Date: 2015-05-25
From: Four Pines Hostel, VA

To: Lamberts Meadow campsite, VA
Miles today: 16.6

After a restless night at Four Pines Hostel due to, yet again, another round of late night Coke intake, I was up at 6:30am slowly getting ready. Burnsides and I slept inside while Moosehead and Safari tented outside. At around 7:30am Burnsides and I headed a third of a mile down the road to the trail. We first passed through a grassy meadow almost as tall as us both. If anyone could've seen us from a distance, they would've only seen our heads and the tops of our packs floating across. We passed Johns Spring Shelter and then began climbing Catawba Mountain. At this point we began passing a lot of day hikers as they scurried up and down the mountain.We reached Catawba Mountain Shelter where we breaked briefly for a quick snack. During this time Moosehead and Safari would pass us, but we'd catch them at the top of McAfee's Knob. Back up on the mountain, we continued hard, passing by many of the same day hikers we had previously passed. After reaching McAfees Knob we maneuvered around the groups of day hikers sitting along the top, taking pictures of themselves seemingly flirting with death on an outward jutting piece of rock - the most photographed location on the trail. We took turns taking one another's pictures at thos same spot in between rounds of day hikers. The summit is frequented by many visitors, particularly today on Memorial Day due to it's relatively easy ascent from the parking lot ~2 miles below. It offers a vast view of the nearby ridges and rolling hills in the valleys below with the added benefit of being a large, flat rock outcropping allowing visitors to relax, sunbathe, and people watch as they enjoy the view. We did some of the same, spending the next half hour taking pictures, eating lunch, and watching the steady tide of day hikers roll in to capture their own unique version of the cliche shot along the edge.We eventually returned to the trail and began heading down along the ridge that would take us a few miles to the much more AT hiker friendly version of McAfee's Knob - Tinker Cliffs. Past the Pig Farm campsite, Campbell Shelter, and Brickey's Gap, we eventually began the final climb to the top of Tinker Cliffs - a half mile long cliff walk offering similar, vast views back in the direction of McAfee's Knob. As we neared the summit I ventured down one path while the guys went in another direction due to some spots in Virginia being poorly marked. As the guys followed the correct trail, I followed the wrong one below the cliffs, knowing all along I should've been on top. Finally reaching a point where I knew I'd have to continue the entire length of the cliff or turn back - both of relatively equal distance, I did the only thing logical and decided to scale the rock face in order to reach the top some ~30ft above me. After finding a face that provided the best options for the use of my hands and feet, I would spend the next ~10 minutes climbing up. What would've normally been a breeze, the experience was made much more difficult and even dangerous while hoisting my backpack and trekking poles with me in the process. With T-Rex arms straining, legs scraping the rocks as I wedged them into gaps, and sweat quickly forming, I gradually made my way up and over the top despite questioning my poor decision at certain points. A fall may not have meant death, but easily an end to the trail. Once reaching the top and realizing I had saved ~20 minutes of retracing my steps all for the price of a few scraped legs and, sadly, the loss of my Sawyer water filter (which I hope to be able to replace tomorrow at an outfitters in Daleville, VA) I could only think of one thing: awesome.I rejoined the guys who were sitting along one of the better spots along the cliff walk, unaware of my struggle up the rock face minutes earlier. I dropped my bag and retraced the AT along the correct route of the cliff in order to make sure it was done correctly. We relaxed for another ~20 minutes, enjoying the view and snacking after a decent ascent, before deciding to continue on. Down through Scorched Earth Gap and past Lambert's Meadow Shelter, we eventually stopped at a creek to resupply on water, assuming it'd be our last opportunity to do so until reaching Daleville in the morning. However, as we restocked on water (me be able to do so thanks to Burnsides filtering my water) we noticed a nice campsite on the opposite of the creek. We concluded that we'd already completed 16.6 miles on the day, leaving ~9 miles into Daleville tomorrow. We took a poll and everyone agreed they'd be content with making it an early day for once. Just after 4:30pm and with campvaet up, we were all in the creek washing and searching for crawdads to boil for dinner. We managed to find around a dozen smaller ones, but large enough to do the job. I actually did find the largest one, but in the process of locating it in the mud of the creek bottom, I must've accidentally killed it for I eventually found it's limp body. Unable to confirm that it was 100% the actual crawfish, we decided to not use it for food due to safety reasons. I'll admit I felt bad for having killed it.Moosehead boiled the bunch up and, along with Burnsides and Safari, enjoyed a few with their dinner. With dinner complete and journaling left to accomplish, we all retired to our tents assuming the night was fast approaching. We then realized that, due to being in a valley, the sun's light was blocked and it was actually only 6:30pm. The good thing is that it means an early bedtime tonight. The forecast promises clear weather overnight until around 8:00am on the morning when the first real chance of rain begins. The other 3 have their rainfly's on, but I plan to play with fire and go with out since temps will only be dipping to ~60F overnight. The next week brings decent chances of rain each day so our streak of awesome weather my be coming too an end. We have been overdue for some time.The plans tomorrow are to cover the ~9 miles into Daleville, VA in order to restock on food, visit the outfitter, and possibly grab a late breakfast or early lunch before returning to the mountains for a streak without much access to towns over the next several days. The next ~100 miles or so have been tentatively planned out, most days ranging in the upper teens to low 20's range. Feeling strong and continuing on.I'm the only one out of the guys who can seem to pick up a minute of 4G so they asked if I could post a thank you from them and myself to all current and former members of the military. We hope you all enjoyed this day in your honor and say thank you for allowing us here at home the opportunity and freedom to do what we want - such as a thru-hiking the AT.In the words of Zac Brown Band:"I thank God for my life. For the stars and stripes. May freedom forever fly; let it ring. Salute the ones who died, the ones that give their lives so we don't have to sacrifice all the things we love. Like our chicken fried, and cold beer on a Friday night, a pair of jeans that fit just right, the radio up, [and hiking the AT.]"Here's to handstands atop McAfee's Knob, the stretch of awesome weather we've enjoyed, and my Sawyer water filter providing me 700+ miles of clean water.