Date: 2009-06-22
From: Rod Hollow Shelter

To: Bear's Den Hostel
Miles today: 9.9
Weather: few clouds

Wow, what a wild ride on the roller coaster today. The Sis, Bow, and I got an earlier start today, they are starting to get the routine down around camp and we were trail ready at 8:30. We all hiked the first half a mile or so together, a flat section with tons of bog board over incredibly muddy terrain. Then we saw the sign, "Warning! You are about to enter the Roller Coaster!" posted on a tree. Great. All we really knew is that there's 13.5 miles of 10 ups and downs, and the first two were the worst. Up we go and we soon lost Heather behind us. Bow and I kept going, knowing we were going to stop 3 or 4 miles in to let her catch up. Heather's knee is becoming really bad, she's hobbling around on it and I've told her she needs to get off the trail before it gets worse and she does something permanent. All she says is "I'm fine, I'm going to Harper's Ferry no matter what". She's so stubborn, but at least she's getting off in Harper's. Bow and I made it to a stream about 4.5 miles in and figured we better stop to let her catch up. About an hour later we're still sitting there and we start getting passed by some other thru-hikers, one of them says "Hey Transition, I passed your sister awhile back and she said to tell you to wait for her." Heather, asking for help? That's when I knew something was wrong. There was only one road crossing today, a no traffic, backcountry dirt road about a mile back. I continued to wait, about another half hour passed and Spiceman came by and said, "Hey, you're sister is going to try to hitch a ride from that road to the hostel." Oh boy, time to Southbound it. Bow and I went as fast as we could back to the road and I got there just before Heather was going to cross it. I run down packless, and carry her pack up to the road for her the last tenth of a mile. She did about 3.7 miles in 4 hours, and we couldn't see her going on today. There was a guy at the trailhead, but he couldn't take her anywhere because his car was packed full because he as slackpacking a whole troop of Boy Scouts. Then, some random car comes driving along. He drives by, he stops, he backs up the road. He starts chatting us up about the trail because he's done the 'coaster before, and starts talking about the hostel. I ask him if he could shuttle an injured hiker there, as it's only 5 or 6 miles by car, and he replies "sure". Am I in the twilight zone? Why is this guy driving a random backroad and why does he have time to turn around and take Heather to the hostel? I was apprehensive in letting her go, but sometimes in life, timing is everything. They drive off and now Bow and I have another 6 miles of 'coaster to do.To shorten this up, the next 6 miles were not 'easier' AT ALL, they were much steeper! Both of our feet were dying, her's because of a freshly popped blister, and mine because of the new boots still not broken in. We made it, through the heat and humidity, and now we're at Bear's Den. What a great place, a bed, shower, laundry, pizza, and a pint of Ben & Jerry's all included for $25. Heather was waiting for us here. It turned out the guy that picked her up was on a booze cruise and his whole car smelled like rum and coke. A little sketchy, but she made it. Oh boy, what will tomorrow bring? Only 19 miles to Harper's Ferry....wow.Kick: Heather's hurt and refuses to stop, the coaster kicked all of our asses.Kiss: Bow made it, 10 miles of coaster on day 3, what a trooper! This hostel rocks, too, it's a stone castle with all the hiker amenities.Happy Trails,Transition