Miles Since Last Camp on May 25 - 55.8
Total Miles - 315.2
Number of States Visited - 3 (PA, OH, WV)
Prior Camp- Marietta, OH
Current Camp - Spencer, WV
National Parks Visited: 1/51
Next Park: New River Gorge, WV (55.8 Miles)
Weight: 173.0 (-7.0)
Injuries: None
Nags - None
June 26 2026
Welcome to the Eighth Installment of the Virtual Run to 51 National Parks! For this project, I am using my actual real-world mileage to plot a continuous course starting in Pittsburgh and visiting every National Park in the continental United States.
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(Note: You can read the previous installments here)
Virtual Run 1st Installment - Pittsburgh to Volant, PA
Virtual Run 2nd Installment Volant to Leavittsburg, OH
Virtual Run 3rd Installment Leavittsburg to Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Virtual Run 4th Installment to Canton, OH
Virtual Run #5 - Canton to Newcomerstown, OH
Virtual Run 6th Installment - To Caldwell, Ohio
Virtual Run 7th Installment - To Marietta, Ohio
Spencer WV is the County Seat of Roane County WV and named after Spencer Roane, a Jurist from Virginia.
Spencer was famous for the bloodless surrender by Union Colonel Rathbone to Confederate General Jenkins and his Mocassin Raiders when in 1862 Rathbone surrenders his entire garrison of four companies without firing a single shot.
Spencer would also house the Spencer State Hospital. A Massive quarter mile long brick mental asylum. Shuttered in 1989, it still houses 850 unmarked graves on the grounds.
Home to the annual West Virginia Black Walnut Festival. Once a year residents and visitors gather for music, rides games, agricultural displays and a beauty pageant.
Home to the Robey Theater, built in 1907. It is the oldest continuously operating movie theatre in the United States!
Col. Ruby Bradley: Born nearby, Bradley was one of the most decorated women in U.S. military history. A surgical nurse in the U.S. Army, she was captured by the Japanese in WWII and spent over three years as a POW in the Santo Tomas Internment Camp, where she became known as the “Angel of Bataan” for performing smuggling operations and field surgeries under captivity. She later served in the Korean War and became a full Colonel.
Roane County also contains a 100 foot long natural bridge made of Appalachian sandstone that was carved out by rainwater passing underneath it. While horsecarts and even cars once drove over this wonder, now hikers can traverse it and take in the beauty of the surrounding woods.
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I hope that you will join me for this next leg (Virtual and Real). And if you go on your own real or virtual journey, please let me know! I’d love to follow you on your ride.
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