Date: 2016-06-09
From: Four Pines Hostel

To: Daleville
Miles today: 18.0

6/9Salsa bumped me at 4:30 am and told me it was time to get up to see the sunrise. I was thankful she woke me up as I would have slept through getting up despite the fact an obnoxious rooster was already crowing outside.With a crowing rooster I knew I was running late so I grabbed my stuff and was out the door in a minute. Foxy had gotten up as well and he was ready to go which was good...he had a headlamp.We piled into the hostel van and Eddy drove us to the parking lot where my slack pack hike ended the day before. The sky was already starting to lighten up as night was surrendering into pre-dawn. We were running late and we had 4 miles of up hill to go before we arrived at McAfee Knob. I knew the race was on.Foxy gave me his headlamp and asked that I lead. The reality is I only needed the light for the first mile... Dawn was breaking that fast. We made the 4 miles in record time, but as we neared the top we started running into other day hikers coming down (I assume they arrived there early) as sunrise already hit!When we arrived at the top the place was deserted except for the worlds fastest Canadian hiker Lumbejack. We took pictures (which were decent in the early morning post sunrise dawn) and chilled. We may have missed sunrise, but by God I did 4 miles before 7 am and I was happy.The good news was that there were many views along the ridge to see all day. I stopped multiple times to look, take pictures and eat. I met a group of March thru-hikers (can not recall their names) and we chatted as I ate my lunch on Tinker Cliffs. About the my old friend Alastair appeared and eluded to the fact I yellow blazed to get ahead of him. We like to poke at each other. I explained how I arrived at my location without cheating on miles.The remainder of the day was hot and long. I hiked and chatted with Jessie's Girl for a while, but most of the day I was alone. As the day wore on I met many south bound weekend hikers on their way out. They were all concerned about where to camp as the main shelter in the area (Lambert's) is closed due to bear activity. It seems there is s big uptick in bear and snake sightings with the heat really hitting.I finally made it into Daleville and called Sherry Crumley. Sherry is on the NWTF board and is married to Jim Crumley. Years ago Jim pioneered hunting camouflage by developing Trebark Camouflage. The Crumleys live near Daleville and offered me a place to stay when I came through.Sherry picked me up at 3 Lil Pigs (a BBQ restaurant in Daleville) I drank a very cold beer with Alastair waiting for her.When we got back to their place I visited with Jim and Sherry and they fed me dinner. The Crumleys have bear on their land and Jim told me that they are rutting this time of year, this explains why hikers are seeing more. Jim mentioned that he had planted Sawtooth Oaks on his place and the deer and bear loved the acorns. I was sincerely interested in this as I plan on planting Sawtooth Oaks on our farm where the fire occurred last October. Jim agreed to show me his trees in the morning. It was late so Jim took me to their rental building (which is somewhat like a B&B) and gave me run of the place. I ran immediately for the shower and then fell into bed (nicest bed I slept in since I started my hike!). Today was a full day indeed.