Date: 2014-04-17
From: Dahlgren Backpack Camp

To: Harpers Ferry
Miles today: 17.2

I slept very well after last night's big dinner at the Old South Mountain Inn. We awoke around 7:30 with the air temperature just a tad above freezing. We needed to go to town - Boonsboro, MD - for trail food, so we decided to have breakfast there. It's 2.7 miles downhill on the "National Road" from the Dahlgreen campground to Boonsboro. The National Road was begun in 1811 and was the first national road project undertaken by the US government. It was also the first paved road to use macadam (asphalt). It's also narrow. Though Laura didn't feel safe hitch-hiking into town, I think it might have been safer than walking along it into Boonsboro. We made it, though, without incident, and we split two hearty omelets - one Greek and one prime rib - at Kristy's bakery which is in the center of Boonsboro right next to Nora Robert's Inn. We both decided that Kristy's was a better option than Crawford's across the street whose sign says "Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Guns and Ammo." Yum.While we ate, we chatted with our waitress about the best way to get back to our campsite. She wasn't sure, but went into the kitchen and came back with the chef, Brian - a great guy, former marine corp chef - who immediately offered us a ride up the hill. We highly recommend eating at Kristy's. Great food, great baked goods, great people - but no ammo. Anyway, Brian told us where to go for the food we needed and said to stop by when we were done shopping so he could give us a lift. So Laura went for the Snickers and granola bars while I got a five dollar foot-long at Subway for lunch.After getting back to camp, we packed up and hit the trail at 11:55 - kinda late. After an initial 800 foot climb in the first mile and two tenths, the hiking was pretty easy and we covered 11 miles by 5:45 when we stopped at Ed Garvey shelter about 6 miles from Harpers Ferry. We met our first NoBo through-hiker, Dakota Joe, who was in his sleeping bag, having taken a zero today, enjoying the view east from the shelter. We made chicken flavored Ramen with two eggs (which I've been adding to our Ramen - we call it egg drop soup) and had some hot tea as well. We debated whether or not we should stay the night or press on to Harpers Ferry. The reasons for pushing on were: a) there was a cold wind blowing up the mountain right into the east facing shelter making it kinda cold; b) Laura was a bit concerned about having to get up early and hike 6 miles to catch the 11:25 AM train from Harpers to DC. We decided to go for it. As we packed up, Hot Dog and Barry walked up to the shelter and we had a happy reunion before taking off. (BTW: the Ed Garvey shelter is pretty nice and includes a fully enclosed second story. The eastern wall of the second floor is plexiglass.)We needed to get off the mountain before dark, which meant that we had about an hour and 15 minutes to go a little more than 3 miles. The trail after that point was along the C&O Canal, and we hiked along as the sky darkened and watched the stars come out. As we walked, the wind grew steadily at our back, so that by the time we reached the railroad bridge that the AT uses to cross from MD to WV, it was really blowing. The town was lit up beautifully - they've put a lot of money into restoring Harpers Ferry since I was here last in 1978. We stopped at the first inn we came to, a beautiful stone house B&B with a restaurant that served local brew and great fries! The brew wasn't so good, and, because there was a private party in the restaurant, we had to sit on the front porch in the howling wind and rapidly dropping temperatures. The inn was full, but the owner provided us a list of local B&Bs, hotels and hostels. All of the good B&Bs in "The Village" - the old town area of Harpers Ferry - were full, and our best options were an Econo Lodge or a Hostel, both of which were a mile away. Laurel, the owner of the hostel, offered to come pick us up, so that helped us make up our minds quickly. Both of us had pretty sore feet after another long day: 17.2 miles! That doesn't include the 2.5 mile hike (without packs) into Boonsboro in the morning.So this was our first real hostel experience - meaning we both slept in a bunk room with 12 other people - all male. Fortunately, nobody was snoring when we collapsed on our bunks, and I fell asleep quickly. I felt badly for Laura, though. We got the last 2 bunks in the place and we weren't even near each other.