After calculating my milage, I am closer than I thought. With less that 30 miles to my end point, and my friends Ron and Elisa showing up on Saturday, I decided to restock, get rid of my excess gear and plan my final approach.

And it was a good thing I took Wednesday off, as it was one of the hottest days! Looks like I will have the extremes of all things weather, torrential downpours or incredible heat and humidity. But any day on the trail is always better than a day in the office. So I will be hitting the trail as early as possible, and relax in the afternoon.

I was up, packed and out the door at 8am. Not quite the early start I hoped for but I wasn’t in any big rush. My biggest fear today was getting across the highway. Everyone was on their way to work so I waited close to five minutes for a natural traffic break. Once I saw it, Norman and I ran for our lives. It wasn’t that bad but sure would be nice if they installed a crosswalk.

I was back in the woods in no time. The plan today was to get to the Shelter or Tinker Knob, depending on weather. We are suppose to have showers with thunder and lightning and maybe hail. Bring it on! There’s no weather I can’t deal with now. And I’m thinking, Virginia has nothing on Vermont or Maine.

My morning hike was stunning. It climbed to rocky ledges that overlooked where I came from. The Blue Ridge Mountains were vivid, and I could see as far north as Priest and Three Ridges. The valleys and farmlands were green with rolling hills in between. It was hard to go to fast because I just wanted to stay and admire the beauty. Even Norman agreed. His eyes were wide open, taking it all in.

I ran into two Nobo’s today, Show Me and Trail Magic. They started in Georgia and I think they were a bit late to make it to Maine. But they didn’t seem to mind. They were headed to town and ready to resupply and cleanup. It’d been eight days since they took a shower. That’s the hardest part about long-distant hiking. The lack of cleanliness. The AT is much different being you can get into town fairly often, but you can always choose to stay on trail. These guys certainly did.

I headed up and into Lamberts Meadow looking for water. There was a nice picnic table that I rested on. Norman stretched out for awhile as I started my search for water. There was a creek but it wasn’t flowing. However it had a few standing pools of water that were fairly deep. I found a great spot and filled up.

Afterwards, I hiked to Lambert’s Shelter. I ran into Sideways, another flip-flopper I met a couple of days ago. She was slackpacking and headed northbound. She said she heard some voices at the Shelter so I’ll have company. That’ll be nice to have human companionship. Sure enough, when I arrived there were four guys there.

The guys all went to college together and hook up every year for a backpacking trip. They were headed out tomorrow and planned to stay at the shelter for the night. They asked about water and I shared the secret spot that I just filled up at. It’s only .3 downhill and an easy fill. They offered to get me more water if I needed some. That was so thoughtful, so I allowed them to get me another two liters 🤣 .

As the two guys went to get water, I was talking with the others. They were quite interested in my little jaunt on the trail and asked tons of questions. I told them I was just about done and was considering cowboy camping at Tinker Knob but wasn’t sure about the weather. Once the others got back, I decided to head up the hill and take my chances. One of the guys offered me his bivy sack to try out. I could mail it back, I said. Nope, you keep it. He wasn’t liking it and barely could fit into it. Awesome. I now have a bivy to try out!

Within ten minutes of leaving the nice dry shelter, it started raining with hail with thunderstorms overhead. Perfect. I pulled out my umbrella as the lightning was at least 8-10 miles away, and I assumed I was protected by massive tall trees. The rain kept coming for another half hour, but once I made it to Tinker Knob, it stopped.

What a gorgeous set of ledges! The sky was magnificent with all sorts of different clouds. The Catawba Valley below was dotted with large farmlands, barns and ranch homes. It was about the most beautiful place I have seen on this southern section of the AT. There were wispy clouds laying low in the valleys with the most glorious sunset. I felt so blessed to be up here. It just amazes me that there is not another soul here, just me, Norman and the squirrels. Gosh, what they are missing out on!

Today was one of the most beautiful days on trail. I feel like God couldn’t have planned it any better. To be finishing this trail at such an iconic place, is just speechless. And to have a sunset like this, magical. It’s going to be hard to find another view quite as lovely as this. But I betcha, McAfee Knob will not disappoint. For now, I’m going to take it all in and thank the Lord for painting such a memorable scene for me. How truly blessed and loved am I!