Mail Drop FROM Loner

A package of goodies from Loner arrived in my mailbox today - lots of pamphlets from Virginia, some great small books for his collection, one on Virginia Native Americans and another on Virginia History, business cards for me to include in his scrapbook with email addresses from other thru-hikers, and a flash drive with videos and photos.  Most of them are from the beginning of his trip so I'm only able to guess where he is now. 
He shipped the package from Waynesboro, so I imagine he is somewhere in the Shenadoah's, heading for the halfway mark. He mentioned in a comment on one of his videos that he left a book I sent him to read, Appalachian Trials by Zach Davis at the Dutch Hause in Virginia. I'm planning on buying a new one to keep in my library.
 I checked out the website and it looks like a great bed and breakfast who also cater to thru-hikers so I hope he was able to stay there one night.  I told him to leave the book behind somewhere as a tiny bit of Trail Magic so he didn't have to carry the extra weight since he's a gram weenie and tries to keep his pack weight down to 15 lbs. with water.
So once again  I'm getting to enjoy to beauty of his journey long distance and am busy planning spots we can stay when we drive up to Trail Days next year.
He'll probably have a fit I'm making all these plans, but he can go up in his camper and Beth and I and the girls can go separately so we can plan separate trips and meet there.  I already have a list of cabins and B&B's I want to visit.
And while I'm on the subject of mail drops - I'm learning they don't always work out.  Jeff arrived in Damascus, VA too late on a Saturday to food drops up, so decided to move on.   He left a note asking if they could be forwarded to Marion, which unfortunately did not happen, (maybe it disappeared), However, the lady at the Marion P.O. was so nice that she called the Damascus office and asked them to forward them to Pearisburg, which they did.  Unfortunately this ended up with loner receiving seven boxes in one drop!  Two I'd sent already to Pearisburg,  The bounce box and computer box Jeff sends ahead every two hundred miles and three my daughter and I sent to Damascus.  This is not such a good situation - you can have too much of a good thing when you have to carry seven boxes a mile to the hostel or hotel or figure out which ones to forward ahead. Luckily Jeff got a ride to the hotel.
 But at least he got almost everything (except for the 2nd half of his guide book, which if it was in an envelope ended up in a whole different room.)
So there you have it - the post offices in trail towns will do everything they can to get mail to our hikers, but coordinate with your hikers ahead of time, if possible, to avoid goodie overload!

New Loner AT videos #'s 22-29

I just heard from my son Jeff, aka Loner who posted 7 new videos of his 2012 Appalachian Trail thru-hike up at his You Tube site Loner AT 2012
There's footage from Roan, TN to Marion, VA.  So he passed 400, mile, then 500 miles and crossed into Virginia within the past two weeks.  He'll be in Virginia about a month since it's the state with the most miles on the AT, 550 miles!  But it has a lot fewer high mountains, more farms and valleys and the beautiful Shenandoah so hikers make a lot of time and manage high mile averages while going through Virgina.  Loner decided not to stay in Damascus and wait on his mail drop - it would have been an extra 2 or 3 days in town and that can eat up a lot of a hiker's money.  He also wanted to get to his computer so he could download his videos so he headed north, met a lot of SOBO hikers and cyclists heading to Damascus but he saw bears, cows and ponies and visited or stayed in some cool hostels.  Black Bear Resort looks killer - we may have to stay there if we go to Damascus for Trail Days next year - which he says he wants to do.  He would have liked to have stayed but not that many days.  Bummer the P.O. closed at 11:30 pm and he missed three boxes of his food mail drop.  Hopefully they've bounced them ahead. He's glad to have run into some of the folks he's already hiked with on the trail!  Some days he hikes 25 miles and has lost 30 lbs so far.
Hope you enjoy the videos!

Loner - Roan Mtn, Hampton, TN,Trail Days

I received an email from Jeff aka Loner who has now passed the 400 mile mark.  He took a welcome break from four days of slogging in the rain with shoes held together with duct tape.  He said the going was slow because the trail was so slippery and he had to watch every step.  A number of other hikers sprained ankles or twisted knees - not good.  He finally took a break at Black Bear Hostel ($10.00 a night bunk, with towel and soap, not a bad deal.  Odd, how hostels along the trail have "bear" in the title don't they - not a good sign. I'm sure he was glad of the chance to dry himself and his gear out. 
He did mention that he enjoyed Roan Mtn.  I did a little research and it's another big one, over 6,000 feet of elevation so in the category of Clingman's Dome at 6,643 feet.  Roan Mtn is also known for it's many lovely rhododendron bushes which I gather are so plentiful that they hold a Rhododendron Festival in June at the Roan Mtn. State Park each year.  I guess we won't find out if they're blooming until Jeff gets to upload his latest videos and photos.  
I'm glad I had a chance to email Jeff and he had a chance to read them before he left his stopover in Hampton, because he'd totally forgotten that I'd sent a mail drop there with a replenishment of food.  No town food this time, just trail food.  So luckily he was able to get notice in time to pick it up before he left town.
His next stop will be Damascus, Virginia, which has a huge history along the Appalachian Trail.  They are known as the "Friendliest Trail Town" located at the cross roads of four trails: Trail Town USA due to the convergence of four scenic trails in the town, including the Appalachian Trail, U.S. Bicycle Route 76, The Iron Mountain Trail, and the Virginia Creeper Trail.

Each May they hold a festival called Trail Days, which draws over 20,000 visitors each year from all over the country. It might look like a re-located Woodstock, A Grateful Dead concert or Mardi Gras mountain style but it's a massive gathering of outdoor enthusiasts - previous thru-hikers, future hikers, hikers, cyclists, naturalists and current thru-hikers like Jeff who'll amble into town.  Jeff will arrive a few days prior to to the May 18th official start date but from what I've read, people start arriving by May 11th.  Many past AT hikers go to Trail Days to enjoy a reunion with fellow hikers they met on their journey and future At 2013, 2014, 2015 thru-hikers who are just no planning their trips will come to check out the new equipment. Campgrounds, hotels, hostels fill up with tents overflowing on grassy sports everywhere.  They have a huge outdoor vendors market with outfitters and other vendors from all over the country showing their latest, lightest, ultra cool hiking, biking and camping gear, as well as related gear, t-shirts, crafts, food and other offerings.
They also offer lectures and talks from master hikers, even on trails in other countries.
There's lots of free goodies for hikers, such as free showers, free medical care, free medical tests, free gear repair, free Wi-Fi, free coffee shop, free concerts, a library book sale, a whittling club,  indie films,  even a few free dinners sponsored by local fire stations, churches etc.and a whole lot more.
And they hold a huge Hiker Parade with notables from the hiker world, even old timer AT thru-hikers.
I don't know how long Jeff will stay in Damascus and enjoy Trail Days because I don't know how he's looking at the miles he wants to do, but I hope he gets to enjoy some of it.  It may be a once in a life time experience.