WAYNESBORO, Va. (WVIR) – A couple in Waynesboro has earned their master hiker status. That means they hiked every state park in Virginia.
It only took them a year.
“Virginia is so diverse in all types of ways – the people, the atmosphere, the landscape,” Sam Bosserman said.
She and her husband David would know.
“You get a pin for every one, five, 10, 20 parks you visited. Then when you visit all of them you earn your master hiker pin,” Sam stated.
The pair spent 2021 visiting Virginia’s state parks with their 85-pound pit, Olive, along for the ride.
“I was excited to see different parts of the state that I hadn’t been to,” Sam said.
The challenge took them to every corner and edge of the commonwealth on a bunch of day trips and four overnight trips where they stayed inside the parks.
“Had to take a picture of the trailhead. Had to take a selfie on the trail,” Sam said.
They hiked a trial in each, visited the local restaurants, and took in the local area. Their biggest venture was southwest Virginia.
“We did nine parks in four days for that trip,” Sam said.
That’s where she discovered one of her favorite parks: Grayson Highlands.
“It’s actually the highest elevated state park in the state and it has wild ponies,” she said.
Another favorite of Sam’s was Westmoreland.
“They have cliffs. They have a fossil beach where you can hunt for sharks teeth,” Sam stated.
David enjoyed High Bridge.
“High Bridge was an old railroad track they converted to a walking/biking path,” David said.
He also liked Natural Tunnel which has a train track running through it.
“We were lucky enough, we had gone down, looked at it, got about halfway back up heard a train whistle,” David said. “So I ran back down got some pictures and everything, watched the train come through it.”
When asked where David would want to revisit, he just laughed. He’s a little burnt out after 40 parks in a year, but Sam is already thinking about Holliday Lake.
“We were just there for probably an hour, but that’s one I’d like to go back to,” she said.
But they agree it was worth it.
“Get a pass, go out, you know you’ll never know what you’ll see,” David said.
While the Bossermans tackled Virginia’s state parks in a year, you don’t have to. The State Park Service program Trail Quest allows you to track your travel at your own pace, earning some free pins along the way.
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