Hiking the Good Hike

4/22 Day 50 Pickle Branch Shelter to Pig Farm Campsite - 16.9 miles

     Started this morning with a long climb up to a rock feature called Dragon Tooth. It was a rocky climb and an even rockier careful decent. We continued at a good pace with Catawba Grocery, where we could get pizza and snacks, as motivation. We hiked on accidentally crossing the road that leads to Catawba Grocery without knowing it. When we got to the next road, the one we thought we needed, we met a man named Jerome from Wisconsin who offered to give us a ride. Still unaware of our mistake, we thought the store was only 0.3 mile away but we took him up on his offer anyway. We hopped in the car and down the road we went coming to a store that was closed. We drove on maybe a mile or two eventually finding Catawba Grocery and realizing our mistake. We thanked Jerome but he insisted we get what we need and he would take us back to the trail. We quickly grabbed enough food for one more day, a couple slices of pizza, and some pop and were on our way back to the trail. As we made our way back we saw Witchdoctor and Passover walking and trying to hitch. When Jerome realized they were our friends he decided he would drop us off and go back for them. We thanked him again and he took off back down the hill to help our friends. 

     We hung out at the parking area waiting for Witchdoctor and Passover to return and the rest of the gang started to show up. They had all gone to the store the right way. Before leaving to hike to McAfee Knob, Witchdoctor talked to his parents who were coming to visit and decided to wait there for them as they weren't far away. The rest of us hiked up to McAfee Knob planning to eat dinner there before moving on to a campsite. McAfee Knob is a rock outcropping with great views seeming to be popular among tourists and day hikers and is said to be the most photographed spot on the AT (though I wonder how this is measured). It turned out to be an awesome place. We had a great time there eating dinner, goofing off, and or course taking epic photographs. Just as the sun was setting we hiked on to the campsite and made our home for the night. Tomorrow we go to Daleville.

4/23 Day 51 Pig Farm Campsite to Daleville, VA - 15.5 miles

     We had all planned last night to go back up to McAfee Knob for the sunrise but when morning came only LDK and I were serious enough to get out of bed. We rushed to get there but it turned out we couldn't even see the sun due to the clouds. It was a nice morning hike regardless. When we got back to the campsite the rest of the group was starting to pack up. We had a nice ridge walk and then hiked along Tinker Cliffs. We stopped at Lambert Meadow Shelter for lunch and met Tanto a southbound section hiker. Witchdoctor caught back up to us slackpacking to Daleville to meet back up with his parents. 

     Before long we were on the homestretch to town where Witchdoctor's parents met us with cookies. We hiked in to where they were parked and they had a cooler full of Snickers, Mountain Dew, and Coke as trail magic. We killed some time there for a while waiting for the whole group to arrive and then made our way to the Howard Johnson hotel for the night. We had been told it was not a good place to stay but it seemed nicer than most places we had stayed. We took our showers and did our laundry and then headed to Three Little Pigs barbecue for dinner with Witchdoctor's parents. We had a nice dinner complete with complimentary banana pudding and Witchdoctor's parents ended up picking up the tab for our whole group. Tomorrow we'll resupply and get back on the trail looking forward to seeing our parents in a couple days. 

4/24 Day 52 Daleville, VA to Wilson Creek Shelter - 11.2 miles

     We woke up and headed straight to the continental breakfast. This was the first hotel where we had stayed offering complimentary breakfast so we were happy to enjoy that. We took our time getting out of the hotel and then headed to Kroger to resupply. It made me feel at home to shop at Kroger. When we walked into  the store we were reunited with our long lost friend Blue Moon. We hadn't seen him since our second day in the Smokies so we took some time to catch up.

     After our Krogering we hit up the Bojangle's for lunch. We were finally back on trail at 1:00 and the hike out of town was not pleasant. It seemed to take forever before we were back in the woods. We took a break at the Fulhardt Knob Shelter which was the 1/3 mark of the trail. We hiked on to Wilson Creek Shelter for the night where we pitched our tent. Most of our group was here but Ember and LDK had chosen to take a zero to remedy some feet issues. 

4/25 Day 53 Wilson Creek Shelter to Bryant Ridge Shelter - 20.8 miles

     Today was a short day time wise but a good day mileage wise. We were cruising as we began frequently crossing the Blue Ridge Parkway. The miles were coming easy. We broke for lunch at one of the scenic overlooks on the parkway and watched the traffic as they drove by staring at us like zoo animals. At this spot we said our goodbyes to Sparks who had to return home for work. 

     We took another extended break at Jennings's Creek swimming hole before moving on to Bryant Ridge Shelter. There was a group of section hikers already there but the shelter was huge so there was room for our whole group. We had a nice relaxing evening at the shelter. Tomorrow my parents and Cassandra's mom will meet us to visit for the weekend and they are apparently bringing food to the trail. We're looking forward to that.

Thanks for reading,

Moose