Saturday, May 30th - Up at 5:45, clear but chilly - 46 degrees - with a gentle breeze. Still pretty humid, and the stuff we left out overnight did not noticeably dry, so another day starting out in wet clothing. Since we tented (up the hill from Pickle Branch Shelter), and had various items hanging out, it took a little longer than usual to get going, but we finally left at around 6:30. Ran into Criqui just as we reached the access trail from the shelter, and so he joined us for a couple of hours. He had reached the shelter about 45 minutes after we had last night, but rather than camp he just slept on the picnic table instead; lucky for him it didn't rain.
The breeze picked up as we got back to the A.T., and it was clear that the long-awaited front was pushing through. Today's hike took a roundabout course to get to an unusual rock formation, the Dragon's Tooth , a spire of stone about 50 feet high at the end of a ridge. It was interesting, but the trail leading to it and then (especially) past it was probably the most challenging and actually dangerous section that we had faced on the trail to date. At various points we were basically "rock hopping;" at others we were climbing down rungs in the face of the rock, and at still others we were very carefully picking our way across thin ledges over a 25 foot drop. [Criqui and another hiker "Witness" left us behind pretty quickly once we passed the Tooth, and we also met various hikers coming up - the Tooth is sort of the Old Rag of Roanoke.] It was exhausting work for Mark and I, and took over 2 hours to make less than a mile - hard work and a long way out of the way to go see a rock formation!
Continuing on, a lot of ups and downs today, nothing super-tough, but a couple of pretty stiff climbs, especially after lunch. Water was also a bit of a concern (again), as the only creek we passed was running brownish and had lots of leaf debris in the current. Another consequence of all the rain from the past 5 days. We finally reached another stream that seemed better than anything else we had seen, and grabbed a liter each there - good thing, as there was nothing available for the rest of the day's hike. After traversing about a mile of pasture (and staring down a half a dozen Angus cattle, and traversing about 8 cattle guards, including one that was electrified (how very exciting!)), we climbed the last ridge of the day, many ups and down and more rock-hopping along the ridgeline spine, more tough going. We had to turn around one group that was looking for McAfee Knob (a rather famous scenic area here); they had come south off the parking lot instead of north, and so were about 5 miles wrong. Not positive they believed us, though....
We reached the parking lot at Rt. 311 at 2:55, where Mark's mom and aunt (Essie) were already awaiting our arrival. So just under 13 miles for the day, but (honestly) a pretty tough day nonetheless. We laid some blankets on the back seat to minimize fouling her car, and quickly left for Aunt Essie's house in Cave Spring, about a 20 minute drive. Once we arrived, we immediately emptied our gear on her back patio, which was still in bright sunshine, and I took the opportunity to hose out my boots, orthodic inserts, rain gear, and several other items that were distinctly "reeking." Then a very badly needed shower. After a break for some drinks, we later did our laundry, set out the GPS "Spot," and sent Pete about half a dozen photos from my camera, dating all the way back to Trail Days (while we were relaxing on the porch). I also called Joe at Casual Adventure and ordered a replacement hipbelt and shoulder straps for my pack, to be picked up in about 3 weeks when I get to Harpers Ferry (and take a couple of days off). A groundhog and some bluebirds kept us company while we were on the porch.
Eventually we headed off to dinner at Country Cookin', a combination buffet and menu restaurant (order entrees off the menu; everything else was all-you could eat off the buffet). We also hit a CVS to grab some Liquid Skin and other blister bandages for Mark's feet - either his feet have widened, his boots have shrunk, or the inserts have expanded from all the wet, and so he is getting a sizable number of blisters (this is the first time either of us have had this problem). Back at the house, I was unable to log onto my email account, so I ended up calling Marco and asked him to re-set my password. Also discussed a few other minor house issues, including a sizable tax bill from Arlington County - apparently my new mortgage company did not pay the taxes out of my escrow, so something else to figure out and fix in absentia. Hmmmmm....
Mark bandaged his feet, and determined that his current boots were just not going to work anymore, so we'll be buying new boots tomorrow somewhere. Bed around 9:30; Mark watched a bit of the latest Nationals loss, but I fell asleep pretty quick. A good day, but the long side-hike to the Dragon's Tooth really took it out of us.
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