During our trip to Panama this summer we have a lofty goal of climbing this long dormant volcano. Round trip from Boquete this trail is rated hard with 17.4 miles round trip and an elevation gain of 6,847 feet.
Most hikers start this around 10 or 11 PM and hike overnight with the goal of seeing sunrise. After our own trial run from 5 PM to 1:30 AM we’ve decided we’ll pass on the overnight. Instead we’ll likely start hiking around 4 or 5 AM and summit at whatever time that happens — who cares if its overcast and we don’t get to see both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans from the top.
This hike is going to be hard enough. To train for it we’re adding weekly stairclimbing sessions, barbell box step-ups, and lots of hiking. Aside from the health benefits from hiking, it’s a great opportunity to spend some time with our son. This post outlines all the hikes we’ve done in preparation along with mileage and elevation gain. All in Virginia unless otherwise noted. Photos from each hike are in their own section further down.
May 20 – Home to Leesburg and back on the W&OD Trail (10.08 mi & 568 ft).
May 14 – Blackburn Center to Keys Gap+ on the AT (15.31 & 2,100 ft)
May 6 – Crampton Gap to Lamb’s Knoll in Maryland on the AT ( 14.09 mi & 2,238 ft)
April 22 – Rt 9/Keys Gap to David Lesser Memorial Shelter on the AT (7.27 mi & 968 ft)
April 12-13 – Rt 7/Bear’s Den to Rt 50/Ashby Gap on the AT (14.56 mi & 3,737 ft)
April 9th – Rt 66 towards Sky Meadows Park on the AT (12.15mi & 2,270 ft)
April 1st (Hillary) – Moses Creek to Murats Point Florida (7.06mi & 112 ft)March 31st (David) – Spy Rock via Crabtree Falls (13.34 mi & 3,360 ft)
March 26th – Harpers Ferry to Keys Gap on the AT (11.69 mi & 1,811 ft)
March 18th – Blackburn Trail Center to Raven Rocks on the AT (10.23 mi & 2,044 ft)
March 11th – Rt 50/Ashby Gap to Sky Meadows Park on the AT+ (8.52 mi and 1,801 ft)
March 4th – Rt 50/Ashby Gap to Rod Hollow Shelter on the AT (7.21 mi and 1,302 ft)
February 25th – Rt 7 to Bear’s Den and Sam Moore Shelter on the AT (6.03 mi & 1,588 ft)
February 18th – Rt 7 to Raven Rocks on the AT (6.05 mi & 1,716 ft)
February 11th – Sugarland Run Trail (9.42 mi & 253 ft)
May 20 – Home to Leesburg and back on the W&OD Trail – A light hike from home as we were crunched for time today (Loudoun Farm Tour this weekend with local tea farmers at the shop). We covered a lot more distance than expected as our pace was about 3 mph today (vs averaging 2 mph on the AT).
I think our Xero hiking shoes are fully broken in now. 🙂 Another lesson learned though, recovery time is super important as I really felt this hike a lot more than the longer one last weekend. Need to make sure to take the recovery.
May 14 – Blackburn Center to Keys Gap – Three weeks out from our long 18 mile hike on Memorial Day Weekend this was a longer hike covering the last part of the AT between Rt. 7 and Harpers Ferry that we hadn’t already covered.
May 6 – Crampton Gap to Lamb’s Knoll in Maryland – This was a fun hike from Crampton Gap, featuring the National War Correspondents Memorial at Gathland Park. This was the first hike breaking in our new Xero shoes. The minimalist nature of them definitely worked new parts of the feet and ankles.
April 29th – Rt 9/Keys Gap to David Lesser Memorial Shelter – This was a nice easy “recovery” hike after last weekend. Relatively smooth trail and no real elevation gain made this perfect in the lead up to rain later in the day.
April 12-13 – Rt 7/Bear’s Den to Rt 50/Ashby Gap – This is the southern part of the Appalachian Trail Roller Coaster. This was our first of two planned overnight hikes. It was punishing and so we have made the executive decision that overnight hiking just doesn’t work for us.
April 9th – Rt 66 towards Sky Meadows Park on the AT – Just a nice easy hike to get some mileage in. No huge elevation gains or super rocky stretches. Also no views to speak of.
April 1st (Hillary) – Moses Creek to Murats Point Florida – Florida is just hot and flat. Hillary was there on Spring Break with DJ so she made the best of it, going on a hike with Shayla.
March 31st (David) – Spy Rock via Crabtree Falls – With Hillary and DJ off in Florida I did this hike by myself. Crabtree Falls is near to the cabin in Schuyler but we’ve never continued on to Spy Rock. So why not???
March 26th – Harpers Ferry to Keys Gap on the AT – One of several hikes we started before sunrise. In this case it was fun walking across the bridge back to VA with headlamps and heading south on the AT to keys gap and seeing the river on the return.
March 18th – Blackburn Trail Center to Raven Rocks on the AT – Just Hillary and I for this one. We started in the dark with a headlamp and a flashlight getting a little lost finding the initial trailhead but otherwise a fun hike as the sun rose.
March 11th – Rt 50/Ashby Gap to Sky Meadows Park on the AT+ – This was a beautiful hike with limited elevation gains. Sky Meadows is always amazing but we also found what looks like an old revolutionary war era “road” as part of the hike.
March 4th – Rt 50/Ashby Gap to Rod Hollow Shelter on the AT – Chilly early season hike. It was quite windy on this hike. We even heard a tree fall while out hiking.
February 25th – Rt 7 to Bear’s Den and Sam Moore Shelter on the AT – Beautiful, cold, late winter hike starting at daybreak.
February 18th – Rt 7 to Raven Rocks on the AT – Our very first hike along the Appalachian Trail (AT) as part of our training for Volcán Barú.
While we’ve hiked the AT many times over the years we’ve surprisingly done more in Maryland and never actually hit Raven Rocks despite how close it is to us!
February 11th – Sugarland Run Trail – Our very first training hike. We figured we would start very easy with no elevation gain at all. Since we had to drop off electronic recycling reasonably close we picked this trail which starts just off the W&OD Trail in Reston.