Date: 2018-06-04
From: 4 pines hostel

To: Tinker Cliffs
Miles today: 15.2

Last night's sleep was pretty hot in the hostel. I was still able to sleep though. Being on the top bunk didn't help with going to the bathroom. I eventually woke up and sat right back down on the couches in the common room. Pumpkin Spice had leftover pizza for breakfast. He offered me some and I gladly accepted. However, during the 3rd piece my body said no more. Maybe it's gotten to used to oatmeal for breakfast. In the hiker box, I happily found a new Sawyer water bag.  My original one started leaking a few days ago. We packed up and started loading into Joe's pick up truck. As Kazi and I were getting in, Joe moved the truck forward 10 feet. He knew we were trying to get in and we almost fell to the ground. I had heard that Joe had a temper, this morning was not his day. Kazi and hiked out from 4 pines. It was another 6 miles to Catawba. The terrain was super easy compared to the crawl up dragon's tooth. We arrived at the road to Catawba. HAM and Rolly were there. I heard about HAM since the beginning of the trail but haven't met him. Rolly I hadn't seen since Neels Gap about 700 miles ago.    I also saw Scetch's friend and his truck with the cooler in the back. I asked him if he had any drinks. He said only beer but I managed to get one. He was reluctant to give one away. Kazi managed to yogi one off of him too. We hung out for a bit drinking beer and eating snacks then headed out on the climb to McAfee knob.  It was a 4 mile climb up to McAfee. At the top a rock slab jutted out into the sky. From there you could see several miles into the valley below. A few hikers were eating lunch on the knob. I got pictures of Kazi hanging off the edge of the knob. She also Simba'ed Theo on the knob! I walked up to the edge and it didn't seem like the cliff fell that far off into the tree canopy. With my legs dangling off the edge Kazi got a pic of me. We hung for an hour eating lunch on the knob. A guy named Miss Roberts packed out a double cheeseburger for his knob pic. I wish I packed out one. I was on my last leg of food and got creative. I created a wrap with crunchy peanut butter, a Snickers bar, cheese it mix, and threw a cherry poptart on top for good measure. It was eatable and provided a good amount of calories for the rest of the day. I could have stayed there all day. The day was perfect after so many cloudy rainy days. From there you could also see our sleeping destination at tinker cliffs. The cliffs looked so far away yet it was only 5 miles.  Kazi and I hiked down from the knob on to the ridge that would take us to tinker cliffs. The was one water source right at the beginning and we had to carry extra water all 5 miles. The trail did follow the ridgeline but it wasn't too rocky. When we arrived at the cliffs we looked for Two Crows since he said he would be camping at tinker. He was all the way on the other side of the cliffs. We setup our tents close to the edge. My tent was 3 feet from the ledge. I made sure to stake it down. Luckily I don't sleep walk. We all hung out and ate dinner. I got a picture of Kazi and Theo looking off into the sunset. Kazi said she was thinking of Matt at the time I took the photo. The sun disappeared over the mountain and the sky turned a dark red. It was time for bed and the wind is picking up.Tonight I hope I don't fall off a cliff in my sleep.