Date: 2014-06-01
From: bears den hostel

To: tent site
Miles today: 18.8

This morning at Bear den hostel we packed up our tents, then headed inside to see what was cookin. Nothing was happening inside so we scoured the kitchen for the pancake mix we were told we could use for breakfast. Im a pancake snob so using premixed pancake powder kinda turned my stomach but not enough to hold me back. One more reason trying to become a thru hiker is not easy. We cooked up some nice fluffly pancakes and had a side of fruit with them that someone had brought to share with everyone. The breakfast was pretty good and most importantly, filling. So, bellies full, we started off toward a known trail magic/ hiker feed that was about ten miles away. Its funny how i can be driven to food by future hunger, thats when you know youre gonna be hungry even though youre full right now. The first part of the trail was the very end of the rollercoaster, again, still rocky. The hills arent killer but the rocks make it tough. At a stream crossing there was a 1000 mile sign! Thats a big deal. Everytime i pass a hundred mile mark i think to myself, 'thats a long way!' This one was big and i was proud of myself for getting here in a reasonably good state. Not too long after that we came to another sign for the VA/WV border. Another state! Thats a big deal! We were through virginia, the longest state on the trail, all 550 miles of her. I really want any future hikers reading this to not listen to anyone that tells you that you will do big miles in virginia because its flat. Its not flat, it gets better in the shenandoahs but its not flat, and its plenty rocky. Listen to me, everyone else is lying. As we got to the side trail leading to the hiker feed, with keen eyes we noticed that it was a steep downhill trail that could only mean one thing, uphill later with a full belly. One more reason trying to become a thru hiker is not easy. The feed was put on by the washington dc packbackers ckub. The asked the blackburn center if they could use their facility and brought out a bunch of food. They were of course a really nice group that is obviously into hiking. They had tons of food and kept encouraging us to eat. Three sodas, three hotdogs, one hamburg, and four pieces of bread later i was looking for the cookie tray. Ooooh, chocolate chip cookies go well with a couple glasses of sweet tea i though, and they did. We stayed for a couple hours telling and listening to stories of the trail. We patted our bellies, looked at the watch, said many thank yous, and loaded up. The hill was long and slow but we made it back to the trail. Thankfully for a while it truly was a walk in the woods. Nice trail with few rocks let us cruise along at a turtles pace toward our final campground of the day. We caught up to our friends from luxembourg that were gonna camp where we were gonna camp and told them of the convenient store we were going to visit on the way. They didnt want to go because it was .3 off trail so i asked if we could bring anything. They wanted a beer so we got a four pack of heinekin (sp?) and had the lady double bag it and throw a little ice on top. It needed to stay cold for two more miles. Those last two were a little rough. The trail had some serious water damage, very washed out. Finally we got to the site where the Lux had their famous tent already set up. They carry a lot of weight, a LOT of weight. The tent they use could hold 8 people and the model of it is Tatonka. Fitting because you could surely hide a buffalo in there. The thing is really impressive, i could stand up in it for god sakes! We put up our tents and sat on rocks chatting and drinking a beer. They are really nice folks that will make you laugh with their mishaps. It wasnt long before we all retired to our tents, thinking of harpers ferry and the unofficial halfway point. Im nearly to harpers ferry and i dont feel like im falling apart yet, i never thought that would happen. Therefore it unanamous, i will go to harpers ferry tomorrow with a bounce in my step and a smile on my face. Things could not be much better on this day on the appalachian trail.