On Saturday, May 5th, Tom and I left our house around 4:00 p.m., and drove all night and arrived in Roanoke, Va. at 11:00 a.m. Sunday morning. We took turns driving, switching off every couple of hours, when we stopped to stretch our legs and move around a little bit. We encountered a little rain occasionally, and Tom drove through some pretty dense fog in Tennessee. We were pretty tired when we reached Roanoke and were very glad our room at the hotel was already available, thinking we would crash and nap for awhile.
However, I checked our email and found that Greenstone & Thimbleberry had just left Waynesboro earlier that morning. So we decided to drive another 100 miles north, and try to find them as they cross Skyline Drive at Turk Gap. It was a cool , misty day in Shenendoah National Park, and we had only gotten to the parking lot at the Turk Gap Trailhead about 20 minutes before they came walking up the Trail. Surprise, Surprise! We had ice cold sodas and chocolate candies waiting for them! Two more hikers, "Caps Lock" and "Applesauce") came along and enjoyed the Trail Majic also!It was so good to see "Greenstone" & "Thimbleberry" again and glad to see them doing so well while hiking their next section of the A.T.
Following our short visit with G. & T. and the other hikers, Tom and I drove back to Roanoke to our hotel. In the rain! By this time, all we had the energy left to do was grab a sandwich to take back to the room to eat and fell asleep soon afterward!
The next morning (Monday 5/6) we drove west on Va.Hwy. 311 for about ten minutes to the Catawba Mtn. Trailhead parking area where the A.T. crosses, just south of McAfee Knob. With water and snacks in our daypacks, we headed north up the trail for 3.9 miles to the top of Catawba Mtn. so Tom could enjoy the view and "dangle his feet" off McAfee Knob! Unfortunately, the clouds and fog and mist never lifted from the peak! I was so disappointed that Tom could not have the views and experience on McAfee Knob as I had on my thru-hike last year! We sat up on the rocks at the top for an hour and had a snack and waited for the fog to lift. We shared McAfee Knob with a lot of Va. Tech college students who were rejoicing their completion of 4 yrs. of classes and their upcoming graduation. It was interesting to chat with some of them and hear of their dreams and goals for their life ahead!
O.K. So here's the view from McAfee Knob when "Flame & BooBoo" hiked thru last year!
And here is the view that Tom and I had this year on Monday 5/6 !! Waaaa!!
