four seconds it seems

I was in Virginia last week for a wedding and being just mere miles from Shenandoah National Park I had no choice but to sneak away for a quick run. Of course the maps I ordered hadn't come in time and I had no idea where I was going or what I was doing when I left the hotel. Less than thirty minutes later and I was at Swift Run Gap and faced with a twenty dollar entrance fee for the park. With only a couple of hours to play I said no thank you and just kept driving.  A little bit later I found a roadside pullout and what looked like a trail with what looked like a sign and decided it had to hit the AT a thousand vertical feet later and started running from there.



Unfortunately, what I had thought was a trail quickly became nothing more than a bushwhack and the few hours I had to run were rapidly vanishing in a slow slog up an unknown mountain. Right when I was ready to give up I intersected a trail and a white blaze on a nearby tree confirmed I had hit the AT. I ran out and back on the AT for several miles before running down the highway instead of the bushwhack back to the car.