American Discovery Trail: Almost Heaven...

 

I am in the middle of the seventh segment of this trip and the second in West Virginia, and I decided to switch to posting once a week if I can, because I like that better than waiting two weeks or more to post. There is usually something to write about in a given week, and if not, I can scribble down a few words about nothing.

This segment has the moderately-exciting-at-best name of "Streby to Nestorville," and the trail zigzags its way between the two towns: Google Maps says I can walk the distance in 51.2 miles, but the trail segment is 69.7 miles long. There will be a lot of that, all the way to California.

The main trail website lists the first place on this segment as Sherr, West Virginia, but a look at Google Maps shows that Sherr is clearly several miles behind me, so I am not going back there. The site does say that if you want accurate maps, you can get them at a website, so we cannot put too much stock in the main trail description pages. Instead, we will press on in a forward direction to the Allegheny Front, pictured here with a guy sitting on a stump, apparently watching for hawks. The trail through the Allegheny Front reaches up to 4,000 feet elevation, the highest area of the trail east of the Rockies.

Dolly Sods Wilderness, in the Allegheny Mountains

The Allegheny Mountains, which reach up to 4,863 feet

Blackwater Falls State Park, less than halfway to Nestorville, but about as far as I have walked, so we can stop there.

I am a little surprised to find that, six months after I started, I am not very close to 10% of the way along. However, by the end of next year I expect to be in Iowa, and possibly even Nebraska, so progress will come in time. For now, I expect to get new walking shoes tomorrow, and I will start wearing out another couple of pairs.