Dancing with thunderstorms

A quick drive looping around Mount Rogers and into Damascus this morning cleared up some questions and led me to revise my plan for climbing Virginia's highest mountain -- only 5728 feet but, hey, it's higher than anything in Delaware!

Mount Rogers. Somewhere up there.

The Ion will stay parked at the Mount Rogers Outfitters in Damascus, and the good people there will shuttle me to the Fox Creek trailhead on the northside slope. By Friday, I plan to be back in Damascus.

Accommodations for Trail Days? Not this year.  Grabbing a patch of ground in Tent City with norovirus-plagued hikers doesn't appeal to me, somehow, and almost all of the other tent sites have been ordered closed by the city council.  Not very hiker friendly, perhaps, but many of the new wave hikers in the NOBO party bubble do not have the best behavioral or hygiene habits.

Preemptive throttling is likely best ... of informal lodging to limit the numbers attending the event, I mean, of course! Next likely development will be timeshare developments lining the hills, with widespread use of room and house  sharing social media to keep roofs over all of the participants' heads.

This is happening all along the AT, actually, another good reason to get out and hike before it turns into a series of bus tours, complete with souvenir stand stops.

On the advice of the gurus at MRO, I will make a separate trip to see the ponies on the following week. Apparently, they are sociable some days and other days not -- we can all relate to that, I suppose.

Next post could be as late as May 13. Don't worry, I won't be alone -- the NOBO's are here!