Date: 2004-06-15
From: Harpers Ferry, W.VA

To: Ed Garvey Shelter
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: scattered clouds

A late morning start due to plans of doing short miles. Paul fixed us scrambled eggs with sausage and refried beans and tortillas and mixed fruit cups. Oink, oink. I tried to sleep in but once the sun was up, it was hard to stay in bed. I got up and walked the dogs. The last time I'll get to do that for awhile. I'll miss my puppies. Paul told me he has decided to go home after Blue Ridge Summit. I'll miss snuggling with him. After breakfast, we loaded our filled packs into the truck and Paul ran us into Harpers Ferry. First to the outfitters to see if I could get some Esbit tabs. No such luck. but I was able to find a collapsible canteen so I could quit carrying a Gatorade bottle. Then to the ATC Headquarters to sign in and get our picture taken. We didn't make under three hundred but we were close. we're under 350. Then to be dropped off at the bridge we came in on yesterday. It was already getting late in the day, 1130. It was already warm and humid. TreeFrog wanted to eat lunch first. The trail from 340 nicks the end of town, so we walked back into Harpers Ferry for lunch. Harpers Ferry is a town with lots of history. Many buildings are original. There are little sign telling the history of buildings we passed. And a John Brown wax museum, advertising from his beginning to end. Top it off with bunches of tourists, it made for an interesting lunch break. Our first confusion came after crossing the Potomac River on the footbridge. Thankfully, at the outfitter, the manager came out to talk to us and warned us there were few blazes on the other side. She told us to go down stream. And sure enough, not a single blaze to remind us to turn right. But turn right we did, Adam and I. TreeFrog went looking for a payphone to load his journal entries. The C&O Canal Towpath. A couple miles of flat trail used by bikes and walkers. The river was giving a cooling effect under the trees. We chitchatted and looked at turtles in the canal. We wondered in amazement of the amount of manpower it took to hand fit all the stones. Pretty amazing stuff. We got to the turn off and decided to wait for TreeFrog. A motorcyclist was also taking a break. He asked questions about thruhiking. Finally TreeFrog showed up and off to our wilderness experience. Our original plan was to hike to Crampton Gap shelter but between the heat and being spoiled for four days, we made very slow going. I got concerned when TreeFrog was huffing and puffing more then usual. He's normally pretty animated and talkative as we walk, but today, it seemed he was having difficulty. Adam and I decided to use the thunder and heat as an excuse to stop at EdGarvey. I'm glad we stopped here. The thunder turned into rain and thunder. And TreeFrog lay down and took a nap. After his nap, he was his usual chipper self. We hope to get back into our routine of getting up early and hiking our big miles in the morning. This is a really nice shelter but the water source is a near half mile hoof down the hill. Since I was concerned for TreeFrog, I filled my two gallon so he wouldn't have to make the walk. Of course, that is when the rain started to fall. I managed to get back before getting soaked, but Adam was not as fortunate. All in a day of hiking. I think it will be good for us to getting back to going to bed early and getting up early and hiking. We got spoiled. I swear I got rid of more stuff from my pack, but it sure felt like the same heavy pack. In a few days, it will feel normal again. For tonight, I go back to sleeping on the floor, in a poncho liner, with strangers and the sound of rain on the tin roof.   Namaste'