Oh Virginia

        With only a little more than one hundred miles left in Virginia we’re getting close to Harpers Ferry! In the beginning I loved Virginia-it was really green and beautiful, but the one thing I’ve found is that Virginia is not flat! Whoever said that, I don’t know what trail you were hiking, but the AT is not flat. In fact, the last 200 or so miles seem to have been the hardest so far on the trail. From after Pearisburg until close to Waynesboro, VA has been one HUGE climb followed by another huge descent and often fewer switch backs than we’re used to.  That aside, Virginia has been beautiful and we’ve entered into a warm spell which I’m enjoying!

            Early last week we got to enjoy McAfee’s Knob, one of the most photographed spots on the trail.  We got there only minutes before a severe thunderstorm rolled in, so we did not get to enjoy the views for as long as we would have liked, but we did manage to snap some cool pictures!

 The views from McAfee were amazing!

We started Virginia by going through Damascus and then onto Mt Rogers-Virginia’s highest peak.  The area surrounding Mt. Rogers is know for having wild ponies which we ran into and spent a long time hanging out with them.  They were quite friendly and fun to spend time with.

Some exciting things for us-we both have new shoes! Mine were getting completely worn down-I could feel every leaf and branch I stepped on, so I now have new insoles and new shoes and soon to be happier feet.  We also got new (smaller!) hip belts for our packs.  Since we’ve both shed some inches around our waists the hip belts on our packs were too big and it was getting really uncomfortable, so new hip belts just arrived-can’t wait to try it out!

            Mom and Ella came to hike with us Monday and spent a few days with us on the trail. It was great to have someone hiking with us but unfortunately they met us at a brutal part of the trail and they had some difficult hiking to do.  Here is a picture of mom and Ella descending Three ridges mountain.

            We will be headed into The Shenandoah National Park soon and sliding into West Virginia before too long! 

Happy Trails!

-Jetpack