The Virginia Roller Coaster and 1000 Miles Traveled! (Day 77)

I woke up today anticipating riding (walking) the infamous Virginia roller coaster. It is an approximately 14 mile stretch of trail with numerous consecutive climbs and descents. If you look at the section on an elevation map, it looks like a roller coaster.

Ride the roller coaster

There are signs at its north and south ends warning hikers about what they will find. In fact, I didn’t find this section particularly exhausting; At this point, we have gotten much worse. If anything, it felt like a throwback to the many PUDS (useless ups and downs) of the Georgia AT.

1000 miles traveled!

A particularly exciting part of today was reaching the 1000 mile mark. Very soon I will leave Virginia and half the trail will be behind me. It feels good to reach a major milestone, especially since it’s been a while since the last one. I don’t think I’ve ever had the “Virginia Blues” per se, but it’s crazy to think that one state accounts for almost a quarter of the entire tour.

I decided to camp tonight at the Blackburn Trail Center. The Potomac Appalachian Trail Club maintains it and there is a campsite, shelter, picnic tables, etc. We definitely don’t see campsites this nice very often. There was even a tap with (drinking!) water that didn’t have to be filtered: little luxuries.

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