Date: 2008-05-08
From: Bear's Den Hostel

To: Harper's Ferry, WV
Miles today: 20.6

Milestone Day! 1000 miles hiked, completion of the beast they call VA, and the ¢psychological halfway point¢ of the trail. The first two are valid and exciting, but I'm not sold on the psychological halfway point claim. First, I am still 80ish miles from the official halfway point. Also, if my 1st grade geography skills are still intact, New Hampshire and Maine are still north of here, which are the most difficult states. Nevertheless, it is great to be here in the historic town of Harper's Ferry, WV.        After a good night's sleep in my bunk, CJ, Dorothy, Hodown, and myself were up by 0730 and cooking a pancake breakfast. I can't claim that I helped very much, because my cooking skills peaked years ago at the Kraft Macaroni & Cheese level. Luckily, that's all I need out here on the trail, but pancakes are beyond my scope. I like to stick with the cleaning aspect. Bear's Den Hostel includes community food that all are welcome to make, and pancakes were available. We made a bunch and left a few extra for the building renovators. Delicious. CJ left 5 minutes before me for the trail, where we finished the last 3.5 miles of the roller coaster, and then treated to the WV border and 15 miles of the flattest trail I've been on in a long time. I also unknowingly passed the 1,000 mile mark until about 4 miles beyond it. I thought there would be some sort of hiker-made monument, but apparently not. I was confused because I knew CJ was ahead of me, but I was plowing spiderwebs the whole way, which is a task performed by the first hiker out in the morning. After a nice walk in the woods with a few minor showers sprinkled in, I arrived in Harper's Ferry around 1600.        Since CJ and I still had each other's Ipods (we switched for a few days to take a ¢music appreciation¢ class), I thought I would stop at the ATC Headquarters where I knew CJ would be meeting his dad to switch back. I found his dad, but no CJ. I concluded that he stopped at a shelter along the way for lunch and I passed him without knowing. CJ rolled in 10 minutes later with a frustrated look on his face. Apparently he went the southbound out of the hostel, and went .5 miles before realizing his mistake. That explained why I was plowing spider webs the whole time too. CJ, welcome to the accidentally hiking southbound club. We got our picture taken for the official ATC register, where they have 20 years of very complete thruhiking statistics and pictures of every hiker compiled in notebooks. Very impressive.         After that, we went off to eat at the Secret Six pub and restaurant. Harper's Ferry is FULL of civil war history. It was the sight of John Brown's raid, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it changed hands during the war over 20 times. This is where the Potomac and Shenendoah rivers merge, and only 40 miles from the Mason Dixon line, which makes it a very strategic town. Anyways, the Secret Six were 6 rich New Englanders who financed John Brown's raid. CJ, Mr. Boggs and I met Hodown and Dorothy there, and we put back a few and ate. Mr, Boggs insisted on picking up the tab (and paying for our motel room that night), which was extremely kind and trail magic in its own right. So, thank you Mr. Boggs very much. Mr. Boggs drove us all back to the motel, where we watched some TV and played chess with the board we borrowed from the Secret Six (we asked). All in all a great day.¢I have not yet begun to fight!¢ - John Paul Jones