Day 72

Origin: Rod Hollow Shelter

Destination: Blackburn AT Center

Today's miles: 17.8

Total miles: 1,007.5

I didn't have that many miles to hike but I wanted to get an early start anyway because I had a tough section called the Roller Coaster to cross and I wanted to beat the forecasted afternoon thunderstorm.  The Roller Coaster is a rocky 13.5 mile stretch of closely-packed hills.  None of the hills exceed 1,500 ft of elevation or 500 ft of ascent, but the constant ups and downs is tough of the muscles and joints.  It is sections like this one that leads many hikers to surprisingly state that the Appalachian Trail is more physically demanding than the other two long American trails, the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail, despite their traversing much larger mountains.  In fact, the AT has nearly twice the elevation gain per mile of hiking vs. those those trails.

I had gone nearly 1,000 miles without any major issues with my body, but a mile into the Roller Coaster, my right knee started to scream.  It came out of nowhere and without twisting it, so I'm not sure what's wrong with it.  The rest of the day went much more slowly than I am accustomed to, but I did make it to my destination, the Blackburn AT Center, before the storms hit.

The Center is run by the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, the volunteer organization that maintains this portion if the trail.  From August to April, the center is rented out as a cabin, but during the other months it is maintained as a place for AT hikers to hang out, and there is a second, smaller cabin available for hikers to sleep for free.  Given the approaching storms, this sounded good to me.  Unbeknownst to me, the caretakers also often make dinner for hikers, so I got a free spaghetti dinner tonight with salad.  The caretakers thru-hiked a few years ago and weren't ready to leave the trail, so took this job.  It was definitely a cool place and I'm glad I stopped by.

Only 12.5 miles to go to Harpers Ferry.