Date: 2010-05-11
From: Niday Shelter

To: Catawba Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 24.7
Weather: moderate rain

Heard the rain start sometime in the early morning. A bit of thunder. Not much, just enough to let you know the rain was there. With rain not expected, hopefully it will end as the day warms and the air's capacity to hold moisture expands.Well, it did not stop. On and off all day. A definite correlation with the higher the elevation, the harder the rain. If the day clears, my goal is to go up and over McAfee Knob. To me, this is one of the prettiest overlooks in Virginia. At the knob is a rock cropping that is said to be the most photographed spot on the AT. It is a right of passage for a thru hiker to go to the edge and swing their feet over the valley. If the clouds and fog persist, then I will stop just short of the knob.The rain never did stop. Not hard, just enough to keep the rocks wet. Today we had Dragon's Tooth, a very sharp rock cropping that required the hands to help maneuver around the edges. At parts, you had a 40-50 foot drop off. If you lost your footing and fell, this is a spot where you could die. If not death, you would end up totally messed up. It made me think of the man I passed yesterday. A blind man is attempting a hike of the AT. I understand he has skipped a few small sections. He is hiking with another man who, I guess, is helping him with a documentary of his hike. The Dragon's Tooth is one part he may want to skip. Time will tell.One thing I did notice is that I think the final climb over Dragon's Tooth was rerouted. Now it is a blue blaze to the top. I will check this out when I get done, but I think I even saw the path down that was removed. In either case, the climb down was still the most difficult rock climb so far. The rain and wet surfaces did not help.The original plan was also to go to Catawaba for an all-you-can-eat buffet if I arrived at VA 311 early enough. However, last night I was told it was only open Thursday through Sunday. With today being Tuesday, it would be closed. As it turned out, that was good. When I hit VA 311, it was on a blind corner both ways and the cars used it more as a raceway than a road. There was probably 8-10 seconds from the time you saw the car to the time it passed you. No way would I walk a mile each way down this death road. And a hitch would be hard with such a short stopping space. A total skip.With the fog still present, I opted to pull up short in hopes that the weather would clear for McAfee Knob and Tinker Cliffs. Still a 24.7 mile day, but I would have been up for the extra 2.4 miles to the next shelter. The view will be well worth the wait if it clears.Arriving at the shelter at 5:45, I found myself all alone. Very odd. The last shelter was also empty. It looks like 3 Bear moved on to the next shelter. About 6:30, another hiker came in. Just the two of us in for the night.The fog came in and out for the rest of the time we had light. No fire, but that is OK. Talked a bit with my shelter companion. He is a physician. It seems he is just retired and not going back to work, at least as a physician.Pretty much in bed at dark. No hurry tomorrow. Will leave when I leave. With just under 18 miles, I'll be done between 2:00-3:00.Even with a 24.7 mile rain day, the hiking was good. The tread was mostly good and the climbs were not so bad.All-in-all, another good day.