Magical Moment with Wild Horses: Day Hiking the Appalachian Trail in Damascus, Virginia

Virginia hike overview 0:00

Hey everybody, we're on the trail. Well, not literally on a trail, this is our Airbnb, which is on our farm. As you can see, it's very beautiful. There may be some cows walking by, just pretty cool. So we are about halfway through our hike in Virginia. Not the whole state, but just what we were planning on doing this trip. How's it going so far, Jer? Virginia is very pretty, but it's not. AI had said it was much easier than Georgia. I disagree with AI. Yeah, it is not easy. Yesterday's hike was more challenging, I think, because there are a lot of rocks and things in the way that I don't think were as much in Georgia?

I do not know. But we had nice weather so far. pretty good weather. Blustery today as you can see. I think we're going to get some rain but today's our rest day so that's okay. So on day one we met our driver at Elk Garden which is one of the trailheads in Virginia and he drove us to Beach Mountain Road So our hike that day was 6.7 miles, and I thought day one was going to be the hardest because we actually had 2,000 feet of elevation. But, you know, it was kind of gradual, so I didn't really think it that bad.

So the big thing is when you're looking at your maps, It's not just the elevation that you need to think about.

Day 1: Elk Garden to Beach Mountain Road 1:35

That's something you take into consideration, but if you can tell terrain, if there's any sort of terrain. Yeah. That's why you need some people to go out there and do it and experience it. Well, yeah, that's true. Because elevation is just part of the story. It's not the whole thing when you're trying to determine, okay, how hard of a hike is this going to be or where is it going You know, so day one wasn't too bad. We came back and we went to a place called the Tipsy Bear, where we had some, you know pub food, burgers, and it tasted good, right?

Don't eat too close to your walk if your stomach tends to get upset. It was delicious food, great burger I had there. However, it was like within minutes of getting off the trail and my stomach didn't like it. And so I destroyed our cabin. Well, anyway, TMI, babe. But anyway we have a lovely little cabin in Damascus on a farm, just a perfect place to unwind after a day on the trail, really. Very nice. Okay, so day two, our driver recommended and we took his advice. We went back to Elk Garden, and this time he drove us north on that trail.

And we went to Massey Gap, which was inside of a park that was – I can't remember the name of the park now. Oh, yeah, very nice. Wild horses. So we saw wild ponies on the trail. We found several wild pony. There was another guy behind him, but I think he went somewhere. Um, super cute. And then we were almost done yesterday. That was yesterday, it was a little bit tough, but we are almost down and there was wild horse standing right in the middle of the Appalachian trail. It wasn't moving. Okay.

So there's actually a horse on the trail where we want to walk.

Trail food and Damascus cabin 3:34

I'm not used to horses. He didn't do anything. I think he wanted to get fed or pet or something like that, but you're not supposed to pet them. You're Little blaster. He wouldn't let us near him. But you know, he was just doing his thing and we were going to go around him, but he saw us and then chose to move on. So what's really Today, well, the scenery was really great when we started off. Some areas were kind of a hard hike. What was that thing called? Fat Man Pass or something like that? It was Fatman Gap.

It's like narrow space in between a bunch of rocks. There are a lot of boulders that we had to climb over yesterday. Yeah, so if you're going to do this particular hike, which I don't know if we properly describe where this hike was or not, but I would not do it in the rain because you'll slip. You know, there's a lot of potential to slip, you won't do on a dry day. So you want to have, remember your good footwear with good grip on the soles. I didn't realize this looking at the map, to get actually on Appalachian Trail from Massey Gap, we actually had to take a side trail and it was maybe a

Day 2: Elk Garden to Massey Gap and wild ponies 5:14

half a mile. So you just said Massey Gap. Is that it? Well, Masse Gaps is where we were, but Massee GAP was inside of this park. Which shoes are these? I don't know. No, because I want to give a plug to this because these shoes that I have, they kick ass. Seriously. I can go to all the puddles and my feet stay toasty warm and dry, but I cannot tell you what shoes these are because Well, go to REI and get fit for some hiking boots. And actually, I'm going to do that because I have trail runners, which have been appropriate so far.

But actually because it was very wet yesterday, my trail runner's are not waterproof. So I am going get some boots for next time we do this type of hike. I think summer trail runners will be fine, but for the colder wintery hikes, i'm gonna get me some boot and break them in before we go on the Yeah, you have to wear them before you don't want being on the trail to be the first time that you're doing these. So last night we had a pleasant surprise. Yesterday was tough, so we were really tired coming off the trail.

So we went out, we stayed local, and we found a place called Wilson's. And oh my goodness, I was not expecting fine dining in a trail town and I must say it was outstanding, Wilson. Yeah, this town, Damascus, and I understand some of the surrounding towns, we're going to go check some them out, but they're really set up. They're not, you know, just bar food and stuff like that. they've got some good restaurants and they know they are set for hikers. Yeah, so we're going to check out Town Damascus today.

They have a couple of supply stores. We're gonna go look. I would like kind of a lightweight sweatshirt wear under my jacket because it's gonna get cold. There's a cold front coming in. And we'll tell you how that went. Because even though we are bundled up right now, because when the breeze comes in, it is a little chilly. But I mean, if we were hiking in this, we'd be fine.

Gear, weather, and trail conditions 7:29

So weather-wise, you found it was like in the 40s and 50s yesterday. So you've got to gauge yourself. Some people say, oh, it's freezing. It depends on if you're warm-blooded or if your cold-looded, or whatever you are. But some people, you got know your own body. And really layers, because until you know how you feel. Like yesterday, I was a little bit cold if I just had my long-sleeve shirt on, but I a was little too warm with my down jacket. So I had to kind of find that happy medium. And I like gloves because my fingers get cold.

All right, so that's it for this section of the trip. We have two more hiking days. They're going to be a little bit longer in distance. Based on the map, the elevation doesn't look bad, but we've decided that I'm not good at reading maps and so... No, it's not that. It's very hard to tell. As I said, we started this. Elevation isn't the only thing you need to consider, be ready for anything. The Appalachian Trail, I think, is set up. I was saying, okay, why? Why does it always have to go up a mountain?

And Amy said, because I think that's the whole point of the Appalachian Trail. And I thought they were bringing boulders in to just kind of piss me off. So there are a lot of rocks on the trail. He said why do they bring in all these rocks? I'm like, I they think they they we're here. Then they made the trial around the rocks. Agree to disagree. Yeah. But anyway, it's beautiful. We're having a good time. Hopefully, in the next couple of days, we don't get hypothermia, because it's going to be chilly, but layers.

So we didn't mention that, or maybe we did. But you want layers, and that way you can add. If you're cold, you take them off if you are warm. You have to carry what you don�t wear, it�s better than being uncomfortable. All right, stay tuned and we'll bring you more insight. I can't say expert insight, I just say insight! No, but probably insight when regular people who go, you know, everyone's not an expert, so they probably need this information. Yeah. So we're doing the dirty work so you don't have to.

You're welcome. All right, guys. See you next time. Bye.