Virginia West Virginia Border
Starting mile 637.5
I got up and left the hotel in Pearisburg by 7am. I always enjoy getting back on the trail, but I really hate how heavy my pack is. Four and a half days’ worth of food always makes my pack feel super heavy. Heading out of town this morning included a 1.5-mile road walk back to the trail. Luckily it is downhill this time.
When I arrived at the trailhead, I found a tent set up in the field by the parking lot. When I saw the other side of the tent I found the Double Ds. The Double Ds are a father daughter duo from Holland. The double-d stands for Dutch Daughter and Dutch Dad. I’ve been hiking around them for a couple of days. They had been staying at several hostels recently and didn’t want to pay for a night somewhere, so they just pitched their tent at the trailhead.
I talked to them for a while then I told them I’d see them later and took off. I had one little hill to go around, then I crossed the New River on a bridge. I saw a couple of people fishing in their boats below me. After crossing the river, I made a hard right turn and started my long climb up to the top of the ridge. This was going to be another ridge walking day.
Shortly before reaching the top of the ridge, I crossed the one water source that I would see for several hours. I finished the water I hiked out of the motel with and refilled all my water containers. If I know I’m going to have a long water-carry I always try to drink as much water as possible when I get a chance.
I got to the top of the ridge and was rewarded with a great vista looking over into West Virginia. I’ll be spending the day straddling the Virginia-West Virginia border. This part of the trail goes back and forth between trees and open fields. It really made for an enjoyable morning of walking.
After lunch I experienced more ridge walking. When I got to the top of my final climb I ran into the southern terminus of the Allegheny Trail, a 300-mile-long trail that crosses West Virginia from the Pennsylvania border to Virginia. From here I turned down hill until I made it to camp. I did 20.7 miles today with about 4,500 feet of gain.
Ending mile 658.2
Comments
2 responses
happy trails
Your making great progress.