Day 75: Onward to Harpers Ferry!

May 21: By morning, a light rain had settled in. It was a very Seattle-like rain, slightly more than a heavy fog that hangs in the air and gets everything wet. It’s never fun leaving a nice, warm and dry hostel for a wet day in the mud, but the rain was light enough that I only felt compelled to use my umbrella for about 10 minutes during a heavier downpour.

 

‘Twas a wet and dreary day.

 

The trail soon crossed into West Virginia and I stopped for the “required” photo op next to the sign marking the state line. I remembered reaching this point on my first thru-hike and being so incredibly happy—thank GOD Virginia was finally behind me! This time around, it felt good to knock off another state, but it didn’t provide that same euphoria that it did last time. Of course, now I’ve completed states like Florida (about 1,300 miles) and California (about 1,700 miles), so the 550 miles of Virginia doesn’t seem quite so long as it did then!

 

The rest of the day’s hiking was largely uneventful. More of the same. Not very exciting, but not notably bad either.

 

Late in the day, I picked up my pace in an attempt to get to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy headquarters in Harpers Ferry before they closed at 5:00. I arrived with a mere 5 minutes to spare and the place was hopping with dozens of people. Not just hikers either. I noticed several of them asking very pointed questions with the folks working there and assumed that they were reporters. A whole bunch of them.

 

The big thing hikers do here is get their photo taken outside of the building and added to the hiker albums. I did this in 2003, and I certainly planned to do it this time around as well. Inside, I found a girl who worked there, Elaine, who brought me out and took my photo. Just before she was going to take the photo, however, another woman walked up and asked if it would be okay for her to take a photo of my getting my photo taken. She was a reporter for the Pittsburgh Post Gazette and was writing an article about the trail. Both Elaine and I gave our consent, then we all got into position. Me, in front of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy sign in front. (Which used to say Appalachian Trail Conference back in my 2003 hike—the ATC changed their name since my first thru-hike.) Elaine stood in front, taking my photo. And the reporter stood behind her and slight off to my left to get a photo that included both Elaine and myself.

 

 

It probably took a bit longer to get this hiker photo than most because even after Elaine got her photo, we asked the reporter if she got her photo too. Was everyone happy? Elaine used a digital camera to get my photo—another upgrade since my 2003 hike when they used Polaroids. She showed me the photo and asked if I liked it, and it looked fine to me but I asked her what she thought of it or if she had any suggestions on how to improve on it. She’s probably taken hundreds of these photos and has seen it all. So I asked her what she thought of the photo and said it was better than most. Alrighty then, let’s keep it! =) I never did like my 2003 photo—it was time to fix that was a vastly improved 2015 photo!

 

As for the photo the reporter took, you can see it online in an article titled Some trailblazers who have passed on. I was as surprised as anyone when I saw the title of the article! “No! I’m still here! Alive and kicking!” Except for a vague idea that she was writing an article about the Appalachian Trail, I didn’t really know anything about the specifics of the article. Anyhow, to paraphrase Mark Twain, my death has been greatly exaggerated.

 

I was officially listed has northbound hiker number 218. Just before me was a hiker named Uphill, who I didn’t know, then Superman (#216) and Heavyweight (#215). Blueberry was still elusive having been there earlier in the day (#208) but had already left and was still MIA. Whatever trap he had for me had not been sprung.

 

Afterwards, I walked down to the Teahorse Hostel. Harpers Ferry is crazy expensive for lodging and the hostel was the only place that I could find for less than $100/night! (A lot less!) I was a little surprised to see no other thru-hikers at the hostel—a lot of them would have passed through Harpers Ferry today. Where did they all go? There were several other hikers at the hostel, however. Mostly section hikers out for a week or two and flip-floppers who were just starting their hikes in Harpers Ferry and heading north, then when they reached the end of the trail, go back down to Springer Mountain and keep hiking north until they reach Harpers Ferry again.

 

I went next door to the Anvil restaurant for dinner where I ordered a burger and blueberry cheesecake. (I’d later tell Blueberry that I was stalking him, and eating his relatives whenever I had the opportunity.)

 

Goodbye, Virginia! And hello West Virginia!

 

Viewpoints were badly obscured with fog.

 

 

Did I mention how wet everything was today?

 

 

 

 

Crossing the Shenandoah River into Harpers Ferry.

 

 

I pose for my hiker photo in front of the ATC headquarters. Fun fact: I deliberately put on my pack because I wanted it to be in the photo. Until just before this photo was taken, it was just sitting outside when I went into the building. So I also wanted my body to be slightly sideways instead of face-on so people can see my beautiful pack! =)

 

By comparison, here’s my photo from 2003.

 

Dinner at the Anvil!

Day 74: The Dreaded Roller Coaster…

May 20: This morning was much cooler and less humid than the day before, so from the very beginning, it was looking to be a good day of hiking!

 

I stumbled onto this geocache early in the morning.
It was just sitting underneath a bench along the trail.

 

Early in the morning, the trail passed a trail junction with another trail that, according to my guidebook, led to a viewpoint 0.4 miles off trail. Most viewpoints are maybe 0.1 or 0.2 miles off trail and I’ll regularly go off trail to check it out, but this one was just close enough to tempt me but just far enough to discourage me from going and with the relatively long 18.4-mile day I was planning, adding another 0.8 miles seemed a bit excessive so I decided to skip it.

 

Unless I reached the junction and saw the trail heading off to the east. It looked completely and utterly flat and followed an exposed ridge. Being in the trees all of the time—the so-called “green tunnel”—gets kind of old after a while, but this 0.4 miles off trail looked pretty darned nice! And flat! And easy! And I immediately changed my mind and hiked out to the viewpoint. The wind was wicked strong, but it felt great having wind at all compared to the stale, settled air in the trees and the view was awesome. I was really happy about changing my mind and checking out the view!

 

Then I entered the Roller Coaster. Hikers had been talking about this for days with angst and worry. It was going to be hard. It could make grown men cry. What is the Roller Coaster, you ask? It’s a series of 500-foot mountains, one right after the other, with about a dozen peaks in all. Or something to that effect.

 

The truth was, I was kind of annoyed about hearing so much about it. I remembered the last time I hiked the trail the same worries and angst everyone had—including myself—then it turned out not to be a big deal. We’ve done a lot of bigger mountains. More strenuous mountains. More difficult trails. All-in-all, it wasn’t a big deal, but because the section of trail has a name, it seems to get a reputation that it doesn’t deserve.

 

Later in the summer, this section can be fairly dry as water sources wither and die and temperatures can be brutally hot. I remember that from my first thru-hike: Very little water and very hot temperatures. But the series of mountains that the section is named after… not really a big deal. And I happily told everyone who was worried about the Roller Coaster that it was much ado about nothing, which is exactly what it was.

 

The 0.4-mile side trail to a viewpoint looked so flat and exposed, I couldn’t help but take it! =)

 

I also told them that I had heard a rumor—and it’s only a rumor—that the reason the roller coaster exists is because the trail had to be routed around the secret bunker that the vice president of the United States hides in in case of nuclear attack which is the reason for the unnecessary ups and downs. And it’s true—I did hear this rumor. Honestly, I don’t put much stock into it because if I know where the vice president’s bunker is during a nuclear attack, I’m pretty sure that the Russians already know it too which makes the bunker pretty useless. =) But it’s still a story I liked so I’m more than happy to continue spreading it along the trail. Sometimes, the story is more important than any truth to it.

 

I took a short break at a creek when Heavyweight caught up with me on the trail—which surprised me because I thought he’d been ahead of me all this time. Where did he come from? He had gotten off trail for a short while to visit friends or family and gave me the scoop that Superman and him were planning to stay at the Bears Den Hostel further up the trail while Blueberry was heading to the Blackburn Trail Center (probably because it was free while the Bears Den wasn’t). I had stayed at the Blackburn Trail Center on my first hike, but this time I wanted to hit the Bears Den to see something different so I was happy to learn that I’d be spending the evening with Superman and Heavyweight. I hadn’t seen them in quite a while—for nearly a month. Together again! Woo-who! =)

 

Late in the day, I passed the 1,000-mile mark in the trail. Someone had created a giant 1000 marker on the side of the trail appropriate for such a big milestone, but it was gray rocks on a brown background and didn’t have the “splash” I felt it needed, so I picked some green leaves to outline the numbers with. Improved on the marker a bit.

 

Yeah, it was worth the 0.4 miles off trail to visit the view! =)

 

And at the end of the day, I headed into the Bears Den hostel. Heavyweight hiked ahead of me and was already there, and Superman was already there as well since he’d been ahead the whole time. We all got the hiker special: a pizza, a pint of ice cream, soda, laundered clothes, a shower and a bed for $30.

 

The building it’s located in looks like a stone castle and it’s officially my favorite hostel ever. =) They had a large poster with 2015 written on it that hikers could sign, and we all did that. The poster was mostly empty space—not many people had arrived before we did. But we looked at previous years which were absolutely packed with signatures. Tiny little signatures. Hundreds and hundreds of them. Maybe even thousands. It really hit home right then how many people must have been behind us on the trail. It was hard to imagine.

 

I also found the poster from 2003—the year of my previous thru-hike and could help but notice how empty it looked compared to more recent years. I had heard the numbers of thru-hikers has increased dramatically since my first hike, but this was the first time I’d been able to see it visually. On the trail, I felt like the numbers were about the same, but I know I started relatively early and hiked relatively faster than others so I was ahead of most hikers. But these posters were proof—there were a heck of a lot of people still behind me!

 

Heavyweight told me that Blueberry had a “surprise” for me, but wouldn’t give me any hints about it. I didn’t think much of it until a southbounder had arrived at the hostel. I was sitting in the bunkroom with Heavyweight on one side of me and Superman on the other. We were watching Seinfeld episodes on the TV and when the southbounder came in and found out I was Green Tortuga.

 

“Oh! I saw Blueberry at the Blackburn Trail Center, and he told me to give you a message.”

 

“What’s the message?” I asked.

 

“That the Four Horsemen are setting a trap for you.”

 

All three of us laughed at this. “Well, maybe Blueberry is,” I told him, “but I don’t think it’s a Horsemen trap.” I pointed to Heavyweight and Superman on each side of me. “These are two of the four horsemen, and I know the other one is now a couple of days ahead of Blueberry. Sounds like a Blueberry trap to me!”

 

But I still didn’t know what the trap was. Just that Blueberry had a “surprise” for me… or a “trap.” I’d have to catch up with him if I wanted to find out what it was…

 

 
This register entry really amused me about these four turtles “finding” their trail legs in a chest.

 

They really play up the roller coaster as being difficult! But it’s not… no more difficult than anywhere else on the trail, at least. (I’m pretty sure this is the EXACT same sign that was up during my first thru-hike as well!)

 

One thousand miles!!! I added green leaves to give the marker a splash of color.

 

The Bear’s Den Hostel

 

What a deal, indeed! =)

 

You can see my signature stamp a bit above the “2” in “2015”. Still lots of space available on this year’s poster! But by the end of the year, there won’t be even the tiniest bit of space available.

Day 73: Heat Wave!

May 19: I ate my last continental breakfast at the Super 8 and wrote a couple of more blog entries before packing up and hitting the trail by 10:00 AM. It wasn’t an early start, but it could have been worse!

The trail followed along US 522 for a short bit.

Before leaving town, I made a quick stop at Martians to pick up a new battery for my Fitbit. It reported being low the evening before after I had already made my grocery run for the day. It was an annoying stop, but a quick one.

Then I stood near the corner for Highway 522 which went a few miles back to the trailhead. I didn’t want to walk the several miles back so I stood there and hitchhiked instead. After about 10 minutes, a small van pulled over with a hiker in the front and I jumped into the back. Along the way, we picked up another thru-hiker who had given up on hitchhiking and was walking back to the trail with his grocery bags in hand.

I got back on the trail and started hiking. Even in the morning, temperatures were uncomfortably warm. I’m not sure the thermometer would have registered as being hot—the weather forecasts called for temps in the low 80s, but the humidity was thick and I melted in it. I didn’t get rid of my winter gear a moment too soon!

The first shelter I reached was the Jim and Molly Denton Shelter which is particularly noteworthy because it’s one of the few shelters with a shower! The water, frankly, is kind of cold, but the concept was neat. I didn’t use it, though. After all, I got my shower in at the hotel before I left.

More surprising, however, was when flipping through the register, I noticed an entry from last October by Tradja—a hiker I knew from my PCT hike! And I knew it was the same guy because he had listed all of his previous thru-hikes in the register entry and there was the PCT back in 2010. I had no idea he’d been out on the trail here last year and certainly didn’t expect to see any names I recognized from last October so it really was just bizarre luck I happened to notice his register entry.

After having taken two zero days, I wasn’t entirely sure where everyone else on the trail was in relation to myself. The register confirmed that Little Red, Chuckles and Blueberry were all now ahead of me. I didn’t see Superman or Heavyweight listed, but I figured they’d likely be close. They could even be ahead of me but didn’t sign the register.

Rumor has it that there are exotic zoo animals beyond this fence. But clearly, it was closed to people such as me! The trail follows this fence for quite awhile, but I never saw any exotic animals on the other side.

I stopped for the day at Dicks Dome Shelter, one of the more bizarre-looking shelters of the trail. It’s an interesting shelter, but seems poorly designed for packing in hikers since the floor is more circular than square. It’s an odd fit. The shelter was in considerably better shape than I remembered from my first thru-hike when it was in such bad shape that I didn’t dare sleep in it. This time I didn’t sleep in it either, but mostly because it looked like several people were already in it and it was getting crowded. I’d be more comfortable cowboy camping. Rain was not in the forecast.

I carried in a boat-load of water from the Manassas Gap Shelter since my guidebook suggested that the creek in front of the shelter should be treated. They usually say that “all water sources” should be treated and don’t say anything about specific water sources, but since I don’t treat my water, I’m very picky about water sources—and the fact that the guidebook specifically picked on the creek water in front of the shelter, it made me think that they know it’s contaminated and therefore not safe for me to drink. It looked fine, but of course, that’s no guarantee of anything. I didn’t know what was wrong with the water and why it deserved a special warning, but I wasn’t taking any chances and hauled in my own water instead.

Then I set up camp, cooked dinner, brushed my teeth and eventually faded off to sleep. It had been a week since I last camped in the woods, but I felt right at home. =)

 

I was hiking the trail faster than this guy! =)

The Jim and Molly Denton Shelter was pretty fancy with a separate, covered cooking area and a porch in front of the shelter. Behind the shelter (not in the photo) is even a shower!

And this is the shower. It’s primitive and the water isn’t especially warm, but it would feel nice on an otherwise hot day! =)

I slipped and broke this buckle on my pack. The dirty knee was from the slip. Instead of fixing the buckle, I just tied the brown webbing in a knot to the buckle which is how I’d continue hiking for over a thousand miles. It was no longer adjustable, but it still managed to work! =)

What the heck are those “thorns” on these leaves?! I don’t know. Really! If you know, post a comment and let the rest of us know! =)

Crossing some railroad tracks. Be sure to look both ways before crossing!

A hiker is getting water from this creek. He’s treating his water (good for him!), but the water looked kind of nasty to me and I didn’t drink from this water at all.

The trail crosses under I-66 here.

This is the biggest, heaviest stove I’ve ever seen in the backcountry! When this hiker started cooking with it, I thought maybe it was a “shelter stove”—left in the shelter for other hikers to use. I couldn’t imagine anyone would carry a two-burner, extraordinarily heavy stove like this, but by golly, he did! Apparently, he got it for free so the price was right. Admittedly, it’s a good price, but I still think I’d have passed on it! It must have weighed 20 pounds!

And here’s the Dicks Dome Shelter, a rather small shelter with an awkwardly-sized floor. I decided to cowboy camp outside of the shelter instead. =)

Day 72: Zeroing in Front Royal

May 18: Amanda left in the early morning hours, jetting off to wherever flight attendants jet off to whenever they have to work. I’d still hang around Front Royal for an extra day, however. I needed to catch up with more of these blog posts!

But I still managed to get out of the hotel a little bit. I walked to the post office, for instance, to mail some gear home. Now that winter was good and dead and warmer temperatures were hitting the trail, my winter gear was getting uncomfortably warm. My mom sent my summer gear to me, so I switched out my sleeping bag and some clothes and mailed the winter stuff back to her. This had the added effect of lightening my pack. Summer gear is lighter and smaller than winter gear. =)

I’m intrigued, but I didn’t stop in. =)

Then I walked to Wendy’s for lunch because even though I was taking a zero, I still needed to eat.

Then I walked over to Martins, a large grocery store where I bought lots of food to get me through the next section of trail.

And finally, I walked to the library. The computer at the hotel wasn’t attached to a printer so I couldn’t print anything and I needed a printer. So I walked to the library where I was able to get online and print postage for a medium flat-rate box from the post office. To get an early start the next morning, I didn’t want to deal with getting to the post office to mail my laptop ahead, so by pre-printing the postage, I could tape it to the box and have the hotel give it to the postman when they got their mail.

But to do that, I needed to make sure the package already had its postage paid and to do that, I needed a printer.

So that covered my day’s errands. The rest of the day, I hung out in the hotel room, typing up these blog entries. Hope you’ve been enjoying them! =)

I caught this deer feeding when I walked to the library. Even walking around town I see wildlife!

The streets of Front Royal are quiet and calm now, but during the Civil War, the streets were filled with Union and Confederate forces battling each other and on May 23, 1862, Stonewall Jackson captured the town from the Union. He didn’t hold it for very long, however, before he moved on to other battles. He pretty much left almost immediately after the town was captured!

Day 71: Luray Caverns

May 17: A zero day at least! Usually I take zero days with Amanda and we explore the countryside, but so far on this visit, she’s only slackpacked me through the Shenandoahs. Which, somewhat ironically, is a terrible place to slackpack because as a whole, it’s a fairly easy section of trail to walk.

 

But the weather forecast for today was less than great and today I’d finally get a zero. And Amanda’s idea for exploring the countryside included a visit to Luray Cavern. It meant a little backtracking for us since I’d already passed Luray on the trail. We had even spent a night in town!

 

We arrived in time for the first tour of the day and entered the cave. What can I say? It’s a cave! With lots of neat formations and tons of people. (I’ve heard it’s the most visited cave in the country, in fact.) But there’s not really much to write about the visit. Pictures show it better. =)

 

The formations in Luray Cavern were great!

 

Afterwards, Amanda had an inch to do the ropes course next to it. I reminded her about her fear of heights, but she still wanted to do it, so we roped up for that. I followed Amanda to the top of the course—three levels high—and she looked out over it and decided it was too scary and immediately turned around and started going back down a level. But… but…

 

I still wanted to do the high level and stayed up there. Amanda did the easier level that was also lower and finished up quickly. I did every part of the course at least once, though, because it was fun! And heights didn’t bother me. Not as long as I knew I was roped up and it was impossible for me to fall.

 

After I got down, then we headed next door and hit the life-size maze. It’s like a corn maze, except it wasn’t made out of corn. =) It had four checkpoints in the maze we had to hit, but by the time we reached the exit, we’d only gotten three of them. Amanda had enough of that and went out the exit. I headed back into the maze to continue looking for the last checkpoint. Eventually I found it and worked my way back out the maze again.

 

And finally, next to that was a historical museum so we went into that to explore. There was even a blacksmith shop with an older gentlemen working it and explaining how it all worked.

 

Before leaving Luray, we hit up a BBQ truck for lunch. Then we headed back to Front Royal where I continued working on blogs. At least until dinner when we drove out to Taco Bell for dinner. I walked back from Taco Bell when it was pouring buckets of rain and left the sidewalks in two inches of water. I was pretty shocked how flooded the sidewalks were! I’ve seen puddles of water two inches deep on sidewalks, but entire sidewalks covered with that much water was a novelty for me! I changed clothes when I got back to the hotel, then went back to working on blog entries. *nodding*

 

 

 

 

This organ was hooked up to the stalactites so each note on the organ would “buzz” the necessary rock formation to play music. It’s an intriguing concept, but I have to say, I hated it. Seeing wires running around the cave formations and all of the broken formations setting this up caused—it’s a travesty. I can’t imagine something like this would have been approved in this day and age, but our early ancestors weren’t as sensitive towards these priceless formations.

 

Amanda loves this picture of her, even though she is pretty blurry. Maybe that’s why she likes it. =)

 

 
Amanda took one look at this section of the ropes course three stories high and immediately turned around. I kept going, though!

 

Maybe I shouldn’t have, though…

 

Amanda tries to decide which way to go in the maze. Left, or right?

 

A mural on the wall in the historical museum.

 

The blacksmith works on a small piece.

Day 70: Out of the Shenandoahs!

May 16: I got another early start to the day’s hike, partly due to the fact that rain was expected later that afternoon. No sense getting a late start and getting caught in rain!

Amanda dropped me off at Compton Gap which left me a short 5.6 miles to US 522, where the trail crossed the road a few miles from Front Royal. The hike was uneventful, but when I arrived at the highway, Amanda was nowhere to be seen. She showed up about 20 minutes late explaining that she had driven to Winchester to go to a Fed-Ex office which hadn’t opened as early as she expected. No big deal, although I was a little disappointed to have missed Winchester myself. Maybe next time!



We ate lunch at a diner, and later ate dinner at a luner. (That’s a joke. Please don’t tell me that there’s no such thing as a luner!) We did really eat lunch at a diner, but we ate dinner at a soul food restaurant downtown. Getting downtown turned out to be more difficult than we expected because there was a wine festival going on that closed down all sorts of roads and left piles of people—many clearly inebriated—littering the streets. But it didn’t stop us from finding a place for dinner!

By the time we got back to the hotel again, the skies opened up with buckets of rain. Definitely not a good time to be on the trail! =)

Outside of leaving the hotel for food, though, I stayed indoors just working on blog entries. I needed to get a bunch of these suckers done!