Days 68-69

Day 68, 7/5/23

Manassas Gap to Snickers Gap

25.9 miles, mile 1,006.2

YAY for mile 1,000!!! What an amazing feeling to see that sign. I’ll start with the highlights of the day because they do outweigh the bad parts. I had a pool to jump in after, Uncle Ryan brought us Gatorades, Aunt Lynn made a delicious chicken and rice dinner, I got to shower and have a bed to sleep in, and two doggies to pet. The downsides were that the 25.9 miles was absolutely brutal with 6,100 feet of gain, it was 90 degrees and insanely humid, I forgot my electrolyte powders and was sweating nonstop from 7:45 a.m.-6:30 p.m., and there wasn’t a single viewpoint until 0.6 miles from the end. I think that it was the hardest day on trail for me so far and I was slackpacking it! I can’t imagine doing that section with my fully loaded pack. Granted, we wouldn’t have gone almost 26 miles with that much elevation in our fully loaded packs, but man it was tough with no weight at all. I’m glad we busted that section out, VA certainly made its last miles tough.

Day 69, 7/6/23

Snickers Gap

0 miles, mile 1,006.2

I am so grateful that Uncle Ryan lives close to the trail because this zero, or “down day” as he says, which I almost like better than saying “taking a zero” has been amazing. I slept in this morning and Uncle Ryan made a huge breakfast of eggs, potatoes, and sausage, which was much appreciated. Then I sat out in the shade on the porch and went swimming in the pool about four times. I ate a lot of food and enjoyed a great shower. I’ve been asking, how can I go back to the woods after this five-star treatment? Tomorrow we will make it to Harpers Ferry, the unofficial halfway point of the trail. It will be an easier day than yesterday for sure, it is about 20 miles but with only 3,300 feet of gain. I’m so very excited to be done with Virginia, it has not been that kind to me.