Appalachian Trail: Days 31-40

Damascus to Pearisburg, VA: May 7-16, 2026

The Skinny:

• Grayson Highlands: Splendid
• Southern Virginia: Pastures
• Woods Hole Hostel: Ahhhhhh…

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A note to readers: these blog posts are edits of my journal entries. This may be readily apparent, but I’m still mentioning it — partially to excuse the curt nature of my prose, at times.

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Day 31: Thursday, May 7
Damascus, VA to the Cherry Tree Shelter (18.8 mi)

Departed from “The Place” in Damascus and hiked through fog and light rain all morning, following the Appalachian Trail detour because the AT and the Virginia Creeper Trail were damaged heavily by Hurricane Helene. Low-ish morale: not bursting with energy… not necessarily cold, but not hot… not necessarily wet, but certainly not dry…

Lunch at a shelter packed with people, the weather deteriorated. Heavier rain and colder. Yuck

Managed just shy of 19 miles to the Cherry Tree Shelter, which we shared with Medicine Man, a local of Johnson City, TN who is also a fine poet. He shared his poetry and his recipe for Kitchari: an Ayurvedic dish he makes almost every night with lentils, rice, split mung beans and spices. I want to make it, sounds right up my alley! Trillian and I shared a hiker meal of butternut Dahl along with mashed potatoes. Delicious.  Had the last of the Linzer Torte from my care package from Marie Therese. The evening cleared, but was very cold.

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Day 32: Friday, May 8th, 2026
Cherry Tree Shelter to Hurricane Shelter (23.7 mi)

Woke to a nice sunrise, but temps only slightly above freezing. It’s so hard to spring out of bed and get an early start on days like these. It’s the kind of morning where I heat water before making my coffee just to warm the cup! I AM thinking of swapping out my Moka pot for a bigger one.

After 5.7mi we rejoined the Appalachian Trail. We ascended a bit to Mount Rogers, but the trail doesn’t go to the summit. Apparently, there’s no view on top anyways, so no big loss. We entered Grayson Highlands. Just before noon we stopped for a break at the Thomas Knob shelter, and Trillian asked if we thought we’d see horses. Mere seconds later, three galloped right by us in the woods. Amazing

The afternoon took us through stunning Highlands: longhorn cows, more wild ponies and stunning views. For miles we walked over loose rock and all of our feet were hurting like hell afterwards.

Around 6pm, before our climb up to Hurricane Shelter, a trail angel was handing out GRADE A trail magic: Chick-fil-A sandwiches and beer!! I had never before had anything from Chick-fil-A. I thought I died and went to heaven. I asked if I could take another beer for the road. Good choice. Trillian had already headed uphill, but Devin and I–fueled with yummy food and beer–cruised up the hill to arrive at camp around 7:30. Luckily the night was gorgeous and we cooked and got settled in the shelter. Tomorrow is to be an early morning: and another big(ish) day: 20 miles in to the city of Marion, Virginia.

PS it’s nice to say that a 20 mile day is only ‘big(ISH)’

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Day 33: Saturday, May 9th, 2026
Hurricane Shelter to Merry Hiker Hostel in Marion, VA

Chilly morning: we got an early start so that we could make it to Marion with time to enjoy town. We covered the 20 miles admirably, making it on time for a 3:15pm shuttle ride in.

In town, the resupply at the trail outfitter looked OK, but we knew we’d need a supermarket. The hostel didn’t have any room for Devin, so he went on his way. Trillian and I got situated in the hostel, caught a ride to the supermarket, and resupplied. Our hopes of getting something fresh that suited our diets at the supermarket fell flat. Dismayed, I said we should go back to town and I’d treat her to *something* at a restaurant called Macado’s that was open late. When we asked the waitress what vegetarian options were available, she looked so uneasy that I worried she might call people with guns. I ordered a Cobb Salad and had a couple glasses of wine.

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Day 34: Sunday, May 10th, 2026: Mother’s Day
Merry Hiker Hostel in Marion, VA to tentsite 18.2 miles away

Woke and had Keurig coffee from Merry Hiker Hostel… pretty crappy. Sorted laundry and ate breakfast. Trillian and I took a 9am shuttle to trail and hiked through countless PUDs (pointless ups and downs, if you didn’t recall from last episode). Eventually, we passed through beautiful meadows with cows and lovely views. Then, suddenly, the trail intersected a road by a gas station with attached Mexican restaurant. It was a rather shocking transition. We had questionable quality (OK, awful) Mexican food for lunch then carried on, hiking up a bit. Passed a sign signaling “1/4 way to Maine”. Well, how do you like that?

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Day 35: Monday, May 11th, 2026
Tentsite at Reed Creek @ 552.7 to Burke’s Garden Hostel (off of Walker’s Gap) (hiked 19 miles)

Woke to the sound of rain on my tent. It was the best night’s sleep I’ve had in a month. My watch gave me a sleep score of 89, saying I slept over 8 hours and got ‘plenty of deep’. Nice. I DID take a melatonin last night with my Snickers and Scotch night cap…

6am and maybe the sound of rain is dissipating… a little. I’ll have to get clever about packing up without getting soaked.

Spoiler alert: got soaked. Hiked through cold rain all morning. We stopped for lunch in a shelter with other hikers (all miserable), but we eventually laughed about it. I made tomato soup that I shared with Trillian, and it warmed our souls — until we got wet and cold again. No idea where Devin is.

The weather miraculously and suddenly cleared, and the evening turned gorgeous. We had to ford a river where the bridge had washed out. The walk up Chestnut Knob seemed endless. On top, there was an awesome enclosed shelter, but I urged Trillian we should push further and go down to the road crossing and walk another half mile to the hostel listed on the app we use for navigation. I’m so glad we did: the place was fabulous. Burke’s Garden Hostel was clean and accommodating and I had a great shower, we did laundry, we ate rice and made a vegan pizza and I relaxed afterwards with Scotch and Snickers and finished my third blog post. Perfect.

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Day 36: Tuesday, May 12th, 2026
Burke’s Garden Hostel (shuttled to Walker’s Gap) to Helveys Mill Shelter (hiked 23 miles)

Fun morning at shelter. Ride to Walker’s Gap in AWD vehicle by owner. ~8:30am start. PUDs most of the morning… Nothing exceptional during the day but some fun trail magic from husband and wife duo who we met yesterday.

Feet hurting like mad … Pushed anyways and got to Helveys Mill Shelter. Tired but happy.

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Day 37: Wednesday, May 13th, 2026
Helveys Mill Shelter to Dismal Creek tentsite (before Wapiti Shelter) @ 616.3 (23.2 miles hiked)

Three pots of coffee (shared with Trillian) and a Big Sur bar in the shelter. These dense, heavy, Calorie-rich bars are phenomenal.  Shelter all to ourselves, except another big hideous spider. I looked at it sternly and kindly asked it just to stay where it was, and I wouldn’t freak out. It was a beautiful morning.

“Soar” turned to sore as the day went on. Gentle PUDs in the AM, I was averaging ~3.0mph for a while. Exciting to cross the 600 mile mark.

Took a half-mile detour at ~3pm to Trent’s Grocery: got beer and junk food. I later regretted that, but it was sort of fun. We thought maybe we’d avoid the coming weather there, but it didn’t come… Until we started hiking, haha!

Last few miles blended exhaustion with soreness. I started to feel lightheaded at one point. The rain departed and the sky was perfectly blue. We finally found a tentsite we liked and as soon as we got set up: BOOM– thunder, lightning, heavy rain. Poor Trillian, she still had to do her bear hang. I offered to help but didn’t have a rain jacket on–I was so exhausted to be verging on delerious. She urged me back to my tent. I went. I felt guilty because the rain really started to dump. The cell passed within an hour and rumbles of thunder slowly died down.

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Day 38: Thursday, May 14th, 2026
Dismal Creek Tentsite to Woods Hole Hostel

I apologized to Trillian for not braving the weather and helping her hang her food the night before. She told me that once the rain really started to dump, she just brought it in her tent!

The morning was cold. This was tempered by the excitement to arrive at Woods Hole Hostel. Everything we had heard about it was super: the granddaughter of the couple who started opening their 1880s farmhouse to hikers continues the tradition today: providing farm-to-table meals with produce from her own garden. Communal meals are preceded with her ringing the dinner bell and having all diners join in a ‘gratitude circle’ to give thanks. She (Neville) wasn’t there when we arrived, but “Jaws” let us in and got us sorted. First things first, we got homemade bread and a big block of Amish-made Munster cheese. Someone started a fire in the main living room.  After we got situated, put laundry in and showered, we enjoyed hot tea and relaxation by the fire in the living room of the house. Glorious.

Neville arrived and then introduced herself before dinner… She read some inspirational writings, we formed the gratitude circle and introduced ourselves along with what we were grateful for. I was grateful for healthy food: the smells from the kitchen were divine. Dinner was a delicious veg stir fry with tofu, peanut sauce, fresh salad, dessert with berries (made by Bertie, a guest from Connecticut). Neville sat on the floor by the fireplace with Trillian and I and discussed life as we enjoyed food. We stayed in the room her grandmother used to sleep in. The bed was comfortable… the whole experience was heavenly.

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Day 39: Friday, May 15th, 2026
Zero at Woods Hole Hostel

Stayed at Wood’s Hole for another day… just to do nothing at all. Moved to the “Near Near” ‘Safari’ tent. Did little to nothing most of the day. Perfect.

Neville left for Trail Days, and dinner wasn’t the same without her…. A younger member of the staff was shitfaced and making a fool of himself. Valerie was in charge of the pumpkin lasagna and it was just OK… We ate outdoors. No fire inside. Different vibe. Still a glorious, relaxing “zero”.

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Day 40: Saturday, May 16th, 2026
Woods Hole Hostel to Rice Field Shelter @ 644.5

Departed the hostel around 9am…. Neville was still gone and breakfast was just a continental affair of bread, peanut butter and apple butter.

19 miles of hiking… Nothing too difficult. At a parking area, a couple in their 80s gave us water (which we needed) and chatted with us about their cycling trips across the country back in the day. Cute. The afternoon was up — then it rained gently on us a bit. I didn’t bother putting the poncho on, it was refreshing.

By the time we made it to the Rice Field Shelter (on what was essentially a bald), the evening turned perfect. Medicine Man was there, along with some section hikers we briefly met the night before. I enjoyed some of the Amish cheese in a wrap, made pasta with tuna (and my newly acquired dehydrated peas), had Snickers and the last of my Scotch, enjoyed the last hours of daylight talking to my Uncle Peter on the phone, and watched a bear play in the grass on the neighboring hill. I wondered if he’d pay us a visit at the shelter that night. It didn’t concern me in the least, really… Everything seemed alright.