Date: 2018-05-11
From: Pickle Branch Shelter

To: Johns Spring Shelter
Miles today: 13.6

DAY 66Woke up to the same sound as when we went to bed, Whippoorwill. We heard the calling of the Whippoorwills all night. Everything is still damp this morning, but it is not raining. Made the climb up to Dragon's Tooth. It starts out gradual, but then gets steeper and you climb up a series of ledgey areas, each one a littler higher than the last. Each time we thought we were there, it would be another climb. Finally we came to a stunning overlook and the side trail to the actual Dragon's Tooth. We met Swimmer who is slack packing this section to test out his ankle that he twisted. I made the climb up to the tippy top of Dragon's Tooth, but was unable to convince Mary to join me (Mary here, and there was no way I was climbing up there!) Hopefully she got some good shots of me on the top. After all the photos we started down the trail.The next mile of trail was tough with lots of rock scrambling on some steep sections, and even some iron holds in the rock. I don't think this was Mary's favorite part, but she did make it down. We made the next road crossing only to find the 4 Pines Hostel trail magic cooler empty. Just before we decided to move on up pulls a van and out jumps Midnight and Buttercup who are helping out at the hostel. They were there to refill the cooler with PBR & Pepsi. We both took a Pepsi, thanked them and decided to move on to the stream to have lunch. We met some hikers who said they usually do trail magic on Friday, but today they were hiking instead. They asked us if we thought there would be a lot of hikers coming behind us, and we said we have heard that the "bubble" is about a week behind us.We had six miles and another ridge to go to get to the next road crossing where you can go into town to the Homeplace. The weather was downright hot today, and Mary struggled to get the miles in the heat. When we finally made the road crossing I was a little worried because she looked like she might pass out. We waited, hoping to get a ride the 1.3 miles to the restaurant, but had no luck. Mary actually went over to a pickup that pulled in and asked if he was heading that way, but it was a firefighter who was going to hike out a mile north to check on a fire that has been burning off and on. Several day hikers chatted with us about our hike, but no one offered a ride. Seems a lot different than in the Whites where people stop to see if you need a ride back to your car or in to town. After about 30 minutes I got frustrated and we decided to just walk the road, or we might not make it in time for dinner. Today is our 33rd wedding anniversary, and we really wanted a nice dinner.The road is not a good one to walk along as the traffic flies by at 55 mph +, and in places there wasn't much shoulder. The heat was still brutal, but we made it there and soon saw a big group of familiar thru hikers who had been shuttled there from 4 Pines Hostel (they were all showered and in clean clothes). An older gentleman saw Mary walking toward the restaurant and said "you look tired" she said "I am tired". He replied, "I'm tired just walking from my car to the restaurant", to which she replied "We walked over 700 miles to get here to enjoy dinner on our 33 Anniversary". The gentleman wanted to shake her hand, even after she said "I'm dirty, we've been on trail all day". It didn't matter, he insisted on shaking her hand and wishing us well. I think it was his grandson with him who said he was trying to explain about thru hikers to the older gentleman, but he just didn't understand why people did such a long hike.We put our name in at the restaurant and we were quickly seated. The food was great and it was wonderful to be in the air conditioning. We did feel bad for the patrons around us as I'm sure we smell quite bad as we haven't had a shower in 4 or 5 days. Hiking in this heat we are certainly not at our finest! Most folks were all dressed up, many looking like they had just come from graduations. We didn't get thrown out and nobody gave us dirty looks (at least not to our faces). A nearby patron who was asking Mary about the hike outside even offered to take our picture and he and his group wished us a happy anniversary. So, we got to enjoy a great meal on our anniversary after a long, hot day on trail.The second group of hikers were getting picked up by the hostel, so we asked if we could get shuttled to the store and back to the trail. He said he would run the group back to the hostel and come back for us. I'm glad he did, because our waitress had said the store was only .5 miles away when in reality it was 4 or 5 miles. We were soon resupplied and back at the trail crossing. It was now dark and we donned headlamps to make the mile up to the shelter. Saw a snake in the trail on the way up, but not sure what kind. Made it to the shelter and set up in a badly sloped site, but the best available. It is going to be a long night as it is still very warm and we are hot and sticky.