Date: 2016-05-04
From: Bear's Den Hostel

To: ATC Headquarters, Harper's Ferry
Miles today: 19.9
Weather: overcast clouds

I slept in while everybody else shuffled around this morning. As I finally got out of my sleeping bag, I said to Bolt, "dang, I'm surprised no one took advantage of the make-your-own-pancake breakfast." He looked puzzledly at me and told me that they'd all already eaten and packed up before I'd even moved. Huh. People headed out and I went upstairs and cooked pancakes for me, Dill and Blues. The griddle was still hot, and Dill found a jar of Nutella in the community cupboard, so we had a delicious and very sweet breakfast. I packed up and managed not to be too terribly behind everyone. The day was wet and rainy as it has been. It took me 6 minutes to cross the road at Snickers Gap, easily the busiest road crossing we've had. The last few climbs of the roller coaster weren't anything to write home about.I enjoyed the section on the whole, actually. During the second to last climb, we passed briefly into West Virginia, which we skirt for the next set of miles. The final climb out onto the ridge put us back into a cloud of dense fog that lasted for quite some time. I barely stopped during the section. The day cleared after about 8 more miles, but everything was damp all day. Many places along the trail were flooded and required a lot of jumping around to avoid huge puddles and pits of mud. Yich. Because the ridge before Harper's was in limbo between Virginia and West Virginia and between easy and hard hiking, I nicknamed it Harpergatory. I passed Key's Gap, where a dead deer on the side of the road scared the crap out of me, and made my way to Loudoun Heights, where the trail finally passed out of Virginia for the last time. So long, Virginia! Seriously. It's been more than a month since I entered at Damascus. It's time for some new states. The trail dropped down pretty seriously to the Shenandoah River, which is brown and swollen from all the rain. I walked along the crowded highway and admired the cliffs of Harper's Ferry and Maryland Heights. It's a very obvious strategic place, geographically. No wonder it was so important in the civil war. The sun was out fully as I climbed over the sides of the steep hill South of Harper's Ferry. I made it to the turnoff for the ATC and climbed up to a beautiful lawn and made my way through the half residential half national park town of Harper's Ferry. I recognized all the packs outside the ATC and came inside to find Spidey, White Rabbit, Large, Bolt, Sooner or Later, Blues and a few others milling about. I looked around and then got my picture taken for the catalog of thru/hiker photos that they keep. I am the 104th Nobo from Springer who has checked in at the ATC this year. A heck of a difference from 357+ at Amicalola. I am very glad to be this far ahead of the main crowd of folks. I sent a postcard with my picture on it. Spidey kindly invited me to stay with him at the Econo Lodge, where his grandmother (who is now following my journal!) had paid for a room for him to stay! I told him I would almost certainly be there, but I had a few errands. I headed down High Street to the old town and stopped in at Cannonball Deli for a chicken Parm before heading to the General Store that is the best outfitter in the town. I picked up a new set of tips for my poles (which are now on the third set for this trip, I can't explain why) as well as a shirt to get me through the next couple weeks. I love my merino smart wool shirt to death, and want to get the exact same one, but man oh man, the sleeves and armpits are torn to shreds. As I was cashing out, Large and White Rabbit showed up with their friend who was meeting them here. I amazingly bummed a ride off of them back up the big hill to the ATC where I'd left my pack, and over to the Econo Lodge. I bumped into Toast in the entryway and made a plan to meet her, Dill and Pendexter in 40 minutes for (second) dinner. I went up to the room and found Spidey looking clean as he's been for the last couple days. I showered, put on some new clothes and put in a load of laundry before meeting up with the gang to walk to a pub Dill had found on Apple maps. Never trust Apple maps. Or Canadians. Dill led us up a big hill and then a third of a mile along a residential street to where Siri told her there should be a bar. There was no bar. There was no indication on the internet that a bar was ever there. She was incredibly apologetic, but we headed back to a restaurant we passed called the Anvil and ate dinner. I ordered too much and was happy about it. We walked back to the hotel. I went upstairs and affixed my new tips to my poles, using the boil method just like last time (worked like a charm). Spidey had been Permethrin-ing his clothes. I talked to Ali for a while (Spidey agreed, she's pretty awesome) and got ready for bed. Tomorrow I'll head back along the trail towards the ATC and then down to the old town and the Potomac, where I'll enter Maryland! Woohoo, new state! Not sure how far I'll get, but I've got Vicki, a trail angel, bringing me snacks in the middle of the day! It's been a good evening.