Into the Foothills of the Appalachians
Day 25: Winchester, KY to Campton, KY (49 miles and 2300 feet of climbing)
After a much-needed rest day we got to sleep in even more as we prepared to do our shortest day of the whole trip. We were doing just under 50 miles today heading into the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. We would have done more miles, but there weren’t any pet friendly hotels along the route until over 100 miles. Despite what my Dad will tell you sometimes it’s nice to have an easy day here and there.
We woke up to a fog advisory, our first of the trip. We actually ended up leaving later so we could wait for some of the fog to burn off. Once it was clear enough we set off through downtown Winchester. After all of 20 minutes we were through the “city” and back into some rolling hills and farm land.
We saw some more horses, a bunch of churches and got to see a lot of spider webs. The moisture in the air clung to the webs so we could actually see them. It was overcast for almost my whole leg which made it nice and cool and muggy. We started to pass less farms and see more and more trees. The Appalachian trail is sometimes called the green tunnel and as we started to get into the Appalachian mountains I can definitely see why.
After a short 25 miles Mom met us and we switched off so she could do her 25 miles of the day. She had more of the climbing, but she’s in much better shape than I am. Their ride was much harder. They biked through the Red River Gorge which was beautiful, but then they had to go up the hardest hill of the ride to get out of the Gorge. It was 14.6% grade, that’s gonna be a no from me, Dawg. On top of a hard ride mom got a flat tire too. They patched it and met me at the hotel where we got an early check in.
Maude patiently waiting to check in
We’re staying outside of Camptom, KY tonight a town of only 313 people so there’s not much to do to kill time. There are a lot of hiking trails around so depending on how tired Mom and Dad are I’m hoping to check out a nearby waterfall.
