Date: 2014-05-31
From: Harpers Ferry

To: washington monument
Miles today: 19.7
Weather: few clouds

In which I did my second ever slack pack and had a red letter day!Today was a fabulous day! How could it not be when I started with a breakfast of coffee, cranberry juice, a Danish, eggs, bagel and yogurt. Delish. I was fueled and ready to hike. I also had the priviledge of slack packing. Murphy's friend Michelle is here so the three of us packed our food and gear and head out from the ATC. We hiked down the Blue blaze trail with my parents to the AT. It was a parade of 5 hikers with poles trekking down the trail in unison, quite a sight! A lot of excited chatter filled the air. There were many oohs and ahhs anticipating our fun day.Then reality check. Gray Ghost was walking towards us SOBO. He didn't look right. As he got closer to us we noticed blood dripping down his face, a battered arm and a limp. He didn't seem like himself. He said he had fallen down the steep side of the mountain and kept tumbling. He was headed to the ATC. We offered to carry his pack and see him there but he insisted he was fine. I'm so thankful he is okay. It's scary to think about just how quickly something can happen. He said he was on the phone with his wife when it happened. I'm sure she was terrified. So glad he's ok and my prayers are with him for health and safety.We set off through the old town snapping many pictures. I feel like I am walking thru history (well I guess I really am). This is a really cool place. My imagination goes wild enacting the battles and past times in my head. I can almost see the events unfold in front of my eyes as I read the historic markers. It's fabulous. I like this. I also love trains which run right through here. We get to walk over the river by the tracks then along the B&O canal for a bit. That was a very pleasant and enjoyable walk, flat! My parents went on their way for their own adventure and would pick us up at the Washington Monument later today.We walked into Gaithland State Park at lunch time where we received trail magic from a couple who's son was hiking. I had a strawberry kiwi lemonade which was perfect to go with my salad I packed out for lunch. We all packed out a bag for lunch which was fun for a change. Greens. Such a treat! And home baked cookies which Michelle brought. Even better! Of course we followed all that up with a trail magic donut!On we went. The walk was really nice, relatively flat compared to the last few. We met a girl earlier in the day who was crewing for her mom. Her mom was doing the 40 mile challenge through Maryland so as we hiked today we kept our eyes open for her. Finally we saw them and chatted for a little bit. Daylight was burning and on they went. Glad we got to meet them.The three of us made it to the monument by 6:20pm for pick up. We were tired and ready to be done for the day. It was great that we had a little drive back to Harper's Ferry. It felt really awesome to sit. The best part however, was going out for pizza. We demolished some good food! Lastly, Murphy and I had to eat our last pint of ice cream before the half gallon challenge. We figured we'd eat 4 pints total over the last few weeks before the challenge. It was getting late so we picked our flavors and went back to each of our rooms. Mission accomplished. Last pint eaten. We're ready now! I had Half Baked and thoroughly enjoyed every bite. I killed it! What a day!