Date: 2008-06-23
From: Blackburn Trail Center 

To: Ed Garvey Shelter
Miles today: 19.0
Weather: scattered clouds

I woke up to a warm day with a steep climb back to the trail but it was easy when we got back to the ridge. The only difficulty was the multitude of medium-sized rocks, the kind that turns under foot and twists ankles, hurt the undersides of the feet and make it hard to pick your way along. I crossed the 1000 mile mark without any ceremony to mark the occasion. It is exciting though!! I took a break with Daisy & Professor before beginning the descent to Harper¢s Ferry. The Shenandoah River was a cool green miracle, winding its way between the mountains. It was dotted with up jutting rocks, geese swimming. I was giddy walking across the bridge. I had such a sense of accomplishment. I arrived triumphal at the ATC¢s Headquarters, said hello to Lurie and the other thru¢s who were there¢¦Double D, the OSU boys, Daisy, Professor, Sunny & Share, Stitches and Baltimore Jack were also there. Slayer & Ularu turned up later to meet Daisy. The 3 of them are headed to D.C. We weighted in at 22 lbs ¢ that is until we added 10 lbs of food from our mail drop! UGH! This is the heaviest that my pack¢s been in a while. I hung out a bit before going to explore the town. The trail passes Jefferson¢s Rock, a precariously perched boulder overlooking the confluence of the Shenandoah & the Potomac. We stopped to poke around the old graveyard which had bleached sandstone slabs in the bright sun.   It was a surreal color contrast, the white against the blue-electric sky. I wandered into old town which has fascinating old buildings that managed to survive so much. It¢s very impressive to actually walk where so much history has happened, where such crucial campaigns were stage. The past is a potent thing. Storm clouds begin to gather, edged with white sunlight, turning to dark blue. It is sad to leave town. The trail crosses the old railroad trestle. It is built of gigantic, riveted steel beams overhead. We followed the Potomac a ways, stopping to besmear ourselves with mulberries, their juice as sweet as Port Wine and as heady. We cooked dinner on a sandy spot on the bank. A kayaker came by and asked us a lot of questions about the hike and we shared a beer. We saw blue herons fishing. The sky turned stormy and we hiked as fast as we could. The wind was shipping the trees, thunder threatening so we decided to hide out under the freeway overpass until the storm passed. We started hiking again up the slippery trail, leaves dripping on my pack. The light was waning rapidly as we didn¢t leave the bridge until after 8 PM with 3 miles to go to the shelter. We began climbing the rocky ridge, toads hopping everywhere. I was afraid of stepping on them. I was getting claustrophobic hiking alone in the dark with Oats far behind. Then Snackies caught up with me and we hiked together. The sky let loose with another torrent of rain, mad thunderclaps and lightening briefly illuminating the trail. I could scarcely see because my fogged, wet glasses were useless. At least it was warm. Oats caught up and it was an almost festive run to Ed Garvey Shelter. We arrived at the beautiful 2-storey Shelter (stained wood, a door on the top storey) well after hiker midnight and tried to change out of our wet things and settle in quietly. Fortunately, there was plenty of room. I slept cold, my hair still wet from the storm