Date: 2018-06-05
From: Stealth site at Sky Meadows Ambassador Whitehouse Trail

To: Blackburn Trail Center
Miles today: 23.2

Today is one year since I started hiking the AT. Started north out of Harpers Ferry. I'll be there coincidentally tomorrow, but still have a little over 900 miles for future sections.I wake up before 5 at my stealth site with a view to see the half moon in a clear sky and predawn colors backlighting the horizon. I break camp as the sun rises over a hill. The overnight breezes did dry my socks, so it's already a great day! After eating some oatmeal and drying the dew off my tent in the morning sun I head out. Sky Meadows is a beautiful park with many hiking trails. But the AT leaves the park and heads into the forest, rocks, and mud again. The water has subsided somewhat but the streams are still flooded and tricky to cross and mudpits still cover some stretches. I manage to avoid totally soaking my feet though, a great improvement.At Ashby Gap someone's left trail magic in the form of cold beer and Gatorade. So for second breakfast I have a Bavarian-style Weiss and it tastes great. It's a grain, it counts as a breakfast, right?The next 13 miles are known as the Roller Coaster, about a dozen ups and downs one after the other. Most are 400-500 feet at a grade with rocks that would have driven hikers off the trail in Georgia. But thruhikers take them in stride at this point. I think of the Carters and Wildcats in New Hampshire - a dozen or so mountains much steeper than this in a day-long section.Halfway through I pass the 1000 mile mark. Doesn't mean much to me, but I add it to my photo collection for kicks. I point it out to a thruhiker coming up behind. He looks, says "Huh, guess we're almost halfway there", then moves on. Three-quarters through the roller coaster I stop at Bear's Den hostel just off trail hoping to score a snack. The store is closed and caretaker away but the bunk room is open and I find a fridge to buy a soda, making the short detour well worth it. A hiker sitting outside sees me leave with the soda and makes a beeline for the fridge. There's a work crew of graduating seniors from the local high school splitting firewood for the campsite.Still jonesing for a snack I head down to Snickers Gap where there's a restaurant a mile off trail. I'm not eager for the off-trail miles but food is food. I hit the trailhead and start looking for the turn towards town, then notice the trail angels standing in the parking lot. They've brought cookies, chips, McDonalds burgers, Gatorade, beer, and cupcakes with "1000" written in icing. Looks like I found my snack! The angels are parents of two thruhikers a few miles behind us. One of the parents, Mary, had left this morning's beer as well, so extra thanks to her! Also thanks to Steve and Cherie from Ohio. Mary flew in cross country from Seattle when her daughter sent her picture of the trenchfoot she got from all the rain.I hike the rest of the roller coaster and a further 4 miles with Hero from Alabama. He's a mate on an Atlantic coastal freight tugboat and has been hiking 3 weeks on, 3 off to fit his work schedule. Along the way he shoos a large black snake off the trail who coils and hisses at us.We stop at the Blackburn Trail Center run by the Potomac trail club to stay in their cabin for the night. There's a huge screened porch on the main building with a view west. Several thruhikers are tenting or in the cabin, along with a group of high school kids from Salisbury, Maryland on a year-end hiking trip. Tangerine is the first in the cabin. She tried to thruhike last year but shin splints drove her off after 600 miles. She has a minor case of them now and is taking it easy for awhile. Early the next morning we find out her better name would be Earthquake after hearing her get up at 5 and pack her things.Tomorrow on to Harper's Ferry!