Project Eveningland

4/23/2023 Sunday

We weren’t at the bottom of the creek valley, but we were close enough for a cool, cool morning. Today we will leave the 600s, a threshold Wedge has been eager to achieve.

I can’t fully remember the theory behind why the 600s—the trail between 600-700 miles—heralded such a danger, but I get the fear. Fresh Ground, an excellent cook and famous trail angel, told Wedge a while back that this is the part of the trail where you see physically strong hikers leaving the trail for non-physical reasons. It’s where the Virginia Blues really kick in.

We walked up gentle switchbacks, which seem to have been intentionally de-rocked, until we reached the profoundly rocky and jagged ridge preceding Dragon’s Tooth. The tooth is a famous rock outcropping that is the first part of the Virginia Triple Crown (three outstanding landmarks with magnificent views all within a few miles of each other: Dragon’s Tooth, McAfee Knob, and Tinker Cliffs). McAfee is the most famous. Everyone gets a photo there. I’ll attach mine from 2021.

I went on my very first camping trip to Dragon’s Tooth. I was in graduate school and we had a buddy who’d gone to Virginia Tech (in nearby-ish Blacksburg) and he planned a little trip for us. It was a 2.5 mile hike. With a big pack full of dumb heavy stuff, it took me a long time to get up there. I honestly don’t know why that trip led to me “catching the bug.” I hiked in cotton clothes. Water leaked out of the big flexible “jug” I bought and soaked a hoodie. I had a nightmare about bears. It rained. My ankle kept turning. There was nowhere to poop. But the satisfaction, the views, and the camaraderie must have done it.

Back in the present, we began the rocky, up-and-down of another classic, Virginian, rocky-ridge traverse. The hills in this area are almost fully leafed out. They are bushy and green and seem to call out: our cool shadows contain secrets, adventure. So evocative!

The descent from Dragon’s Tooth is a real bastard. I take it as a preview of the laborious, rocky descents and ascents of New England. They too sometimes require steel ladder rungs bolted into the rock. Tons of day hikers and weekenders about. The weekend backpackers often have enormous, brightly colored packs. Usually Osprey or similar. Two older men were carrying heavy loads and walking at a snail’s pace. It seemed elder abuse to let them carry on so overloaded, but I found a way to live with it.

Ben and Zoey hiked up to meet us a mile or so above the trailhead at VA-311. Zoey stood 100 or so feet away, head cocked in confusion at the sound of my voice. Is that really him? She recognized my smell—I recognize my smell!—and came over happy to see me, but a bit subdued. All the travel and novelty have worn her out.

Wedge, Ben and I squeezed everything into the car. I was buried in the front seat. Mom sent a wonderful spread with many good things to eat, including plenty of vegetarian food for Wedge.

The farmhouse we rented is an old parsonage (it is called The Old Parsonage). Built around 1897, it’s surrounded by gentle hills and rolling pastures dotted with cows. We threw the ball out back to help Zoey burn off some nervous tension. Ben said she hadn’t been eating as much, but being with her boys (both of them) seemed to calm her into hunger and she chowed down.

We humans had pasta salad, bratwurst, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, veggies, Ballreich’s chips (a northern Ohio favorite) and I can’t remember what else. I ate one of everything. Wedge opined that the homemade chocolate chip cookies were among the butteriest he’d had (in the best way, he said). Everyone had at least one brownie.

Transitions are hard on trail. I’m glad we have plenty of time to settle in here and relax. Ben is gonna drive us back to Catawba on Tuesday we can do a 20-mile slack across McAfee Knob and Tinker Cliffs. He’ll be waiting that night to pick us up in Daleville. We gotta do the whole 20 all at once because there’re just so few access points along that ridge.

First, though, a rest and complete inventory of our equipment and supplies. The goal today is to build a comprehensive list of everything we need.

We crossed 700 miles today!