Date: 2019-07-13
From: Bears Den Hostel (VA)

To: David Lesser Memorial Shelter 
Miles today: 11.2

This morning we had pancakes with real maple syrup. In our last resupply box, we had requested this gluten free keto pancake mix. We stir it into oatmeal to thicken it up and add some protein. Well, in addition to the mix, we also got small bottles of maple syrup. I was wondering what we were going to do with it. However, this hostel has make your own pancakes available for breakfast. I decided to make my mix because I couldn¢t have the mix provided, topped with real maple syrup (the hostel only had that fake stuff but I really can¢t blame them, real maple syrup is expensive) and fresh mulberries.We left the hostel about 9am to head north again and finish the roller coaster. The plan was to hike about 16 miles and set up camp about 4 miles outside of Harpers Ferry. At one point SC asks why we don¢t just hike the additional 4 miles into town. ¢Because a 20-mile day starting at 9am doesn¢t sound feasible. Besides, we just stayed at a hostel last night.¢ However, we didn¢t end up even going the 16. We got to this shelter about 6pm and it seemed too nice to pass up. We are the only ones in the shelter. A father with 2 kids is tenting nearby. After we got started today, we saw the woman who gave us the sodas the day before yesterday and got to meet her husband. We crossed a busy road and there were a bunch of day hikers. They appeared to be hiking to a viewpoint just past the VA/WV border. Just before I got to the border, I saw a guy and young woman hiking sobo. The guy asked if I had seen any snakes as he had heard from a nobo that there was a copperhead on the trail ahead. When I said no, he put down a log he had been holding. ¢And what were you going to do with that?¢ I asked him with a laugh.¢It was merely for defense,¢ he told me. We then got to the VA/WV border. We will be following the state line for about 15 miles. Here the east side of the trail is in Virginia and the west side is in West Virginia. This shelter is east, so one more night in Virginia. We also finished the roller coaster. I¢m glad to get off that ride. We hiked by the Blackburn Trail Center today but didn¢t want to leave the trail to check it out. Near there I encountered a man and woman out for a day hike. They asked me where I started, ¢Harpers Ferry?¢I was a little confused as I hadn¢t gotten to Harpers Ferry yet. ¢No, Damascus.¢¢Damascus, Maryland?¢¢No, Virginia. I¢m going north.¢They tried to tell me I was going south, but I checked Guthook and my little arrow showed that I was going north. ¢No wonder we seem to be getting further from where we were trying to go.¢ [insert hand to forehead emoji here]This shelter has an interesting register. There¢s a lot of moaning about the roller coaster in it. Someone we hiked with earlier had written that the song ¢Here It Goes Again¢ by OK Go had been inspired by the roller coaster. SC did not know about this song, and we had cell service, so I made her watch the music video. She kept saying, ¢I wonder how many times they fell while practicing.¢The other thing mentioned in the register is the hike to water source. We filled up with extra water at a spring just past the roller coaster as we didn¢t want to have to go .3 miles down a steep hill to get water here. Anyway, apparently a woman got to the shelter and went to get water. She didn¢t bring her phone or a headlamp with her and ended up getting lost and spending the night trying to keep warm (this was in May) until it was light enough to find her way back. Even though her stuff was at the shelter, no one came to look for her. This is why even when I step a few yards off trail to pee, I always take my phone.