Harpers Ferry, June 25th

I got such a great nights sleep last night but I woke up with my feet still in pain from the previous day. I will not be getting back on trail until I have new shoes. period. The hostel was very nice but we were all rather irritated that the hostel owner was shocked that we made it in last night. We told him that we were down the street and were coming but he just assumed that we were going to be no shows for some reason. Heck, I had my pack sent ahead to his hostel. I'm just pretty angry because he sounded like since we didn't get in earlier he didn't want us being checked in at all. It's not like we had anywhere else to stay.

I stopped by the Appalachian Trail Center today and got my official photo taken! It's such an accomplishment to make it this far. I feel so happy.

We stopped at a café for lunch downtown. The town was so cute but the service we had not so much. The outfitters in town was extremely small and only one guy was working so I never got any shoe help. The guide book says that they have a great selection of shoes which is quite disappointing because they only had 2 brands and maybe 7 shoes total. I just walked over to an ice cream shop to get a scoop of homemade ice cream before waiting for the train.

Scout, FDR, Dirty Duck, Illegal, and I are taking the Amtrak train into DC for a side trip. Harpers Ferry is close to the city and it's a popular thing to do out here. The train ride was really nice and went by quickly. We got to check out the viewing car.

The first stop on the list of things for the day was REI. I got a cream for my back from all the chafing with my pack. I went shoe shopping and it went a bit rocky, most of the shoes that I wanted to try they were out of my size! It was really frustrating. I found the perfect pair of shoes but they only had a pair larger and a pair smaller. I really wanted those shoes, I'll probably end up ordering them. In the meantime I ended up choosing a pair of Altras. They had a number of sizes and the 11s were the ones that fit me best. So essentially a woman's 13. I've gained 3 sizes while out here. I ended up picking up a new pair of socks and an ExOfficio hiking dress. I didn't plan on it but the dress and shoe match! I was told by 2 employees that the dress was from the clearance rack but when checking out I was told that it wasn't but she ended up giving me the discount anyways because I had been told that it was.

My new shoes

Next we checked into the hostel. We found a hostel called Duo that's conveniently located downtown. The place was really nice. It's a lot like all the hostels that I stayed in in Ireland.

We went out for dinner at a ramen restaurant in China Town which was nearby called Daikaya, it was delicious. I also found some taro bubble tea. Not the best but I have finally fed my bubble tea addiction!

Scout met up with a friend so Illegal, FDR, Dirty Duck, and I wandered toward the National Mall. It turned out they were having a taste festival like the Taste of Chicago. They were starting to pack down so we were able to sneak in without wrist bands. We got all sorts of free food that you normally needed tickets for because the booths were packing up and wanting to get rid of the last of their food. I got 3 bars of chocolate, lactose free milk, Greek yogurt popsicles, jerky and meat bars. It was great.

cow duck

We found our way out and ended up renting bikes through a system exactly like Divvy in Chicago. We ended the day by riding around the mall checking out the museums and monuments.

FDR, Ilegal, Duck, Mishap

the white house

man on top of the white house

West Virginia, June 24th

I had a rough nights sleep. No matter what I did I just couldn't fall asleep even though I took sleep medicine. At some point in the night it started raining, the wind blew in the rain from the open window against my bed. I struggled to close it. I eventually turned off the fan too early in the morning, I think that's what ultimately kept me up because I slept soundly until voices woke me up from the other room of people eating breakfast. It was a self serve breakfast of pancake batter and mulberries. They had a griddle on so we could cook our own pancakes. I made 2 large pancakes loaded in the berries, they were picked from out in the backyard from my understanding. They are pretty similar to blackberries.

Today I'm slackpacking the 20 miles into Harpers Ferry. I arranged a shuttle driver to pick up my pack. Harpers Ferry, WV is considered the unofficial halfway point on the trail. I'm not moving very fast but I'm so thankful that the weather is nowhere near as hot as it has been the past few days. There's even a lovely breeze.

Today I crossed the boarder into West Virginia! It's been so long since I've entered a new state. Virginia is the longest the trail stays in one state. I feel so accomplished to have made it this far!

I've flicked multiple ticks off of my body despite having put bug repellant on before leaving.

I found some cherry trees today. Dirty Duck was sitting there chowing down telling me what kind of cherries the different trees were. They were delicious. I had some serious stomach cramps later, I'm not sure what they were from, possibly the cherries?

I ended up getting 3 flies in my eyes in the span of an hour. I got 2 out but the third took hours to finally get out. I didn't get it out until we got to town at a restaurant.

You can see the fly smooshed in my eyeball

Duck fond a cool moth.

My shoes were completely worn out. It was so painful to walk. I was told that my shoes were only really meant to last 500 miles. I should have replaced them much earlier. I had to keep stopping. I was limping at times, it was miserable.

Right before Harpers Ferry we crossed a large river on a car bridge. It was beautiful.

Coming out of the woods and into Harpers Ferry was crazy. It felt like I got teleported to someplace nowhere near the trail. The town was particularly fancy and clean. It had money. This town was too pure for the hiker trash pouring in from the trail. I walked into a live Jazz concert happening in the park with people dressed up in fancy clothes laying on lawn blankets and eating cheese and fruits. Then we came walking up looking like a band of filthy homeless people climbing out of the woods to stink up the place. I felt out of place.

We met up with Scout and Sun and went out to dinner at a place called Anvil. I really liked the place but we got such terrible service. The waitress paid us almost no attention. It took an hour for our waitress to come back for our checks after asking. We had called the Teahorse hostel that where we made reservations that we had just gotten into town and were eating at the restaurant down the street. By the time we got there he wouldn't answer the doorbell even though we told him around the time we were coming. Another hiker let us in the passcode door and we found our own beds and my pack that I had sent ahead.

Sun's boyfriend came to visit.

Today in Harpers Ferry I made it to mile 1023.1 with 1166.7 left to go.

Mile 1,000, June 23rd

It rained all night. I'm really happy with the fact that I never got any splash back or condensation in my tent. It makes me want to stay here and keep sleeping though. I think the tape is actually working to help my toe. The tape was a few millimeters away from my nail this morning meaning that it pulled the skin back away from my nail tip. I replaced it with fresh tape to continue the process. All of my clothing from yesterday are still wet with sweat. It's disgusting.

I managed to get a fly in my eye. They seem so determined to get in my eyes, always swarming just my face, nowhere else. It drives me crazy! One flew right in causing me to blink, causing it to be crushed by my eyelids. Then I couldn't get the thing out! It took a few hours of blinking for it to finally work out to the corner of my eye.

I found some blueberries. 

Today was another disgusting hot and sweaty day. I took so many more breaks than I wanted to just to cool off from the heat. It really takes a lot out of you too.

Dying from the heat.

Uncle Puck, Dirty Duck, and I were hiking together for most of the day. We found a water source and were pouring water on ourselves to cool off. A woman with a large german shepherd hikes in and the dog quickly goes to lay in the water. My dog would do the same. Then out of nowhere the dog bolts off back down the trail. I look over and it was chasing off a bear. I can't believe how close that bear got to us and we never noticed! Catfish and Still Hank were just coming down the trail when it happened so they got a much better view of the action.

I entered the roller coaster today. It is a steep and tight series of hills and go one after the other. There was even a sign about it.

Today I also crossed the 1,000 mile maker. I've officially hiked 1,000 miles! Today also marks me being on the trail exactly 3 months.

From left to right: Still Hank, Uncle Puck, Dirty Duck, Mishap (me), and Catfish.

It was such a slow day that I took too long getting to Bears Den Hostel. I kept stopping when everyone else did when I really should have just hiked on since everyone else ditched the plan and camped earlier. I stuck with the plan since I didn't want to make tomorrow a 23+ mile day. I found myself night hiking into the hostel. I really don't like hiking alone in the dark with my dim headlamp. I came across a few intersections and had a hard time telling which way I was suppose to go so it took even longer. I was rather jumpy in the dark thinking about how close that bear came up to us yesterday. I kept thinking I missed my turn off but I made it at 10:30. It all worked out great and I got my bunk bed. It was so comfortable and I got my desperately needed shower. Despite the temperature drop with the dark I still felt over heated and was dripping with sweat so I took a cold shower.

Tonight at the Bears Denver Hostel I'm at mile 1003.2 with 1186.6 left to go.

Hot and Sweaty, June 22nd

I had one of the worst nights sleep on the trail last night. I am so tired. Dirty Duck snored so bad and it kept me up. Uncle Puck also took my zquil I had set out so I wouldn't forget to take it so I ended up not taking it. I never heard back from the podiatrist in town so I decided to just hit the trail again. Taping it down overnight seemed to help. I think that everything I did yesterday to try to dig out the front of the nail just made things worse and more inflamed. I can see more of the front of the toenail. Not all of it but more than I could yesterday.

We ate breakfast at the hotel then headed over to a coffee house café in town next to the shuttle that takes us back to the trail. The café was actually really impressive. It was fully gluten free. All of their breads and pasteries were all made in house with flour alternatives. I got a chocolate chip cookie and it was really delicious! I got a drink called the Royale fog, it was an earl grey tea with honey and milk. I asked for a milk alternative and they even make those in house! I got a homemade cashew milk in my drink. It was quite delicious.

I'm kinda bummed out that I got such a late start on the day. I'm really want to start going to bed early and waking up early. I stopped in at the Denton shelter and I must say that it is one of the most nice shelters out here on the trail. It has showers, a sticker, a porch, another structure with picnic tables, flowers planted along the the sides, and a game of horse shoes.

We came up to a road that has a restaurant down the street called Apple House Restaurant. They will pick us up for free when time permits. We were able to call for a ride then a woman pulled over to offer us a ride. Dirty Duck and I took her up on her offer since we were the only ones who would fit and everyone else got a ride in the truck. I got a delicious egg sandwich, an apple cider doughnut, and drank about 3 large cups of tea. I was so thirsty, we all were. It was a ridiculously sweaty day. We were all drenched. My clothing looked like I had just climbed out of a pool at the end of the day. I just felt disgusting. Sun and Scout are ahead of us. We will all meet up in Harpers Ferry on Saturday either way.

The bugs were getting really bad at the end of the day near the shelter. They wouldn't stop going after my face, it was driving me crazy. I finally ended up breaking out my bug net while setting up my tent. The shelter here was just build. It looks like it's just been completed. All of the tools are scattered around the structure including ladders and tool boxes. I used one of the bear poles for the first time. I've been seeing them since the Shenandoahs. The best way to describe them are tall poles with hooks at the top and a long clothing rack pole to take your food bags up and down. I ended up scrapping the top of my left big toe nail along a sharp edge of a rock while trying to get the pole untangled. That really sucked.

I couldn't finish my dinner tonight. I think that it was the heat. I didn't have much of an appetite, that's really not like me. I ate way less than usual today. It's still a good amount of food. Maybe more like a normal amount of food, not hiker amounts of food. Uncle Puck finished the rest of my chicken fried rice.

It took a long time to cool off and stop sweating. It continued being hot until around 9pm when it started getting dark. It was miserable.

Tonight I made it to Dicks Dome Shelter at mile 984.9 with 1204.9 left to go.