Date: 2017-07-01
From: Keys Gap, WV 9

To: Turners Gap, US Alt 40
Miles today: 23.7
Weather: clear sky

Our stay at High Acres was so enjoyable (see photo)!  The house is old and has no air conditioning.  So we slept with all windows open.  A lovely breeze blew in and kept us cool.  When Arlene got up in the middle of the night moonlight was shining on the Potomac outside our windows.  Even though staying at High Acres caused us to have a very short night of sleep, it was worth doing. Our high mileage schedule causes us to rush through places and miss things we'd like to stop and see.  So getting to spend some time off the trail in a nice place with like-minded people made us feel like we got to have some fun.  (Make no mistake, hiking 15.7 miles a day is way more like work than like fun.  Rewarding work, but nonetheless work.) We got up at  4:30 and were back at the trailhead at 5:30.  Nancy stopped at a convenience store on the way so we could get coffee.  By the time we'd eaten breakfast (two donuts and a pint of whole milk for me) it was 6:00.  Our plan was to hike fast enough to get to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy Center when it opened at 9:00.  The distance is 6.3 miles.  High Acres is connected to the trail by a rock staircase and a short walk through a cemetery.  Nancy offered to drive us to the ATC Center to save us some walking time (the regular side trail is longer).  We hiked fast - more than two miles an hour - and got to the Center just after it opened.  The ATC Center is the psychological halfway point of the trail.  Hikers register there, have their photos taken and entered in a yearbook, and are assigned a number.  (I was the 1309th northbound hiker to register this year.)  Arlene, Bill, and I had postcards made from our pictures and then had the ATC photographer take a group picture of us.  Arlene was so happy to have made it this far that she got teary-eyed.  Lizzie sat outside on the steps and declined to register or be photographed.  We later learned that she was having heat problems and was trying to keep from vomiting or passing out.  Nancy took us back to High Acres, and we all had cold soft drinks and leftover pizza before we continued hiking.  The trail took us right through downtown Harpers Ferry, past the site of John Brown's raid (see photo), across a pedestrian bridge beside the railroad bridge, and onto the C & O canal towpath along the Potomac River.  I had never been to Harpers Ferry before and didn't realize that basically the whole town is a national historic park.  (Failure to sightsee here is an embarrassment: I've lived in West Virginia for 37 years now.). The trail along the canal was nice - flat, easy walking, and pretty.  There were nice views of the Potomac along the way.  At lunchtime Arlene and I went down a path to the river and ate lunch sitting on a log under a mulberry tree (see photo).  We picked mulberries and ate them for dessert. Afterwards Arlene said, "Today I ate lunch beside the Potomac River sitting under a mulberry tree."  We speculated that this might be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  We're trying to appreciate the wonderful parts of this journey and hold on to them.After lunch we reached a part of the trail where there is still water in the canal.  It was algae-filled and looked like a solid hard green surface.  When we looked closer we saw lots of big turtles sunning themselves on logs (see photo).  Some looked to be 10 or 12 inches long.  After the trail turned uphill and left the woods we saw lots of trumpet vine in bloom.  We're starting to see the full summer wildflowers; the spring ones are nearly all gone.There was a long rocky uphill and, after that, a long walk along a ridge.  The temperature and humidity were high.  Sweat rolled down my face and dripped off my arms.  I constantly wiped my face with my bandanna.  I caught up with Lizzie; she was hoping for rain.  She got her wish.  A rain shower started slowly and built to a downpour.  I got out my plastic bag and rubber bands to cover my cast, which is not waterproof, but didn't put on any more rain gear.  It felt good walking through the rain.  I like drinking the rain that rolls down my face.  Once the rain stopped our clothes gradually dried.  Arlene sent us a text that there was a hiker feed at Gathland State Park.  When we got there a group of hikers, one of them Nancy, were set up serving hot dogs, chicken, various salads, cantaloupe, watermelon, soft drinks, brownies, cake, cookies, etc.  We stopped and ate.  Nancy was there and told us she was considering hiking with our group for a while later in the summer.  We've met so many nice people during this hike, and it's fun having some of them hike with us for a while.  It was late afternoon when we got back on the trail.  Bill, Arlene, Lizzie, and I all started out together.  We had 7.5 miles left to go, and it was nearly 5:00.  The rest of the hike felt very long. My sister Diane texted that she had arrived at the endpoint at 5:00.  I told her to go eat, that we wouldn't be in until 7:30 or 8:00.   The ridge was quite rocky for the rest of the way, and we had to pick our way very carefully.   Lizzie and I hiked together and got in at 8:00.  Bill and Arlene were about 10 minutes behind us.  It took us a while to get ourselves organized, but we finally got loaded into the car.  Bill was meeting a friend in downtown Boonsboro (MD), so we dropped him there.  Arlene was going to Philadelphia by Amtrak for the break.  We brought her back to the hotel in Shepherdstown (WV) with us.  It was a really long but satisfying day.  We're now more than halfway done.  We've completed six states: Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland.  When we resume hiking on July 9 we'll start at mile 1164.9 - with only 1024.9 miles to go.