Day 65 – Hurricane Campground, Mount Rogers National Recreation Area to Fort Chiswell, VA

10/15/2026

Mark was to get his second rabies vaccination today, and therefore rode in the truck with Greg to Wytheville, VA to the Walgreens to get jabbed. Unfortunately, the rabies vaccine Mark had ordered 2 days prior was not yet in stock, he will try again tomorrow.

John & Rolf rode the mostly paved 48.5-mile route from Hurricane to Fort Chiswell. We had elected to get hotel rooms for the night due to the local campground not having some of the facilities we desired. And it was a good thing as it rained fairly heavily that evening. The route had 3,284 ft of elevation gain, some of it fairly steep (e.g., 15% grade).

Some of the route was along the original cross-country route created in 1976 and marked with signs commemorating the 200^th year of the US and developed by Adventure Cycling.

Today’s route also crossed the Appalachian Trail.

Once we got to our hotel in Fort Chiswell, Greg discovered that Melissa, who is on her way to visit her son in North Carolina, was staying in nearby Wytheville, VA. We went to supper with Melissa, but our experience with food service was miserable and didn’t get back to our hotel until after 8 pm.