Date: 2015-06-16
From: Daleville, VA

To: Daleville, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

We are now in Daleville, VA and have hiked over 700 miles on the AT! Check out the pictures, including those from McAfee Knob, the most photographed place on the AT.Here are the updates since the last post:- The temperature continues to rise and the humidity is not going away either. It was 94 degrees F around 5-6pm both yesterday and today and the forecast shows no sign of cooling down. In addition, we just hiked a section with few water sources and, because of the heat, several streams were dry making the situation even worse.- We have seen so many deers since leaving Pearisburg! We have also seen two small bears, who promptly ran away thankfully. - I had a very interesting nature "spa" experience... While soaking my feet in a shallow pond near one of our campsite, a dozen small fish came to eat away the dead skin away from under my feet! It tickled a little bit, but I came out of there with soft feet!- We stayed at two very hiker friendly hostels, Woods Hole Hostel and Four Pines Hostel. Woods Hole is located on a farm with a beautiful historic log cabin. The owners cooked delicious meals featuring many ingredients from their farm. Four Pines is located in a 3-bay garage and offers a good place for hikers to unwind and socialize. They also shuttle hikers to the Home Place, a local favorite for family-style southern cuisine. The food there was so good that we went back the next day for an early lunch before getting back on the trail!- Even though we are slow hikers, we still see many other thru-hikers on the trail. These people either started several weeks after us or had to get off the trail due to social commitments and/or injuries. The hiker bubble is getting smaller and more spread-out but it is still there!- I was very excited to meet two other hikers from Quebec, Freedom Fry and Peaceful Warrior. They are well ahead of us now, but it is always nice to meet people from home .- We also met Scott Jurek, an ultra-marathoner who is attempting to break the speed record for a supported AT thru-hike. He arrived at the Rice Field Shelter, just outside Pearisburg, while we were taking a break. He was really nice, talked with us for a short time before heading back on the trail. It was great to met him in person!- Some of the other hikers we met included Deja-Vu, Nose Blind, Walkie Talkie Nightingdale, Regular Goat, Ziggy, Hawk Eye, Trash Bags, Vanilla, Grip, Note, Damp Dan, Detective Friday, Finn, The Law, Bernard and his dog Sheila, Moxa and her dog Guiseppe, Coyote, Sunshine, Raven and Hammer Time.- In case you were wondering why we went to Pearisburg twice, my back was bothering me so we took a shuttle there early for a zero day and hiked through the town two days later. My back is feeling much better now.- We did some yellow blazing (driving instead of hiking). The first time was accidental since our shuttle driver dropped us off at a trail head 1.8 miles ahead of where we had left off (from VA 606 to Dismall Fall). The second time, we decided to skip 5.9 miles of trail in order to avoid having to hike 16 miles in 90+ deg heat in a section of trail where camping was limited. In terms of accounting, I have included the yellow-blazed section in the mileage above so that my cumulative mileage matches landmarks and made notes in the text.