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Nails,???, Special Ed, and Nature Boy!

I was told not to stay at the 4 Pines Hostel in Catawba, VA. What a huge mistake that would have been!

These are just 4 of the countless number of friends that I have made while walking the Appalachian Trail. The??? girl, was injured, and because I had my car with, I was able to give her a much needed ride home to Front Royal. Trail stories for 2 and a half hours.

Special Ed and I became good friends. Hiked and Geo-Cached together and will probably do so again. He is also from PA. Nature Boy, who works at 4 Pines for now, shuttled me a number of time for hikes all around the VA “Triple Crown.” That would be Tinker Cliffs, Macafee Knob, and Dragon’s Tooth. Nails was an ex Marine thru hiker. Nothing more needs to be said about how she got her trail name.

I would have met none of these lovely people if I had listened to the AT naysayer who advised me not to stay at 4 Pines.

Lesson learned; Hike your own hike. Experience every inch of the trail. Make your own impressions of each opportunity. Kind of a good life lesson, yes?

I loved 4 Pines. Stayed there 2 more times and will again on my next trip South in April for 10 days in the woods with my daughter Jennie. I hope to finish Virginia then.

BTW. 4 Pines is run on donations only. Donations! It’s been there for more than 20 years! The owner and his wife are really nice, committed to the AT, people. There’s a great country store down the road for Cheeseburgers and homemade chicken salad sandwiches.

I miss the trail AND now I am hungry.

All In from South Africa.