We slack packed forward to Dalesville today. Eddie at 4-Pines hostel dropped us of at the trailhead at 7:15, and carried our gear to the Howard Johnson hotel. He grumbled quite a bit last night, since I was insistent on leaving at 7am. He wanted to leave at at least eight. I told him I was familiar with the route's terrain, that we hiked a steady 2mph pace and that we would be stopping for pictures at McAfee Knob. Grumble, grumble.
I was told after getting started that my SPOT wasn't blinking; I'd forgotten to turn it on. Fixed that and we took off uphill. The trail is good, the Knob is a popular spot and do the trail has been routed and groomed for day hikers.
We had a good time at the Knob; the family of thruhikers (Chocolate and her children) were there. Right Click and his daughter showed up. One of the Family's sons had a length of climbing rope and was tying himself to a tree so he could edge out over the cliff, Chocolate was worried as any mother would be. Crazy kid......
The trail runs right along the edge of the cliff off and on all day. It's rocky spine in some places, bouldering in others, flat trail in a few spots. And the ridge curves around the town of Daleville, teasing hikers with their destination all afternoon. And there are only two or three locations for water. My feet were seriously aching when I got to the road at 5:30pm. Snail and Co-Ed got to the HoJo hotel before I did and wanted to immediately go eat. I was exhausted and told them I wanted a shower first. I caught up to them at a BBQ place with SlowRide. Tucson came in a half hour later and we had a good dinner. We decided to zero Friday; Tucson thinks he'll need two days off trail. Co-Ed wants to make miles tomorrow as he has to leave June 3 for a wedding. I need to plan how to get to Waynesboro, there is very little town support between here and there.
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