Date: 2006-07-14
From: Pickle Branch Shelter

To: VA 311
Miles today: 12.6

Weather - Clear and warm, them cloud and coolerI was up by 5:00 a.m. and hiking by 7:45 a.m., wanted to beat the heat. If the heat gets worse, I will have to hike shorter days. The ridge to Dragon's Tooth was very rocky and slow going. Dragon's Tooth was on a blue blaze trail on the top of the ridge. Fog was moving in but I was able to get some pictures. The trail down from Dragon's Tooth was like climbing down a cliff with metal ladder rungs and all. Some places only had enough room for one shoe to fit. With a pack on your back, it was dangerous. I was more scared of falling than I have been of bears or rattlesnakes. It just sucked the energy right out of you. About 1/2 miles from VA-624, I ran into a dad with his kids hiking up to Dragon's Tooth. He said Frond and Azaria were at the Catawba Grocery store where I was headed to re-supply for a couple of days. When I got there, they were still there. Went in and got my lunch, a big sausage and roll, chips, pecan pie and coke in a bottle. Then sat outside and ate with Frond and Azaria. It was good to see them. They were making up signs to help them thumb a ride to I-81 then to Coverdale. They had left by the time I bought my groceries, repacked and headed north again.Crossing the fields over Catawba valley, I could see and hear a storm coming behind me. The wind picked up and the temperature dropped some. This was a good thing. By the time I reached the tope of the ridge, the storm had passed to the east of me and I did not get any rain. I had decided that if I got to VA-311 by 5:00 p.m., I would get a ride down to the Homeplace Restaurant to eat. It has family-style ALL YOU CAN EAT country cooked dinner with fried chicken, country ham, roast beef, potatoes, vegetables, biscuits, cobbler with ice cream, lemonade and ice tea.Just before reaching VA-311, I ran into a family with 3 cute kids, 2, 4 and 6 years old, coming up the trail to a view point. Showed them my gee-haw whimsy diddle stick. They asked me where I was headed and I told them Maine but today to the Homeplace Restaurant. They said they were going there after they went to the view point and told me to wait and they would give me a ride. I washed up a little and put on some non-smelly clothes. At the Restaurant, I went in and asked for a table for one and went outside to sit down when all of a sudden I heard someone yell, "Whimsey!" It was Frank and Jess. He also had his wife with him and his friend Dale. Dale was coming to hike with him and Jess was going home. She was sad that her one-month hike with her dad was over. We all ate together and had a great time catching up on everything that had happened since I saw them last. I saw them last at Pearisburg and they were always two days ahead of us. Jess said that she and her dad had a feeling that they might run into me today and they hoped it would be here. Trail magic is wonderful. It was almost 8:00 p.m. by the time we left and they offered to take me to Coverdale to a motel (and bring me back in the morning). This was an offer I could not refuse. More trail magic. Frank's wife said she thought they saw Frond and Azaria earlier in Coverdale and when we described them, she was right. Frank and Jess tried to find them but could not.