Campsite north of Damascus

6-12-12
AT Miles hiked today: 3?
Total AT miles hiked: 470-ish

Getting out of the vortex called Damascus was extremely difficult. It didn't help that I still felt physically bad and that it was really hot, but I just felt the need to get back on the trail and away from town and spending money. Also, my pack was too heavy again, because of food, though I was able to save a couple of pounds by switching to a lighter sleeping bag and sending home my broken kindle, which I never got to read.

I met Bob Peoples again at the outfitters as we left town. I would have hugged him but I was still sick. As we labored up the hill out of Damascus some people passed us heading down. They said they were training with Warren Doyle. The last guy we passed had a bushy white beard and I just had a feeling it might be him, but I was too miserable to be social. I commented on the heat and kept going. Later a couple of hikers caught up to us and asked if we had met Warren Doyle back there. I knew it! Eagle Eye and I started laughing when we thought of what he would think of us. We imagined him telling his students how wrong we were doing our hikes and how our packs were way too heavy and teaching them by our bad examples. But hey, we have hiked this far, so we must be doing some things right. Plus, we managed to escape Damascus, and that was really hard.

We didn't leave town until after 3pm and we stopped to set up our tents when the thunder seemed to promise imminent rain. We got our tents set up just in time and we managed to stay dry.