Nan's 2014 Appalachian Trail Journal

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June 29, 2014

By Drag’n Fly aka Nan

6/23 – Day 86 – mile 980.8 Got off from Front Royal Hostel at our usual 7:30 for the ½ mile walk back to the AT. We were showered and resupplied. Had a long downhill before we crossed Rt 522. After crossing 522 the AT skirts a large many red roofed buildings complex where the Smithsonian Institute does studies on rare and endangered animals. The whole area is enclosed by a high fence. We did not see any animals but Hob (a hiker we have been running into lately) said an ostrich followed him along the fence. Hob also said that the hay used to feed the animals in the DC Zoo is raised here.

When we stopped at the Jim & Molly Denton Shelter for lunch Freckles saw a note from Hydro, who we had not seen since Partnership, that he and Miracle where there 2 days before and that Mary Pippins (AKA Tonya) was off to DC and then home to Germany. She had hoped to reach Harpers Ferry but fell 100+ miles short.

Today was our first 20 mile day and we were glad to reach Dicks Dome, a geodesic shelter that someone had built as a hunting shelter for his family. After they no longer used it he gave the land and the shelter to the AT Conservancy who continues to maintain it for hikers. We were the only ones staying there. Someone came in late and set up a tent but they were still sleeping when we left.

6/24 – Day 87 – mile 996.1 – We are approaching the 1000 mile mark. Did 15.3 today in a pretty rough section. We are out of the monster mountains but still doing a lot of climbing. Today we started the “Roller Coaster”, a 13.5 mile stretch with closely packed ascents and descents. Most of the climbs are not much more than 500’ to 700’, but after you do enough of them you are pretty weary. We are about ½ way through so tomorrow we will have 8 more miles and 7 more climbs. We are staying at the Sam Moore Shelter with 5 other hikers. Hard Head has been hiking pretty close to us the last few days and has camped at the same shelter areas. He is a nice young man but very quiet. He was at the Front Royal Hostel the other night and was just sitting around when suddenly he said he better go take a shower before he forgets. Really? After a week how could you forget?

6/25 – Day 88 – mile 1010.3 – Hit the 1000 mark today after a 14.2 mile walk. Out of VA into WV back into VA. Virginia has more miles of AT and WV the least of any state. We are staying at the David Lesser Memorial Shelter with quite a few other hikers. Lots of tents and a full shelter since there has been thunder. Storms are predicted. This is a really nice shelter with a large deck with benches all around to sit on and a separate pavilion for cooking. The big drawback is the water is down a steep hill 1/4 mile. A nice section hiker took my water bottle down and filled it. Don’t even try to figure out why, when I am going to hike over 2000 miles, that the 1/4 mile walk for water is a problem. It is interesting to see the elevation profile of PA against what we have been hiking. Makes me wonder why we think Pole Steeple is a climb.

Freckles and I have been observing that a lot of young men hiking seem to have much lighter and smaller packs than we do, but when camping they have tents, sleeping pads, sleeping bags, cook kits, etc., similar to ours and many times the same thing. They also carry way more food than I do. Freckles is another matter, she eats 2 or 3 times more than I do, and keeps losing weight. Anyway back to the lighter packs. Well after talking to 2 young men we solved the mystery. They do not carry any clothes. They have only the shirt and shorts they are wearing and said they had not washed them or taken a shower since Atkins. That was 500 miles ago. You can just imagine the result.

6/26 – Day 89 – mile 1025.9 – A 15.6 mile day out of VA for good and into WV and out of WV and into MD. Some hikers do what is called the 4 state challenge. The 42 miles from the VA/WV line to the MD/PA line in 24 hours. Freckles and I did the 3 state challenge. There are 2 hikers at the shelter who are doing the challenge. They came in for a rest and are getting up at midnight to start hiking again.

We went into Harpers Ferry today to the AT Conference Headquarters and had our pictures taken and put in the record book with all the other thru hikers for 2014. I was #834 and Freckles was #835. They said a record number of people started the trail this year, well over 2,000, and it looks like a pretty good percentage have made it this far.

Happy reunion when we ran into Cadi and HoBo at the center. It was great to see them. HoBo was looking good after a pretty serious illness. She had an abscess on her tonsils and was off the trail for over a week. When she got back on the trail she yellow blazed (that is when you skip sections and get a ride) hiking just 5 or 6 miles a day until she got her strength back. This allowed her to stay with Cadi and they could camp together at night. We also met Hob with his wife, Chickadee, who had come down from CT to visit him. They showed us their picture in the 1983 record book, when the 2 of them had done a thru hike. Hob stands for hike or bike and he had done a lot of both. I get tired just listening to what all the 2 of them have done. Thousands of miles of bike touring on their tandem and hiking all over the world.

6/27 - Day 89 – mile 1042.5 - The weather was warm and sunny today. It looked a bit like it might storm in the afternoon but the black clouds passed over. We did 16.6 miles today over fairly gentle rolling hills. Would have been great if it had not been for the rocks. The rocks just went on and on. I don’t know why the AT in PA gets such a rap about the rocks; VA and MD trails are horrible.

Today’s hike was pretty interesting. We went through Gathland State Park. A very nice park with a large Monument to war correspondents and several other old buildings and a museum. Also water and restrooms. We then came to Fox Gap, which has a lot of Civil War importance in the days before the battle at Antietam. After that is a great little backpacker campground maintained by the MD Dept of Forestry. There are tent sites, water, hot showers and restrooms. And then we came to Washington Monument SP. Again water, restrooms, visitor center, museum and lots of history. If you were counting that was 3 opportunities today to use flush toilets and 1 shower opportunity. Wow what a great day.

We are in at Pine Knob Shelter for the night camping with a large group of Boy Scouts.

6/28 – Day 90 or maybe 91 I may have lost count because it is 13 weeks. 7 X 13 = 91

Mile 1060.5 – We did an 18 mile day today to get to Pen Mar County Park, just south of the Mason Dixon line and PA to get picked up by Rich, Freckles husband. It’s a pretty reasonable hike elevation wise except for the very rocky climb up to Raven Rocks and the absolutely horrible decent, again on rocks. The only way you know you were on the trail was by the white AT blazes, because a path cannot be seen on rocks.

We will be off the trail until Jul 1 taking a little R&R and we both have dentist appointments on Monday, June 30. We also have to get organized for the second half of our trip.

Our plan is to get back on the trail at Pen Mar on Tue, Jul 1, at about 8:30 and take 3 days to get to Pine Grove Furnace Appalachian Trail Museum. We then will skip up to Whiskey Springs Rd on July 4th and continue hiking north another 3 or 4 days when we will get off the trail here in PA. We are then going to flip and on July 14 go north and then hike the AT southbound until we get to where ever we stopped in PA on July 8/9.

We are saving the 11 miles from Whiskey Springs Rd to Pine Grove Furnace for our finish. We are hoping friends and family will join us for that last part of the hike and a picnic/gathering at the park. Stay tuned for the date. We are thinking mid Oct.

Drag’n Fly is signing out.

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