Date: 2003-07-05
From: Pine Grove Furnace

To: Boiling Springs, PA
Miles today: 0.0

Hi All, Well it's been awhile since I last updated and I apologize. I have been trying to focus on relaxing in towns instead of always hurrying to get chores done. This includes getting to the library and updating my journal which has become quite a task. So I have decided that I will no longer be updating my journal from every town and when I do update it will be a summary of weeks past and not a daily tally as I have been doing thus far. With that said, I will fill you in on the last few weeks...I am currently at mile # 1086.5 which is the exact halfway point for the AT this year! Yay!! You may not know that due to re-routes the exact milage of the trail changes every year and therefore, so does the halfway point.For those of you who are wondering, Cade is/was doing fine. As some of you know, she is 9 years old andI never intended for her to hike the whole way with me. Originally I thought she would make it about 200 miles or so, but due to a delay in my moms trip she stayed longer and hiked over 800 miles (which I think is very respectible for an old girl).Also, once we were on the trail and I had officially decided that she was not coming the whole way, sending her home with my mom (when she visited) was the easiest way to send her home. After my mom left I decided to "yellow blaze" 94 miles from Troutville to Waynesboro to catch up with my friends. I plan to hike this section either next year with my mom or this year on my own (or possibly with I.B. who also skipped this section) depending when I finsh the trail. The rain was virtually non stop for all of May and June with only about 6-8 rain free days total. Hiking in soggy socks and boots and clothes and having your gear start to mildue sucks.Between Waynesboro, VA and Pine Grove State Park (where we are now) we hiked through Shenandoh National Park from end to end, finished the state of Virginia, hiked through West Virginia, through the entire state of Maryland and we are now situated about 20 miles north of the Maryland, Pennsylvania border (in Pennsylvania of course). While hiking in the Shenandoh National park the first day of "summer" came with highs only in the low 50's and of course.....rain... It was supposed to be hike naked day, but of course we did not partake as the weather was not exactly optimal for the occasion.I hiked with Moxy, Crazy Talk, Pipes and Windtalker from Waynesboro all the way through the Shenandoh and only separated from them 2 days ago. In the Shenandoh we did a "nero"(the process of having a near zero day) by going into the town of Luray then visiting the local caverns. We relaxed at the caverns for most of the day then hiked 5 miles to the first shelter from where we were dropped off. We made it to Harpers Ferry on June 27. Harpers Ferry is the "Psychological" halfway point because the ATC headquarters are located there. It has been hard staying on the trail over the past month or so. In Virgina, we suffered the "Virgina Blues" a sort of depression that most hikers go through as the state is so long (I guess) anyway, that combined with the non-stop rain was really tough. Somewhere in there, I resolved to finsih the trail and have made it here.... the OFFICIAL halfway point. Last week we decided to have a week of "Smiles and not Miles". This worked out well as Pipes friend Bethany joined us in Harpers Ferry and needed a few days to get her hiking legs going. We had a schedule planned around hiking about 10 miles per day then stopping at all kinds of cool places includingGreenbriar State park for lake swimming and concession stands, eating dinner in town, hanging out at Annapolis Rocks (cool cliffs) and other such activities that included relaxing and not hiking more than 10 miles per day. Also, this allowed Torch and Superman? to catch up with us. We hadn't seen them in awhile and it was great to see them again. They joined us for a day and thenpromptly announced they were hiking 20 miles the next day so they could meet a friend of theirs at the halfway point. Since I hadn't seen them in awhile, I decided to leave the week of Smiles and not Miles behind and hike massive miles with Torch and Superman?. We ended up having lots of smiles anyway by getting up early so we could still enjoy the day. We hiked to Caledonia State Park where we were able to shower andswim in a pool. Also, Tiparary (with whom we had been hiking) received a surprise visit from his brother John who flew in from Ireland. John insisted on buying steaks and the whole bit and we had a great time BBQing in the park with Tip, John and others (Stretch, Cheesecake and Spin). We ate until just before dark then hiked on another 2 miles to the shelter.   Yesterday (July 4th) we got up at 5 am and were hiking by 6. We made it to Pine Grove State park by 2:30 pm in time to meet a friend of Torch (Norma)who came to pick up Torch and Superman?. I was invited to come along and we are now in Maryland at the home of Norma's parents. They own a farm and we spent the day helping with farm duties. Which today was checking up on a calf being born (TOO COOL) and stacking hay bales. Stacking hay bales is HARD WORK!We've had a great time and now we are getting ready to have some home cooked dinner. We are being dropped off at the trail tomorrow where we will say good bye to a friend who is leaving the trail to accept an assignment with the Peace Corps in Fiji.I will be in Duncannon, PA in about 3 days and plan to average about 15 miles per day for the rest of the trip. I will also be focused on spending less time in towns with the intention of spending less $$ as I have already spent well over the original intended budget (of course this is partly due to being driven into town to dry out from the rain, but it is finally warm now and that should no longer be a problem).I have also made a goal to finish the trail no later than September 26 with the hopes that I may finish around September 23 or so. This way I will be able to return to the skipped section as well as spend some time in Michigan with my dad before I return to California. Thats about it for now.... thanks to all who have been following my journal and sending emails, surprise packages etc.... hearing from you really makes my day especially on the days when I feel like quitting. Until next time....