Derrick Earls, More Heart than Scars tackle the AT together and in Spirit!: Day 25, June 9, 2014

I began my hike out of Pickle Branch. I slept in til about 10 a.m. And hiked out with Hamster, Jamangi and Sam. Today's big event was Dragons Tooth. I'm not going to lie, I made it 3/4 the way up the Dragons Tooth boulder (this was a side trail from the AT) and didn't go to the very tip top. This boulder was a technical climb. I may get bolder moving forward but my goal is to hike the entire AT. I don't want to mess that up over something silly.

I made it to VA 624 Newport rd. Water was scarce today so I walked a half mile to the convenient store. I saw a nice size 5 ft rat snake on the side of the road. I grabbed two gatorades for $3, a slice of pizza and an homemade Amish dessert. All was delicious and the ganja gang (Hamster, Jamangi and Sam) shared two slices of pizza with me out of their two pizzas. I hitched a ride by a local farmer back to the AT and thanked him kindly for the ride. I asked ganja gang if they needed a ride but they wanted to relax at the store a little longer. The farmer let me out in the middle of the road. I was busy checking traffic, grabbing my pack, and was also approached by another thru hiker about slack packing and staying at the hostel. Needless to say I left my trekking poles in the farmers truck. However, I didn't realize this until 45 min. later when I began my hike after a small nap on my therma rest pad in the woods. These are the decisions on the AT that occur a lot. Do you go on? Wait for the farmer to return, etc.? I realized trekking poles were not a necessity and I could make some out of fallen limbs. I also knew between the hostel and the gas station where the farmer dropped me off I may could get them back later.

I made it about half mile from VA 311 and 2.5 miles from my final destination about 7:30 p.m. This was my first sketch interaction on the AT. There was a 30-40 year old overweight male lying in the middle of the trail. He had a clear trash bag with what looked like clean clothes. The question started such as: How far to a shelter, where is the nearest water, where is the nearest bathroom, etc? Btw you can easily tell when someone looks outta place on the AT. I answered a few questions and asked him if he was okay. He said he was just hot and wished me luck to Maine. You know how many things run through your mind after you speak with someone... You run through the many different responses you coulda/shoulda said... Well bathrooms kept running through my mind... There are no bathrooms on the AT. They are either all around you or you find a privy. Bathrooms? Really?

I continued walking on... and ran into Trail Magic at the parking lot. A guy by the name of Guy :). He was a nice gentleman that I had seen before. He always offered peaches, bananas, sodas and Debbie cakes. I hung around with him and ganja gang arrived after me. I told him about my encounter on the AT with the gentleman on the trail. He said it looked like an unmarked cop car dropped the man off. So either the gentleman coulda came out of jail or been homeless that's just my best guess. Another hiker with his wife Beans informed me that my trekking poles would be in Daleville, the hostel had slack packed some hikers to Daleville. This was great news. I also, found my second tick on my right shin again. He was crawling as well.

I hung around til 10 with Guy and did my first night hiking for 2 miles until 11 pm. People would discourage night hiking and I see their concern. However, with technology in the head lamps and traveling in a large group it's not bad at all. We had four head lamps and four people. The forest was lit up and we were four people deep. We were safe and you see some spectacular insects that light up. There is also a whole different display of animals out at night. I will night hike again in a group but keep it to a minimum.

14.6 AT miles hiked.