Date: 2015-05-26
From: Lost Spectacles Campsite

To: Stealth Campsite Near 716.9
Miles today: 16.5

Today was action packed! Maybe that's why I am so tired.I slept really poorly due to congestion and then started the day by getting the bear line stuck in the tree. Yoda got it unstuck eventually but it took some doing.Our first goal of the day was to get to VA 624 from where it was a short walk to a gas station/convenience store/grill. The walk there was very nice. The top of the ridge was already sunny but not too hot yet, and it looked much more cheerful than the still completely shady gap where we had camped.Once we got to the road and then the store, I first had an oj and hot tea and ordered a bbq sandwich for breakfast. We ate outside next to the pumps. Classy!After breakfast, I resupplied for one more day, which turned out to be completely unnecessary. Doh!Next up was a walk through some pasture, as they are fond of that here. It was now around 80 degrees and very humid so we were all sweating buckets and drinking tons of water.When we got to another road crossing, I was about to actually cross when I noticed two people setting up trail magic! And then I saw it was Soda Pop and Skittles! So it was super fun to catch up with them while they fed us hot dogs with all the fixings, sodas, fruit, you name it, they had it. They just finished their almost month long (I think) section hike, so they know what hikers want! Thank you guys so much, it was awesome. Even if you do like Yoda's blog better (excuse me while I cry myself to sleep...). After we tore ourselves away from the parking lot, it was time to hike up to McAfee Knob. If you ever Google AT images, chances are that's what you'll get first. Soda Pop advised me that it was more fun to skip up the hill and not use my poles (ha!) but it actually wasn't bad at all. It did rain a bit while I was going up but when I got there, there was no rain at McAfee Knob. There was rain in the valley below though and the clouds were really cool. We all took our time taking pictures and walking around. I'm really glad we didn't get there yesterday because it would have been a total mob scene. And the pictures wouldn't be anywhere near as fun.It was getting late and we still had almost 7 miles to go. We ate at the next shelter (the shelters are oddly spaced in this area), got more water and took off so we wouldn't get there in the dark.I was not feeling great (stupid cold) and was really not looking forward to the rest of the hike. There was a significant climb, a few insignificant ones, and it promised to be a few hours of hard work. Plus it looked like it might rain again any second. It never really did though the trail in some areas looked like there had been a downpour earlier today.I just put my head down and hiked, and got to what I thought was the halfway mark faster than expected. And even better, I was further along than I thought. I was to climb to Tinker Cliffs, which was not all graded so anyone can do it like McAfee Knob and after that it was another 1.5 miles or so to the shelter. The views from Tinker Cliffs are amazing. Supposedly you can look back at McAfee Knob, but I couldn't see it. But even without that, it was beautiful. It faces west and the sun was setting, so all elements were conspiring to have us camp there. So we did, even though we're not supposed to. Don't tell anybody!It does mean we have a longer walk into town tomorrow, but that's a price I'm happy to pay. I kept my rain fly open and am looking from my tent to the mountains on the other side of the valley. It's pretty cool.Tomorrow: town! I can't wait, I feel disgustingly filthy. I have decided that the number one requirement for potential thru-hikers is to be able to deal with being nasty dirty for days on end. And on that note: good night! Open map in new windowWant to add a map to your journal?