Date: 2016-04-26
From: Bears Den Hostel

To: Harpers Ferry
Miles today: 20.5

Today was another milestone day. Virginia is done; the state with more AT miles than any other state. Harpers Ferry is the home of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and tradition calls for taking a picture at this approximate midway point. I am #60 for this year's northbound thru-hikers.To get here required finishing the final roller coaster miles and those miles provided more ups and downs. The AT was relatively smooth after that which was kind on my knees. There was a rock scramble or two along the way that required diligent adherence to finding the next white blaze before taking your next step. It would've been easy to lose the trail if one assumed where the trail went.Yesterday's beauty disappeared and today's trail lacked flowers and color; the dominant color today was moldy brown leaves. The few hikers I saw today coming from Harpers Ferry seemed unusual in that the packs they carried seemed unlikely to be able to sustain backpacking. One woman wore cotton blue jeans and had a pack that featured an extremely bulky winter coat. Then there were a couple of young female hikers with one carrying so much billowy bedding that it stuck out on each side as well as out of the top of her backpack. It was the first time that I felt I was seeing homeless people hiking to an AT shelter. An exception to these hikers was running into three hikers that I'd met a couple days earlier. These three - Trailbeard, Tortilla Tosser, and Stone Heart - are hiking in flip-flop fashion. They were fun to speak with the first time I met them and were great to speak with today. Given the way they are hiking, it seems possible that I could run into them again along the trail - hope so.If you have been reading entries submitted on my sign-in pages then you've been entertained by my best friend before college. He's just asked about hiking together in July. I've just recently conceptualized mileage scenarios through the next month and intend to create a plan of sorts for the remainder of the AT in another month. I like the idea of hiking with friends and think such hiking will add to the memories of this adventure. Hiking with Mark will have real challenges though. First, there is the issue of his eyesight. You need to see the trail in front of you in order to hike it and his consistent references to me as "Ugly" make me wonder if his eyes are adequate for the trail. He also has mentioned a couple times about how I caused him damage while playing basketball many years ago. I have two concerns regarding that. I recall carrying him and our church's basketball team during those basketball seasons and am already carrying a full load on my back so I am not sure if I can also carry his aging 6' 8" skeleton again. Then there's the issue of his flexibility. In high school, he got hurt trying to catch a pass that required him jumping about an inch off the ground. That proved to be too great a task so I'm wondering if his gangly legs will be able to stretch as is needed to hike from one step to the next. These are my initial thoughts but I'll think on this as I hike to figure this out.Hard to believe that I've hiked to Harpers Ferry. Thanks to all for your good wishes and support. I hike knowing there are many helping me along the way and want you all to know how happy and important having you with me enables this hike's continuation.