We intended to leave town early today, skipping the hostel's waffle breakfast in favor of something more substantial at the Subway at the other end of town on the AT. Unfortunately, even though we verified via Subway's website that they open at 7 am, when we got there at 7:45ish, we found them to be not open yet; the lights were off and no one was inside.
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It was a slow zero day in Damascus. We had waffles at the hostel, and then went into town to go to the outfitter, who was not yet open. So we instead followed Sassy to the local Pizza Plus for another all-you-can-eat pizza buffet.
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Today was probably the most friendly terrain we've had to date. We started at a pasture, with cows grazing off to the side. (Fortunately, there was not a bull sitting directly on the trail, as happened to Beast last year.) Some early uphills gave way to a long, mostly downhill afternoon, after we passed a shelter 11 miles in, taking us into Damascus, VA. Most of the ground was soft leaves or dirt, giving a comfortable hike.
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A couple things I forgot to mention yesterday about the Black Bear Hostel we're staying at.
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Today started off with moderate hills through a burn area. For several miles, the forest was burned on both sides of the trail (though the trail itself was left unscathed). This was clearly an intentional burn, and not a forest fire, though it's unclear whether this was related to the recent fires in the area (as in, a controlled burn to limit the spread of the actual fire).
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