Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Towns always have plenty of inertia, and this came was no exception. I envisioned a 9:30 start, but between a breakfast omelet at Mojoe’s, conversation with a number of local friends, and mailing home a small box of items, I didn’t leave town until about 10:45.
My route took me up 4th Street 1/3 of a mile to where the Iron Mountain Trail resumed.
My goal was only about seven miles to the first shelter out of town. The first two miles took me uphill about 900 feet past the now yellow-blazed trail.
Once I hit the ridgeline, I stopped for a lunch of a soda with fried chicken, purchased from Cowboys as I left Damascus. Along the ridgeline, the sun opened up and I ran into a local out sunning himself.
Another short ascent brought me to the main ridgeline, where I met the only other person on the trail that day, a mountain biker headed to town. I continued on the way to Sandy Flats Shelter.
I hung my hammock with tarp rigged front porch style since the skies switched from sunny to overcast with regularity and I couldn’t divine whether an afternoon rain would hit.
I laid down for a two hour nap. When I awoke, I was visited by yet another local, this one full of color.
I enjoyed dinner and retired to my hammock to read until I drifted off to sleep.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
I stepped off about 8:30 to a mellow 11-mile day. I made great time along the ridge to Straight Branch Shelter, its roof so covered with moss that saplings have begun growing there.
I enjoyed lunch there as a backpacking group wandered by without ever stopping in at the shelter itself. After lunch, I packed up and headed on downhill. Along the way, I ran into a long-haired black feral cat. As it disappeared, I encountered another solo backpacker heading south. I pushed on, enjoying the ease of the solid single track trail.
As I crossed the road at Skull’s Gap, I began a gentle 450-ascent. As I neared the ridgetop, I joined a forest service road for a mile.
I pushed on solidly, knowing I was only a bit over a mile from home for the night at Cherry Tree Shelter. I pushed into the shelter around 3:30. I gathered water at the spring and hung my hammock in a dense section of pines about a hundred yards away from the shelter.
I laid down and read for a while. About 6 PM a group of three hikers walked past me from the IMT to the north and headed up to the shelter. They never seemed to have noticed me and I didn’t want to spook them when I wandered up later, so I approached and introduce myself. They had hiked basically the same loop I was taking, but in the opposite direction. We sat and talked a bit as they made plans for finishing their hike.
I headed back to my hammock for the evening and pondered the 5 miles I would walk in the morning to finish the Iron Mountain Trail.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
I was up early, before 6 AM, to temperatures in the upper 40’s. I pulled down my tarp and hammock and packed up at the picnic table near the shelter.
Dewey Bear complained about the chill enough that I had to tuck him away in my Hammock Forums Buff while I ate breakfast and packed up.
By 6:45, I was on the trail. The first couple of miles were heavily used by horses and the trail offered many sections of quagmire.
However, the trail was gently graded, and I made good time. Two miles into the walk, I passed the AT intersection. Within another ¼ mile, a horse trail diverted most of the hooves and the trail became smoother and joined an old roadbed. To my right, I passed a field offering views up to Mt. Rogers.
I pushed on into a series of short ups and downs. Then I hit a ridgeline of narrow pastureland complete with many, many cows.
They were quite mellow as I passed by. The trail blazing became a bit weak but I eventually made my way to a hilltop and began a descent to the Comer Creek Cascade Trail. There, the final remains of the year’s rhododendron blossoms greeted me.
From here, I had less than a mile along the very lightly used, poorly maintained IMT. Still, I pushed through blowdowns and overgrown trail without too much difficulty and finally arrived at the Iron Mountain Trail’s end at VA 16.
I pushed out to the road and proceeded to hitch the last few mile of road back to my vehicle. A fantastic week’s loop of hiking on some of the best trail in the southeast was done.
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Originally Posted by Triggerhpy
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