Date: 2023-05-31
From: VA-620/Trout Creek

To: VA-311/Four Pines Hostel
Miles today: 13.8
Weather: clear sky

We slackpacked almost 14 miles, but by the end I felt like we did 20. Since we cooked dinner last night, I didn't really get to relax much so I think that may have played a part.We did skip a section of the trail though. At the very beginning of where we would have started today (where we ended yesterday) there was a creek that used to have a bridge crossing. Well, it got washed out three years ago and because of all the rain the past few days, we didn't want to risk crossing it. There was a detour, but it was along a road that people fly down, so this morning we just had the shuttle driver take us to where the detour ended. It cut about 7 miles out, but I don't care.However, I did do the first part of the so called Virginia triple crown. There are three "must see" points of interest along the trail in Virginia that every hiker should see. The first, which I saw today, was Dragon's Tooth. It was pretty cool, but I think it was a little misnamed. It should have been called Dragon's Teeth or Dragon's Mouth because there was several large rocks that looked like a tooth.The hike up wasn't too bad, but the hike down got pretty sketchy in places. It was very rocky, very steep, and often times the trail was very narrow. There were spots where you had to walk along the rock face on another part of the rock that was less than the width of your shoe. And it was like a six or eight foot drop if you fell. I think this also had an effect on how tired I was by the end. After we finally got to the bottom, we still had about 8-9 miles left in our hike.It's probably going to be worse tomorrow. Pacer and I are going to get up at around 3am and get on the trail by 4am so we can get up to McAfee Knob for sunrise. Then we'll hike another 16 miles into Daleville. McAfee Knob and Tinker Cliffs are the other two attractions of the triple crown, so we'll knock those out tomorrow. Tonight I'm staying at the Four Pines Hostel. It's a three bay car garage that has been converted into a bunkhouse. It's not terrible, but the layout isn't great. There are about 6 double bunks on one side, several couches scattered in the rest of the section, and a kitchen area. They don't do reservations. When I called the owner basically said if you show up, we'll find room for you. That's actually really awesome of them, but they can get crowded as a result and they only have a single bathroom with a shower. They have two privies that are outside up a slightly steep cliff. So all in all, it's not the best hostel I've stayed in, but it's still a bed and a warm shower so I'll take it.Breakfast: The rest of a fruit tray and some chocolate milk.Lunch: Cold leftover lasagna from yesterdays meal and some garlic bread. The lasagna was pretty good cold, but the bread was pretty soggy.Recovery: Some chocolate milk from a gas station and a banana.Dinner: The hostel makes dinner and today's meal was... drumroll... lasagna. So, I had lasagna for dinner yesterday, lunch today, and dinner today. Today's was good, but I liked the one we made yesterday better. Today's had mushrooms and some other things I'm not crazy about.Dessert: Peach cobbler with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I had also bought some Hershey Dulce de Leche ice cream at the gas station, so I ate that also.