I have been two weeking my way up the trail for the last few years. Started in 2014 and took that year and 2015 to get to Damascus. This year picked up where I left off at Damascus. Here is the quick and dirty. I planned on two weeks but was only able to do one:
Day Start Location Stop Location Start Time Stop Time Miles from Springer Miles Hiked Hours hiked
1 Damascus Taylors Valley 17:00 19:45 475 7 2:45
2 Taylors Valley Wilburn Ridge 7:00 19:20 497.5 22.5 12:20
3 Wilburn Ridge Trimpi Shelter 7:00 20:00 520.5 23 13:00
4 Trimpi Shelter Relax Inn 7:15 17:00 542.7 22.2 9:45
5 Relax Inn Chestnut Knob Shelter 8:00 19:00 565.7 23 11:00
6 Chestnut Knob Shelter Helveys Mill Shelter 7:00 19:00 589.7 24 12:00
7 Helveys Mill Shelter VA 606 - Trent's grocery 7:00 15:00 606 16.3 8:00

I arrived in Damascus after a 9 hour ride in a rental followed by a $100 ride in the TRI airport towncar shuttle. I tried to coordinate with Lone Wolf because I would rather support hiker specific businesses and it would have been cheaper but I didn't plan well enough.

Since I got to Damascus with some light left and I didn't have a place to stay I went ahead and put a few miles in before tenting alone on a clear, dry, small, trailside camp spot. This was my only cool night (40s).

I walked up to see the ponies (and cows) on the ridge and it was quite pretty. It was also dead calm so I found a place without too much pony poo and set up my tent at a place with a nice eastern exposure to get a good sunrise. The wind ended up kicking up to 20mph or so during the night so I was awake way before sunrise just listening to the wind. I had a wool shirt, thermals, and a 20 degree quilt. Most nights were in the 50s and I couldn't wear the thermals or even put the quilt over me without getting too hot.

The highlight of the trip for me was the highlands. The next night it was somewhat noisy and mosquito infested at Trampi so I tented up the hill a ways.

The next day I hit the fancy shelter with the ice cold shower and the visitor center. It was going to rain that night so I booked a room at the Relax Inn. My tent is cleaner than the hotel room but I didn't get rained on (in fact I barely got rained on in the shower because almost no water would come out the shower head, it was almost all going out the bottom fixture. Dinner and breakfast was at the Barn restaurant and both were good. I did a best I could resupply at the gas stations there as well.

Mostly green tunnel to the Chestnut Knob shelter but some people had a great fire going there so I enjoyed sitting by the fire that night. One of the people there was not practicing good etiquette (throwing cans in the fire) and this was less than acceptable to me.

Did I mention I wore running shoes? Not even trail runners, just some court shoes that fit pretty well and I hoped would be adequate. They were not. I had kicked a couple too many rocks and my feet were already swollen but I managed to jab a stick into my big toe on my left foot under the nail but through the shoe.

I hobbled to Helveys Mill shelter and had the whole place to myself. The road crossing / hiking before Helveys was the only time I had to search out where the trail went because some of it just didn't look like AT. I was somewhat around a group but I don't know where everyone went because the shelter was deserted. The next day I made it to Trent's grocery and spent an hour watching an amusing cast of customers come through there. At this point every step really hurt so I found a rental car at the Blueville, WV airport and was able to get a shuttle from Jimmy who I believe owns the grocery. After getting the rental, it was just a short 10-11 hours drive to put me back into real life again.

All in, not bad. Way less of the party crowd than my last trips, I was also alone a lot more which is good and bad. I would have like to have gone farther but I am glad I didn't try. Hiking is no fun when it hurts to walk. I did make it past the 1/4 point. I talked with Jimmy on the way to the airport. He talked about adding a 600 burger to the menu at the deli there because it is at the 600 mile point. My 2014 guide book says the road VA 606 crossing is at 606 miles from Springer. I think he should make it a 606 burger for the road and the miles traveled. I have an idea on price too. How does $6.06 sound? I guess I might see if that happens because that is where I hope to pick up next year!