Taylor Mountain
Starting mile 731.1
This morning I enjoyed my breakfast at the hotel before heading out to the trail at about 7:15. I really needed the zero day I took yesterday. I feel refreshed and my 6-day food carry doesn’t feel so bad. After a quick game of Frogger to get across US 220 I get back on the trail just after 7:30 am.
The first couple of miles the trail winds its way through neighborhoods and along the side of I-81. I dipped under I-81 and made my way to US 11 and had to cross this busy road. If I made a left here, I could walk straight home. Instead, I started my first climb of the day. This climb had a lot of switchbacks, so the 1,200-foot climb didn’t seem very hard.
When I got to the top, I took a right and walked the 0.1 miles to the shelter and my first break. After getting some food I took off. I still needed to do another couple of miles before I needed water. Today’s hiking was going to have a lot of little ups and downs as I followed the Blue Ridge Parkway. While it will be a lot of elevation in total, other than the initial climb nothing is more than about 500 feet at a time.
After refilling my water, I made my way up to the next shelter and had lunch. While there I talked with someone out hiking for the weekend from Falls Church. He wasn’t doing much hiking, which was why he had already set up camp by 1 pm. I headed down the trail where I was going to have to refill my water again. This time I was going to need to refill all my water bottles, not just the 700 ml bottle. My next water was going to be about eleven miles away.
There were a few other hikers getting water, so I hung out and traded some stories with them. When I got going, I was along the parkway. I kept crossing the parkway for the next ten miles before heading away from the road as I headed off the ridge. At the bottom I was able to refill my water. I also had dinner because I was going to climb back to the top of the ridge to camp tonight.
After dinner I had a 450-foot climb to my camp site. This gave me a 22.3 mile day with about 5,400 feet of elevation gain.
Ending mile 753.4