Focus, Fuel, and Feet

A midnight run to the neighboring Subway kept me up late with a full stomach. Totally worth it though. I still woke up around 9am, because the included breakfast beckoned. We wasted a lot of time today enjoying the comforts of the clean indoors, it was very nice and very lazy.
We got moving at around 12:30pm (thank you late checkout) and made a beeline for the Dollar General, which is a massive market here in Daleville. We quickly stocked up, as we will hit another town tomorrow, and walked outside into a torrential thunderstorm. After divvying up the food and throwing on rain gear, we made our way back to the Mexican place for another delicious meal. One of the waiters showed a lot of interest in the trail and we chatted for a little while. I also got a chance to watch a couple of movie trailers there including Django Unchained. Thank you Tarantino for being such a badass filmmaker!
Walking past the trailhead, we made our way to the gear shop. We saw Meta on the way, and Tapeworm with his new shoes. I followed suit, and picked out my new vehicles for the next few hundred miles. I stuck with the Salomon brand, but went with shoes that have a thick grippy tread.
Swapping my Super Feet out of the old shoes and into the new, I donned my footwear and we jumped back onto the trail. By the time we got started we were limited in our shelter choices to one only 5 miles up. It sounded good to me since I now have to break the new shoes in a little.
The hike was easy in its brevity, and at least so far the shoes have worked out beautifully. The biggest difference between my old worn boots and these is that when I stepped on a rock with boots it felt like a sharp point, and now it feels like a dull edge. My feet are grateful!
The shelter is a little crowded tonight with plenty of dogs wandering around. Good bear protection. It's nice to have company again, even if some of them are a little odd. Kooky but entertaining.
I'm looking forward to my first full nights sleep in a while, and we're both very happy to be back on a normal schedule. It feels great to get everything done before the sun sets. Tomorrow may be a long day, but we may end up at a shelter with Tapeworm, Meta, and Shenanigans. That'd make for a fun night, and the possibility for fun is what each day out here is about.

Bed, knobs, and no ticks

No rest for the weary, at least not last night. A couple of weekenders showed up at the shelter at 11:30pm and they decided they had to start a fire. After an hour if snapping twigs they succeeded. I finally fell asleep around 1am after they quieted down, but at 5am they got back up and started another twig-snapping fire. In the daylight I saw one of them had on baggy jeans and a dragon-print polyester tee. That's when I knew they had no idea what they were doing and wouldn't understand hiker etiquette, so just let it go.
After going back to sleep until around 8:15am, I got up and started into the last of my food stores. Mr. Fantastic and I chatted while eating for a while before we noticed that Shenanigans and Tapeworm had arrived while we were asleep. Apparently there wasn't any sleep to be had back at the hostel either, and they did a little night hiking to catch up with us.
With no more time to waste if we wanted to make it to town for dinner, Mr. Fantastic and I made tracks toward McAfee Knob. It was a relatively short hike up to the peak, and definitely one of the most gratifying views at the top. It's no wonder it's the most iconic image of the AT. We had our little photo shoot, as was obviously necessary, and made a few phone calls with all the glory of 3G on a mountaintop. Regardless, I would like to yet again say happy fathers day to all those dads out there, and happy birthday Mommom!
We took a long break up on McAfee, so it was time to make haste, and I think we did a pretty good job of it. The total distance for the day was 18.7 miles, and our feet felt every foot of it.
We came along a few of the best bits of hiking we've had, walking atop giant boulders along a sheer cliff face. It was all rather epic, but that is frequently the case.
Finally breaking through the tree line onto a busy highway brought on a rush of relief, and a rush to the local Mexican restaurant. Dinner was almost too good, and we both made faces of giddy joy throughout the meal.
Our post-hike walk to the hotel was an easy one, no hitching required. The last time we stayed in a nice hotel was all the way back in Georgia, and we appreciated the little comforts so much more this time around.
The shower was amazing, and I am happy to say that I still don't have any ticks. Others have found a few on them, but they seem to be avoiding me. Maybe word has finally gotten around in the tick community that my blood is 99 percent potato.
After some wifi, tv, and laundry, we walked down the street to the 24 hour Subway for a midnight snack. Thank capitalism for all 24 hour establishments, without them we would be lost.
Tomorrow won't be a big mile day, but we do plan on accomplishing other key things. Resupply is important if I want to eat in the next 2 days, the gear shop will help my war torn shoes and socks, and we found a sushi restaurant within walking distance! If sushi doesn't put a trail town on the map, nothing does.

Dragon Slayers

After spending a night in the shelter that time forgot, we were both looking forward to moving ahead. I was feeling a bit off when we first started out at 10am, but quickly recovered. We had Dragon's Tooth ahead of us, and had been hearing some rather scary predictions of its difficulty, so I was going to need my strength.
Our plan had turned into a 6 mile hike to the road, where we'd walk to the hostel and get a lift to The Home Place, an AYCE that we kept hearing about. Of course those first 6 miles went over the Tooth, and that slowed us down considerably. This was the most intense, technical, dangerous piece of hiking we've done by far. There were sections with metal rungs drilled into the rock because you had to climb straight up or down. It was made especially challenging by the realization that I have almost no tread left on my boots. That, combined with the holes forming around high stress areas on the tops, means it's definitely time to go shoe shopping. Thankfully there's a proper gear shop coming up tomorrow to solve this problem.
Once we made our arduous, painful, journey down from Dragon's Tooth, we were deposited on the road we had been so desperately waiting for. As we walked toward the hostel a car pulled over and Tapeworm yelled a happy hello from within. He had been visiting with his sister and brother-in-law, and they yellow blazed him up to the hostel from Pearisburg.
The hostel was just a big garage, but seemed like a cool place to relax with friends. A very high school kind of atmosphere, where no one has anything better to do and that's the way they want it. We enjoyed seeing a few hikers we knew, and got ready to go hitch, as the owners weren't home to shuttle us around.
Just as we got ready to leave, Tapeworm and family returned with beer and snacks in tow. We obviously had to postpone lunch to grab a beer and meet his family, which lead into them giving us a lift to The Home Place before they started back for Illinois. It was a wonderful surprise and they are definitely good people.
Lunch was fantastic. All you can eat that they set on your table and refill as you need. Fried chicken, roast beef, country ham, green beans, mashed potatoes, corn, and biscuits arrived and we all went to town. This was of course just the preamble to the peach cobbler a la mode. We ate too much, and left the place with a massive line of people forming out front. Apparently The Home Place is the place to be.
A quick hitch back to the hostel brought us back together with Meta and Shenanigans, who had each arrived while we were eating. We chatted a bit, but then left to get back on the trail and do another 6 miles. The plan was to hike to a shelter, and then in the morning hike the 17 miles into Daleville. This time we are planning a real proper night in town by staying at the Holiday Inn Express. Only the best for us trail weary vagabonds. Tapeworm plans to attempt a 23 mile day tomorrow and meet us there, so people could be crashing on our floor.
Tomorrow isn't only great because of a gear shop, proper resupply, comfortable bed, washer/dryer, wifi, and shower. We'll also hike to McAfee Knob, which is one of the most photographed spots on the trail. It should be rather spectacular. Whoever said that all of Virginia is the same is a madman!

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

The night was full of mice and bats, while the morning was full of wasps. I guess every shelter has its downsides. This morning in particular was very slow and laborious. I got up first, but that wasn't until 9:15am. I followed the water trail to refill, which let me enjoy a beautiful short morning hike. This trail led me past a dilapidated little cabin with a collapsed ceiling, as well as the remains of a rather large cabin, covered in vines with just the stone chimney still standing. Then back for breakfast!
By 11am I finally made it out of the shelter and back up to the trail. Late nights take their toll, that's for sure. I took a break to enjoy a moment of 3G when I got up to the ridge line, but then had to continue on over some challenging rocky bits. Just as I got through them and started a long descent, Mr. Fantastic caught up with me. We both decided to take our lunch at the next shelter.
Magic Lungs was enjoying the privy when we arrived, and then Voodoo joined us. We all ate and enjoyed the nice weather. It was almost a little too nice, because I didn't want to leave to walk the 10 miles between my next campsite and me.
Once started those were a great 10 miles to hike. There was a steep 2 mile hike, but the trail was so smooth in its ascent and clear of any rocks or roots that it was a joy to climb. At its summit I came to the Audie Murphy Monument, which was impressive to see.
After walking along the ridge for a few miles I began a switchbacking descent alongside a beautiful sunset. I could see into a valley between two parallel running mountains, which made it hard to look away to make sure I didn't walk off a cliff. Watching foot placement is key when the ground drops a few hundred feet to one side.
Just a mile before the shelter I met up with some other thru-hikers that were doing the trail all out of order and slack-packing. The gentleman asked if I wanted cake, and handed me some chocolate cake wrapped in plastic. If a beautiful sunset didn't make my hike today, that certainly did.
I finally came to the secluded shelter at 8:30pm, just as it was getting dark. Strangely enough there was no one else at this shelter either; it really seems like the number of people on the trail has significantly dropped. Another night of eating with a headlamp on was ahead of me. I started to get nervous that Mr. Fantastic had stopped short on his hike, but he came in at 9:30pm sporting his own headlamp and clacking his trekking poles.
Our plan for tomorrow is currently evolving a little as we go. It seems like we'll get to the hostel early, shower and launder, continue down the trail, resupply, then go to a shelter a few miles more on. It'll be a work in progress as we find out which hurdles are where. It's still another late night, but I'm getting to sleep 2 hours earlier tonight than last. By tomorrow we should be back on a "normal" schedule.