Day 76: Ride the roller coaster to 1000 miles

I’m up early again, but today is a slow morning. After camping behind Mountain Gap Market last night, it was a short drive for coffee and a breakfast sandwich this morning. We enjoyed our breakfast sitting in rocking chairs in front of the store. After savoring our food in the beautiful weather, we finally returned to the trail.

Ride the roller coaster

I started walking a little before 9 in the morning and started climbing to get out of the hole. It wasn’t too steep, just a nice moderate slope that got the blood and sweat pumping. A little after about 3 miles, I reached the sign for the infamous Virginia roller coaster.

After a short rest there, we continued walking uphill for several kilometers. Unfortunately, the next section contained several difficult sessions that weren’t fun overall, let alone with just a Croc on my left foot. Since my left heel is still pretty raw, I chose another day to wear a Croc on my left foot. It’s not as pretty as a shoe by any means, but with diligence, it’s doable and certainly involves less pain than my shoe would present. And hopefully it will allow for faster healing with less friction. Anyway, after going a little over 7 miles, I channeled my inner Vanessa Carlton and hit a thousand miles!

Time has flown by man!

Breaking through the crowd

After that milestone, I approached a trailhead and a large influx of hikers joined the trail. This continued to be a common theme for the rest of the day. Which makes sense; nice weather, on a Saturday, near Washington DC and other high population areas. This is also the section of the trail where the roller coaster lived up to its name. The roller coaster kicked my butt. Not so much the ups and downs, although a couple of them were certainly a little steep. But mainly the rocky nature of the trail with ups and downs, which took away my momentum.

And doing it in a Croc certainly wasn’t the most pleasant experience I had on the trail. But I got through it and even got some good views along the way. Bears Den Rocks had an especially nice view.

View from Bear’s Den rocks

Concluding the day, after filling up with water and approaching our camp for the night, we arrived at the border between the states of Virginia and West Virginia. Although I’m pretty sure I had already visited West Virginia when the trail ran along the border, seeing the sign and being so close to eliminating another state was certainly an exciting event.

Another day, another day rocking a Croc on my foot. I’m tired…

View from my store

Statistics for day 76:

17 miles

4,862′ ascent, 4,419′ descent

From Mountain Gap Market to Communications Tower Camp

22 DSLC…

Stove use times: 14

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