Date: 2019-03-29
From: Campsite at mile 689.6

To: Pigs Farm Campsite 
Miles today: 24.6

Day 41 3/2924.6 miles to Pigs Farm Campsite I came up with a new concept today. Most people associate Type 2 fun with an event that might have been terrifying while you¢re doing it but memorable and fun in retrospect. Traversing steep snow fields while hiking the John Muir trail where a slip could result in an injury or death comes to mind.What if what you did could never be considered fun but it¢s something you did that pushed yourself beyond what you every thought you were capable of. This was my experience with the Dragon¢s tooth section and I call it Type 2 Adventure. I hated it at the time and never will consider it fun but I will always remember it and I¢m sure it will be at the top of my list of AT stories. I had the honor of visiting the Audie Murphy memorial this morning. It is a wonderful memorial to an American hero. When I reached the memorial I was so overcome with emotion that I had to sit down on the bench and collect myself. I am a Navy Veteran and I feel a close connection to all the service men and women who have sacrificed their lives to protect our freedom. After a salute to the flag and a prayer for the fallen I was off on what would ultimately be the hardest and sketchiest hike thus far. After some easy hiking I started the climb up a well graded trail that brings you up to a long ridgeline that will eventually lead to a side trail that takes you to the Dragon's Tooth rock formation. It was hot and the trail doesn't have a water source. I should have refilled my one empty water bottle in the nasty looking road side stream before I started the climb, but I had a full bottle, the trail had been easy so far and I thought that there would be a better water source further up. I had no idea that I was in for a grueling long waterless stretch. My grandson would call me a Noob.I was psyched to see this Dragon's Tooth.  I even made up a story to tell my grandkids on a video about how a dragon lost a tooth and the tooth fairy came to collect it but it was too heavy for her to carry away. She tried getting all of her fairy friends to help but they still couldn¢t budge it. So she turned it to stone so that the evil witch couldn¢t take it and use it¢s magical powers. By the time I got there I was too dehydrated and tired to give a rat¢s you know what about the tooth or my story. I hiked down the side trail far enough to see perhaps a dragon¢s molar. l took a picture and headed back to the AT. The approach to the dragon¢s tooth was child¢s play compared to the decent. It¢s the kind of trail that would be great fun with a daypack filled with snacks and water. It was almost terrifying in spots descending with a heavy, unwieldy backpack. It had metal rungs anchored into the rock, steeply sloped ledges with footpaths no wider than a small boot, and drops that I had to scoot down on my butt. I can¢t see how this section could be safe in the rain. But I haven¢t heard of any injuries or fatalities here so I guess it works out. Even after I got past the sketchiest sections the trail kept throwing obstacles in my path. I checked Guthooks to find out how much farther I had to descend and noticed a hostel located close to where the trail comes out on the road. It was only 1pm but I was dehydrated and beaten down. I was seriously considering calling it a day I would call the Dragon Tooth section a Type 2 Adventure. It would have been fun if I didn¢t have a backpack on and I wasn¢t dehydrated. I had cell service when I got to the road. I refused to wimp out so I called the hostel to see if they sold drinks. The closest spring was 2 miles away.  The owner gave me 2 great bits of information: there is a mini mart ¢ mile to my left and the hike up to McAfee Knob is a piece of cake. I replenished my energy with some chocolate milk ,an ice cream sandwich and my secret weapon a bag of 12 mini doughnuts. I rehydrated with and filled my bottles with Gatorade. Feeling like a doughnut powered superhero I continued my hike reaching McAfee Knob around 7pm and the Pig Farm campsite a little later. By the way I didn¢t see any pigs or remnants of a farm. Happy hiking, Silver Streak