6/3/12 – 707 miles
The section of trail along the ridge near Catawba, VA, contains some of the most beautiful views on the AT. Maybe the most famous and surely the most photographed of all locations is McAfee Knob, a ledge protrusion high above the countryside surrounding Roanoak, VA.
The hike today included many ridge walks. Even though the ridges are kind of level, they are often composed of strewn boulders, complicating your footing and creating an obstacle course to climb through. It’s hard to make good time through some of these sections.
I did see my first bear today. It was in a highly traveled tourist section on Cove Mountin, just below Dragons Tooth stone monolith. I was walking beside some Laurel bushes when a yearling bear sprang out and came up the trail ten feet from me. I yelled “whoa”, he turned around and ran back into the woods. I never thought that in such a popular place any bears would be within twenty miles.
I camped with Blue Sky, Comma-Kaze, Sicelian Gypsy, and Mono. Just before dark, we went back up to McAfee Knob to watch the sunset. It was awesome.
It was a great day which included a stop at the Homeplace restaurant for an all you can eat meal. It was the best food I’ve had so far. I was with Kleenex and Comma-Kaze -two girls – so we got a ride easily.
Lucy wants to know what kind of bear…grizzly, black, or polar? Also…”grandpa, are you having fun hiking? I saw a polar bear at the zoo yesterday on my kindergarten field trip.”
I’ll try to write a note. My right hand doesn’t work the way it should, so this won’t be long. I look for your blogs at least once a day,usually more often. I want to learn to write on my iPad (thank you very much). I .love it. Cant’ wait to see you, but know that you are having a great experience. Your blogs should be made into a book when you finish this trip.