Day 56: Is This Real Life?

May 26, 2017
7:30 Pm

Total Miles: 712

Day 55

Took it easy at the hostel this morning. There was alot of people bustling about and ready to hike from having taken a zero from the rain the day before. I took my time waking. There was coffee brewing and a gentlemen brought me a cup.

It was perfect. I took my nook out, rested against a chair in my sleeping bag and read.

My ideal morning.

After a while I started to move about and get things ready to pack. We didn’t end up doing laundry because well…. The wife never came up from the house and we didn’t want to wait all day for it. Plus. I had just done mine on Sunday. Three days of no wash.. Eh that’s not terrible. 😉

So we hung out our clothes and tents on a clothes line outside because the sun had actually decided to show its face!!

We headed out around one and took our time. We only had tenish miles we were trying to cover.

However. Today was a big day.

We were to reach McAfee Knob.

McAfee Knob. The most popular spot on the whole Appalachian Trail.

AHHHHHHHHH!!!

Just like I was for Max Patch… The anticipation was killing me. I was so excited!

This was an iconic spot. I have seen so many videos and pictures of this area whenever I would do my research/obsessing about this hike.

I felt like a little kid who runs downstairs at Christmas time to see what santa brought them. Except I was running up a hill for a view.

I think Planner was going to hit me upside the head. 😂

It was magnificent. It was gorgeous. It was more than I could of ever expected.

I was in awe.

It was amazing.

We were filled with glee.

Our time spent on the Knob was short filled.
The rain. The wonderful. The terrible. The frustrating. The rain. A storm was coming in and it started sprinkling.

Dang it!! I was looking forward to eating dinner up there but… What can you do?

at least I did get a view instead of fog and down pour right? 

Optimism is what will get me to the finish.. Least that’s how I have to think about it.

This was a spot I would love to come back to.

I am in love. With. this. adventure.

Pictures will never do it justice. 

Day 56

Woke up early this morning and was feeling good.

The first views I came across was the Tinker Cliffs. It was a span of maybe a half mile or so that kept bringing you out to open Cliffs so you could see back to Mcafee Knob and the beautiful mountains.

Yes… I kept going out on almost each opening. Even though it was all facing the same thing.

The weather was better than it has been in a while. I was hiking with a stupid grin on my face. Like I had just won the lottery or something. 

Bounding up and down the mountains feeling elated. This is just too cool I thought.

I sat out on a cliff for a Beautiful lunch.

Later I came across Hay rock. In the app that shows my GPS, What is coming up on trail, etc. etc. It said Hay Rock has beautiful views at top…If you are brave enough to climb it.

For real. This app is going to challenge me?! Bring it on.

So up I went. There was already 2 day hikers up there but they made room for me. And ok.. definitely worth it. It was beautiful.

We made it into Daleville but didn’t need to stay. We both had plenty of food and didn’t want to pay for a hotel room. But we still wanted to treat ourselves… So we stopped at the gas station and each bought a pint of Ice cream.

I ate the whole thing and some snickers after with no shame. Hiker hunger is real. 😂

After a little break we moved on. We had to cross a couple highways that were strangely busy. But at least they had hiker signs.

It was a little nerve wracking but fun trying to run across with heavy packs. 

We ended the day with 20 miles and I dove into some yoga that I haven’t been able to do because of the rain. It felt incredible.

I am laying in a good camp spot and my eye lids are heavy.

I feel blessed for such a great couple days. Hopefully the impending rain doesn’t change this feeling.

Iz and Oz