Date: 2017-06-14
From: VA 311, Catawba

To: Daleville, US 220/I-81
Miles today: 19.8

It was so good to get back to the woods.  We met in the breakfast room at 6 AM and were to be shuttled from the hotel in Daleville to VA 311 in Catawba. Warren told me he had my pack and hiking stick outside, that I should pick them up.  When I got outside he had the wrong stick.  By the time I walked to the white van and got my stick everyone was gathering to leave.  So I left my half-eaten breakfast, my hat, and my coffee in the breakfast room.Susan and Glenn hiked to McAfee Knob with me to get a flavor of the hike. They are the first guest hikers to join us other than alumni of previous expediitons.  The temperature was pleasant, and the trail was dry.  We started hiking at 7:00 and reached McAfee Knob before 10:00.  When we got there Lizzie, Arlene, Bill, and Randy were there.  We took a lot of pictures and were ready to leave at 10:00.  Glenn had brought a wildflower book and was planning to hike back to VA311 at a leisurely pace checking out flowers.  It was nice to spend some time with him and Susan and get caught up.  Susan, who is an accomplished birder, identified a whole lot of bird songs that I didn't know.  I asked her to provide a list of what she heard, and it is impressive: Carolina wren, cardinal, bluejay, scarlet tanager, peewee, blue-headed vireo, yellow-throated vireo, red-eyed vireo, chestnut-sided warbler, worm-eating warbler, black and white warbler, hooded warbler, ovenbird, red-bellied woodpecker, white-breasted nuthatch, great crested flycatcher, field sparrow, raven, rufous-sided towhee, wood thrush, indigo bunting, chimney swift, tufted titmouse, and Carolina chickadee.  The view from McAfee Knob was lovely,  but it was overtaken later in the day by the fabulous views from Tinker Cliff (see photo).  Susan and Glenn headed back to their car when we were ready to leave McAfee Knob, and I continued hiking with Arlene.  We walked along chatting and enjoying the sunny warm day.  As we proceeded we saw several kinds of wildflowers that I'd never seen before.  That was a treat, even though I had no way to look them up to identify them.  We walked through various pleasant floral fragrances throughout the day.  I looked around as we smelled each new fragrance, but I couldn't see what was in bloom.  About halfway through the hike we arrived at Tinker Cliffs.  The trail there goes along the edge of rock outcropping for about half a mile.  The view is of a farming valley running from left to right, several ranges of mountains to the left of the valley, and several more ranges of mountains to the right.  Clouds overhead made shadows on the mountains below.  It was really beautiful.  About 4:45 it started to rain - slowly at first, but then quite hard.  There was a lot of thunder and lightning - some of it quite close to where we were hiking along the top of the ridge.  There was nowhere to take shelter, and the storm continued for an hour.  After it let up we came upon a place where we saw clouds filling the valleys.  At one place along a power line right of way fog/cloud was blowing up the mountain and dissipating.  We got quite wet, but it wasn't cold out so it wasn't bad.We didn't finish till 8:30.  Today was a mail pickup day.  I received two packages from friends.  Lisa sent me a nice note and a package with several lightweight ponchos, hand warmers, and a box of KIND bars.  Lynda sent me a freeze-dried lasagna dinner.  Thanks to both of you for your words of encouragement and for the goodies.  I feel fortunate to be so rich in friends.  Bill and I walked across the street to Pizza Hut and had pizza and beer for dinner.  Tomorrow is another long day: 21.6 miles.  It starts with a meeting in the breakfast room at 5:30 AM.  It's going to be a short night.