Date: 2014-04-30
From: Newport, VA

To: Dalesville, VA US 220
Miles today: 51.0
Weather: moderate rain

Day 49: Wednesday, 30 April 2014 Newport (671.0) to US 220 (724.0)The MUM here, briefly. I am in posession of Buffalo's journal through May 2nd. He didn't have time to do the typing up of his hand-written journal, but I told him I would do that. I also have PHOTOS! It will take me a while to go through the photos and choose ones to download to his journal. But I will get his journal updated. And now that he's seen and read my postings from phone conversations, he may be more amenable to my detailed questions and needed time for note-taking!But now, for his Day 49 Journal Entry:Water is just dripping from trees as I pack up from my tidy little camp (at the ridge before Cove Mtn.). I crossed rocks early on - so glad I didn't night hike! [He was thinking of pressing on last night but with wet feet with hot spots and a dying headlamp, rocky terrain (duh!) and possible views coming up, he chose to stay put.]Came to Dragon's Tooth - cool, but socked in with fog. The climb down from the Tooth was a crazy rock scramble. So glad I am young, immortal, and invincible! There were bars in the rock to help with climbing. It felt like I was doing actual "down climbing", [Mum thinks that's the term for climbing down a rock face after having free-climbed up.] and it's still wet! Don't know how the older folks do it! [And he told me that it was a good thing that I DID get off the trail!] Saw one other thru-hiker, Midnight Sparkle.Made it to McAfee's Knob, the iconic rock outcrop that people sit on at the edge and dangle their feet off. I climbed up and took a few pictures but there was no "scenic view" due to fog. I'm having hot spots from wet socks, so I dried my feet, ate everything in the food bag except 3 bars and gatorade, changed socks and off I went. It got humid all of a sudden! [Welcome to the East Coast, Buffalo!]I pushed on to Tinker Cliffs. The clouds finally broke, at least in the valley, and the view was incredible! It was an epic 1/2 mile walk along a rocky cliff. [That must have reminded him of his Mum and he] called Mom! It was about 4pm and I thought I'd be at HWY 220 in Dalesville by about 7:30-8pm. That's 4 hours to do 10.5 miles. Fortunately it was mostly downhill and super smooth. I filled up on extra strength Gatorade "sludge", downed my last bar 5 miles out and powered on. The sun broke through the clouds just before it set.The trail ended in a parking lot and as I ran up to my parents, Chena and Mac were the first ones to see me! [I tied a sign to a tree with yarn that said there was Trail Magic in the parking lot. I think he recognised it as my handwriting and took it down.][We had two thru-hikers come off the trail to find our Trail Magic. There might have been three but I hadn't put up the sign yet, and the first hiker just about made a bee-line from the trail head on the south side of the 4-lane, across the highway to the Pizza Hut! After the sign went up, Smudge came out of the woods and looked in our direction. He came over and had a soda and a kiwi. Chatted for a while, telling him we were waiting for Guy on a Buffalo. Talked about the Pacific Crest Trail; he's thinking of doing that in the near future. He was particularly interested in hiking the dessert and how much water to carry. He was waiting for his friend, Boomer, both of whom are college students in Virginia, but Smudge took off.A little while later, another guy came off the trail, looking in our direction. "Want a soda or chips?""No thanks. Already had too much junk food!""Are you Boomer?""Yes! My reputation preceeds me!""Your friend Smudge was here. Would you like some fruit?" That caught his attention and he took an orange. Said he was from Atlanta; Smudge is from Richmond. No sooner did Boomer take off and he found Smudge.]Got a cabin at Lynchburg KOA and had chips and soda for dinner. [That was Buffalo's ending to the day. Here's mine.]We hugged and Buffalo greeted the dogs, who were jumping all over him. It was about 8pm when we left the trail head, with about an hour's driving to the Lynchburg KOA, where we reserved an 8-person cabin! It got dark quickly and the road was rather windy, taking us a bit longer to get to the KOA, arriving a little after 9pm. We had "chips and soda" for dinner because it was too late to try to find "town" at this hour. We got all our stuff in, found the bathrooms, took the dogs out one last time, then talked till after midnight!It feels so good to have my little family together!The Mum and....