Date: 2006-04-10
From: Pickle Branch Shelter

To: Lambert's Meadow Shelter
Miles today: 23.0
Weather: clear sky

Today I pulled off a long day despite not really feeling that well (that is most definitely an understatement). This morning, about .3 miles after the shelter, I began to throw up. Vitamin, breakfast, water: it was all on the ground (luckily for those behind me, 3 feet off the trail. Surprisingly, I felt a bit better after losing everything in my stomach.Needless to say, I took the rest of the morning at a nice, slow pace, which was good because Dragon¢s Tooth and the areas immediately preceeding and following were extremely beautiful (and rocky!!!). I took the side trail and climbed up onto the rock that I think was supposed to be the tooth (there were a couple of big rocks that came to a point). It was really cool climbing between the formations. It kind of made me realize how enormous the landscape is and how we humans are just a small part of the entire creation of the world. We stand small in the face of gigantic mountains. After passing through Lost Spectacles Gap and a couple of other interestingly named features, I came to VA624, I had planned on resupplying at the grocery, so I took the .4 mile detour to Catawba Grocery. I would have to say that it was a really good store. It had every type of drink imaginable from spicy V8 to Diet Green Tea Sobe with citrus (like thru-hikers really need diet). In addition, they have a grille that serves hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza, and spring rolls. After eating 2 fully loaded hamburgers, I went to an aisle full of typical hiker food for my resupply. There were aisles of snacks and meals perfect for thru-hikers. I decided, since I was only going to carry food for one day that I would try some different types of foods. I bought a can of pinto beans, a cup of noodle soup (in the cup), a bag of potato chips, and a 14 oz. frappacino. The food probably weighed 4 pounds, but that is a lot less than the 10 or more pounds I normally leave a town with.Back on the trail I met a lot of cows. The AT passes through a lot of fields until you hit 311, and the cows just stand right on the trail. I didn¢t want to get kicked or anything so I had to climb up the hillside to avoid them. It turns out avoiding the cows is a lot easier than avoiding cow pies. If you are not staring at the ground, you may find that you step in a nice surprise. Once the AT passes 311, you are back into the woods. It was in this section that I saw the most shelters in a short distance. There were four shelters in less than ten miles!!! It was a little insane. Johns Spring Shelter was one mile after 311. Then, Catawba was one mile after that, then Campbell 2.4 miles after that. It was kind of cool because they were mostly on the trail and made really good resting spots.There were two views on the AT that rival the ¢Best View¢ (The view of Burke¢s Garden from Chestnut Knob). From McAfee Knob, you could see the entire valley. You could stand on the edge of a rock overhang and feel like you were in the sky kind of just floating. The sun was bright and it was just gorgeous.Just a couple miles later were the Tinker Cliffs. It was very similar except that we were looking at the valley 90 degrees counterclockwise. This gave us a perfect view of the sun which we ( me, Batman, Robin¢s Nest, and MaRk) watched go down while cooking our dinner. This was definitely the best experience on the AT so far: great company, great views, and great food. Life really cannot get much better than that.We all then night-hiked together the 1.6 ( or 1.0 depending on your book) miles to Lambert¢s Meadow Shelter. When we arrived we met Hunter who is completing his third section/thru hike. MaRk decided to push on the last 10 miles into Daleville because he really likes hiking with a bright moon on a clear night.