Date: 2019-06-14
From: Johns Spring Shelter (VA)

To: Lamberts Meadow Shelter (VA)
Miles today: 9.4

It seems that almost every trail journal I¢ve read, there¢s this one day that the hiker gets to the shelter they were aiming for that day at noon and they decide that maybe they should just keep going. I am beginning to think that day will not come for me. Granted, yesterday was a big day. Not only was it one of the longest days we¢ve had so far, my phone says I climbed the equivalent of 182 floors. This is the most we¢ve done in one day since 5/20 when we did 161 floors (my average in April before I started hiking was 16 floors per day). Anyway, we had a big day yesterday, and I was up at 6:30am, but we didn¢t start hiking until 9:30. By that time the trail was beginning to fill with day hikers on their way to McAfee Knob.In fact, some people were already on their way back down. SC said she was awakened at 3:30am by some hikers probably trying to get there to watch the sunrise. One family stepped aside to let me pass. I thanked them, and someone said, ¢Well, we don¢t want to break your stride.¢ Great, now guess what song was in my head the rest of the day. The good news is that I actually passed some hikers today. Of course they were day hikers who looked (and smelled) like they were not accustomed to this whole hiking thing, but still it was nice to be the one passing for a change. I actually passed the turn-off to McAfee Knob. I showed up at this overlook and a trail maintainer I talked to earlier said, ¢Have you already been to the Knob?¢ Um, apparently not? I walked back and found SC already there. We hung out and took lots of pictures. Several people were up there with their dogs which made SC¢s day. However, we were now only 2.7 miles into our 9.4-mile plan and it was already 12:30. We eventually got back on the trail and headed to today¢s other big attraction: Tinker Cliffs. But first we would have to do 3 big climbs. They were not real long climbs, but I had gotten accustomed to having switchbacks or steps (or both!) for steep climbs. This is where I most distinctly experienced my lack of trail legs. I feel like the steps I¢m taking are so small that I¢m practically going backwards.Anyway, after climbing what seemed to be forever, we finally reached the cliffs. Apparently from here you can see Dragons Tooth and McAfee Knob. I couldn¢t make out those landmarks, but the view was incredible. We sat in the sun and got a little sunburned. I finally decided to keep going to the shelter and SC followed a little later. It was 1.6 miles all downhill, and fortunately for my knees, there were switchbacks for this section. We had stayed in a shelter by ourselves last night, and had met up with a couple of thru hikers who were heading into the next town tonight, so we weren¢t sure if there would be anyone at Lamberts Meadow. However, there was a guy sleeping in the shelter when we arrived, and we met a couple more while getting water. As we got settled in, several more people arrived. There¢s a nice mix of thru and section hikers. Apparently there¢s something called the Triple Crown Loop (Dragons Tooth, McAfee Knob, and Tinker Cliffs make up the Virginia Triple Crown) that a number of them are doing. When the sleeping guy wakes up we do some talking. He started in early March but just got back on after taking a month off (I don¢t remember the reason). I bemoan my lack of trail legs. He tells me he didn¢t get his until day 40. That gives me some hope as this is day 28 for me. Anyway, I decided to get ready for bed. I try to be somewhat discrete when changing into my sleeping clothes, so I decided to find a place away from the shelter where I can pee and change into the pants I sleep in. As I am walking away from the shelter and toward the trail, I hear something in a tree above me. At first I think it¢s a squirrel, but then I look more closely and it¢s too big and black to be a squirrel. I run back to the shelter and tell SC and the guy who had been sleeping that there¢s a bear!  They both run out to see and they confirm, yes, that¢s a bear. We watch for a while and figure out it¢s actually 2 bears!  We stand out there watching the tree for probably a good 20 minutes until it gets to dark to see anything. Now we¢re back at the shelter. The sleeping guy took a hit of weed and is now asleep. SC and I are on our phones. I hope I can get some sleep.