I was up early, wrapped my blisters in Leukotape K, packed my stuff into my backpack, and headed out the door.
After picking up two egg McMuffins (hold the bacon) at McDonald’s, I walked onto the “wrong way” on-ramp to Hwy 50 East. The shoulder in this section of West Virginia is wide.
There are two excellent podcasts I’ve been enjoying and recommend: “It’s Only a Game” and “Stuff You Missed in History Class.”
Five hours later I stopped at Back Woods Pizza in Deerwalk, where I ate a pizza sub, a root beer, and a chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich.
A few miles later I walked down a long ramp to Mountwood Park.
The actual camping sites were another two miles into the park, additional walking that did not appeal to me. I spied a wooden fence off a nearby service road, investigated, and discovered a concrete pad hidden behind it. The pad, obviously a shooting stage given the empty cartridges scattered all around it, seemed like the perfect place for me to spend the night!
It’s warm and humid, and the sounds of birds and distant traffic fill the air. Tonight I’ll be using the bivy sack for the first time.
16 miles today. Shabbat Shalom.
@ Walker, West Virginia