Day 76 - 5/16

Daily mileage: 21.0
Total trail mileage: 1011.7
Starting location: Sam Moore Shelter
Ending location: VA/WV Border
Weather: very brief shower in the early morning, hazy in the morning,
clear and sunny the rest of the day, 58 degrees in the morning, 65-70
degrees during the day

I am at
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=39.321316,+-77.746132

There were again a lot of day hikers today. The boy scouts that were
camping with me had a bunch of questions in the morning. They were
all young kids (Tenderfoot rank) and were excited to be out camping.
They left ahead of me and when I caught up they were like "Hey! It's
Hobbot!".

I HAVE COMPLETED MY FOURTH STATE! Virginia was long; it has a quarter
of the entire trail. It is hard to put labels on the trail in
Virginia because it was so varied...it had flat sections, steep
sections, smooth sections, rocky sections, forest, farmland, ridges,
valleys, etc., etc. But, I would have to say that the state was
green, because for me the forest didn't start turning green until I
hit this state. And, the farmland was something I hadn't seen in the
previous three states.

I am camping on the state line. I have now completed Virginia, but if
I will attempt the 4-state challenge I will have to return to this
point and step foot back into Virginia as that is the starting point
for the challenge. The 4-state challenge involves stepping foot on
the trail in 4 states (VA/WV/MD/PA) within a 24 hour period; it is
about 43 miles in one day. So, I am likely not done done with it
yet. But, that is something to decide when I get back on the trail.

As I had mentioned, I am getting off the trail for a bit starting
tomorrow. For those that don't know why, my friends Matt and Melissa
are getting married. So, I will be off trail for the wedding and
related activities as well as a chance to take a break. So, tomorrow
I need to finish the last couple miles into Harpers Ferry and then
take a train from there back home. I should be returning to the trail
June 1.