Date: 2015-09-24
From: Catawba Mountain Shelter 

To: Trout Creek VA 620 and then to 4 Pines Hostel 
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 103 9/24/15From Catawba Mountain Shelter toTrout Creek VA 620 and then to 4 Pines Hostel for 15.9 miles.The day was clear and I wanted to make it over Dragons Tooth before the weather got bad so rather than walk to 4 Pines I decided I would hike o we the tooth and call from the next roadway. I was nervous about water because the shelter had none but I hoped to find some as I neared Dragons Tooth. When I made it to the road crossing at VA 624 there was a big parking lot and many day hikers getting ready to go up the knob. I asked one gentleman in a log home building truck if he new how far the nearest store was so I could get water and he offered to drive me there. The gentleman took me to the Catawaba General Store and back. We talked about his business and how he has done a lot of trail maintenance on trails in the area. I thanked for the ride and he went off to the knob and I to the Dragons Tooth. I met a few section hikers during the day. I also met up with a box turtle head south on the trail but even a little slower than I. We took some pictures together but then I keep going. For some reason today was another slow day but not as slow as the turtles. When I got to the summit of the Dragons Tooth I took a picture of the big rocks jutting towards the sky thinking BLT would think this was interesting. While at the summit I called 4 Pines and was told to call Eddie for a ride. Eddie told me that the shuttle from Trout Creek, where I was headed wwould be $18 round trip. I thought that was fair so I told him I would be there by 5 and headed out. While I was headed down the trail I saw a bronze lizard which I thought was a Eastern Swift. I made it to Trout Creek by 4:30 and waited for Eddie. Eddie showed up just before 5 in his Astro Van labeled the Dragon Wagon with flames and a dragon on the side. On the way back to 4 pines he offer to take me to the Home Place an all you can eat restaurant. I said he had another pick up so asked if I could go before going back to 4 pines and I said that was ok. I went to the Home Place which was a cool old restored farm house. For $15 you could get all you could eat. I reminded me of Wrights Chicken Farm in Rhode Island and needless to say I could only eat the initial portion (see pic). I called Eddie and he took me back to the hostel. I had passed a guy Northbound on Dragons Tooth by the name Thunder who was also at the hostel. The hostel was a three bay garage at the owners house with a bunch of beds in it. The linens on the beds looked like then hadn't been changed in a while so I opted to sleep in my sleeping bag. A while after I got to the hostel a woman showed up and asked to park at the hostel. The woman was supporting her daughter who was finishing a flip flop. The woman looked familiar and later the next day I realized I had sat next to her daughter and her at Galehead Hut in the White Mountains. The hostel was ok but nothing great and the kicker was there was no reception or wifi. I talked to Thunder during the evening, he was from Oklahoma and decided to get on the trail to sort a few things out. He was going to go as far as Waynesboro north and stop and continue the following year. I went to bed at dark and Thunder stayed up and chatted with Eddie.