Day 46

Origin: Partnership Shelter
Destination: Davis Path campsite
Today's miles: 14.7
Total miles: 546.3

A perfect day. With bellies full of pizza, we slept well (at least as well as we can sleep on the trail), slept in until 8am and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast under a clear, blue sky. We didn't have to cover too much ground today, so we were able to take our time. The weather today was as good as it gets for hiking: low 60s, sunny and a breeze when we needed it.

The first part of the day brought us to the top of a ridge, where we got a great view (below with Magge). We then spent about 6 miles slowly descending towards Atkins, VA through meadows that smelled incredible. We've walked through a few meadows that weren't mountaintop balds before, but never for this long and it was a great change of pace from the forests and hills. The scenery isn't necessarily as stunning, but it has a pastoral beauty that is very easy to appreciate on a day like today. We may have taken more pictures today than any other day, and some are below.

Atkins is a tiny town and we didn't want to spend the night there, but the trail went right by a restaurant called The Barn that accepts mail drops, so we had supplies sent there and also had an early dinner. Many restaurants along and close to the trail offer hiker burgers - 16oz monstrosities that appeal to thru-hikers' inflated hunger. It took us longer than most to get "hiker hunger" and we had had no desire to order a hiker burger until recently. Today, we each ordered one at The Barn and neither of us had much of a problem wolfing it down. I'm kind of appalled that I didn't even feel overly full afterwards, even though I also took down a side of fries. Magge was more virtuous, ordering a side house salad, which she felt canceled out the hiker burger. I'll give her 8oz of cancelation, but not the whole 16oz.

After the gluttony, we sorted out our new food, called our moms, and finally got back on the trail at 6pm. We only had three more miles to cover, and without needing to make dinner, we could hike until nearly sunset without a problem. We took our time through more meadows and pastures before arriving to a crummy campsite, but it couldn't ruin our day. Sun, scenery, a pound of angus beef - what else would we need?