Day 64: The Dragon's Tooth

I should have taken more pictures, but we were preoccupied with not falling off cliffs. The approach to dragons tooth was great for the most part. Unfortunately at the top, we were socked in and couldn't see the promised spectacular views. Another appalachian fail. But just seeing the giant triangular rocks jutting out of the mountain top was pretty cool indeed.

Now the way down, well that's a whole nother bucket of potatoes. The way down was practically rock climbing, and the rain didn't make the descent and traversing of short stretches of cliffs any less slippery. Large steps down are also killer on the ol knees. This was definitely the hardest and first semi dangerous section of trail.

When we finally got down, we realized that it took us most of the day to do 7 miles. Usually we would have 12 done by that time.

We walked the 0.3 to the catawba "grocery" store and ate crappy, but amazingly delicious, cheeseburgers. Then, a magic van arrived. This magic van takes you to the 4 pines hostel.

Due to the popularity of the next section, camping is restricted to certain sites, so we knew we were going to be forced to take at least one short day soon. We decided that after that descent, today would he the day. So we boarded the magic van and went to the 4 pines hostel.

The hostel is a 3 car garage outfitted with couches and a hiker kitchen and a pool table and stereo. There are several barns on the property, also containing couches. Joe, the owner, is a corn hole aficionado and likes to hang out with the hikers. We set up our tent in the yard being the garage and got to hang out with our hiker crew. This was definitely the right choice.

Donna, Joe's lady friend, brought up several giant trays of baked spaghetti and salad for dinner, and us 30 or so hikers dug into it gratefully. Again, we were liking our choice to hit up this hostel.

Becca played cornhole, I played pool and also got to shave Mooselegs' head. We listened to music and had some beers and went to sleep early considering the party. But there 16 miles to do tomorrow, so...