Date: 2008-04-13
From: Unnamed Campsite VA 

To: LambertÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Meadow Campsite VA
Miles today: 17.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 56 ¢ Sunday April 13 ¢Lambert¢s Meadow Campsite VA ¢ Miles Today: 17.6 Total Miles: 707.6We had a cool night last night! It was about 43 degrees when we started our hike this morning around 7:00. We unfortunately just missed what looked like a beautiful sunrise coming up a couple peaks in the distance. The sun had just topped over the mountains when we walked by there just outside of camp. That would have been an awesome view. We're thinking that the Dragons Tooth area and McAfee Knob are definitely places to come back to at some point in time for a long weekend hike. We had a bit more rock scramble this morning before we came down off the mountain. We found a couple streams around VA Rte 624 and 785, which we were very pleased to see as they were not marked in our book and we had been rationing our water for the last 12 hours. After the roads we walked through a cow pasture but there were no girls in the fields this time, so we had it all to ourselves. Makes you sort of wonder about the water sources though, being near cow pastures.Starting up the hill to McAfee Knob, we ran into a couple hikers coming down. We stopped and chatted with them. It turns out that they are 2007 thru-hikers, Rhododendron and Gigi from Charlotte North Carolina! We remembered seeing them on TrailJournals.com! They were so excited to run into some 2008 thru-hikers and immediately delivered us Trail Magic - Snickers and some M & Ms! We decided that Snickers taste a whole lot better when you don't have to hump it yourself. We mentioned Josh & Amanda¢s FiveMillionSteps.com website to Rhododendron and Gigi, and asked them to sign the guest book making some reference to Girl Scouts.   Ya gotta have some sort of crazy fun out here. We also signed one register today, which we don't normally do, because it's just a quick way to pick up germs and bugs. But we wanted to sign the register so that Josh and Amanda will know what day we passed through this area. We signed the register ¢The A team¢, i.e., Grasshopper and Brakeman, not to be confused with the ¢G team¢, i.e. the Girl Scouts.¢   We did the obligatory pictures of us sitting on the edge of the cliff at McAfee Knob. It wasn't nearly as scary as we thought it would be to walk to the edge and sit with our legs hanging off the cliff. We were also most pleased to see that McAfee Knob is just .1 mile off the AT. We were hoping it wasn't a .6-mile detour both ways! The views down into the valley from McAfee Knob were awesome and believe we could accurately identify Roanoke and its airport runways where Grasshopper has flown in and out of for business.   We had gray skies the whole day with temps remaining cool, in low 50s. We have learned to stay a bit calmer when it looks like imminent rain, as it doesn¢t rain every time. No use spending energy wondering when we¢re going to get drenched. We remember Amanda saying that she had the same anxiety, even shouting one day at the sky, ¢Why don¢t you just rain and let me get on with the day!¢ The only inclement weather we had today was some sand-sized hail that hit us a few times - maybe a dozen or so, nothing bad. After McAfee Knob, we walked on top of Tinker Cliffs, which is a 12-mile walk along stone cliffs with a vertical drop to the valley floor to the left. The trail was very poorly marked along the cliffs. I guess we should have realized when there's no mark, you just continue to stay on the cliff. It was flat walking; nothing tricky, nothing scary, but pretty cool. The score for falls is now 7-2 with Brakeman adding a fall to his tally when he went down a steep creek side for water per Grasshopper's request. He's still saying his fall should not count because he did not need to go down the steep bank for water, as he knew there would be a more accessible water source just up the trail. But the score stands 7-2. One of the things we'll remember about Virginia is the calf to knee-deep leaves that cover the trail. It is unbelievable the amount of leaves that are on the trail at times and it was a big pile of leaves on the steep bank that made Brakeman tumble. We're at mile marker 707.6 tonight - we crossed the big 700-mile mark today!   We¢re 9 miles out from Daleville, at Lamberts Meadow Campsite. We've decided we're going to go spend 2 nights at a motel in Daleville. We've been averaging 17 miles a day since we left Damascus and our bodies are ready for a nice, clean bath and a rest. We also need to hit the Outfitter for a few things ¢ a clip for our water filter so the handle does not pull all the way out, a new pair of liner gloves for Brakeman as his Smart Wool ones are falling part, and a lighter pair of socks for Brakeman. He¢s now sporting 2 blisters on his feet because of wearing heavy socks during the four 80-degree days. It was a little bit cool when not hiking today so we took few breaks and arrived at camp around 5:00.   The 17.6 miles today were easy.   It¢s now just above 50 degrees in our tent and we¢re going to call it a night. Good night, from 9 miles short of Daleville, where we're going to take a breather and get our cell phone battery charged as it is on 1 bar and dying.