Day 78: 19.7 miles hiked (trail mile 1025.2)
Upon waking, we hung out awhile at the Bear’s Den in the living room. In walked Denim Dan, a man from west Texas who fully looks the part. He is hiking the trail in denim jeans, a cowboy hat, a red bandana, and a healthy handlebar moustache.
92 is getting off trail after Harpers Ferry so we said our goodbyes here. We love that guy.
Some history on the Bear’s Den
Still not quite refreshed from our big day yesterday, we trudged through the last of the Rollercoaster and set our sails into Harper’s Ferry. Halfway through the day we crossed into West Virginia. Right on the state line is where thruhikers will camp before beginning the ‘4-state challenge’. There are many challenges on the trail but this is decidedly the most popular. Those who undertake the challenge attempt to hike across 4 states (45 miles) on the AT in 24 hours: Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. We briefly entertained the idea but ultimately decided not to risk injury and instead keep challenging ourselves a little bit at a time.
Toward the end of the day, we kept encountering big, sweet-smelling purple flowers fallen all over the trail and eventually identified them as belonging to the invasive Princess Tree. Invasive or not, it made for a pretty change of scenery.
Just before sunset we crossed the Shenandoah River on a busy Highway bridge and checked into the Quality Inn. We ordered pizza and salad from a local joint that delivered to the hotel and took it easy for the evening. We are looking forward to exploring Harper’s Ferry tomorrow!
Day 79: .9 miles hiked (trail mile 1026.1)
Our morning was spent lounging around our hotel room and recovering from the last couple high-mile days on The Rollercoaster. We checked out of our room at 11am and walked up the road to Kelley Farm Kitchen, a vegan restaurant with a breakfast-all-day menu. Here we delighted in plant-based chick’n and waffles followed by lemon cake for desert.
Then, we walked to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy’s headquarters and took our pictures in front of the classic stone wall and ATC sign. In normal years the ATC takes a Polaroid picture of every thru-hiker and adds it to a giant album that dates back decades. We are a bit bummed we didn’t get the chance to flip through the album and find Chris’s picture from his 2005 hike but such is thruhiking in a global pandemic.
ATC Headquarters
After this we cut through Storer college, a historic Black college from the segregation era that is now a national park. We then returned to the AT to fill in a small section from the Quality Inn into downtown Harper’s Ferry. On the last bit of the AT section, near Jefferson Rock, we ran into Caramel and Curator with Curator’s parents.
From there we all walked to a pub in the historic downtown and enjoyed some drinks. Blue Jacket showed up and pulled up a chair, too. Curator is recovering from a knee injury and Blue Jacket offered up his apartment in Maryland not too far from Harper’s Ferry if Curator needs more time to heal before getting back on trail. Blue Jacket to the rescue!
After leaving the pub, Chris and I walked around the historic downtown a bit together. We had to stop at the outfitter to do a small resupply to carry us another 80 miles. The outfitter selection was meager but will suffice. For being one of the most famous stops along the trail and home to the ATC headquarters, it’s funny how little Harper’s Ferry has to offer in terms of trail services: no hostel, only a single outfitter, etc. After wrapping up at the outfitter we strolled through some of the self-guided museum tours. Basically all of the historic buildings and sites operate as an open air museum and you can wander aimlessly as we did or follow the numerical order. We paid a visit to a candy shop that sold candy that was meant to mimic candies dating back to ancient times and as recent as the 1970’s. Ranger bought sugarplums and peppermint Gibraltar’s and I got a moon pie.
We ate dinner again at Kelley’s Farm Kitchen and again marveled at how delightful the food was. Caramel and Curator’s parents picked us up after dinner so we could sleep on Curator and Caramel’s floor which they generously offered up. We had been planning to hike out in the evening but a nero will be a nice treat for our feet.
Day 80: 17.2 miles hiked (trail mile 1043.3)
Curator and Caramel dropped us off at the trail in downtown Harpers Ferry at 8:30am. The trail here cuts right by the site where the war to end slavery is said to have begun at John Browns Fort. Crossing the footbridge that runs along the railroad bridge across the Potomac River, we were accosted by a giant pit bull who came running up to green us like we were long lost friends. As she joyously escorted us across the bridge we saw an osprey land in its nest atop the bridge, and a train rushed past us into the tunnel carved into the mountainside.
Osprey
We walked the first couple miles along the C&O Canal, a historic canal that has been converted into a bike path covering 184.5 miles from Washington D.C. to Cumberland, MD. Along this section we spotted a family of geese with four tiny goslings, and a blue heron. We also met another NoBo thruhiker by the name of Second Shot.
Mid-day we stopped for a break at Ed Garvey shelter where we met a ridge runner. This first shelter in Maryland was very impressive in both its unique build and cleanliness. Further up the trail we ran into Whistler, who we first met at the Bear Den, and hiked with him awhile. We lunched near Gath’s tomb, an ornate tomb that was built for a man named Gath but never occupied by him because he was ultimately buried elsewhere, against his wishes.
Gath’s Empty Tomb
History all along the trail through Maryland!
We hiked strong with Whistler and reached Dahlgren Backpacking Campground by 4:30 at mile 17.1 and decided to call it a day. This free backpacking campground is extra glampy with functioning bathrooms complete with hot showers! As we were sitting down to enjoy a campfire, Ninja Kitty and their partner Kurt stepped out of the woods, and we all hung out around the fire until nightfall.
Ranger and Whistler
Day 81: 17.9 miles hiked (trail mile 1061.2)
Guess we need to be on the lookout for the Snarly Yow, per this historical marker a few miles into our hike today
You can tell it’s the weekend when you suddenly encounter massive amounts of day-hikers and overnighters, and such is the case today. It’s kind of fun answering questions about thruhiking and seeing all the variety in gear.
Shortly into our hike this morning we encountered the Washington monument, built by nearby villagers in honor of George Washington in celebration of the 4th of July, in 1827.
It was an uneventful hike until a steep, steep ascent at the end of the day to our resting point for the night at the beautiful Raven Rock Shelter. Once on top we encountered a beautiful fern-cloaked undergrowth with long-trunk trees glowing in the early stages of golden hour. We found a nice tent site near the shelter on a bed of pine needles and Whistler set up his tent near ours. The shelter and surrounding tent sites are very crowded. As we get further north there is a definite uptick in folks getting out to backpack on the weekends. No surprise, as this country is simply gorgeous. We have made a mental note to get into camp a bit earlier on weekends to secure a site, especially when closer to civilization.
While cooking dinner at the picnic table in the shelter we got to chat with Whistler, another thruhiker named Scrambles who was surviving this section on Spam alone, and a section hiker named Tor. Tor was a neat guy with a career-military background. He had a lot of incredible stories from his Army Ranger days but also had a humble and quiet way about him.
Once back in our tent we spent awhile hacking off parts of our packs that we hadn’t found use for this far with our knife. In the name of comfort and saving money we’ve decided to stick with the packs we’ve been using rather than switching to ultralight summer packs as many do. In closely inspecting our packs, however, we realized there were a lot of extra pieces that we could cut from our packs for some additional weight savings, e.g. the clips that hold “the brain” which neither of us ever use, the ice-ax loop, extra little straps and loops, the load stabilizing strap inside the pack that tends to just get in the way… it was a cathartic activity to say the least.
We are constantly trying to find ways to shave off a bit more weight. Every gram and every ounce might seem insignificant, but they add up quickly and the feet notice.
Day 82: 26.3 miles hiked (trail mile 1087.5)
Determined to make some good miles today to make it the next 46 miles to our pickup point tomorrow by late afternoon, we got a 7am start out of the shelter. We’re eager to spend a few zeros with my sister Andrea and her partner Mark in Philadelphia, who have been dog sitting for us. It will be a good time to rest our muscles and joints and get some delicious calories (the food in Philadelphia is incredible). We said goodbye to Whistler, who is also planning to get off trail for a few days to visit family. We may end up getting back on trail the same day next week.
An early start makes a huge difference in mileage morale, as you can knock out 4-6 miles before most even leave camp, as 92 liked to remind people. We took a 9am snack break at Penn Mar Park, about 5 miles before the border of Pennsylvania. Shortly after, we crossed the Mason Dixon line and entered Pennsylvania!
Penn Mar Park
Entering Pennsylvania!
For lunch we braked at Iron Forge Park and watched some dark clouds roll in. It looked ominous for a couple hours, but we never got more than sprinkled on.
In the afternoon we were passed by Dead Eye, who we hadn’t seen since the Shenandoahs. It turns out he did the 4-state challenge and accidentally started at the first VA/WV state line and thus hiked 17 miles before reaching the actual start of the 45-mile state challenge. He decided to continue and just see how far he could get in 24 hours and ended up hiking 58 miles! Mindblowing.
We had entertained the idea of camping at Caldonia State Park at mile 24, but since the actual campgrounds were nowhere in sight from the AT we decided to press on to the shelter and do a marathon day (more than 26.2 miles). Just before continuing from the park, we received trail magic from a little girl who gave us each a ring pop! We sucked on ring pops all the way up the massive climb to the shelter and arrived at what is hands down the most well-maintained shelter on trail.
Quarry Gap Shelters was comprised of two freshly stained and painted shelters with a covered picnic table between, potted flowers hanging outside, the cleanest privy I’ve seen (with a painting hanging over the toilet), and a porch swing!
Here we were united with Dead Eye who told us he was considering a yo-yo. This is the term for when you finish the AT heading one direction and then turn back around and head the other way. Dead Eye took one of the little shelters and Ranger and I took the other. What an excellent treat this stop was after such a long day of hiking!
Our private (3-walled) shelter for the night
Final thoughts before sleep: I can’t wait to be rid of my z-lite, which has turned into the greatest trial of this journey, leaving me emotionally wretched from lack of sleep, and testing even the seemingly endless patience of Ranger who is (understandably) getting sick of all my lamenting. I should also mention that Snapshot absolutely called it that this would happen.
Day 83: 17.3 miles hiked (trail mile 1104.8)
We took off for Pine Grove Furnace state park, where Mark would be meeting us with a car to take us to Philadelphia. Thanks to the marathon yesterday we only had a little over 17 miles to the park and were able to have a more leisurely hike than the day before. By mid-morning we were passed by Denim Dan and Dead Eye. I hope we see those guys later up the trail.
Dead Eye
Southern Philadelphia offers some of the gentlest terrain we’ve encountered thus far, and we had a nice hike into the park, peppered with many a snack break.
At Pine Grove Furnace we snacked at the general store and hung out with Denim Dan and Second Shot until Mark arrived. Mark brought us a slice of pie to eat on the drive and we had a lot of fun catching up while we hurtled toward Philadelphia in a vehicle. Eppie, our terrier mutt, was so startled to see us again (and in our stinky/woodsy/backpacking state) that the reunion was more fraught than we had hoped it would be. Once her initial alarm wore off, we were glad to be on the receiving end of her deep well of affection. To celebrate our arrival, we ordered plant-based pizza and Philly cheesesteaks from Triangle Tavern and called it a night not too long after dinner.