Virginia AT Day 6

VA Rte 311 to Daleville

19.8 miles

Said farewell to David Horton then made my way up to McAfee Knob, the most photographed spot on the AT! Last time I was up there was in the middle of a thunderstorm, so I didn’t even stop to see it, let alone take a photo. Well, today I finally snagged the iconic photo! There was a huge group of day hikers, it turned out they were all part of the FBI on a team building trip. I spent the afternoon meandering on the Tinker Cliffs, another highlight of the Virginia AT.

I’m trying to look at the positives of this trip as things didn’t go quite how I planned.

-I get to enjoy being in one of my favorite places in the world

-Experiencing the total freedom of moving forward on my feet without being beholden to anything else after a very busy semester

-Gaining more backpacking experience for future thru-hikes (one more planned in August and a big one next summer!)

-I’m running the Okushinano 100K in Japan next month, which I fully expected to be a wash after this hike, but now I will be more rested than originally planned and might actually be able to be a bit more competitive, which feels exciting.