Date: 2011-10-02
From: Harper's Ferry, WV

To: Day 144
Miles today: 9.5

On the trail again! So after a desperately-needed infusion of cash and calories, I am finally back in the woods. My Dad and I left the house bright and early this morning and made it to Harper's Ferry early in the afternoon. We spent some time checking out the town; I was so excited the last time I was here that I didn't see much more than the ATC and the Byron Memorian Footbridge. I did, in fact, go back to the ATC for a bit. I had to update my picture in the hiker-log because my trail name wasn't officially 'Portable G' back when the photo was taken. I also had to ink-in a pirate flag because JR was sorely absent from my photo. It was pretty fun flipping through the log book and looking at all the photos of hikers I've met along the way. Turns out Samurai was just a day-and-a-half ahead of me when I started the AT! I suppose it's a good thing that we didn't run in to each other for a while...    So my Dad and I stopped by the local pub and grabbed a pint of the highest gravity IPA that was on tap, then we made our peace with the town. My dad dropped me off in the parking lot of the train station. He would have hiked with me for a bit but, of course, it was pouring rain. After 10 days of beautiful weather, Reptar the raincloud decided to rear his ugly head just as soon as I get back in the woods. Makes me wonder who he's been following around while I've had a roof over my head. So I happily weaved my way through town, marching through the rain like I have some high purpose, endlessly following the white-blazes. There's really no place I'd rather be right now. I can't even begin to describe how good it feels to be back out here. I feel almost happier now than when I was standing on top of Katahdin 2 weeks ago. My trip isn't quite over yet; I get to continue running from the real world. It's just me and 1,000 miles of wide-open trail now.   I, naturally, had a pretty slow start. I didn't hike out of town until the early evening. I spent a long time sitting on Jefferson rock looking out at the confluence of the Potomac and the Shenandoah, just like Thomas Jefferson did 220 years ago. I made it passed Keys Gap and up to the David Lesser Shelter without much trouble. At this point, being soaking wet feels eerily reminiscent and comforting. I was starting to freak out because of all the dry clothes, clean bed sheets, and electronics at my Dad's house for sure. Looks like I'll have the shelter to myself tonight too. Sweet sweet solitude. "The passage of the Patowmac through the Blue Ridge is perhaps one of the most stupendous scenes in Nature. You stand on a very high point of land. On your right comes up the Shenandoah, having ranged along the foot of the mountain a hundred miles to seek a vent. On your left approaches the Patowmac in quest of a passage also. In the moment of their junction they rush together against the mountain, rend it asunder and pass off to the sea. The first glance of this scene hurries our senses into the opinion that this earth has been created in time, that the mountains were formed first, that the rivers began to flow afterwards, that in this place particularly they have been so dammed up by the Blue Ridge of mountains as to have formed an ocean which filled the whole valley; that, continuing to rise, they have at last broken over at this spot and have torn the mountain down from its summit to its base. The piles of rock on each hand, but particularly on the Shenandoah, the evident marks of their disruptions and avulsions from their beds by the most powerful agents in nature, corroborate the impression."                                                               -Thomas Jefferson. 1785