26 June 2001 ~ Catawba, VA ~ 12 miles hiked

It was very hot today, and it appears that I was chewed nearly to bits by no-see-ums while sitting outside last night.  Because you CAN'T SEE THEM, I didn't know they were biting me.  The bites didn't itch until today either, so I had no idea the biting was going on.  If I'd known, I'd have had the sense to do something about it.  I don't think I've ever had this many bites, not even at camp as a kid.  With mosquitoes and black flies there's some sensation and you can smack them before they do damage.

Dragon's Tooth was indeed spectacular, and we clambered all over it.  There was a nice breeze up there, and after climbing down from the pointy rocks, we had lunch on top of the mountain.  The ascent was fairly ordinary (except for the actual rock climbing, which we did without packs anyway), but the descent was very slow and tedious.  The maintainers put in some rebar ladders in a couple of places, and they definitely came in handy.

After VA 624, I saw a Luna Moth.  Wow, are they something, and I'm not terribly interested in bugs, in general.  I wouldn't have seen it at all, probably, if Rob hadn't pointed it out.

The last bit of the hike seemed endlessly filled with Pointless Ups and Downs.  The water situation sucked, and we had to go begging for water at a B&B.  There were many stiles and cows in the fields.  Normally, I find that charming, but today, I was just bitter about the fact that the only water sources were in cow pastures and therefore undrinkable.