Wet with a side of damp and a sprinkling of mist

Taking a week off trail to spend time with family and friends around my birthday did my moral a great benefit. I spent some time in the Shennandoahs with my husband, mother, and sister. (Originally I had planned on being there by this point) The I went to lake Anna to celebrate with friends I hadn't seen in over two months at my Anual Bob Ross Paint Party.

To get back on trail, I was originally going to head out with a group of friends who wanted to join for a section, but the weather had other plans. We decided to waylay that trip for when it wasnt going to rain for a week and a half. So, I figured out I could get pretty close to where I got off by taking an Amtrak down to Blacksburg, Va.

My train departed at 5pm, so of course I got there at 2pm. That was way to early, but it gave me a chance to walkaround and explore union station. After living close to DC my whole life, I havent truely explored the Nations Captial yet. I will make a note to do that when I get back. It is interesting that traveling further from home has made me more interested in where I am currently.

I wait in the holding area after wandering the station and grabbing a smoothie. I keep checking my phone and the departure board to make sure I dont miss anything, but thats mostly my own anxieties. Still, I am glad to see my train on time and not 4 hours behond schedule like the one coming from Florida.

By 4:35 pm my train is called for boarding and I make my way down to the platform. Its my first time taking an amtrak since I was in kindergarten and my family road the auto train back from Disney. So I hop on a car with few people boarding it and make my way down the isle until I find a pair of empty seats. I didnt want to force anyone to sit next to a stinky, albiet clean hiker, against their will, but there were planty of open options. I throw my pack into the overhead and settle into my seat with my ticket ready.

The train ride goes smooth down the trains and we are only delayed for about 30 minutes to wait for a frieght train. Luckily, the connecting bus I am taking from Roanoke to Blacksburg is run by amtrak, so I know they have to wait for my train. After the bus ride and an uber to my hotel, I turn my light off by 1am.

The next morning I walk down to a local camping store and get another fuel canister(Amtrak doesn't allow them, something about not wanting explosions on trains) before I grab an uber back to the trail head. As we drive up the mountain roads out of Blacksburg, the rain ebbs and starts again, but by the time I get to the trailhead there is a lull. Still, i throw my pack cover on before heading up the mountain.

I am once again reminded how heavy my pack is at the beginning of a leg, but the rain/drizzle keeps me cool as I head up Bruisers knob and to Niday shelter for the night. My right knee gets tired and achy again, but at least I know the drill now, so I'm not too worried.

The next morning there is trail magic at the bottom of the mountain put on in memorial by a trail family (tramily) for two hikers that have passed. They had a whole breakfast set up and a dire going, which was nice on the damp morning. We had some good conversations about books we were reading, as I spend the majority of my day listening to audio books in one ear.

After leaving the trail magic, I had to cross a creek on foot cause the bridge was out. I was worried that the eater would be too high cause if all the rain, but i found that there were some good solid rocks laid across at a point that made it pretty easy. Thanksfully my feet didn't get soaked, though the rain the rest of the day too car we of that.

After going up and over Brush Mountain, I felt like I wss doing less hiking and more mud skiing/sledding. By the end of the day i had slipped several time, but my pack took most of the fall down rocks and steps, evodenced by the growing smear of red Virginian clay. Thankfully no major injuries. I was making my way up towards Dragons tooth when I found a nice site and decided to stop for the evening. I was glad I did the next morning.

Dragons Tooth is one of three points that make up what is called Virginia's triple crown with McAfee Knob and Tinker Cliffs. Over the next two days, I would hit the all three, but the rain in mist would continue. Thisnmade getting across the bald rock faces and scrambling up foot hikd even more fun. (Once again I was glad to do this section fresh) Leading up to the Dragon's tooth was mostly a knife ridge where either side leads straight down the mountian. Thanksfully with treking poles and careful placement, I made it to the tooth.

Growing up I had always enjoyed rock climbing, so when I so the Dragon's Tooth I knew what had tp be done. So after slinging off my pack and grabing a snack, I climbed to the top, being extra careful on wet rocks. The view from the top was greyband misty, a theme for this stretch, but still exhilarating. After climbing down and grabbing my pack I headed back down the mountain. This section made my right knee call it a day, so I had to change up my stride. Thankfully I had the hobble down from the last time and it didn't pain me too much. However l, the rocky trail was quite technical, so I made a slow pace.

I stopped for lunch and the sun came out as I ate along side a farm stream. It was nice to dry out a bit before heading up McAfee Knob. But as I headed up, the mist and rain rolled back in. It was pretty gloomy, but not raining as I stopped at the Catawab before the summit to refill my water. I would have stayed there and gone up for a sunrise view, but the rain was forcasted to continue and I didn't want tonhave to do more rock in the rain. So I headed up to the knob and had my dinner at the top. Unfortunately, the view was just gray mist, but that just means I'll have to come back later.

After dinner, I came down the mountian and set up camp at the campbell shelter. Doing about 14 miles on day 3 had me feeling good and I was hopefully my knee would be right as rain in the morning.

Day 4 I headed down the ridge line and up to tinker cliffs, still enveloped by the gray mist, but the trail was nice. Coming down from the cliffs more rain started and I had just accpeted that my natural state was being wet by this point. Thankfully my knee had worked its self out and wasn't bothering me anymore.

The way down to Daleville, Va crossed several power line cut throughs. Usally theres nothing to worry about, but two of these were the high voltage transmission lines. That couples with the rain and thunderstorms made the air around them feel charged. I could hear the hum of the cables and when I saw the warning signs about nit stopping due to possible discharge, I heeded them and hustled down. Unfortunately in my haste after I cleared the fields and looked back, the trail took me down a slippery mudslide once again.

I was worried about being covered on mud as I made my way into town, but no worries, It started raining again. But the time I walked off the trail and to my hotel I was drenched. Thankfully I had palnned on taking a zero the next day and boy did I need it.

Summary of Progress:

• Miles Completed: 52.6

• Total Miles Completed: 731.1

• Location: Virginia

• Weather: