Mile 500-1000

Miles 500 to 1000 Of the Appalachian trail is almost entirely in the state of Virginia. Virginia was unexpectedly difficult for me as everyone that I talked to told me it is pretty flat-level cruising (That was a lie). I originally didn’t believe that the first couple of times I was told it was flat on my hike but from miles, 0-500 so many people told me that it was flat that I started to believe them. the list of people that told me that included people from Virginia, previous thru-hikers, trail angels, and day hikers. I was wondering if everyone was just on the same page regarding an unspoken joke that they told all the new thru-hikers Virginia is flat. What I loved about Virginia was that the days of hiking involved lots of beautiful ridges walks it was lots of ascending and descending to ridgelines and in this time I was able to get a rhythm of consistent 20-plus mile days. I very much enjoyed the time in Virginia as I got to see the season from mid-spring turn into early summer. During my time in Virginia, I hiked the majority of it as a group of my own. I hiked ahead of my tramily for the first 500 miles to meet my Dad who had one of my resupplies and due to some awkward planning, inclement weather, and different mileage days I hiked ahead and didn’t end up meeting up with them again after that. I love my tramily and I hope to meet them again in the future somehow. I think Virginia is where I hit my flow states of hiking where I could just walk all day and feel intuned with nature and set my tent, up relax for an hour or two at the end of the day just to wake up and do it all again the next day and I loved every minute of my time there. Virginia sent me away with a bang as I crossed into West Virginia I was Coming into Harpers Ferry as I was on the last ridge before coming into the town a surprise lightning storm swept in incredibly fast and brought in a blinding amount of rain. Being at the high point on this ridge Multiple trees were struck near me and causing some deafening booms in my ears and shattered bark that hit me as I was running along the trail hoping I would start descending. After several close calls, I decided to throw my aluminum trekking poles roughly 12 feet away from me and duck under a low-hanging small tree to wait for the storm to pass. As it continued to rain the trail turned into a river and my boots filled with water and everything was soaked. I was thankful my pack was waterproof. The storm hung around for about 30 minutes and then quickly left. Although that was a scary situation I didn’t dwell on it long I was just too excited to be into Harpers Ferry which is considered to be the symbolic halfway point of the Appalachian Trail. It was an amazing moment to see friendly faces there and to relax for a couple of days as I promised myself I would take a double zero-day and enjoy the city a bit.