Date: 2016-07-01
From: Stealth Campsite near Harpers Ferry

To: Harpers Ferry Hostel
Miles today: 8.4

I had a tough time sleeping, it was too hot in my tent to get into my sleeping bag, too cool to just lay on top of it. When I finally did get to sleep I ended up "sleeping in". The Yogis were up early and packed up to get into Harpers Ferry while I slept in a little. By the time I had packed up it was 8:45, but I was only 3 miles into Harpers Ferry and I just wanted to time it right for me to go to the ATC office and get lunch. The trail was easy and mostly downhill. After a mile or so the trail turned sharply downhill and left the Virginia border for good. I was hoping there would be a good trail sign announcing that we had left Virginia , but I didn't see one. The trail descended toward the Shenandoah River and a busy highway, passed under the highway and over onto the bridge to cross the Shenandoah. At the bridge someone had left a cooler of fruit for trail magic, and I bet it was the young couple who had given us fruit last night at the convenience store. Crossing the Shenandoah was exhilarating - the curved bridge, the wind, the noise from the traffic, the sun shining on the river below, all added to the feeling that you were triumphantly marching into Harpers Ferry, the "psychological halfway point" of the AT. The real halfway point is another 75 miles north in Pennsylvania, but this was the home of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.In Harpers Ferry the trail leaves the highway and takes you into a quiet bluff overlooking the Shenandoah. Once again the forest knocked back the highway noise and you feel insulated from the modern world. There were houses 50 feet above you, a whole town, but you felt like you were back in the woods. A blue blaze side trail points the way to the ATC and I climbed to the top of the bluff and I'm into the town. The trail passes through historical Storer College grounds, which was a college set up that would allow people of all races to attend college after the Civil War. There were numerous signs explaining the Civil War history of Harpers Ferry and the John Brown raid as you walk towards the ATC office, a lot of great history here. As I arrived at the ATC office there were a dozen or so hikers relaxing outside and several others inside looking at displays, charging electronic devices, and using the free wifi. I got my picture taken in front of the ATC sign and added it to the thick binder of hiker's pictures. I was number 341, that was the number of section hikers so far that intended to complete the trail this year. The thru hikers were around 1100 so far, and I would have dearly loved to have been counted in their numbers, but it was not to be. The ATC does a purely voluntary count of north bound and south bound thru hikers, section hikers, flip flop hikers, etc. in order to get a sense of the traffic on the trail. I could have said I was a thru hiker if I had wanted to; it's voluntary how and if you declare yourself, but I thought purity of their metrics was important. I had come to grips with the fact that I wouldn't be thru hiking this year, but there was still that desire.Let me put a shameless plug in here for the ATC. If you can get a chance to come near Harpers Ferry, please do stop in. They have fascinating displays on the AT, the ladies that work there are wonderful, and it is so interesting to look through the hiker logs to see all the pictures and names of the hikers. I paged through the book to check out the group of hikers I had been hiking with to see when they came through, and to get to find out what their real names are. As a hiker, you rarely learn a person's real name, you only know them by their trail name. It's only if you become closer friends and want to connect by email or social media that you trade real names. One of the fascinating displays at the ATC is the full relief model of the whole trail. It's probably 12 feet long and of large enough scale that you can see individual mountains you have climbed over, and are to encounter. It's really impressive!The ATC is a nonprofit organization so if you have some charitable giving and you are looking for a good charity this year, please consider looking into the ATC. Their website (www.atc.org) can give you information on their mission and has an easy way to take your money. With my picture taken, I headed for the post office to retrieve a mail drop and get some lunch. I returned to the trail the way I came and took the AT into the old historic town. I chose to eat at a restaurant with outside seating to spare the tourists my hiker odors, and sat there drinking a beer, eating a steak sandwich and soaking in the sunshine. I had made it to Harpers Ferry, 1022 miles from the start of the trail!After lunch I wandered into a few shops and looked at some of the historical buildings. I would have loved to spend more time doing the full tourist thing but I wanted to get across the river and into Maryland. I'll be back to Harpers Ferry someday later as a tourist.I crossed the bridge over the Potomac River and was in my sixth state on the trail. The AT follows the historic Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) canal and is a wide bike path now. It was getting really hot and there were a lot of tourists tubing in the Potomac and I was tempted to hop in for a swim. HoweverI also saw some of the creeks draining into the Potomac and wasn't too confident how healthy that would be. I continued on to the Weverton Cliffs parking lot and it had been really hot walking on that bike path. A local was hoping in his car as I was crossing the parking lot and he asked if I needed a ride to the hostel. Hostel? I had planned on pushing on to the first shelter, but it suddenly sounded really good to stay in a hostel. And I remembered that the trail guide said they can get pizza delivered there. So I hoped in his car and went to the Harpers Ferry Hostel. It was a really nice hostel and there were a number of bicyclists there riding the C&O canal trail, as well as people in cars and AT hikers. It was an interesting mix of people. I got my bunk, took a shower, did laundry, and ordered a pizza. The hostel had a huge kitchen and living room and I got coaxed into a card game while I was waiting for my pizza, and then a chess match. I was thoroughly enjoying my snap decision not to push on to the shelter.That night some of the guests got a campfire going and we roasted marshmallows and did s'mores. It was interesting hearing about the different adventures that had brought people to this hostel. For the first time in two months the conversation wasn't strictly about the AT. And that was a little eye opening, because you get immersed in it.I headed for my bunk around 10 pm and spent a little time catching up on trail journal entries. I was badly behind and needed to get more diligent about keeping up. I was now in Maryland and pushing on. The next objective was the AT Midpoint, 70 miles away. That will be another satisfying milestone.