Day 54: 6/2/16 (Virtual AT 2020 Day 61)

Overall, we had a pretty good day, even though we ended up soaking wet by the end of it.

The day began with a pretty strenuous hike up to Dragon’s Tooth, which is a giant stone monolith on top of a mountain. It was a pretty clear morning, and still fairly early so there was only one other hiker there with us, and we got some nice views. The climb down was even tougher, lots of scrambles down rock faces, even a few points where they drove steel foot holds into the rock so you could get up and down.

At the bottom of that mountain, we reached VA 624, the road we walked up to get to Catawba grocery, where we were able to get cold drinks, cheeseburgers, fries, and some extra snacks for tomorrow so we don’t arrive in Daleville completely famished.

After our excellent lunch, and getting a ride back to the trail from the owner of the Four Pines hostel, we had a little climb, followed by some more pasture walking. It’s amazing how the trail transitions between woods and pastures. After the last pasture was a steep climb up to a ridge. As we were walking along the ridge, we started hearing a bit of rain falling. We got our pack covers on just in time, because the sky opened up, and didn’t let up for a while. We probably hiked a good 2.5 miles before it started to slow. By the time we reached the parking area for McAfee Knob, my feet were soaked. Casey was able to slip into her Keen sandals and pack away her boots, so they’ll be dry for tomorrow. I will not be so lucky.

As we started the hike in to McAfee Knob, it started raining hard again. We took shelter at the first shelter we encountered, and began toying with the idea of just stopping there for the night. We had cell service so we were looking at the radar… and it didn’t look good. We really didn’t want to add the extra miles on our hike into town tomorrow, so when the rain slowed down a little bit, we donned our packs once more and moved add quickly as we could up to McAfee Knob.

The rain picked up in intensity almost immediately after we left the shelter. Any amount of drying that my feet and shorts began was negated. We hiked the fastest 2.7 miles to the top of McAfee Knob the I think we’ve hiked yet. And we lucked out. As we approached the top, the rain slowed, then stopped. The sun didn’t come out, but we were afforded the amazing views that McAfee Knob is known for. It’s one of those famous landmarks on the Appalachian Trail.

After picture time we made it down to Campbell Shelter without any more rain. There is supposed to be some more heavy rain tonight, so we’re sleeping in the shelter, which will hopefully also help us get a quicker start in the morning. I am unfortunately going to have to put on wet hiking shorts, and my boots will probably still be pretty wet, but it doesn’t matter. Tomorrow is a town day, and we’ve already got reservations for a hotel, and the hotel has laundry facilities.