Days 46-51

The stretch between Pearisburg and Daleville was magical, difficult, bittersweet, rewarding, and surprising.  

Let's start with losing my camera. I realized I left it at the hostel too late to do anything about it. I was well underway on the day's hike and had no phone service to see about getting back to the hostel somehow. Luckily I knew Chief, who was a day or two behind me, was headed there. Also, he was already planning to meet up with Lost & Found and me in a couple days to bring her missing croc back and then to give her a ride to Roanoke. After a couple days of missed calls, texts, and frustrations, we finally worked it out.My camera was safe in Chief's hands and I would get it back shortly.  

I say these 5 days were magical because I was in some pretty incredible places. Dragons Tooth, McAfee Knob, Tinker Cliffs... This certainly lives up to the hype. It was also magical in part because, and this may not make sense, of how difficult some of the days were. The heat and rocks joined forces to halter my progress and wear me out. At one point during a water stop, I fell asleep during conversation with Lost and Found, waking to discover I had taken a 15 minute power nap. It was so needed. We rarely ended up where we had hoped to for the night. But where we ended up was so much better. We saw some beautiful sunsets we would have missed and learned that taking time in the afternoon for a nap is quite enjoyable. 

Bittersweet comes in the form of Lost & Found's departure. She already had plans for most of July and will later head to Maine to finish her hike by going southbound. It was great having a hiking buddy, and it's hard to believe we travelled almost 330 miles together. It was strange seeing her jump in the car with Chief and take off. Exciting adventures await around the corner! Looking forward to seeing you in New England sometime in a couple months!

Speaking of Chief, I hadn't seen him in almost 430 miles. It was so great catching up.

After they drove away, I made the climb to McAfee Knob. I spent the night there where I saw a few fireworks (it was July 3). I headed to Daleville the next morning. I ended up taking a zero day (day with zero miles hiked). It was my first zero since Hot Springs, nearly 4 weeks and 460 miles ago. My body certainly needed the rest, so I spent the rainy day at a fabulous coffee shop and at a brewery. Perfect way to zero!