John and Mike Take a Hike ~ with Natalie!: Day 60 (Wednesday, June 11th)

View from Tinker Cliffs, mile 713.5

Today's Miles: 16.30
Trip Miles: 714.60

The first 700 mile marker

I got up at 5:25 and by 5:30 was headed to the store off of Newport Rd. There isn't much water on the trail so we wanted to pick some up. I grabbed some honey buns for breakfast and hiked the half mile back up to the camp site. A nice one mile warm up.

I was feeling better this morning and by 6:30 I was on my way with the kids not far behind. Some pleasant hiking along a creek with birds singing and the sound of the water rushing by. As they have for the last few days, the forecasters are calling for rain, but the early morning was beautiful. There was a small bridge to cross and someone had made a 700 mile marker of pine needles, pretty cool.

Here come the brats

I walked from the creek onto some open pasture; cattle grazing and grass as high as my waist. I crossed a quiet country road and stepped over the stile into another pasture. Suddenly, I felt like I really wanted Mike and Natalie to see all this with me; so I climbed back over the stile and headed south. About a half a mile back I saw them coming towards me through the field. We got some nice pictures and they told me about a steer that was blocking the trail and wouldn't move. As payback we decided to have beef stroganoff for supper.

Back on the trail we found a stone 700 mile marker. I think the confusion is caused by the new trail outside of Pearisburg. We grabbed some pictures there too. Now our attention was on getting to McAfee Knob about seven miles away. As predicted there was no water along the way, but when we got to the parking lot at Va.311 someone had left bottles as trail magic. Thanks! From the parking lot there was a climb of 1000' to the 3,197' summit that seemed to take forever.

Goat on McAfee

We had met Goat again in the parking lot still talking about going to his sister's in D.C. I talked him into at least climbing up to McAfee. I said you may never get
the chance again. I got ahead of M and N who stopped at one of the shelters on the way up and Goat was right behind me as we headed to the top. He was glad he made the trip. I got some pictures of him on the ledge. He said he'd go to Daleville and decide what to do.

The kids got to the Knob and we took all the necessary shots and had some lunch. We then headed out for Lambert's Campsite. There were some nice views along the way. The second big climb of the day had several false summits. There was an amazing payoff though at Tinker Cliffs where we could look back at McAfee. It's always cool to see how far we've gone in an afternoon.

A quick hike down from there brought us to Lambert's Shelter where we got our water from a small creek. Goat, from Merrimack, was there and Wicked, from Portsmouth, Grizzly Bear from Maine, Mike and I from Massachusetts, and poor Natalie as the only non New Englander. We gabbed for a bit then moved a little further down the trail to the campsite. We three were the only ones there. We set up camp and ate. The beef stroganoff was great!

We made a fire and were sitting out talking when the rains finally came. Not only rain, but thunder and lightening too. We moved to the tents and are listening and watching the show nature is putting on. Glad we're not hiking in it, but happy that the springs and creeks will fill up.

A difficult but awesome day. Bye for now.

WOW!!! After an intense flash of lightening that turned everything white, there was a thunderclap so loud that it shook the tent, the ground, and my confidence to the core. The loudest natural sound I've ever heard! WOWZA!!!!