May 19: started with hitching from Damascus to Marion. It took us 3 hitches, but we got back to Partnership Shelter by 12:00 and back on the trail by 12:30 after lunching at the shelter. Then we did 18 miles by 7:00.
The terrain was definitely more gradual, and we had a lot of stretches through meadows and farmland and even through wetlands, walking on boardwalks. I'd post some beautiful pictures of the scenery for you, but I lost my phone charger in Damasus and had to hike 100 miles to Pearisburg to buy another. So I was phone less, camera less, and clock less all week!
My favorite part of this day was when we stopped into the Settler's Museum, located right on the trail! It had a farmhouse, a one room schoolhouse, and a cabin. It told of the migration of Scotch-Irish and German settlers into Appalachia. There was a really funny news leaflet from the 1800's talking about the settlers. The Scotch-Irish were apparently loud, boisterous, drank a lot, always had several projects going on which never got finished, and were always fighting. The Germans were quiet, organized, efficient, completed one project before moving on to the next, and got along with everyone. Sounds about right to me!
We ended up at Crawfish Gap campsite as it started to rain and were reunited with Dangerpants, Sideshow, and Earth Balance. Great group of people!