Day 62 Flowers and Old Trees

Our last full day in Virginia gifted us with thousands of flowers and perfect weather. 


We slept in until 7 before checking out of the hotel around 8 to grab breakfast. We used a very nice Uber driver named Matthew 3 times between last night and this morning. He was probably the only person on Uber in the area and every time we tried to find a ride he picked it up almost instantly. Anyway, Matthew drove us to breakfast. I ate a ton of food: biscuits and gravy, chocolate chip pancakes, home fries, and bacon. Seeing as we will be in Pennsylvania the next time we resupply, this was our last breakfast at a southern diner and we made the most of it.



From the breakfast place we shuttled to the post office then back to the trail. We started hiking right around 10AM with 23.5 miles to go. The trail was very flat and easy. We ran into a few southbound thru hikers who started in the middle, will hike to GA, fly to ME, then hike back to the middle. This style of thru hike is called a flip flop. Basically they start and end at the middle of the trail. And since we are almost at the mid point of the trail, we are passing the flip floppers right after they have started their thru hike. So they don’t quite know what they’re doing yet. 


While the trail was easy, I found it very beautiful. We hiked the whole day through old growth forest. Trillium and other wild flowers added to the allure, and we hiked through tens or hundreds of thousands of them.





It’s definitely spring here at lower elevation. I really enjoyed the feeling of having a leaf canopy over my head for most of the day. It provided shade but there was a breeze and a high of 65 degrees. Having the leaves over head kind of felt like being in a screened-in porch. 


The 23.5 miles passed easily. We stopped for two lunches, one at 11:30 and one at 3. On longer mile days we definitely need the extra food to make it to camp. And taking a half hour break is nice too.


Despite starting late, taking our time all day, and hiking almost 24 miles we arrived at camp by 7PM. The shelter has about 6 other hikers, probably 3 of which are northbound thru hikers like us. We pitched our tents at a campsite a couple hundred yards from the shelter but ate dinner at the picnic table under the shelter’s gazebo. Most shelters don’t have gazebo covered picnic tables so that was cool. 


Tomorrow we will hike 25-28 miles depending on how we are feeling. Most of the day will be in a section of trail called the roller coaster because it has a lot of ups and downs. It looks a little harder than what we’ve been hiking, but not too bad. We will start the roller coaster in a half mile, hit the 1,000 mile mark in 4 miles, enter West Virginia for the first time in 13 miles, and leave Virginia for the final time in 27.8 miles. I have loved hiking through Virginia. We have fully adapted to the trail so it hasn’t felt hard. I’ve loved the meadows and ridges. The Triple Crown was awesome. The wildflowers have been unique. The weather has been perfect. We’ve had great experiences in towns. It feels bittersweet to be leaving such an incredible state. But I’m also excited to see what PA has to offer. 


It’s just starting to sink in that this hike will end. We are almost half way through and I know the rest of the hike is going to fly by. I’m trying to take it all in and make the most of every minute. I am so incredibly grateful for this hike and the life changing experience it has been so far. I want to accomplish the goal and I want to finish the trail. But I also don’t want the experience to be over, and only be left with memories. 


Goodnight,

Walker 





If you want to follow Tyler or Spencer, here are their logs as well:


Tyler: https://tylerat2024.blogspot.com/?m=1


Spencer: https://www.instagram.com/baxter.bound?utm_source=qr&igsh=MWx4MzRqa3M4dGk3Mw==

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