Day 63 Out of Virginia

Today we hiked 28 miles through the roller coaster and into West Virginia.


I slept very well last night from 10 to 6. I listened to a slight breeze and enjoyed the 50 degree night. We ate breakfast and started hiking by 7:30. 


We hiked through the roller coaster, which is 14 miles of ups and downs with very little flat trail. Most of the ups and downs are only a few hundred feet so we didn’t find it overly difficult. The harder part was the rocks on trail, which hurt our feet and made us take our time to not roll ankles. The roller coaster had some awesome woods and a couple good views. 





In the middle of the roller coaster we passed the 1,000 mile mark! This is a huge achievement and I can’t believe we are already this far into the trail. It has been such an incredible experience so far and I had really enjoyed it. 



Just before finishing the roller coaster we crossed into West Virginia for the first time. The trail runs the boarder between WV and VA for a just under 15 miles. WV is also our first new state in over 550 miles. I’m sad to be leaving VA but excited for everything else the trail has in store for us. 


The last 14 miles of the day were much easier than the roller coaster. We stopped for dinner at a gas station with a deli about 0.3 off trail at a road crossing. From dinner we hiked about 3 miles and set up our tents around 8:45. We took our time today and didn’t have an easy section of trail. But we also hiked our biggest mile day yet. 


Tomorrow we will attempt the 4 state challenge. We are camped right on the boarder where we cross out of VA for the last time. From VA we have about 4 miles in WV then 40 miles in MD. After MD, we will cross into PA, the fourth state in one day. We will wake up around 4AM and hope to finish the 44 miles before 9PM. The weather should be perfect with high 50s and no rain. And the 44 miles are quite flat. However, 44 miles is still a lot. So we will see how that goes. I will definitely make sure to still stop and smell the roses along the way.


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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