Date: 2018-05-27
From: Four Pines Hostel

To: Daleville
Miles today: 25.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 53- When I woke up, the seven bunk beds were mostly full along with around five people draped across the couches too. I tiptoed outside of the garage/hostel to get some fresh air and start packing up. A few people had already risen and were doing the same. Wings came up to me from his tent and offered to help us slackpack. His girlfriend was going to catch a ride to Daleville and it would be easy for her to bring an extra backpack along. Broken Seal was still asleep but I had a feeling he would go for it, especially because it would mean being with Wings. We jumped on the trail feeling light and fresh with our almost empty backpacks. It didn¢t take long for someone to propose jogging and then we were off! They were kind enough to wait for me at the parking lot for McAfee Knob and we waded through the crowds on that short section of trail together. If I am being super honest, McAfee Knob was a disappointment for me personally. I can also acknowledge that it is completely my own fault. This is the first time that it has bit me in the butt knowing and seeing pictures of these places since I was a little kid. Wings says it is called Paris Syndrome. If it weren¢t for that particular photo angle, it would look like many other section of ledges. We still messed around taking a bunch of fun photos before pushing onto Tinker Cliffs.Hindsight is 20-20 and we probably could have headed out of Four Pines earlier today. The fact is that we didn¢t and we got caught in a lightning storm. We had been hauling booty hoping to get up and across the cliffs before the storm got close. I had gotten ahead of the boys when they stopped to fill up on water and I was definitely getting nervous as the booms got louder and closer. I even tried to call Broken Seal to check in on where their heads were at. As I put the phone, the largest black snake I have seen so far was stretched in a perfect line straight across the trail in front of me. I stopped dead in my tracks ; I wasn¢t going to try and step over the thing. It took more than the normal amount of nudges to get this snake to start moving. It hit me, looking down at this big black snake impeding me from going forward, that this was a sign that I was supposed to stop. Immediately, I turned southward and hiked down back down the trail to wait for my two friends.They found me not too much later getting shelter under a thick tree. Together we hiked until we found this great rock overhang where we lunched until the storm had passed. Other people had hiked through it but I doubt they got the great views we did. I was super glad we had played it safe and waited it out; we were rewarded with having the whole place to ourselves!Wings raced ahead to be with his waiting girlfriend, we assessed each others¢ heat rashes that recently appeared, and then hiked the rest of the way to Daleville with our friends Metric and Rooster aka U-Turn. They went to the Howard Johnson¢s and I followed looking unsuccessfully for a couple we are trying to catch, Dandelion and Springbok. Wings was all showered up by the time we made it to the room. We followed suit and soon walked under the interstate to the really cute Angelles Diner. After a great meal and ice cream sundaes at Mickey D¢s. We all fell asleep in the room before the NBA game was over (except for Broken Seal who is really into it).