Day 18-Slack-Pack into Daleville 20 Miles

Day 18-Slack-Pack into Daleville-20 Miles

Today was going to be a great day. Joe Mitchell had graciously offered to take our packs 20 miles to Daleville so we could slack-pack once again. Overall, it was a great day due to discovering some of the most beautiful spots, McAfee Knob and Tinker Cliffs. We also had the pleasure of hiking with And Stuff, Hypsy-Gypsy and Oak most of the day. However, I did have some pretty wicked blisters that were acting up due to my new hiking boots.

Bad blisters courtesy of my brand spanking new boots

And Stuff, Rocky and Hypsy-Gypsy hanging out at Four Pines

Headed into Four Pines after a very long day

Soaking the feet

Preparing for an uphill battle

Getting water

Great river

Pretty Cool

Drink it in

McAfee Knob

Hypsy-Gypsy and Oak at Tinker Cliffs

Relaxing for lunch

Oak

Mountain Men

It's a bird it's a plane it's Oak's goofy idea

A little perspective 

Day 17 Still at Four Pines Hostel-6 Miles

Day 17 Still at Four Pines Hostel-Slack-Pack day 1

Well our original plan for today was to slack pack 6 miles, then get our packs and hike farther to the next shelter. Our plan quickly changed though when it started down-pouring on us during our slack pack. Embracing the rain made for a very interesting but eventful day. It was easy to be happy about the rain because we knew we only had 6 miles of it instead of a full day. We took it as a sign to stay another night and decided it was just another great chance to eat at the Homeplace.

Rocky and Pantry, "Are ya having a nightmare?"

After our wet hike

Homeplace round 2

Crammed in the back of Joe Mitchell's truck

Slack-Packing=AWESOME

A rattle snake we almost stepped on before Dragons Tooth

Day 16 Four Pines Hostel 16.8 Miles

Day 16 Four Pines Hostel 16.8 Miles

Today was another tough day. This stretch we had just hit was supposedly the hardest 70 miles of Viriginia and that was definitely what we were experiencing. We would go from 1550 feet up to 3100 feet and everything in between multiple times today and mainly on rough terrain of slanted rocks and boulders where you can't stand up straight without falling over. The biggest climb of the day would get us up to the Dragons Tooth which was pretty cool but by the time we got there we didn't really care. We just wanted to get down the mountain because we knew we were staying at Four Pines Hostel that night and there was an all you can eat restaurant called the Homeplace with our name on it.

The Homeplace with Pantry, Oak, Hypsy-Gypsy and a weird dude who didn't really hike

And Stuff makin moves on the food

Home style serving that's all you can eat

Rocky about to be in a food coma

The owner and operator at the Homeplace, and can you believe it we got to meet him!

Outside of the Homeplace

The Dragons Tooth, as you can see I just wanted to take a picture and get down the mountain to the Homeplace as quickly as possible

Dragons Tooth=HARD

Day 15 Niday Shelter 18.2 Miles

Day 15 Niday Shelter 18.2 Miles

Today was a pretty cool day, we passed through many fields and mountain tops as well as the largest oak tree on the Appalachian Trail this side of Harpers Ferry. It is called the Keiffer Oak and it is over 18 feet around and over 300 years old, that's a big tree.

The Keiffer Oak

Rocky taking down fences

This isn't where I parked my car

He's struggling

Open fields like this are great for catching some sun, usually we  are lucky to catch any rays

Day 14 War Spur Shelter 12.7 Miles

Day 14 War Spur Shelter 12.7 Miles

Today was a rough day. The morning started out nice as we were treated by orange and grape soda courtesy of the captain, but once we left there we were climbing. Our original plan was to go about 4 miles further to the next shelter but once we reached the War Spur Shelter, we felt we had done enough for one day. Especially since going to the next shelter consisted of a 2000ft climb. The past two days had left us both drained as were filled with multiple thousand feet climbs and descents. I think we both passed out around 7:30, even making dinner felt like a task.

Good trail

Our shelter with Just Dan

The Captain's

The Captain's, the guy in the green shirt told us about how he cooked a rattle snake in bacon grease a few days ago

Mike going across the "famously crazy" zip-line we had heard so much about

More great views

Day 13 Pine Swamp Branch Shelter 19.3 Miles

Day 13 Pine Swamp Branch Shelter 19.3 Miles

Today we headed out of Pearisburg. We had big miles on our mind but that didn't stop us from getting every minute out of the motel room we were staying. We finally headed out of town at about 11:30am and it was a beautiful day to hike, beautiful and hot. The day was filled was many climbs, going from 1600 feet to 3500 feet but our reward was great views and there were many. The day ended pretty great also because we thought we were going to have a shelter to ourselves for the first time. This didn't happen because our good friend Just Dan showed up and we were happy to have his company. We had a good fire going in the shelter and good company, overall a good day although very tough.

We ran into our good friends Lost Cause and Don't Know Don't Care when leaving Pearisburg

Urban Hiking

Rocky with his Dexter gloves on

Our first shelter with only one person, can't be any better than with Just Dan

Always nice to be able to see the trail and landscape ahead of you

Day 12 Zero Day in Pearisburg

Day 12 Zero Day in Pearisburg

Not too much to say about this day. It started with us having breakfast at the world famous Dairy Queen which was conveniently located right next door to our motel. Next we had some errands to run which included getting my new hiking boots from Bubba, a really nice guy that does shuttles and other things for hikers when he can. Bubba came through and delivered my boots to me and then took us to Wal-Mart where we picked up a few things we needed. Next it was off to the library where we would spend most of the day updating our blog. After hours in the library, we headed to Pizza Hut for dinner and then back to the room to relax before we hit the trail the next day.

New River leaving Pearisburg VA

Big Views