Day 64
Sunday, 8/20/00
Rausch Gap Shelter to Clark’s Ferry Shelter
24.3 miles
Woke up?... Beat Feet woke me up about 6:30 I guess. I screwed around and didn’t leave until maybe 8:00. Man, I need a watch now, or I should just give up on keeping track of time. It was cold again at night and into the AM (low 50’s). Still haven’t gotten to try the fleece bag…
Pretty boring today. No views. Just lots of trees… Saw a big black snake (not a rattler). I remember seeing more and more of these black snakes as I got further south. They had an interesting defense mechanism of burying their tail in dry leaves and shaking it, imitating a rattlesnake. Wasn’t enough to fool me, but I imagine it works pretty well for them. Took it easy all day… Got here 3:45. Only 5 miles to Duncannon (PA). I might take a zero day or a really short day… We’ll see how the hotels are.
Day 64 (Don’t know why I repeated day 64 in the sequence, but I’ll stick with what I wrote originally.)
Monday 8/21/00
Clark’s Ferry Shelter to Duncannon, PA
4.5 miles
Had a nice campfire last night… (Something I almost never took the time to do) Never got too cold. Hiked with Beat Feet and had a real breakfast (French toast!) at the truck stop. It was good! Walked to the P.O. Got my mail! Good food! Beat Feet had a whole box of granola bars and he shared some…
Sent home my sleeping bag (Up to this point I was using a Northface 40-degree synthetic bag). Walked a couple miles to the grocery store. Bought some bread, cake frosting, peanut butter, some Lipton’s pasta and a can of Pringles (1,050 calories baby!!!). Ate lunch (Jo-jo potatoes and chicken fingers) there with Beat Feet. He’s decided he’s going to call it quits at Harper’s Ferry. Decided he wanted to go to grad school (thus ended my hiking partnership with Beat Feet).
I wanted to shower and do laundry so I stayed at the truckstop. Had to go back 2 miles though… (so I really did about 10 miles of walking today). Ate Lipton’s pasta and Pringles for dinner.
Vegged out watching TV. What a waste of time TV is! Did laundry too…
Day 65
Tuesday, 8/22/00
Duncannon, PA to Darlington Shelter
11.4 miles
Slept in this morning… took a shower… took my time. Left at maybe 10:00.
Road walked for a while (road walking might sound like a relief from the trail, but I dreaded these sections. Nothing gives me shin splints faster and makes my joints hurt quicker than walking on pavement.). Easy hiking. The worst of the rocks are supposed to be over and they are. Wahoo! Saw some Amish folks this morning at the truck stop. Guess I’m in that part of the country…
Got here probably around 1:00. Little shelter! I’m alone so far.
Saw a north-bounder today! Wow, he’s late! North-bounders have a deadline to worry about. Baxter State Park, home of Katahdin, usually closes toward the end of October.
By the way, I passed the 1,000 mile mark a while ago! Now I’m at 1,052.9! The halfway point is 1083.55 (Though it varies over the years as the trail is relocated/rerouted). Not to much further!
Gonna read some now…
Day 66
Wednesday, 8/23/00
Darlington Shelter to Tagg Run Shelter
26.5 miles
Don’t know when I got up. I suppose I could stop saying that…
It was pretty cold last night. Had to piss like 4 times too! Sucked having to get out of my sleeping bag. Left about 7:30 I think. Had hamburger buns with frosting for breakfast.
Descended into the Cumberland Valley. It was flat for about 14 miles till Boiling Springs. Lots of pasture walking, which I love.
In Boiling Springs, there was a regional ATC office. Nice place! Scored some Kudo’s and a giant Hershey Dark bar from the hiker box. At places like this and P.O.’s along the trail, there are often designated “hiker boxes” where hikers leave things they don’t want for other hikers. Occasionally, regular folks leave stuff for hikers too. People are nice. Also grabbed the Nalgene 3L canteen I’d given to Beat Feet. I’ll send it home at Harper’s Ferry.
Hit some easy hills out of town. Nothing hard… went fast…
Rained a little. Met a cool section-hiker chick. Cold Foot and Can-do are here too. Talked with the section hiker (Beth) for a long time. I’m writing by candle light…
I’m 4.15 miles from the halfway point! Yee-hah!!! Only 1,087.7 mles until Springer Mountain!
Only doing 24 miles the next couple days so I can stay with these folks in Maryland (I can’t remember who I was going to be staying with, but I think it was someone my folks knew.)
Gute Nacht!
Day 67
Thursday, 8/27/00
Tagg Run Shelter to Quarry Gap Shelter
24.5 miles
Rained some last night… so it was a little chilly. Not as much as the previous night though…
Finished up my frosting for breakfast! Yummy. (I’ve always had a sweet tooth…) Talked some more with Beth, the section hiker. Hiked a decent pace all morning.
***PASSED THE HALFWAY POINT!***
I can’t believe it! Now I have fewer miles to go than I’ve gone! But, it’s still over 1,000 miles.
I was ready to do the “Half-gallon challenge” (where you eat a ½ gallon of ice cream to mark the half way point) but the store was closed! Oh well, I probably would have puked it up anyway… Nah, I bet I could have done it no problem! I might even be able to do it now!
A few easy climbs today. I think I got up near 2,000 feet today. Wow… I’m headed into Maryland tomorrow. The next night I’ll try to stay at those people’s house (the ones who are interested in buying our house in Boothbay). Ah, so that’s who they were. After that, it’s Harper’s Ferry!
Can’t wait to get crackin’ on those 500 miles of Virginia… My shoes are getting pretty ratty…
Day 68
Friday, 8/25/00
Quarry Gap Shelter to Devil’s Racecourse Shelter
25.5 miles
Wow. I gotta get my sleeping bag back! It’s been cold at night! I woke up several times shivering… Got up as soon as it was light enough to see so I could warm up some. Ate those home made energy bars for breakfast. Tasty!
I forgot to mention, I saw a box turtle a few days back! I’ve always loved turtles…
Fall is on the way! Chilly nights, crickets, cicadas, frogs… the deer have their antlers back, and some of the trees are starting to change color. Oh well, it is late August. Seems kind of early, considering the leaves don’t really start to change here in Vermont until the end of September.
Kind of up and down terrain today, but nothing hard. Maybe I’m just so tough…
Crossed the Mason-Dixon line! (Same as the PA-MD border). I’m done with Pennsylvania! Then, 40 miles of Maryland, 4 of West Virginia, 500+ of Virginia, 300+ of Tennessee/North Carolina (the trail straddles the TN/NC border and crosses it often) and 100+ of Georgia! I don’t think my shoes will make it…
Got to this trashy shelter pretty early. Lots of bugs and some big spiders. It’s close to a road and it’s Friday night, so I’ll probably have some company (the bad kind). Tomorrow I’m headed to those people’s house. I haven’t had a chance to call. Hope they don’t mind me droppin’ in. I was going to go all the way to Harper’s Ferry: 36+ miles (known as the “Maryland Challenge”). Now, I have a valid excuse not to do it, sorta. I didn’t want to do it that bad anyway…
I hope I don’t beat the mail to Harper’s Ferry…
Running out of paper. Good thing I bought a new notebook back in Duncannon! It’s heavy though, so I’m ready to start using it.
Day 69
Saturday, 8/29/00
Devil’s Racecourse Shelter to US-40 Alt. (Boonesboro, MD)
17.9 miles
Easy day… COLD last night but no drunken locals!...
Stayed with the Erkman’s who are interested in buying our house in Boothbay. They hooked me up big time! Pizza for dinner, eggs and toast for breakfast, a bed to sleep in, etc.
Nice folks.
They didn’t end up buying our house though.
Day 70
Sunday 8/27/00
US-40 Alt. to Harper’s Ferry, WV
17.9 miles
Actually slept last night! A real breakfast too! They even drove me back to the trailhead…
Easy again. Especially last 3 miles into Harper’s Ferry along an old Canal towpath. Verry pretty! Crossed the Potomac River. Found a hotel to stay in… went and hung out at the local outfitter, stranded in the rain…
Hiked to a 711. Ate a box of Oreo’s and a half gallon of milk for dinner. I need the calories. Holy crap! Yeah, I guess so!
At the outfitter, I bought a new shirt and a new pair of socks. I’m getting some new shoes tomorrow too. Looking forward to visiting the ATC headquarters too.
Called home… everything sounds OK, but no tarp yet. Oh well… After sending back my tiny tent, I’d been dependent on the shelters, and I was eager to camp out again. Tarps were a pretty wild idea back in 2000, so they were hard to find.
Get to start Virginia tomorrow!!! Bring it on! The year I did this, there were 544 miles of trail in Virginia. Many people get the “Virginia Blues” because they’re in the same state for so long. I was eager to get a move on.
Day 71
Monday 8/28/00
Harper’s Ferry, WV
0 miles
Decided I’d chill out in town all day. Not that there’s a whole lot to do, but I needed to take care of some things…
Bought a new pair of shoes, some Hi-Tec trail running shoes. They are pretty sharp lookin’ and have a nice tread. Bought a Pearl Izumi sleeveless shirt so I can show off my scrawny arms…
Picked up my mail-drop. Lots of good food!
Went to the ATC Headquarters. Got my picture taken. I’m the 13th south-bounder to make it this far! Supposedly over 200 started at Katahdin! But, over 4,000 started at Springer (in Georgia) and 763 had made it as far as Harper’s Ferry (that’s a pretty high drop-out rate, but historically, only 10% make it all the way to Maine. I don’t know what the stats for south-bounders are, but there’s usually about a tenth the number of them that even start, even less this year.)
Went back to hotel for a while… went back downtown. Cold Foot and Can-do had just come in. Hiked to the ATC again. Met “Vidalia”. Went to the library with him but it was closed! Went to 711, he bought some champagne and beer. Walked back to my hotel room and celebrated the halfway point. Went downtown again. Back to outfitter and ice cream place where some north-bounder chick was working. She hooked me up big time! Bought a Trangia alcohol stove at the outfitter (this was my first alcohol stove. I still have it and and it still works like a charm, just not when it’s cold out).
Went back to hotel and tried the stove to cook dinner. It works great! But, I’m really sick of instant mashed potatoes.
Seriously considered taking the train into DC but changed my mind…
Hanging around the hotel, called home. Packed up stuff…
Also bought a kazoo and wrote “Stradivarius” on it… I guess I was missing having a musical instrument. A Stradivarius kazoo… nice…
1 comment:
By the way, good news! I broke down and ordered a slide scanner, so there will soon be some long lost pictures to add to the mix! Can't wait to see them myself!
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