The first hour is fast, and then I sprain my ankle - just a serious twist, which slows me down. I take a few Ibubrofen tablets which seem to help and we keep going.
Today Tater Chip and Stickbuilt are doing a slack pack, walking south back to Damascus so they can spend another night with their spouses, Linda and Sandy. We decide to have a bit of fun - as we know that we will meet them halfway, and decide to present them with some 'trail magic' - honey buns - one of the most popular processed cakes on the trail - they come in cellophane packages, last forever and taste fantastic (to a hungry hiker).
We follow the valley of the Virginia Creeper - an old railway line which is used for mountain bike expeditions. The AT itself deviates away from the Creeper so alas, we too deviate, and leave behind a beautiful gentle graded climb and swap it for a bastard of a climb, following the white blazes, because we are 'pure'. No shortcuts.
No easy options.
We arrive at the shelter to find several hikes that we already know. Paradise is there, and so is Wallflower. We are surprised because they both walk faster than us - but he has spent 4 days in Damascus for trail days celebration, and now we are catching up. We meet 'Superman' who has long golden locks to shoulder length, 'G-Hippy' and 'Winging It', who has a very loud, repetitive voice, and feels very threatened by us because we did not take the shortcut and he did. So he and Superman have to spend a lot of time rubbishing the 'pure' hikers, to justify their own moral position, that it is still OK to be called a 'thru-hiker' even if you deviate from the trail. Digby and I say nothing and retire to our campsite so we don't have to listen to any more bullshit.
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