Date: 2009-07-10
From: Blackburn Trail Center

To: Harpers Ferry
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I forgot to say in the last entry that I had passed the 1,000 mile mark! My trail book is from 2008 and it said that the marker wouldn¢t occur until a few more miles down the road. But, this is the year of 2009!!!I left the Blackburn Trail Center a bit late, as I was catching up with Raspberry and Raindancer. We hadn¢t seen each other in a long time and there was much to catch up on. They tried to convince me to stay to eat pancakes with them, but I knew that I really had to get moving and make it into Harpers Ferry. After all, I would be able to see Willow again!!! It would be the first time since Bland, VA as well. I caught up with Jungli again and we walked all the way into Harpers Ferry. It was a lovely walk and we couldn¢t believe that we would be reaching the psychological halfway point. Number-wise, over 50% of all thru-hikers have dropped out and we were still moving, passing white blazes as we moved. My feet were hurting again, due to the rocks, but I just wanted to get into Harpers Ferry and then deal with the feet problem. On the way in, I called my mom to chat for a bit and I told her about my foot problem. She said, ¢Honestly, Steve, you are going to have severe and chronic foot problems when you are older¢ to which my response was, ¢Yeah! But, it¢s going to be soooo worth it!¢ As a mother, I don¢t think that she appreciated this answer all too much. Descending close to the HUGE Shenandoah River Bridge, wild raspberries were growing off to the side. We picked a large handful and began shoving them into our faces. It tasted wonderful! Then, we went under the large bridge stretching all the way across the Shenandoah River and started walking on the heavily traveled US 340 Hwy. On the bridge, we just kept shouting and shouting, ¢We did it!!! We did it!!!¢ only to realize that we still had 1,165 miles to hike. Hell, we weren¢t even at the REAL halfway point. But man, what an accomplishment ¢ hiking from Georgia to West Virginia and over 1,000 miles. We climbed up the steep cliffs looking out into the Shenandoah River and then took the blue-blazed side trail to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, where they coordinate all Appalachian Trail logistics. It is tradition for thru-hikers to have their picture taken outside of the building and it felt to have it taken and then to put it in the book of thru-hikers who made it halfway. I think that my number was something like 614 for the year, but I reluctantly point out that this number also includes many people who have skipped 100-mile sections and/or those who are just out doing a section of the trail. It was great looking through the book of thru-hikers, seeing how the bodies of everyone have evolved and how the bears have been growing rampant. Jungli and I then left to head down into town, at which point we ran into Willow! It was a heartfelt embrace and a few tears were shed; it was just great to have ¢trail family¢ re-united again. She is a super spirit out on the trail and, at an age of 45 years young, she has more power and energy than most other thru-hikers half her age. Phoenix Rising was also there and we were able to get updates from both of them about people out on the trail and some of their experiences since our last encounter. Phoenix Rising also told me that RLB, the guy with whom I had started the AT, was off the trail and had left in Daleville. I knew that he was hoping to do a flop up to Maine and hike south, but it seems as if this is not the case, as his original destination had been Harpers Ferry. Jungli and I had to get moving, so we said goodbye to Willow and PR and headed down to a local burger joint, where we devoured our food. Then, it was a quick visit across the street to the outfitter. While there, I tried on many different styles and sizes of shoes, hoping that I would be able to find the perfect one, as the ones I had purchased in Staunton were just not working out for me. This was largely due to the fact that my feet are ¢wide¢ and need a ¢wide¢ shoe ¢ not something of a trail running sort of narrow structure. Oh well, you live and you learn. Andrew, one of the workers at the store, was a young guy, but so energetic and helpful. He and his childhood friend offered to drive me to Walmart in the next town over so that I might be able to find a shoe/boot that would fit. His suggestion was that since I would be getting off the trail in a week¢s time in order to head back home for a wedding, why don¢t I just get a cheap pair of Walmart shoes, beat the hell out of them for the rocks and then get the new pair while I¢m back home. I thought that this was a great idea, so I went with it. My shoes ended up costing $30 and the ironic thing about it is that my insoles ¢ or Superfeet ¢ cost nearly $44, much more than the shoes, themselves. I did a bit of shopping in Walmart as well, resupplying for the next few days. When I emerged from the dungeons of the store, I tracked down Andrew and his friend in the parking lot and proceeded to give them a pint each of Ben & Jerry¢s ice cream, just as a thank you for the trail magic of helping me find new shoes. They then dropped me off close to the Potomac River at the northern end of Harpers Ferry, where I re-organized my food and called up Tom, who would be coming to visit with his kids again the following day. It was getting quite late, so I packed up my belongings and headed across the river and found a nice spot directly underneath a train bridge ¢ my wonderful abode for the evening. I knew that the trains would be racing past me directly ahead, but I didn¢t think that it would be THAT loud. You could literally feel your heart pulsating as the trains engines raced by, blaring its horn in the process. Suffice it to say that I didn¢t get much sleep this evening, but it was well worth the experience of it all.