Date: 2009-06-09
From: David Lesser Shelter, WEST VIRGINIA! and over 1000

To: Harpers Ferry, West Virginia 
Miles today: 9.2
Weather: clear sky

Cell goodOG notesLast night we had this really nice shelter with only three people in it. We weren't sure if others would show up late but fortunately the only ones that did show up set up tents. The night was hot and muggy most of the night. I didn't know whether to use my sleeping bag or not, I eventually ended up putting some of it over my chest and left my feet out. Oh by the way, we used our screen portion of our tent to keep the bugs away. Speaking of bugs, the biters aren't out yet but the ones that are really bother us. We'll know when the biting mosquitos are here when we start itching. For now, we are still taking evasive manouvers like sleeping in our tent when the weather is good.The evening and most of the night was really nice. We were awoken to a thunder storm about 5am. The rain poured down and we were glad to be inside the shelter. Fortunately it was a short lasting storm and was done by 6 am when we got up. The hiking today wasn't particularly hard. We had a few hills to climb, but they weren't big ones. The hardest things we had to contend with were the rocks and mud. We had to be careful when we walked on the rocks and there were a few places where they were plentiful. The mud is the mud though, and although it wasn't everywhere it would fill the trail for short stretches.We entered The Harpers Ferry National park a few miles before we reached town. Our handbook mentioned we were walking among Civil War redoubts. Redoubts are used in battle as something to take cover behind for protection as the enemy advances toward you. We saw lots of ditches and rock piles out there. I assume those were redoubts.We enter the city of Harpers Ferry by walking across the Shenandoah River on a roadway bridge. We're in the walkway right next to the cars. Harpers Ferry has a section right down at the river's level and then an uphill section high above. We wanted and needed to go to the ATC headquarters to pick up our drop box and to check in with them. If you guessed they are located in the high ground, give yourself a star. We had a nice uphill climb on the AT and then a blue blaze through the National Parks Training Center.When we stopped at the ATC they took our picture and told us we are the 277th and 278th northbound thru-hikers to come this far. We found our box and then found a place to stay tonight.We left the ATC and headed straight for the downtown section where this Inn is located. We checked in, put our packs in our room and went out for lunch. After lunch we went back to the ATC, finished looking at the pictures of hikers ahead of us, and left. Our return trip to the Inn was via the AT. We walked back down the blue blaze and onto the AT. The AT goes Past Jefferson Rock. I believe Thomas Jefferson thought the rock unstable. We also walked through the historic downtown. This part of town is now part of the National Park. Many of the buildings are closed, but the windows are dressed out as they would have been in the 1860s. We really enjoyed this section as tourists without our packs. Tomorrow when we hike out of town we can now walk downhill and rejoin the AT where it leaves town.   C6 notesToday was a very nice day. The hiking was easy. At one point we even hiked 3 miles in an hour...level and easy hiking was the key to being able to go so fast. I wish it was like that all the time. Not to be!My emotions have been fine today and I felt stronger. It was still very humid, but the easy terrain made the humidity tolerable. It was nice to see familiar faces in the hiker picture book at the ATC, and I'm proud to be in that book as well now.We hear Red Leg is in town. We haven't seen him...appparently we just haven't been where he is when he comes down to the part of town where we're staying. (We're in the Town's Inn.) And we don't have a need to go to the area where we hear he is. I tried to call his cell phone, but it must be turned off because it went immediately to voice mail. I did't leave a message...I'm sure we'll see him soon, but one never knows. We now realize we have to hike minute to minute with the way I'm reacting to the heat and humidity. One day is a great hiking day and the next can be awful, so we need to be flexible and stop, or continue on, as the day warrants. With that, we don't expect we'll be hiking as closely with Red Leg as we did for a few weeks. That's the nature of the trail, however. Some groups seem to stay together most of the time, others are fluid...with friends coming in and out of the group as the days go by.The third guy in the shelter with us last night was "Hot Pants." (He got the name when he had a nice pair of down pants he wore in the evenings during the very cold weather. Someone called them hot pants, so that stuck as his trail name. He's a wonderful guy. Unfortunately, he hikes way faster than we do, so we won't see much of him, but I am thoroughly impressed with him from our conversations last evening and this morning.Meeting him actually fit in with what I wrote yesterday. I said I haven't been praying enough..."Hot Pants" and another man we met briefly today ("Golden Bear") are answers to my prayers. I sense Hot Pants is very spiritual, and Golden Bear used the be a minister. It's as if God put them in my/our path to refresh my spiritual need. I love when things happen like this, and I'm so thankful to have met those two wonderful, spiritual men. I hope we see each of them again!Old Goat & Check Six