Date: 2021-05-01
From: Sam Moore Shelter

To: Tent site outside Harpers Ferry
Miles today: 19.22
Weather: broken clouds

Set up my hammock last night in ¢storm mode¢ with the hammock itself lower than normal and the tarp staked almost to the ground.  Quickly got into dry clothes and filtered water for tomorrow then chatted for a while with some hikers out to walk the ¢roller coaster¢.  Then turned in at my new bedtime of 8pm. Turns out, though the wind blew hard up on the ridges and you could hear limbs falling, down by the shelter it was calm. Me, Dudley and Harry had a comfy night and slept well. It got down to 39 overnight so I made the executive decision to sleep in another hour until 615. I got back on the trail around 715 and immediately saw two downed trees just passed the shelter, another bullet dodged.Climbed immediately to start the day  and scared a half a dozen deer who ran off further into the woods, but it was a beautiful morning cool but sunny with almost no breeze.About 3 miles in I came to the Bear¢s Den overlook. It¢s the best view I¢d had since the Shenandoahs. Soon after it was day hiker after day hiker out on the trails. It¢s always great to see so many families, friends, dogs, runners and the like out enjoying the trail. Through hikers are vastly outnumbered on the AT as so many people up and down it¢s length access it to get out into the woods. For the next 3 or 4 miles until the Raven Rocks overlook I probably came across 100 hikers. I say ¢came across¢, what I actually mean is ¢getting passed by good smelling, happy people who climb hills so easily my feelings get constantly crushed¢. Seriously, I¢m suppose to be Mr Trail Legs by now and then a chirpy 8 year old in a pony tail walking with her grandpa just cruises by me. Humbling doesn¢t begin to cover it. After Raven Rock the traffic thinned out to about three hikers an hour. Around 11:15 I passed the sign that read ¢you are exiting the roller coaster¢. The 14 miles of Coaster wasn¢t as tough as I expected. Some of that may be due to my having hiked the first half in a high state of tension during the storm. I wasn¢t really much concerned about the terrain, just watching for that tree with my name on it!Water being scarce today, I did elect to take a side trail a quarter mile and 250 feet down a mountainside to a water source. I loaded up with 4 liters, adding about 8 pounds to my pack - yikes!  I should mention that I weighed my pack at the Hostel and with three days of food, fuel for my stove, and two liters of water it came to 25.5 lbs. Very happy with that, though I may still go lighter once it warms up for good as I can send some spare clothes home. Near the end of the day I did meet two Trail Maintainers: volunteers who take care of a section of the AT. They were out repainting the white blazes that mark the trail and dealing with any small blowdowns or limbs on the trail. The heavy crews should be out soon to deal with the big stuff they needs chainsaws. Without the countless people who volunteer to maintain hiking trails, they¢d be all but impassable. Many thanks to those who do so!I did a third of a mile road walk about two miles shy from where I planned to camp in order to go to a gas station. I bought an Arnold Palmer tea and a bag of pork rinds (did you know pork rinds have 2% of the daily recommended amount of Riboflavin?). Then I went outside and sat in the grass and ate my hiker box tuna (4 pouches) with the tea and pork rinds while being stared at by people pumping gas. Bum dinner!To show I am no dietary saint, I did duck back inside and bought an ice cream sandwich. This is fine  I did have an elderly lady roll down her window as I was leaving to give me a cheery ¢Have a good hike!¢Then, road walk back to the trail for the last 2 miles to where I¢m currently camped around 20 other people on a ridge about 4.5 miles outside Harpers Ferry, WVa. One of those times I¢m super happy to be the lone hammock guy as the tenters are dealing with sloping ground and/or a lot of rocks. I plan on rolling out early tomorrow to be in town for a few hours, seeing the sights. Then hike out in the afternoon into Maryland where my new shoes should be waiting for me 27 miles up the trail on Monday.Addendum:  I should add that the replacement pack is working well so far and that my right foot is a little better than it was. Two days of icing and an 8 mile slack pack sure helped.