Date: 2005-06-21
From: Bears Den

To: ATC Blackburn Center
Miles today: 7.7
Weather: overcast clouds

"Did I ever tell you about the guy that thought he had a way to neutralize rattlesnake poison? No, really, he figured that if you got an electrical charge from a car battery or spark plug it would reverse the polarity of the poison. All you have to do is put your tongue on a sparkplug"! Weatherman is back and he is the same old Weatherman! His stories are hilarious and we cracked up at that one. Happy first day of summer. Happy hike naked day which, I am sure everyone will be glad to know I will not participate in! In order to celebrate these two momentous events we are only going to hike 7.7 miles to the ATC Blackburn Center. This will be new territory for me since I skipped by it last year. Free, Poet, Serenity, and I took off around 11:00. Weatherman and Scholar had left a little before then. The trio that I was with swore that they would tie me up if I hiked the crazy pace today. I am going to try very hard to knock it down to 2.5 MPH or less! We had only gone about 3/4 of a mile when we ran into Phoenix Rising doing tral magic in the area. This girl is great! I first ran into her in the Shenandoahs. She had started a hike early on but decided it wasn't for her so she has spent the last month or so dispensing a little trail magic and helping out other hikers. I have a lot of respect for her for what she chose to do. After I left Phoenix Rising and the rest of the crew I headed toward our goal. It is a beautiful day today! Nice and warm with a small breeze but, most of all, no humidity. Great weather to walk in! The remainder of The Roller Coaster seemed like a piece of cake compared to the other day and the miles ticked by. I actually crossed a huge milestone today and had not really thought about it till I got there. I crossed into West Virginia! Virginia is done after a month and a half in it (including all the zero days)! Some people get really discouraged by Virginia and a bunch of people drop off the trail during this state. Virginia never really bothered me. Every day here was just another day in the journey and to paraphrase Break's statement from very early on, "The only place I have to be is right where I am". Still rings true 3 months later I got to the Center shortly after two which meant I had slowed my pace to a little under 2.5 MPH. That I can deal with. This place is incredible! Nice house where the caretakers stay. It has a huge screened in porch. It goes around 3 sides of the house. There is a seperate building where the hikers can bunk. A nice yard with wooden chairs that allow you to look toward Washington D.C. On a clear day you can see some of the monuments in D.C. from here. I was the only one around but there was a note from the caretakers to enjoy the porch and have a soda. They would be back soon. I immediately grabbed my pocketmail and book and headed to one of the chairs on the lawn. I read for awhile and then Sara and Bill came home. They are the caretakers for the Center. What a great job that would be, especially in this place! The rest of the group came in around five and at seven we had a nice spaghetti dinner prepared by Sara. The dinner doesn't come with the turf. It was just an extra piece of kindness. Three great meals in the last three evenings! Tomorrow we are all planning on going into Harpers Ferry together. If someone gets ahead, like me, we are to wait at the blaze leading into town. 1000+ miles when we get in, psychological halfway point and just knowing we are there will make it a great day!