Date: 2016-06-05
From: pickle branch shelter

To: camping
Miles today: 12.0

Day 55- June 5, 2016Dregs here, Wake up time was much less eventful today. We packed up our wet tent and made our way up towards Dragons tooth. I had heard that this section was supposed to be difficult however I didn't want to tell ChickenHawk. She likes to be surprised by difficultly and not have to dread it. Just like every day we are going to a famous part of the trail all views were obscured by a very thick fog. We climbed along a rocky ridge line for 3 1/2 miles and it stretched on for a long time. It wasn't super difficult but it did feel longer that 3 1/2 miles. We got near the top and it began to rain. Dragons Tooth was .1 mi down a side trail. It was pretty cool and the clouds cleared up a bit adding some scenery behind the giant rock formation. We had our eyes set on an all you can eat restaurant called The Home Place so we headed down the mountain in the rain. After less than a tenth of a mile the descent turned into a rock scramble. No big deal. Even when wet we could just take it slow. Then the trail went down a 5 foot cliff. There were metal rungs pounded into the rock face to facilitate this. Obstacle traversed, now on to our easy downhill walk to food, or so we thought. For the next hour the trail wound down this mountain side through the most treacherous terrain we have experienced on this hike. It might have been different if it was dry but it still would be challenging. At the most difficult point we descended a wall of rock using only a six inch deep outcropping. Did I mention it was wet and slippery....We made it past the rock walking and on to an actual dirt trail. It was a relief to zoom along towards one of the most hyped restaurants on the journey. And then there was one more cliff to traverse. I stood at the top of this last little bit of climbing and thought to myself that it wasn't worth it....... Dragons Tooth was the worst work to view ratio on the trail so far. That being said, we were happy to have faced some difficult terrain and succeeded. We had about 7 1/2 miles to get to the road where we would hitch hike into Catawba for food. We ran into Danger who was waiting by a road that led to a hostel that she and the gang were all planning to stay at. We pressed on. The miles were easy but made more challenging by mud and running water. At some point in that stretch we passed the 700 mile mark! Towards the road we could hear cars and that made us hike faster. We made it the 12.6 miles by 2pm. Just as we made our way into the parking lot we saw a crowd of hikers by a car and a sign for trail magic.We walked over and sat for a while with drinks and snacks and great people. The trail magic was being put on by 2 ladies, one of which was a former thru hiker. They had everything we could want or need and even had tons of resupply items for free. We could have stayed for hours if not for the fact that we needed to get to the restaurant. My good friend Chris who attended near by Virginia Tech years ago, bought us dinner via PayPal specifically for this restaurant. It was one of his favorite places to go. Thanks Chris! We eventually made our way to the road and stuck out our thumbs. After a few minutes a car with a young couple inside stopped right in the traveling lane of a winding mountain road. It was a bit scary but no cars came as we loaded up. They were nice and took us the 1.5 miles to the front door which was blocked by about 30 people waiting to eat. ChickenHawk went to give our name and quickly came back saying there was no wait. Apparently all of the waiting people were in large parties. We sat and ordered. A table full of food was wheeled out to us. As we were eating, we saw the crew of Red Dragon, StormTropper, Danger, Stick, Brew and Firecracker. We said hello but wanted to get back to our food. They understood. The meal was everything a hungry hiker could want. Seriously. I don't know what more I can say. Life pretty much could not get much better. And then the server walked over and told us the lady at the first table paid for our meals! More trail magic. She had left before we could run over to say thanks. What amazing trail magic. What an amazing day. Surely it was about to go down hill fast as it was about to rain, we needed to hitchhike and then walk 2 miles.....There was no good spot to hitch so we walked and hitched, after 10 min a nice man picked us up in a minivan. He dropped us at the trail and we attempted to roll our swollen bellies up a mountain. Thankfully the climb wasn't bad and the rain held off. We made camp at the shelter campsite and took advantage of cell service to post some journal updates. Argonaut showed up and we chatted a bit before bed. What a day