AT Day 4

At this point Allan and I were a little worried we wouldn't make it to Damascus.  After studying the map in our ample free time the day before, we found a shortcut on "Pine Mountain Trail" which would cut off about 5 miles of the trail and get us back on schedule after our short day yesterday.

We climbed Pine Mountain and found what should have been the trail, but it was completely unmarked.  Rather than take an unmarked trail, we forgo our shortcut in favor of not getting lost.  We continue 1.5 miles to Scales, where we find a map and a horse trail which takes us back to the top of Pine mountain and intersects with Pine Mount trail.  a 3 mile detour, but the shortcut saved us around 2 miles in the end.  The clouds and fog lifted around noon, and revealed beautiful scenic views on top of Mount Rogers.  

After walking in the rain yesterday and today with broken shoes, massive blisters were starting to form.  At lunch atop Thomas Knob Allan gave me a pair of Smart Wool socks as all I brought were cheap ankle socks.  These blisters plagues me for the remainder of the trip and changed my feet into what resembled bloody chunks of raw meat.

We continued on after lunch in hopes of reaching the next shelter 12 miles away.  After 5 miles I was slowed to a mere crawl.  Hungry for anything but ramen and packaged tuna, tired, in extreme pain from my blisters.  We stopped at Elk Garden and camped.  

Summary:

12+ miles, the true suffering began.