Thu 4/23 - AM 70 minutes

A final out and back along the AT in Virginia, this time from SR 600 to the summit of Whitetop Mountain and back. After a couple of failed/misbegotten attempts at this particular summit, went with the simple and short route and got it done before leaving the area and heading back north. Similar to other sections of trail I've seen, there was a mix of delightfully smooth footing and more tocky sections, with runoff from the rains earlier in the week making things slippery in spots. The actual summit was quite underwhelming with a bunch of cell towers and a maintenance shed gracing the spot. The wind was nearly overwhelming at times in the exposed open sections of the mountainside access road, and hastened my retreat to the relative shelter of the AT in the woods. Still a nice finish to an edifying week in the mountains.