Your perfect section hike?

[joshuasdad]

Mine to date (in nearly 1000 AT miles) would have been the 20 miler from Daleville to Catawba last weekend on a warm bug-less December day. Stayed at Super8 almost on trail, comfy bed, good breakfast, smell of smoke in the halls, but that is the tradeoff for a $60 hotel night. Rolled out of hotel at 6:15 AM after breakfast, 1 hr before sunrise. Interesting trail during the first 9 miles to Lambert's Meadow, winding along a ridge, with good views in both directions (E to Blue Ridge, W to Carvin's Cove w/ lake, Tinker Mountain, Catawba Mountain, etc.). Climb to Tinker Cliffs with awesome views of Valley of Virginia. A few rock scrambles/mazes (reminiscent of Southern PA) on way to McAfee Knob, the most photographed spot on the AT, then relatively easy descent to Catawba. Finished as the colors of sunset were fading to black. Dinner at the Homeplace 1 mi away would have been great--$14 including tax for fried chicken, roast beef, lots of sides, and dessert, the 2000+ mile flip-flop thrus I ate with the day before claimed it was the best food on the trail.

If I had made this an overnight, it would have been even better, with more time to enjoy Tinker Cliffs and McAfee Knob, as well as the Homeplace.

If you are day hiking, do this on a Saturday, since the Homeplace is open until 8 PM then (only open until 6 PM on Sunday, which is when I hiked it last weekend). Again, I ate at Homeplace the day before when positioning car, so needed to be a little conservative with the AYCE... After my section hike, I actually ate at Three Little Pigs in Daleville (pursuant to the suggestion of a WBer), which was quite good as well.

HikerMomKD can help with shuttles, she helped me move my car from Black Horse Gap to Catawba. Thanks again KD!

I have not done much of NH/ME as well as NoNC and SoVA, so I expect I will have good days there as well, but just wanted to share.

[Veetack]

My favorite hike to date would have to be This past August from Davenport Gap to Hot Springs, but mainly because I was hiking to surprise my sister in Hot Springs for her birthday. She had no idea where our mother was taking her and also thought I was working that weekend. I hiked ridiculously fast on that trip. I started about 9:30 AM in Davenport Gap, and I sat down in a booth in Hot Springs Diner at Noon the next day. It was hot, lonely, and kind of miserable. I took my first fall on the AT, got attacked by a gang of yellow jackets, night hiked quite a bit, ran out of water at one point, ate wild blackberries on Max Patch, and went pretty much 2 days without seeing or talking to anyone. Because I hadn't been on a hike of any distance in over a month, I could barely walk when I got into town(forgetting the vitamin I didn't help), but the second I saw the look on my sister's face when her and my mother pulled up to the house we rented and I was standing there stoking a campfire made me forget all about the pain, and reminded me why I hike and why I do it the way I do. I love the challenge of going as far as I can as fast as I can, and when there's a huge payoff involved, it makes all the pain and suffering worth it.

[fredmugs]

My favorite section was the James River SOBO to Pearisburg in Oct, 2008. Not too cold at night, perfect sunny mid-50s days, and the colors were peaked out when I hit Tinker Cliffs and McAfee Knob.

[hikerboy57]

my favorite section is still franconia to crawford notch.

[chiefduffy]

Erwin to Damascus.

[fredmugs]

my favorite section is still franconia to crawford notch.

That was the last day of my final section. Went out with a bang.

[joshuasdad]

My favorite hike to date would have to be This past August from Davenport Gap to Hot Springs, but mainly because I was hiking to surprise my sister in Hot Springs for her birthday. She had no idea where our mother was taking her and also thought I was working that weekend. I hiked ridiculously fast on that trip. I started about 9:30 AM in Davenport Gap, and I sat down in a booth in Hot Springs Diner at Noon the next day. It was hot, lonely, and kind of miserable. I took my first fall on the AT, got attacked by a gang of yellow jackets, night hiked quite a bit, ran out of water at one point, ate wild blackberries on Max Patch, and went pretty much 2 days without seeing or talking to anyone. Because I hadn't been on a hike of any distance in over a month, I could barely walk when I got into town(forgetting the vitamin I didn't help), but the second I saw the look on my sister's face when her and my mother pulled up to the house we rented and I was standing there stoking a campfire made me forget all about the pain, and reminded me why I hike and why I do it the way I do. I love the challenge of going as far as I can as fast as I can, and when there's a huge payoff involved, it makes all the pain and suffering worth it.

I also enjoy testing my limits on a "death march" type hike, and thought that Daleville to Catawba would be that. It was a first for me to have logistics, weather, gear, supplies, views, trail conditions, hours of daylight, proper Vitamin I dosage, no tweaked ankles/knees, no falls, etc. come together so well.

In contrast, the 14 miler the day before, I got 10 minutes down the road before remembering that I left my trail runners at home, got the trail later than expected, went out a little too fast, forgot to take Vitamin I, banged up the sides of my feet on rocks, might have almost been shot by some joyless hunters I passed, fell for the first time in almost a year on a leaf covered loose rock, had sore feet, almost fell off the side of the leaf covered trail, turned ankles repeatedly, had very few good views...and yet that 14 miler was still one of my better, or at least average, hiking days.

Daleville to Catawba just stands out in my mind as a hike that turned out nearly perfectly, like a 1 out of a 100 hike for me. I hope there are many more of these to come.