pickle branch shelter to campbell shelter

i spent the night again reinflating my sleeping pad. my slow leak is now a medium leak and i’m reinflating every 30 minutes. the way these pads work, they also have no insulative value when they aren’t inflated, which meant i was also cold.

i have to walk back some of my statements about how impressed i am with nemo, because magz got a shipping confirmation from them on the 27th saying it was sent 3 day via UPS, but as of tonight, the only thing that has happened is a shipping label was created.

i could have had a new pad waiting for me tomorrow when i hit daleville, but it hasn’t even left nemo yet, meaning i’m not going to sleep well for at least another week. super lame. i was so impressed, and now i’m so annoyed.

the day however was spectacular. the four of us, bugs, lyric, rocket, and i left pickle rick shelter a bit before 8. we had a long climb to get up to dragon’s tooth, a large stone monolith on top of a mountain. it was a little frustrating because the trail was steep, and had a ton of false summits. we’d think we were there and then suddenly have another climb.

eventually we arrived and dragon’s tooth did not disappoint. i did not go to the top because it was only about 18” wide, and my fear of heights is very strong these days. plus, i trip multiple times every day. there is nothing guaranteeing i don’t trip up there. i was reminded of the day on the LT, i just randomly tripped over the edge of a cliff, and somehow saved myself by grabbing a sapling on the way down.

we decended the steep trail from dragon’s tooth and hiked across lost spectacles gap (we didn’t find them) and down to rt 113 where we did a short .4 mile road walk to a gas station / grocery.

we sat outside and gorged ourselves on pizza, blt’s, sugary drinks, candy, and i topped it off with a pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream. i also grabbed some things for breakfast, and some snacks for tomorrow.

eventually rocket had to get going. he’s getting off trail for a few days to see friends amd get measured for a wedding outfit that he’ll wear later in the summer. single use clothing seems like a waste of money and resources.

i took off with him and we climbed for a handful of miles to mcafee knob, probably the most iconic place on the AT. we ran into maestro, back on trail. it is his birthday and he packed up some blue moon beers and hostess cupcakes. the three of us cheersed and imbibed. we didn’t wait for bugs and lyric because rocket and i were certain they were pretty far behind.

rocket, maestro, bugs, respectively.

rocket took off pretty quickly as he had 9 more miles to do so he could get to his engagement in a couple days. maestro and i stayed behind and waited for bugs and lyric.

i took the opportunity to give magz a call. she had a rough morning, but it seemed like the afternoon was looking up. it was funmy, i was sitting at mcafee knob swatting black flies and she was hiking today with the dogs. we had quite a long call before bugs and lyric made an appearance.

when they got there maestro presented them with beer and cupcakes, and asked me if i’d drink the last one so he didn’t have to carry it! lyric whipped out a kazoo and started singing happy birthday into it and bugs and i joined in.

there was more photo taking of the knob, and maestro and i decided to take off, again leaving bugs and lyric to catch up.

it was a quick .5 mile to campbell shelter, where we pitched our tents. from there it was the usual, water, dinner, and bed except for the first time in ages there was cell service, so i kept in touch with magz and called her to say good night.

i also took the opportunity to order new shoes. i’m sad to say that the xero shoes soles are starting to fall off. again, i like what they’re trying to do, but the execution clearly isn’t ready for someone putting their gear through the trials i am. i’m probably going to call them tomorrow from daleville and ask for a refund, they lasted less than 300 miles, which is frankly pretty terrible.

some additional images from today: