Blistering heat, over 90 degrees. Humid. The Roller Coaster – a series of tightly packed ascents and descents spanning 13.5 miles – almost 5000 feet up, 5000 feet down. Oh and of course, rocky almost the entire way. Pretty wicked day. I was stopping to drink water or just cool down at the top of pretty much every peak on the coaster. It was one of the few days where pretty much all I wanted to do was be done with walking for the day as soon as possible, but there’s no choice except to keep going. I was just glad to find water everywhere there was supposed to be water.
The day’s saving grace was that it came with a pair of huge milestones. First came the 1000 mileage marker. Unbelievable. Georgia seems both an eternity ago, and like it two weeks ago. I remember being excited to finish the first 100 miles, now I’ve done 1000. Only about 1.5 miles later I finally put an end to Virginia as I climbed the last hill on the Roller Coaster. There were still four miles to go after the Coaster, but they were mostly flat and rock free. Destination: Blackburn AT Center, a free hostel-ish plash run by the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club. It’s got a bunk house but I’m staying on the enclosed patio of the main house where the caretakers stay. A couple of the Sobos at the last few shelters had stayed here and told us that while food is never advertised as part of the free stay, they had gotten home cooked spaghetti dinner. Apparently tonight was one of the night’s the caretakers take off from cooking. Did get some watermelon and a sprite right when I got here, both of which tasted amazing.