Date: 2015-06-21
From: Washington DC

To: Harpers Ferry 
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: few clouds

At Harpers Ferry June 21, 2015 Having promised to post nothing for several weeks, I will break that promise, just because I have free time at a computer this evening. Harpers Ferry is northbound mile 1020, so I have gone 18 miles since I last posted. Not much. I did take five consecutive zero days in the Washington DC area, with my entire family.   That was very pleasant.   Pictures I will post are at the air and space museum as well as at the Capitol. We did all the usual things one does in Washington DC, including multiple Smithsonian museums (Art, Natural History, Air and Space, USA history), the major monuments (Lincoln, Vietnam, Korea & WWII, but not Washington because we didn¢t have tickets). We also had breakfast with Senator Al Franken (a nice guy, even if I didn¢t vote for him). Betty McCollem¢s office got us a capitol tour. Highlight of that was actually seeing the senate in session voting on something sort of important - We never found out what.   I ate reasonably healthy during this time and might have gained some weight. I continue to get erratic scale readings. One scale recently told me I was at 149 pounds.   But the scale at the hostel I am staying at today says I am 158 pounds, which is very close to starting weight.   Either I really did gain 10 pounds in Wash DC (unlikely), or all the scales I have used are slightly inaccurate (most likely).   Anyways, my weight is apparently OK. Yesterday, Sat June 20, I returned the rental car, and walked 8 miles. Others told me there was going to be 2¢ of rain that evening, and a thunderstorm started at about 6PM. Fortunately I was within 12 mile of the Blackburn AT center, with shelter.   So I slept last night under a screened roof, while it rained, hard, and I stayed very dry.   So I dodged a hard-rain bullet last night.   People tend to have fragmentary weather forecasts, but nobody is quite certain that they apply to the area we are in. Yesterday's weather info was dead-on accurate. Most of our smartphones have the radar and weather apps (mine does), but getting cellphone data in the woods, on the trail, is rare, so it is not very useful to us. I¢ve made contact with Brad/No Worries and we will join each other for the first time in about 3 weeks tomorrow morning.   As previously stated, I am now making rapid state changes. I am DONE with Virginia. Hooray. I am in West Virginia, but just for a few miles.   I will be in Maryland tomorrow, then a day or two later in Pennsylvania.   I know that a mile in one state is the same a mile in any other state, but it is fun to see the states roll by.   I also am glad to rejoin Brad. His ankle problems seem to be done with.   Brad still hikes faster than I do, and perhaps can do more miles per day than I can, so I will try to tell him we are doing fine and we will get to the end before the really cold weather hits. I was at the Appalachian Trail Conservancy Visitor center today.   They took my picture, as they do of all through hikers.   I am northbound thru-hiker # 768.   20 NB thru-hikers registered today. So I am almost exactly in the middle of the NB ¢bubble¢, as I expected I was.   A rule of thumb is that you need to be in Harpers Ferry by July 1st, to make it to Katahdin, Maine by October.   We are doing fine.   Here are my latest trail speed calculations. They always can change in a moment by injury, I know, but still useful to know how one is doing.Apr 8 - June 21 is 75 days (That includes all 9 zero days I have taken, including 5 in Wash DC)1023 miles/75 days = 13.64 miles per day2180 total AT trail miles / 13.64 miles per day = 160 daysApr 8 to Sept 14 is 160 days, so latest estimated arrival at Katahdin is Sept 14. Ann prefers me to be done well before Oct 1st, and be home for the birth of my 3rd grandson, and I hope to do so. For a Father's Day present, I got, and read a book by a retired Pastor. Legging It ¢ November 24, 2014 by Craig Clapper. It describes his 2013 thru-hike, and ties it into his Christian beliefs, which are roughly similar to mine, except that he is a pastor and thinks about such things, and I am not and do not.   He describes his spiritual encounters with hikers. I¢ve not had those.   But he did give one bit of trivia that caught my attention and agrees with what I have observed and previously posted.   Craig was 63 when he finished his through hike - same as I will be (Aug 29th BD).   Craig noted that the ATC reports that 4% of all successful through hikers are over age 60. Any age over 60. I¢m not sure how fast it drops off after 60, but I suspect it is fast.   I see very few men (and zero women) thru-hikers at this point much over 60. I shamelessly ask the guys how old they are, after stating my own age. Almost all are in their late 50¢s.   I¢m not bragging (too much), just repeating that thru-hiking the AT is predominantly a young person's game, with a few retired guys in the mix, but most of them are in their late 50¢s. Of course there are some older than me, and several of them hike faster than I do (not hard, because I¢m so slow) but not many.   OK, I will end this and post my Washington DC pictures now, just because I can. Some of you might want to see my family.   But I don¢t expect to see any of them until mid-September.   Family visits are finished. I now need to focus on getting to Maine.   The heat has set in, and that makes hiking harder.