Date: 2016-04-19
From: Niday Shelter 

To: Four Pines Hostel 
Miles today: 16.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Despite being the only one in the shelter, I had a lot of trouble sleeping last night. It was very warm out and I had trouble keeping both my upper and lower body the correct temperature. Plus Palindrome and Rabbit continued their tradition of getting up at 5. I put my earplugs in at that point. The morning broke on another gorgeous day. Lightning and I headed out together at about 8:15. The first climb up was pretty nicely graded and we went very fast. The trail up at the top was a lovely and wide path. We paved with 76 over the ridge and up to a monument to Audie Murphy, the most decorated soldier of WWII. The ridge down was nice as well, but a little more exposed and it became warm. Unlike the past few days, there was a haze in the sky and a breeze that kept us cool on the climb up. At the base of the descent we filled up water in a creek where Audubon and Quixote were, and were ecstatic to see that someone had left a pile of cans of Coca Cola in the river! I considered eating lunch but decided that I would rather push on the 5 miles to Dragon's Tooth for that. The hike moved through planted spruce forest and then up along a curving ridge before becoming essentially the most difficult terrain we've encountered yet on the trail. The path pushed up through spines of rock and steep leaf covered trail and was extremely tiring. The climb went on forever, but damn the views started to be fantastic. We could see away to the valleys on either side of us for miles and miles because the ridge fell away so steeply. Finally the four of us made it to the side trail for Dragon's Tooth, where the trail widened due to its use by day hikers. The tooth itself is pretty amazing, a giant upturned shelf of rock jutting out into the air probably 50 or 60 feet in the air. We took turns clambering our way up to the top (very sketchy climbing, but totally awesome). Lightning entrusted me with his GoPro and I took some selfies. It's an absolutely amazing place. The view is probably the best we've had of the whole trip, 360 degrees through valleys and ridges of Virginia. It's astounding. I ended up going back up a second time because I didn't have the right pose the first time. But I was happy to. We spent probably about an hour. The trail descends along cliffs, staircases and slabs of rock with iron staples for about a mile after Dragon's Tooth, and it kicked everybody's ass. Finally after a few miles we made it down to Newport Road, where i thirstily drank some water from a stream before meeting with Lightning who had fallen a little behind and walking towards the hostel. About .2 down the road, we were picked up by the Dragon Wagon, a large van driven by Eddie who works at the Four Pines Hostel. And inside were Palindrome and Rabbit, who had made it an extra five or so miles to the next road crossing before getting picked up. They were already eating Popsicles from the hostel. We pulled in and were immediately greeted by Joe, the owner of the house whose giant garage he's converted into a hiker hostel, as well as Big Country, a 350 pound hiker, and WhoDat, a red bearded and heavily tattooed thru hiker who has been very kind to me. People were playing cornhole and drinking soda and having a great time. For a place with just a suggested donation, this place freakin rules. Free sodas and freezie pops! And a guitar! I saw Klaus, an Austrian I haven't seen since the day before Greasy Creek, as well as Patchy and Polar Bear! I played guitar for a while before we drove to the Catawba Grocery where I had two pulled pork sandwiches waiting for me and picked up just a few snacks to get me through the day and a half to Daleville, as well as some beer. We came back and stuffed our faces and hung out. It was a lovely evening sitting in a lazyboy and sipping ipa. WhoDat decided to make pancakes at about 10 pm and lots of folks joined in. Klaus and 76 were especially enthusiastic. Quixote says she's making them in the morning. This hostel is pretty amazing, and essentially free! I will leave a generous donation in the morning. Today was really tough and this was a great place to end up at. Happy 700 miles!