On Saturday, I successfully completed the Sierra Club's 50k One Day Hike!
The hike starts at White's Ferry, heads east about 2 miles, then turns around and goes straight to Harper's Ferry. A little past canal mile 60, the hike route takes the pedestrian/railroad bridge over the Potomac, heading uphill for 1.5 miles through town to the Bolivar Community Center.
The weather was a little hotter and more humid than I would like, but bearable, for most of the day. It rained three times. The first was a very short shower, for which I was conveniently at the Point of Rocks support station getting snacks and rest. The second was coming into Brunswick, which was a hard, steady rain for a couple of miles. It cleared up while I was in Brunswick, getting snacks and having a blister treated.
The final rain was an absolute deluge of a thunderstorm, starting just after milepost 59, just when it had gotten dark enough for me to get my headlamp out. Water was a couple of inches deep on the trail, and I could see just enough to not fall off of the trail and into the canal. Of course, my mind was on that steel bridge I was going to have to cross. Quite fortunately, the thunder and lightning (albeit not the rain) stopped as I was approaching it.
Then it was uphill in the rain, in a section that felt much longer than I had expected. But finally, I reached the end, in 11 hours, 2 minutes, and 18 seconds.
This hike contained several C&O milestones:
- I completed the last few miles of Montgomery County and all of Frederick County
- From here on, West Virginia rather than Virginia will be on my left
- I am now almost ⅓ of the way done -1.5 miles short of it!
I took fewer pictures than usual, trying to stay on track. This was my last trail photo before the rain kept my phone tucked away. You can see the storm coming in.
I am proud of myself for having finished this challenge. Now, onward to the rest of the C&O - without a training schedule to keep!
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