Date: 2009-05-14
From: Campbell Shelter, VA

To: US220, Daleville, VA
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Cell goodOG notesThe view from McAfee Knob and Tinker Cliff was really spectacular. We were able to see the Roanoke skyline from above and still be on the ground. One landmark was the runway for the airport. The valley below us is probably on a flight paths for one runway. I would have loved to have seen a airplane go by and land but it was not to be.The hike today was a long, long ridge walk. We could see our destination for at least two hours. We actually walked around the town from above. We really wanted to get here and started to get impatient. We immediatly dropped our packs in our room and went to lunch. Pizza Hut again but no buffet. After lunch we took showers and washed our clothes.We spent some time planning the next 8 hiking days. We had to figure where we'll be to arrange a rendezvous point. We now know where we will be getting off on Friday next week. This spot should be easy to find and easy for us to reach. Also we'll have excellent places to stop the day we return to the trail. One choice to camp is right at the drop off point and two more at varied locations. These choices give us excellent options and allow us flexibility for a drop off time. C6 notesLast night we thought we would have to tent, but there ended up being only 6 of us in the shelter and no others showed up. This morning we realized it's because folks are heading to Damascus, VA, for Trail Days now. There was a large bunch of hikers waiting for rides back to Damascus in the town where we're staying tonight. Trail Days take place over the next couple of days, so we shouldn't see crowds on the trail. Then the folks start back where they got off, so we'll be a couple days ahead of the crowd until we take Memorial Day weekend off.We hiked past some impressive vertical rocks today. Sadly, some of the rocks have been painted with grafitti. It's interesting where the AT is routed sometimes. We hiked along Tinker Cliffs today...close to the edge of these very high rocks. Then we kept going up and down mountain ridges. The AT could have been routed along an easier path, but it kept taking us up and down very large rock peaks. After doing that many times it gets repetitive and it's hard to see the point of doing it over and over again when there are easer routes one could take. BUT...if this was easy, a lot more people would do it.We were happy to get into town and off the mountain. It's fun to see friends (other hikers) in town.Over the past few days we met some hikers we hadn't met before..."Tax $ Dollar" is a nice young man who spent 5 years in the Air Force and is doing the AT before starting a civilian career. He's very respectful and contientious. I like him a lot. (His trail name is because he's collecting unemployent right now.) "Glow worm" is a nuclear mechanic. He's an interesting character. He showed up at two of the shelters we were at talking as if he was going to hike into the night, and then changed his mind and spent the night in the shelter. "Ziggy" and "Thin mint" are a nice young married couple we had heard about, but only met this past week. I don't know how they got their trail names.We had another question about the pizza we had at the Partnership Shelter a while back. We were asked how we packed out the pizza we saved overnight because thru-hikers don't carry aluminum foil or other take-out food type of containers. We sacrificed one of our large zip lock freezer bags and put all the pieces we wanted to save in the one bag. We only saved the pizza to have for breakfast, so we weren't going to pack it in a backpack. We put the zip lock bag in one of our food bags for the night, and it was cold that night, so we felt it would be okay in the morning.Old Goat & Check Six