Date: 2009-05-14
From: Pickle Branch Shelter

To: VA 311 (Catawba, VA)
Miles today: 12.6

Oh yeah! Today was spectacular! My 2nd favorite day on the Trail so far! (Goona be hard to beat the Max Patch snow adventure). And we are so lucky. Our original plan was to do 16 today and then 16 tomorrow getting into Daleville late Friday afternoon (tomorrow). Goof's Mom, Lynn, is flying into Daleville (Roanoke) on Thursday. So we decided to get off the Trail in Catawba instead, which would let Goof and his Mom spend all day Friday together. So that shortened our hike today to 12+ miles.....thank God!So we get up and out at 8:30 am figuring we can hike leisurely and get to Catawba around 3 pm. The very first part of the hike was up Dragon's Tooth. To picture how this terrain is, picture looking at a Dragon (or alligator) from the side and looking at it's bottom row of teeth starting at the molars in back and hiking toward the sharp pointy incisor. This was our hike up Dragon's Tooth. Up one tooth, down the other side, up the next tooth, down the other side, etc. And we did this for a couple of hours. With all the trees in bloom now, we have a hard time seeing the terrain ahead of us....so a couple of times we thought we were at "the peak", Dragon's Tooth, before we were actually there. We even took a long break and took pictures at a big rock overview we were convinced was Dragon's Tooth. After the break, continuing on, we finally come upon the actual Dragon's Tooth area....which is sooo evident once you are there + a sign that says so! What an awesome area. I wish we had known more about it....we woud have camped here. Awesome views.....huge rocks!Then the real fun began! The climb down Devils' Tooth was just plain fun....once again I'm 12-years-old. We had to climb down huge boulders on a steep face. We had to use feet, hands, butt, elbows, hiking poles....everything to get down these babies!! It was a blast....felt like a little kid playing on the rocks. I like God's plan, because if it had to rain on other days so we could have sunny and dry out today......amen! I would not have enjoyed today in the rain on slippery rocks trying just to "not die." This was my favorite section of hiking so far....as far as the actual hiking path goes.On the way down we got into a gap called "Lost Spectacles Gap", another great camping spot. All around us, all of a sudden, are tons of rhododendrons in full bloom.....gorgeous color. I hope we have some rhododendron tunnels coming up soon with them in full bloom!We then had another rock ridge to boulder across...more fun. Down into a cow pasture, complete with cows, and their new born calfs. And then back up on a pretty long ridge. Now we know we are going to be later than expected as the bouldering slowed us down significantly. Again, glad we shortened this day so we could enjoy the fun!Goof's Mom, Lynn, was going to pick us up at the A.T. road crossing. Well we hear Goof shout out ahead of us and we wonder what is up. Well Lynn had found the A.T. (not easy to do sometimes), and actually hiked south on the A.T. to meet Goof. So they got to hike the Trail a bit together as we hiked north to the van. Weird to think about it, but it had been over a month since any of us had been in a vehicle. Got to the hotel and immediately hit the showers.There are hikers all over the place here as it's a huge stopping point getting ready for Trail Days. That young group of hikers that I like so much are here and I got to visit with them a little and will see them at Trail Days. They'll actually end up behind us a bit when we all get on the Trail again, so they'll catch up and maybe pass us again on the Trail later on in a few days or so.We went out to dinner and it was nice having dinner with Lynn and getting acquainted with her. It rained very hard last night and it was so nice to be inside finally when the weather was bad! Great day today! Looking forward to a couple of relaxing days....so is my body!