Despite being pretty congested from allergies the day before,  I slept pretty good.  I got back on the trail and passed over a stream on a neat little foot bridge.

I soon came to a section of trail known as “The Roller Coaster”.  A section full of hills over the course of 14 miles.

Going up one of the hills, I came across a stone wall from a old farm site

Despite all the hype,  the Roller Coaster wasn’t too bad. There were some steep sections,  but overall it wasn’t much compared to other sections.

A few miles into the day,  I reached the 1,000 mile mark!

I made a little sign on the ground to commemorate the spot, before moving on.

I stopped at the Bear’s Den to cook lunch. It is an old castle inspired stone house with a hiker lounge/hostel in the basement. There was a little fridge with cans of soda for sale.  I had a couple Dr Peppers while talking to some hikers staying the night

Wonder Woman showed up and was thrilled that they had Wonder Woman cans!

After resting for a bit,  I pushed on.  The trail went across a 4 lane divided highway.

With cars zooming by on each side, all those hours playing Frogger finally paid off

Towards the end of the day,  I passed another milestone,  the VA/WV Border! At 554 miles, Virginia is the longest state on the trail.  I took some time to celebrate with a pack of Scooby Doo fruit snacks!

(ignore the potential murder weapon on top of the sign!)

I finished up the day at the Blackburn Trail Center. A building that houses trail maintainers during parts of the year.

There are camping spots out back, but they also let you sleep on the screened in porch. I found a couch on the porch to crash on for the night.

The caretakers came out to talk with us and made fresh cookies and tea!