Day 88-Almost Heaven, West Virginia

June 14-17.5 miles-Raven Rocks to Harpers Ferry Bridge-AT mile 1026.4

This morning we were up and at it early because it was a town day! Not only was it a Town Day, it was also a New State Day! Finally, we were leaving Virginia for good!

We had to finish PUD 12, and do the PU of 13 to finish off the Rollercoaster. 

Funny thing though, going South, you start by going down. What rollercoaster does that? Okay, Dusty says there’s such a thing...

Once we finished the rollercoaster, the terrain evened out substantially, which allowed for much faster hiking. I timed my third hour, and found I hiked it at 2.6 mph!

I passed Sure Foot while he was dealing with his leaky water bladder, and caught up to Dusty after she had checked out a view. We hiked together for most of the day. 

We were even all together when we reached the state line!

Way to go Flat Will and LB!

Woo Hoo! Virginia is done!

It was 17.5 miles to Harpers Ferry. Even with stopping for lunch, we made it by 2:30 (I left at 6:40). 

Coming into Harpers Ferry, we crossed the Shenandoah River (life is old there, older than the trees, younger than the mountains, growing like a breeze).



Kayakers on the Shenandoah. 

Because we are on the AT, it wasn’t an easy hike into town. It was up and down, then more up and more down. We went by Jefferson Rock. 




Then by the old Episcopal Church and the Catholic Church. 








This brought us into the lower part (historical part) of Harpers Ferry. It’s very quaint. 


We had to hike over to the railroad bridge to complete the AT on this side of the Potomac River. Back in December (I think), a train derailed at the end of the bridge, and wiped out the AT part of the bridge. It hasn’t been fixed yet, so we will shuttle around. 



Trains are able to go on the bridge, so it’s not safe to walk across. 

You can see where the railing is gone. 

After completing our footsteps to the bridge, we stopped in at the General Store and Outfitters. Sure Foot and Dusty replaced some bits of gear. I just got a couple of MH meals. 

When we were at the state line, I called the Towns Inn Hostel. Karen Townsend is the innkeeper. She offered us a private room for the same price as the hostel as it was booked by a group. Then, when we got here, she said she had moved the group (they were okay with it), and given us the hostel. The building is 200 years old. It’s very cool!

My bed

Sitting room

Sure Foot’s

Ceiling in Dusty’s room. 

Our front door

The hostel (balcony one). 

We had thought of not taking a zero here, but changed our minds. Most everything is open here, so we’ll actually get to do some exploring and checking out the town tomorrow!












Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Real Day 95-Just Taking My Food for a Walk

Image
June 21-15ish miles-Pine Grove Furnace to campsite-AT mile 1120 Last night Dusty and I made a “card” for Sure Foot for Father’s Day (except we said Happy Farter’s Day because...well...you can probably guess). I had breakfast at the hostel. The pancakes I had were...solid...kind of hard like a frisbee. But, I also had some yogurt and orange juice. I mean...it was only $5.00, so I can’t complain too much. Strangely, someone had stolen the eggs and bacon (uncooked), and a plate. It was weird... The first part of the day was pretty easy. Getting out of Pine Grove State Park was a flat bike path. We went by Fuller Lake.  Fuller Lake in the fog...eerie.  I met two women who were just out for a short hike. I walked with them until the AT turned off the path.  Barb and Becky. Nice gals! The AT climbed for awhile, but it wasn’t a steep climb. Braids and I caught up to Dusty and Sure Foot at a creek. We were just about a mile from the Green Mtn grocery store. Dusty asked if we were...
Read more

Day 35-A Spot of Beauty, and Adding Pee Bottle

Image
April 22-12.9 miles-Curley Maple Gap Shelter to Cherry Gap Shelter-AT mile 361.4 Today was one of our longer days with two major climbs. I got going at 7:50, and Sure Foot was just a few behind me. Before I left, I heard Tic Tac telling Papa Smurf and Pee Bottle that they should hike together, and she would just go slow what with her shin splint not doing well.  Sure Foot caught up to me before too long, and we continued on. Just after Indian Grave Gap (didn’t see any grave), we stopped for a break. We were 4.6 miles in, and it was about 10:30. While we were eating our snacks, Pee Bottle came walking up the trail. He said he’d been trying to catch us, and that Tic Tac and Papa Smurf were going to get a ride to Roan Mtn (the town), and would wait for Pee Bottle there. It would give Tic Tac some rest, so hopefully she can continue. Pee Bottle asked if he could hike with us. Of course, it’s no problem. He’s a nice guy, and fits in with Sure Foot and I just fine.  And Pee Bottle m...
Read more

129-Back to Mosquito Land...uh...I Mean the Trail

Image
July 25-11.7 miles-Great Barrington to Wilcox South Shelters-AT mile 1535.5 We actually planned to go to the Wilcox North Shelter, but decided we didn’t want to carry extra water for 1.8 miles up and over Mt. Wilcox. But, more on that in a moment.  Roger and Sandy took us back to the trail at 7:30 this morning. We took photos, and said our “see you laters”, then started walking.  Photo courtesy of Sure Foot.  The first bit seemed to just wind around corn fields and along the river.  Oh yeah, it was foggy.  We went out to a road, and across a bridge, just to get to the other side of the river, then seemingly made a u-turn, and went back along the river. All of that was flat.  We finally got back to trail-looking trail, and started the first of a few climbs.  Sure Foot asked if it was Fall already.  This was a crevasse that they were nice enough to build a bridge over.  We reached the first viewpoint of the day, and took a break.  When we ...
Read more