A nice Amish family came out of nowhere on the trail, and Waterboy was granted a photo.
Waterboy came across this sign, indicating the Eastern Continental Divide. According to Wikipedia,
“The Eastern Continental Divide, is a hydrological divide in eastern North America that separates the easterly Atlantic Seaboard watershed from the westerly Gulf of Mexico watershed. The divide nearly spans the United States from south of Lake Ontario through the Florida peninsula, and consists of raised terrain including the Appalachian Mountains to the north, the southern Piedmont Plateau and lowland ridges in the Atlantic Coastal Plain to the south. Water including rainfall and snowfall, lakes, streams and rivers on the eastern/southern side of the divide drains to the Atlantic Ocean; water on the western/northern side of the divide drains to the Gulf of Mexico.”
Simply, a lovely sunset.
This was an unexpected monument to come upon while hiking. If you’re not familiar with Audie Murphy, I’d recommend looking him up. I’ll provide a link to a short biography. He was considered a war hero, but I knew him more from his movie career, mostly staring in old westerns. This monument designates where he passed away in a plane crash.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audie_Murphy
Just one of the many wildernesses we’ve crossed so far.
🎈🎊700 miles😃😃. Another milestone achieved.
I’m almost positive this is an azalea.
I found this flower online. It’s a Pink Ladies Slipper, which is kind of spot on as names go. Per the Appalachiantrail.org site,
”This somewhat rare wildflower has a unique shape that makes it easy to identify. It grows 6-18 inches tall, has two dark green leaves at the base, with the distinct pink flower growing off a long, thin stem. They bloom between April and May and can be found in acidic, mixed coniferous, and hardwood forests. The Pink Lady’s Slipper can be found in some of the Midwest and all over the East Coast, like North Carolina and Tennessee. The name is derived from its shape that has a striking similarity to slippers (if you squint).”
My second snake sighting, as I climbed up to Dragon’s Tooth. A little Ring Neck snake. I’ll call him Felix.
The Dragon’s Tooth rock formation is aptly named. It’s quite a scrambling climb to get here. For more details…
https://www.visitroanokeva.com/things-to-do/outdoor-adventure/appalachian-trail/dragons-tooth
Update 5/13/24, This is possibly Mountain Laurel.
It’s a hot day, so Warrior Princess is enjoying a dip and a shake in Trout Creek.
Waterboy and Shamrock standing on the ledge at McAfee Knob (mile 715).
I believe this is called Fire Pink.
Is this an official 1/3 marker, we’re not sure. It was nice to see, regardless.
We finished this section of our hike at the town limits of Troutville, VA. We are near to being halfway through the Virginia portion of the trail.
Update 5/13/24, This looks like it could be Allegheny BlackBerry based on an internet search , but it’s a guess.
Pictured here is the VT Hokie Bird, the Virginia Tech mascot. These statues are placed in various places across town, decorated in different fashion.
For roughly 50 miles of the hike, we’ve been in close proximity of the town of Blacksburg, VA. This is the home of Virginia Tech University. It’s massive, with a student enrollment in the 30,000 range. It was a little surprising to come upon such a university without a large city anywhere nearby. Anyway, we’ve spent some time here resupplying and hoteling.
Part of our plan with this adventure was to find a new place to live after we complete the trail. Blacksburg has earned a spot on that short list.