Date: 2008-04-24
From: Harvey Knob Overlook

To: Daleville Howard Johnsons
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: scattered clouds

It seems that the trail in this section has changed since the maps were made. It's a very hard thing mentally to get close to the end of a long hiking day thinking we only have a mile and a half to go and see a sign that says 3.2. Its draining.The hiking today was good though, a really lovely trail. There was only one hill where the "switchbacks" were so steep I felt like I was clawing my way to the top. Admittedly I am a little over sensitive to steepness since I am nursing my ankle. The majority of the day remained on one contour line, following its way around a ridge. The path was smooth and mostly rock free. Hard to believe it was the AT.The further south we get the more and more north bound hikers (NOBOs) we run into. It's getting hard to remember who all we met. Most stop and have a chat with us. We give each other reports on the trail ahead, water sources, best places to check out in town. All of them said today that we are about to run into 'the pack', a group of NOBOs who started about the same time in GA and are hanging close together. We are told there are about 60 of them all between here and Pearisburg. That's within our next week.I can't imagine hiking with that many other people that close. I'm sure glad we took a different route. Some of the hikers we met today said the reason they are pushing more miles is to get away. Seems it would be hard just to find a place to camp. I guess we are about to find out.So...today we met Laura and Aaron, Smokey and Piglet, Fire Juggler, Just Rick... memory is fading. We met a young man with his dog, Max something. We talked about how the dogs are doing. Reminded me I need to do a journal entry on Roo since some have asked...I'll do that soon. We also met Traveling Man slackpacking south...we were just a little jealous. And there was a section hiking couple and another young man who was struggling too much with the uphill to stop and talk. I empathized and just said hello and moved on.The scenery has stayed the same pretty much since the footbridge. Still a lot of redbuds, dogwoods, irises, buttercups... One day the May apples were popping out of the ground and the next they were opening like little umbrellas.We hiked into Daleville a little later than we expected. We hoped to hit the outfitter, Kroger and do dinner before we crashed. We don't usually make it much past sundown. But by the time we got our showers and clothes washed it was already 7:00, so we headed to Pizza Hut. Thank heavens for salad bars! Boy did that taste good.We've worked out another slackpack day for tomorrow. And it's going to be a shorter day. Our feet need it after all the miles the past two days. Greg has been on the east coast for business. He is going to take this chance to drive Tigger's car from Maryland down to Georgia. He'll leave it with Alison for us to pick up after the first half of our trip. Since he is passing down I-81, he's going to stop to see us. Then on Saturday he's heading on to the Smokies to meet up with his parents AND Caleb is flying in for the day to spend with them. I'd sure like to be there too... but I have miles to walk.Back to the plan. So instead of our original plan to stay at Lambert shelter, we are going to try to find a way off of the mountain to a road intersection where Greg will pick us up and bring us back to the hotel for another night... pack free. Slackpacking is wonderful! Since he has meetings in Maryland until afternoon it will be almost sundown before he will be able to pick us up... and since we are only hiking about 12 miles, we will get to sleep in. Yeah!! A sleep-in and a slackpack. Boy does my body need this.Before we start hiking, though we'll make a stop at the outfitters. I've got to get some new pants. My hiking partners are starting to call me Rabbit Baggypants. Seems my pants are outgrowing me.As always God is very good!Rabbit, Owl and RooJoshua 1:9