.a. "C-Zur" and Lucas a.k.a. "Mulleigh" and so did our laughs.

Greasy Gap Friendly to Kincora Hostel (Dennis Cove, TN):
Supposedly, we passed beautiful, scenic views however due to the horrible weather we were unable to see anything. We hiked in hurricane-like weather (torrential down pour & wind speeds that were captured by TV reporters). Once again we headed into town to get relief from the weather. The Kincora Hostel is run by Bob People (cool name!), a well respected man on the trail. He is one of the people that will sign our hiking certificate if, and when, we complete our thru-hike.

Kincora to Damascus:
Monday, we hiked over 15 miles to Iron Mountain Shelter. Yesterday, we hiked over 26 miles to get to Damasus, Virginia. Our bodies were a bit sore from the long hike but it helped being in such good company (our three hiking partners).

We will spend the entire month of April hiking in Virginia. Tomorrow (Thursday, April 2) we'll begin our hike to Marion, VA. Sunday, we will meet up with our mom, sister & aunt. We're so excited to see them & look forward to their visit. Unfortunately, we will say goodbye to our hiking friends as they move onward. We look forward to the next group of friends we will meet & hike with.

Trek On...Thanks to everyone for you support, comments & laughs! We wish we had more time to personally comment & talk with each of you .

Hi Everyone - this is Brittany and Kirstin's mom (Karen). The Chicago sisters as they are known on the trail were granted limited time to use the computer in the Damascus library (which made them very frustrated as they were unable to add any pictures or edit and complete this blog.; hope it wasn't a shower/hygenie issue). So please be patient and hopefully they will be able to give you a more complete update in the near future. Stay tuned!