Date: 2016-07-02
From: Harpers Ferry Hostel

To: Dahlgren Backpack Camp
Miles today: 13.7
Weather: clear sky

I woke up about 4am and was really, really hungry. Being in the hostel it was easy enough to wander into the kitchen and scrounge up something to eat. Nachos looked to be my best option so I microwaved some tortilla chips, cheese, and salsa. Voila! 4am Nachos! I went back to bed but couldn't go back to sleep so I was ready for the real hostel breakfast at 7:30. This hostel put out a nice spread of things you could cook yourself - turkey bacon, eggs, pancakes, fruit, cereals, and especially orange juice! I had been craving orange juice with ice! It's funny what you come into town craving; sometimes it's a cheeseburger, sometimes pizza, sometimes a glass of wine, but this time it was orange juice with ice.After breakfast I managed to get a ride to the trailhead from one of the other guests and I was on my way. The first climb takes you up 1000 feet to Weverton Cliffs, a really nice overlook of the Potomac River. I had done this hike before as a day hike when I was in Washington DC on business. It's one of my favorite hikes in the DC area with beautiful views of the Potomac River with its rapids and the mountains in Virginia to the south.After the Weverton Cliffs the trail is relatively flat for many miles until arriving at Gathland State Park. Gathland was the home of George Albert Townsend that wrote his books and articles under the pen name "Gath" during the Civil War. He was a war correspondent and ended up building a mountain home here after the war, as well as building an arch as a memorial to war correspondents. This was also the site of several battles during the Civil War and there are a couple of buildings with historical artifacts and displays as well as an exuberant docent named Randy that loved to tell visitors about the battle of Crampton's Gap and the Battle of South Mountain. Along the way to Gathland I ran into a day hiker named Denny. He was very interested in the AT and hoped to section hike it all some day. I told him about my favorite hiker couple, Towhee and Morning Song, and how they were hiking it over 15 years in their 60's and 70's. I use their experience often as an example of what a person can do on the trail. I hope Denny can make his dream come true too.After Gathland there was another small climb up and over South Mountain and into Dahlgren Backpack Campground. Dahlgren was a big grassy area with bathrooms and showers. Pretty "deluxe" for a backpack campground! It is meant to be for backpackers only but there was a big family there that had hauled in lots of stuff and set up a little tent city. That was one of the disadvantages of being so close to a road. One of the advantages was that we were able to call in to a pizza place and they would deliver to the trailhead. A section hiker named Rich and I called in an order and we were soon eating people food for dinner. Rich was a Southwest pilot and was hoping to take a leave of absence to do a thru hike next year. Like my conversation with Denny, the trail can have a powerful pull on those who hear her call. For those that don't hear her call, it's hard to understand why someone would want to take off six months of their life to do a walk in the woods for thousands of miles, up and down some of the toughest terrain in the lower 48. It is a journey, it is an odyssey, it is a y, it is a life goal, it is one of the few "wilderness" adventures you can still do in America. (And still eat pizza pretty regularly!) And it is different for every person who hikes it. For the trail is inside you as much as it is a place to walk. And for those who choose to walk it, they make of it what they need it to be.