Up early, All In caught sunrise back up at McAfee’s knob, while the rest of the family slept in. Then a few easy miles into town for some resupply. The weather continues to be remarkable, and the flowers are still in bloom. The trail brought us across Tinker Cliffs, another scenic view over the valley back toward McAfee’s knob.

Cartwheel took a flying dive that left quite a lump on the head, but she recovered admirably and continued on.

The kids were very excited for a hotel with a swimming pool, but took it in stride when we arrived a week before the pool was to be filled. A large trail festival in Damascus just ended, and gaggles of hikers have returned to all areas of the trail: lots of new faces to meet (Cartwheel wasted no time at that).

The kids enjoyed lounging and working on their school writing assignments, while the parents dealt with lingering off-trail issues (broken camera, worn out gear, unknown end technology). One of the ironies of this quasi-wilderness experience is the need to learn new technology to try to stay in touch. The iPad has served as our backup camera while the other is off to repairs (slowed by the infrequent time periods to deal with such things). Now it is nearly full, and I’m at a loss to get my photos off without a computer. I’m also not sure if the 5/17 post will go through.