Harper's Ferry, WV!!!
Well, I made it to Harper's Ferry yesterday (June 17th) and am currently hanging out with my sister in Germantown. MD. I have really put in some decent miles since my last post in Waynesboro, VA, so I figured I deserved an off day here in Maryland.
Here's a re-cap of the past week or so...On the 10th of June I departed Waynesboro and headed into the Shennies or the 'Doahs, whichever abbreviation you prefer for the Shenandoah National Park. The weather was perfect and I was able to get a pretty early start from the hostel. I headed out with a few new faces: G-Force, an older gentleman from South Bend, Indiana, Quarter Moon, and Ohm, both younger guys from Massachusetts.
The terrain early on in the day was incredibly easy, compared to the rest of the trail I have been on. The grade was kind to me, but there really weren't a ton of great views. I climbed up the first decent uphill and all I was greeted with were radio and satellite towers. Not really the verdant mountain vistas I had imgained the Shennies to offer me. I pressed on and must have crossed Skyline Drive 10 times that first day. I was able to get in 20 miles easily. Without a doubt the easiest 20 mile day of the trip. Nevertheless, 20 miles is 20 miles and I was sure tired.
I tented that night at Black Rock Hut. There was quite a crew of people there, so it was nice to sit around and hear other hiker's stories.That night I woke up in the middle of the night to what sounded like a large animal clumsily meandering through the woods near my tent. I was sure it was a bear, but I am not extremely familiar with the sounds they make, so I wasn't sure. I laid in my tent motionless until something startled the creature and it scurried away. I could breathe again and then quickly fell asleep.
The 11th came and I began hiking with Lewis, a section hiker from Athens, GA. He was a real nice guy and we helped each other keep our pace up. We hadn't hiked that morning for more than 10 minutes before we saw a bear on the right hand side of the trail. It bolted into the woods and then stopped. We were able to get a really good view of it before moving on. This would not be the last bear I saw in the Shennies!
We hiked on to the Loft Mountain Campground and Store where we got some sodas and rested. In the SNP it is possible to eat a hot meal at a wayside restaurant everyday. Not exactly a wilderness experience, but it is nice to have some easily accessible amenities at times. After lunch, we pressed on to Hightop Hut, just south of Hightop Mountain.
We had another bear sighting before we got there. This one was quite a ways off the trail, but still. It was another long day, but we had a nice time playing cards with two other hikers; Cheeseburger and Corker. 21.4 miles logged that day.
The 12th was a very eventful day! I got a bit of a late start, but that is fairly typical. I am generally the last one out of camp in the morning! It was another nice day and the hiking remained pretty easy. I hiked to Lewis Mountain Campground for another mid-day soda break. It was about 12 miles from the previous campsite.
About a mile from Lewis Mountain I had a really close encounter with a bear. I was just doing my thing, hiking down the trail and I came to a slight turn in the trail. I looked up and there was a bear not more than 10 or 15 feet off to the right of the trail. I kind of looked at it and then started talking to it to maybe scare it off. It looked at me and didn't even care. It just put its head down and kept foraging like I wasn't even around. I observed it for a time and took some photos. It was then I realized that the snorting and digging sounds it was making were the same as the ones I had heard outside my tent a few nights before. That made me a bit nervous, so I quickly moved up trail.
After a nice refreshment at the store I pressed on to Big Meadows Campground for the night. It was an organized campground with showers, laundry, and a lodge. It was quite nice. It began to rain though after I set up my tent and was soggy night of sleep.
June 13th was a day of great views during the day and then a lot of rain in the evening. The day was extremely pleasant for walking in the woods though. Lewis and I made it to Skyland, a great area of the park with a bird's eye view of the Shenandoah Valley. We broke there for lunch and then moved on to some amazing cliff hiking with great clear views. We even saw some climbers roping up and getting ready to climb the rock face. We pressed on and were rewarded with great views atop The Pinnacle and a bit later on Mary's Rock.
As we descened off of Mary's Rock the distant thunder began to grow louder. We hurried our pace and got to the shelter, Pass Mountain Shelter, just before the rain started. It was a packed shelter with several thru-hikers and a group of women section hikers from Battle Creek, MI. They were super nice and gave me some Propel drink mix. Pretty cool.
As the rain came down a group of like 25 Boy Scouts rolled in and went to the tentsites. I learned later that they were from Pittsburgh, PA.
I woke up on the 14th and the rain was still coming down. It was definitley one of those mornings where I could have easily stayed in my sleeping bag all day, but I knew I had to keep going even if it meant walking in wet conditions. When it is raining all day like that I kind of just hike with my head down and try to put in as many miles as possible. There isn't a ton to look at around anyway.
I stopped at the Elkwallow Gap Wayside for lunch and I actually just wanted to keep moving. It was cold when you stopped hiking and the rain just wouldn't let up. So, it was a brief break and then off to Gravel Springs Hut. Once there, I convinced Lewis to just hike the whole rest of the way out of the Park and into Front Royal, VA.
All of our stuff was wet and I was sure the next shelter would be full. Putting up my tent in the rain is my least favorite thing to do , so we decided to get a room in town. We kept rolling and before we knew it we were out of the Park. It was funny because literally as soon as you crossed out of the Park the trail got infinitely more rocky and steep. We hiked a bit further to the Tom Floyd Shelter.
There we found Corker and Cheeseburger drying out. We convinced them to come into town. Lewis, it turns out, was friends with a guy who was friends with the owner of the outfitter in Front Royal. He made a few calls and arranged a pick-up for us at U.S. 522. So, we didn't have to worry about hitching in.
Our ride was there when we got to the road and he took us into town. He then actually offered us a place to stay at his house! Pretty incredible! Talk about Trail Magic! We accepted his offer and took him out to dinner as thanks. We all got cleaned up and had a nice warm sleep that night.
No more Shennies, but I would like to go back someday.
June 15th was a really late start. We didn't get out on the trail until 1pm. It was a pretty dull day with no views, but I was able to get 15 miles in before dark. 15 miles closer to Harper's Ferry! I stayed at Dick's Dome Shelter that night.
The 16th was a pretty long day, even though I only did about 18 miles. However, I encountered the part of the trail known as "The Roller Coaster." This section of trail features 10 ascents and 10 descents in a 13-mile stretch.
The ups and downs weren't too physically grueling, but were just kind of annoying after a while. I saw a sign for my destination, The Bear's Den Hostel, that said 4 miles away. It felt like 10 miles however! I finally got there and it was an amazing place. The Bear's Den is run by the ATC and is by far the nicest, cleanest hostel I have visited on the trail. I took advantage of the "hiker special," which was a bunk, shower, laundry, phone, internet, a pint of Ben & Jerry's and a Tombstone pizza for $25. I thought it was a pretty good deal, especically those last two! Yum! It was a great relaxing time there and I fell asleep knowing that I would get to Harper's Ferry the next day.
I arose at 5:45am on the 17th! No real good reason for it and I am still clueless as to why it happened. I guess I was excited to get going. One of the hikers who was also staying there, John, made strawberry pancakes, which was great. I had a few and was on the trail by 7am. Lewis and I flew down the trail. It was really easy walking and we had gone like 14 or 15 miles by Noon.
The last several miles into H.F. were unnecessarily rocky! It was worsened by the fact that we both just wanted to be there. We soon were! We crossed the Shenandoah River, which was a gorgeous sight and then took a blue-blazed side trail to the ATC Headquarters, where I will be interning in September.
All thru-hikers stop at the ATC to have their photo taken and to make sure they are counted as a 2007 thru-hiker. I had my photo taken and I was hiker number 324 of the year. It was a good feeling to be in Harper's Ferry.
It is hard to believe that I walked from Springer Mountain in Georgia to the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers in Harper's ferry in only 67 days! I was really happy about it. 20 miles by 2:30pm!
Happy, but tired I waited at the ATC for my sister Jess to pick me up. She arrived at around 4:30pm and we headed for Germantown, MD where I am taking a much needed zero day today!I plan to hit the trail again tomorrow when my great friend Caz and I will be attempting to hike from Harper's Ferry, WV to the Mason-Dixon Line in a 24-hour span.
It is about a 42-mile hike, so we will see how that goes. I will be sure to update when that is over. I plan on returning to MD after that adventure and possibly taking another off day on Wednesday before beginning the hiking in the home state of PA! Not quite half-way, but getting darn close!
Posted on June 18th 2007--Click on the link on the lower right to find out how to donate to Aaron's hike for a cure for cancer.