VA Appalachian Trail - Section 3 - Snickers Gap to Ashby Gap

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
10/14/2018	14.4 miles	9 hours 9 minutes	3,769'	38:06

Map: Appalachian Trail Guide to Maryland and Northern Virginia
Parking: VA Route 7 (Snickers Gap), large commuter lot. Blue Ridge Mountain Road trailhead (Ashby Gap)
Directions: Snickers Gap to Ashby Gap

Today's section of the AT included the roller coaster. This section has a reputation of being very challenging. The section has 10 medium sized bumps followed by 4 undulations. We went southbound so the undulations would be at the end. Just a note on the parking areas. We had read that crossing route 7 is challenging in the morning. There are parking lots on each side of the highway. We parked at the commuter lot, so that we wouldn't need to cross the highway in today's hike. The Blue Ridge Mountain Road trailhead parking lot is a steep dropoff from the road. We hit the bottom of our car when pulling out. There are some really nice expensive houses between the two parking areas. We wondered what these people do for a living in rural Virginia. We passed by a FEMA location which was all fenced in. I read about it later. It's a place where they relocate top level military and government officials during emergencies, such as the 9/11 attacks.

I started hiking at an easy slow pace, knowing it was going to be a long day. The ups and downs didn't feel too bad. My heart rate never got very high. The terrain was rocky though - reminiscent of Pennsylvania. At some point I checked my speed and noticed it was really slow. We have limited daylight in the fall - so I needed to be hiking faster. Then it started raining - it wasn't supposed to. I had wanted to do this hike on a DRY day. Wet rocks slow me down. And then Glen's eyeglasses broke - a lens popped out and he couldn't find the screw. I gave him my duct tape and hiked on - I was hiking too slowly to spend time waiting for him. Lately Glen has been hiking much faster than I can. We mostly hiked apart today. Sometimes I didn't see Glen for a couple of miles. The last several miles I was bonking. My energy level was really poor. I was hiking so slowly - forcing myself to just keep moving forward. My steps were small and just took so much energy. I was so glad when the day was done. I wondered why I bonked so much. I think I was eating & drinking enough. Then I looked at the elevation gain. A total of 3,769'. That's a lot for me. I'm okay with doing 14 mile days, but I'm not used to that much elevation gain.

For dinner, we just wanted something quick, so we stopped at Chipotle before heading back to our hotel.

Osage oranges