Mountains Under Foot

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 62: July 10, 2009
Travel:
From: Fayetteville, PA @ US 30
To: James Fry Shelter, PA
Beginning: 10:30am
Ending: 9:45pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 27.1
b) other – 20-30 miles by car all over PA, .2 to the shelter.
c) AT Mile Marker – 1099.4 cumulative
Weather:
AM: Overcast and looked pretty bad.
PM: Sun came out and brought the blue skies and white fluffy clouds.
People: Christy our chauffeur, Squatter, Sunshine, Grizzilla, Aquafresh, and many more at the shelter but were asleep.
Animals: An orange tabby house cat.
Money: $5 for breakfast, $1086 cumulative.
Notes of the day:
AM: We were delighted to have a 6:30am wake up call from the park ranger. He rolled up to our picnic tables and asked if we were AT hikers and we said we were. He then informed us (but we already knew) that this was a campground you must pay for, but since we came in so late last night he politely asked us to leave before the people who reserved the shelter for the day arrived. We quickly packed our stuff up and headed out to US 30 to try and hitch a ride to the grocery store. We didn’t really have a breakfast or lunch for that day and a half. I ate leftover Stromboli, but Spoon didn’t have much to eat so we needed the “quick” resupply. Trying to get the hitch took forever so we started walking but Spoon kept his thumb out and someone actually stopped shortly afterwards. Her name was Christy and with the power of her GPS navigation system we managed to end up in Waynesboro, some 10-12 miles down the road when the place we were looking for was .7 from the park. She wasn’t in any hurry and needed a few things from the grocery as well. Then we all decided to hit up some breakfast so that was punched into the GPS and we magically arrived at a McDonalds. She was pretty much procrastinating on arriving at her destination, which she really didn’t want to be in the first place. Spoon payed for her breakfast because of all the driving around she was doing for us which was a nice gesture. Afterwards, she took us all the way back to the trailhead where we took some pictures of us mimicking the hiker crossing sign then went on our way. Squatter wanted to stick around the park to take advantage of the pool so we said goodbye and kicked it into high gear. This was not exactly the kind of start for pushing out big miles. To make things worse the first shelter we hit (Quarry Gap Shelter) was beautiful and unlike anything we’ve seen. We had to stop for a few minutes just to absorb it’s greatness. Words are useless here, just go check out the pictures. The trail was surprisingly wide and well taken care of which made it easy on our feet. Lunch was had at Birch Run Shelter.

PM: During lunch I looked through the book to see where the trains into New York were stationed. Looks like we could be in NYC in two weeks or less. We finished up lunch and moved out. Just outside Pine Grove Furnace State Park someone had erected a temporary sign post identifying the halfway mark of the trail against a rock wall ruin background. We captured a short video to commemorate the milestone and then had to move on because it was getting late. Once at the park the trail went straight through passing family BBQs, fishing and swimming holes, and concessions. Spoon couldn’t resist and coaxed some chips and Italian ice out of the girl working there as she was closing the stand. So despite our waning daylight we had enough time to indulge in treats. With 7 miles left and the time already 7:20pm I knew it was going to be a long night. It was well after dark when we heard a voice calling from the woods which we thought was someone from the shelter, but it turned out to be Sunshine (who was at Harpers Ferry Hostel) also looking for the shelter. Thankfully it was only a half mile or so to the side trail. Almost everyone was in their sleeping bags snoozing when we pulled in so we did our best to cook dinner and pass out quietly.

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 61: July 9, 2009
Travel:
From: Ensign Cowall Shelter, MD
To: Fayetteville, PA. Caledonia State Park
Beginning: 8:30am
Ending: 8:30pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 27.7
b) other – .6 round trip to Taormina’s Pizza
c) AT Mile Marker – 1072.3 cumulative
Weather:
AM & PM: Perfect. Blue sky and white puffy clouds. Hot.
People: Capt’n, Neil the ridgerunner, Pilgrim of Saint James (He hiked the Camino de Santiago), Kage, Squatter.
Animals: Nothing new. More deer.
Money: $3 for Powerade, $16 for a Stromboli bigger than I’ve ever seen and black raspberry ice cream, $1081 cumulative.
Notes of the day:
AM: Woke up later than usual to the sound of Pilgrim and another guy rustling their gear all over the picnic table. Spoon found it to be a rude awakening, but I didn’t care as it was well past the time a hiker should be sleeping. Once we were up Pilgrim sung an Irish song to send the other guy off on the rest of his trek. He was headed southbound to Harpers Ferry and I didn’t really catch his name. But the lungs on Pilgrim were impressive and he is about as Irish as they come. He grew up in the last Irish neighborhood in New York. We headed off to High Rock which is where the southbounder saw a group hang gliding off the rock. It is apparently a popular take-off point and someone even made it from High Rock to New Jersey over the span of a 7 hour glide. When we got there, no hang gliders were to be found, but this one guy who was resting on the rocks engaged us in conversation. He asked us the standard questions like “Where are you from?” and when we told him, he proceeded to bad mouth our city and then other areas of the state. I had to wonder: At what point is it ever in good taste to do that? Thankfully, a guy named Squatter showed up and we found a good excuse to talk to someone else and leave. Squatter tagged along with us and ended up staying with us the whole day. He too is a recent college graduate in computer science so we had some nerdy things in common to talk about. Around lunchtime we unexpectedly came upon the Pen Mar County Park, so we stopped to eat.

PM: It was a delightful park that happened to have some service happening in a covered picnic area near us with a guy playing the piano. They were your standard patriotic songs but music during lunch nonetheless. For an added bonus the park had drink machines with Powerade; Spoon and I each had two. Toward the end of lunch I headed off to the restroom and caught myself in a footrace with a guy more than three times my age. I am ashamed to say his shuffling feet were faster than mine and unable to wait for him to finish with his business I had to resort to using the women’s restroom. Curse my battered feet! When I got back to the table the AT hikers had managed to Yogi some of the catered food from the service and were feasting like wild dogs on fried chicken. I joined in and to my surprise it was some of the moistest chicken I’ve ever had. After we had wiped the grease from our faces Spoon, Squatter, and I left for the Mason-Dixon line and the start of Pennsylvania. The rest of the afternoon was more easy trail with the occasional rock hop. One thing about PA that I noticed was the introduction of two shelters at one site. They are smaller than most of the shelters we have seen in the past but there are two separate buildings. That didn’t really matter too much as we were headed to US 30 and the pizzeria .3 miles down the road for dinner and then to the state park to camp. At Taormina’s the food was great, we just hardly saw our waitress, so we ended up staying there longer than we should have and well after closing. We walked back down the road in the dark and got back on the AT to head into the park. After fumbling around in the park which was pretty much shut down and locked down (even the restrooms) we found a covered picnic table area to sleep under next to the AT. Another late night, but this time my stomach was bulging with food.

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 60: July 8, 2009
Travel:
From: Ed Garvey Shelter, MD
To: Ensign Cowall Shelter, MD
Beginning: 8:40am
Ending: 6:40pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 24.8
b) other – .2 to Washington Monument
c) AT Mile Marker – 1044.6 cumulative
Weather:
AM & PM: Perfect all day.
People: Capt’n, Pilgrim, Neil the ridgerunner, Kage, some sectioning south bounder.
Animals: Sadly, nothing much other than a few buzzards at the Washington monument.
Money: $0, $1062 cumulative.
Notes of the day:
Am: Woke up and Pilgrim had already left probably hours ago because it was so late. We pulled ourselves together and eventually made it out of the shelter, which was more like a palace than anything. This shelter had stairs with a door at the top to the loft which I had never seen before. If that wasn’t enough the wooden floors were covered in a waterproof sealant of some kind. Really fancy stuff. We headed out of the shelter and Capt’n, who was the only one left, joined us on the trail. It was nice hiking with a third person again and he could keep pace just fine. The entire morning was a blur as we just pushed forward and didn’t stop until Lamb’s Knoll I think where Capt’n had a quick snack of spicy pineapple which is dried pineapple with cayenne pepper. After tasting it I couldn’t figure out whether or not I liked it. We decided the Washington Monument would be a good place to stop for lunch. So on we went.

PM: No surprise that the monument was a touristy place on the trail. Outfitted with a parking lot, water fountains, and informative signs, we felt out of place in the flow of normal people. When we got to the monument Spoon and I grabbed our food bags and headed to the top of what can best be described as a huge Rook from the game of chess. At the top we marveled at the view while eating our tuna. Capt’n came up the steps to the top, paused, and said “Oh, You guys brought your food bags up here?” He walked all the way back down and returned with his lunch. We had quite a long lunch before returning to the trail. The rest of the afternoon was more of the same from the morning with one stop for water at Pogo Memorial Campsite. By the time we got to Ensign Cowall Shelter I was ready to be done with the day and did not want to go the extra 5 miles to the next shelter so we stopped “short”. It ended up being a smart move as we got some inside info about what was upcoming on the trail from the ridgerunner staying there. Pilgrim came into camp really late which surprised us because we hadn’t seen him all day, but he had gone down a side trail to an outlook that we passed. We ended up inadvertently staying up fairly late picking his brain about the Camino de Santiago which is a trail in northern Spain we are interested in hiking. Late night, but worth it.

Spoon writes:
Harpers Ferry Hostel – Waking up early, we wandered our way into the common room. Our train wasn’t supposed to leave until 1130am, so we had some time to kill. The hostel served a large pancake breakfast. We fixed ourselves something to eat and people were shocked to see how much we could pack in. One man at the hostel could not stop asking questions. He seemed very interested in our whole trek and what we were planning next. It was nice to have the crowd around us again. We showed them the website and told stories for the next few hours. Slowly we gathered our things from the room and headed out. Leonard drove us again to the ATC headquarters where we signed in and looked around. We got our pictures taken together at the sign outside for their records and got a few of our own. We called Amtrak, the bus was running 20 minutes late. We tried to grab a bite to eat and I drank a beer or two overlooking the station. We took or meals to go and got to the station just in time for the train to come in. We boarded the train and settled our bill with Amtrak. The ride was comfortable and quick. We’ll definitely take the train again. We were amused by the graffiti on the walls lining the track on our way in to DC. It was July 4th, and there was a charge of energy around us. The train made one stop at Rockford before entering the Capital City which is where we got off. We took some pictures and made our way to the Metro. We didn’t quite know where to go, but the information desk was very helpful. They seemed interested in our trek and I showed them that after 1000 miles, my boot soles were falling apart. The Red train took us to the convention center, where we would then walk to find our hostel. We left our packs at the ATC so all we had were the clothes on our backs, me in a particularly undersized shirt from the hostel. Up the street, we were wary of the neighborhood, but seeing it from their angle; they were probably just as wary of us. We checked into the hostel. A large screen television was in the common room playing some new movie not yet out. Computers lined the walls and we were shocked at the nice accommodations. We grabbed the last two beds in the place. Jay went over the house rules and he was a very nice guy. We had little time to relax though.

I encouraged a girl staying at the hostel to come with us for the party, but she stayed in due to a sinus infection. We walked down toward the National Mall and the place was on fire with people selling ice cream, throwing Frisbees, and selling Michael Jackson t-shirts. We took in the sights and eventually stood in line to get to the steps of the Capital Building. It took less time that I thought at first, but the large steps were completely full. We squeezed in on some lower steps and waited for the concert to begin. Jimmy Smits hosted and a man came on to tell us the US Army Salute Battery would begin with cannon fire and we would hear ‘a loud, loud boom’. Aretha Franklin sang the national anthem then Barry Manilow came on next, Hazard and I sat while everyone danced. We aren’t the biggest Manilow fans. After an address from the President via a Sony JumboTron, we did however stand up for the Sesame Street Muppets. I took great joy in singing ‘How to get to Sesame Street’, ‘C is for Cookie’ and ‘Elmo’s World’. The cast of Jersey Boys did well singing some classic songs and Michael Feinstein and acclaimed classical pianist Andrew von Oeyen played one of my favorite pieces ‘Rhapsody in Blue’. Aretha came back on and the place was in an uproar as she sang ‘Think’ and ‘Respect’. Barry Manilow sang some patriotic songs and then the real show began. The fireworks put all others to shame. The U.S. Army Ceremonial Band, the U.S. Army “Old Guard” Fife and Drum Corps played national favorites as the balls of fire danced in the background behind the Washington Monument. The grand finale lit up the sky and the mall erupted in applause.

Getting back to the hostel sounded like a war zone. Fire works were going off on every street corner and people were shooting bottle rockets and roman candles up into the air. The walk was very long, but there was so much energy, I would do it happily again, even as tired as we were. Before we got back, we went to the grocery store. The Oreos and milk became a tradition because of their simplicity. I also grabbed a very large brownie to eat in the morning and some beer for that night. We walked into the hostel and everyone wondered how I found a grocery still open. I told them about it and the British students ran out. I drank some beer and passed around a few as I wouldn’t be able to drink them all. I got to know a few of the people there until the movie came on. Someone popped in ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and we enjoyed our cookies and milk. Near the end of the movie, others asked if we had any more cookies. “They’re long gone man”. People were shocked that we ate them all in one night. Jay jokingly told us to eat a better diet on his way to bed. The girl I tried to have come with us came in, apparently having gone out for a little bit, she shared her sparklers with us. Soon we went upstairs and to bed with ‘bombs bursting in air’ outside.

I woke up just as Hazard came in the room to get me up. Our bus ride out was early. I grabbed the brownie and we walked towards the Greyhound station. It was a long walk and we pushed the time limit. Asking directions from a homeless man, he led us straight to it, but wanted what was on our plate. “Are you kidding? Look at us, we have no money. We’re as bad off as you.” It worked because we smelled and looked pretty homeless. At the bus station every kiosk was broken and we waited in the long line while one attendant lazily helped everyone. Once it was our turn, she informed us the bus had left early. She gave us a ticket for a bus leaving much later and we grumbled. At least it gave us time to tour some of the city. We chose to look at the Smithsonian Museum of American History.

We walked in and began exploring the exhibits. Some of the highlights were Lincoln’s Hat, Kermit the Frog, Julia Child’s kitchen, among other artifacts and pop culture things. If we had more time I would have read every word in there. One featured exhibit was the original star spangled banner. The large 15 star 15 stripe flag flew over Fort Sumter during the war of 1812 and inspired the national anthem. It was torn and tattered mostly from people cutting it apart as souvenirs. On our way out, we were shocked to see the preparations for the exhibit ‘Earl Schaffer and the Appalachian Trail’. We asked about it and tried to get in touch with the curators. It was Sunday though and we learned that the exhibit would open next weekend. Everyone at the help desk was very friendly and interested in our trek. They left a comment on our blog and we left to go catch the bus. We took the Metro rail to the nearest stop and ran to the station. We didn’t want to miss the train again. Huffing and puffing, we were met with a long line waiting for the bus, only to learn that it was leaving 40 minutes late. I will never take Greyhound again…

I slept on the bus and time passed quickly. I woke up about an hour before Franklin, MD, our stop. I read the Smithsonian pamphlet, which was quite large. We pulled in and just as we hopped out, my parents were right there. It was a very warm sight to see and I hadn’t realized how much I missed them. They then took us to lunch in town. Beers were had as we caught up. We told them all of our stories and they ate the ‘best crab cakes they’d ever had’.

We began the drive back to Harpers Ferry, a short 25 miles away. They rented out a house for us to stay in and it was quaint and warm and beautiful. They then unloaded some serious Trail Magic: Six pounds of Snickers and a full chocolate drop pie and Ooey Gooey butter cake, to name the highlights. Also three bottles of wine and a six pack of beer. They came prepared. We settled in, telling more stories about everyone we’ve met and the adventure we’ve been having. We ate fresh fruit and sweets for dinner as we were pretty full from lunch. Soon we went for bed and Hazard and I headed up to the loft. Once our heads hit the pillow, we were gone.

The next morning, I was woken up by a business call for my Dad. It was alright though as we usually wake up about that time. We ate more grapes and I picked some of the raspberries from the side of the house. We got things moving for the day and packed up the car. We went to breakfast in Charles Town at a little diner. The food was good but we had more chores to do. First we needed to get our packs from the ATC as they had our dirty clothes in them. Once there we moved to the sadly under prepared outfitter in Harpers Ferry. I needed new socks and I only like the Smart Wool Heavy cushion, they didn’t have those. I did pick up a new fuel canister and a new cartridge for my water filter.

From there we went to the very difficult to find laundry at the KOA campground. We repackaged food from the Wal-Mart resupply and got the carbon out of the new filter. It ran like a dream and soon the laundry was done. My folks took us to the library to work on the blog for the rest of the day and we planned to hike out another 7 miles after that. We said our goodbyes and got to work. For the next few hours, we were busy typing. Once the library closed, Hazard proposed we stay in town to try to get all of the work done. Reluctantly I agreed.

As we walked toward the highway to get a hitch into town, a man stopped his car. “Are you thru-hikers? I’m a trail angel, Bluemoon. If you need a place to stay, I’ll put you up for the night. I have only one request. I have a box of hamburgers that I need eaten.” This was just what we needed and it made the stop seem worth it. He put our stuff in the car and took us around town to do errands. We picked up Crow at the train station who is a deaf/mute hiker, and a very nice guy. Another hiker was dropped off at the hostel and just as they were coming in, we saw Cattywampus and Iceman again! They looked beat and we told them to hop in. They had a bad day coming into Harpers and this was a treat to turn it around. We arrived at Bluemoon’s apartment and dinner was cooking. I caught up on the blog and with Catty and Iceman. After dinner we put on ‘Alice’s Restaurant’ on his Tele. Hazard wisely got ice cream and milk from the Wal-Mart on a stop on the way in. We ate it and some of the deserts my parents sent us. After the movie, I took a shower and felt like a new man.

Soon we all went to bed on the floor in the living room, happy to be away from the bugs and radical weather. We woke up the next morning and Bluemoon cooked a huge breakfast. Crow was a very nice guy and I conversed with him through a notepad a good part of the morning. After breakfast, we packed up again and headed to the ATC and post office. Hazard sent his phone back home because it corroded to the point where it would not recharge. I went to the ATC and continued writing blog entries from where I left off at Bluemoon’s. I told Crow to meet us for lunch at the pizza place at 1pm and we hung out. Minnesota Smith talked Hazard’s ear off and I felt bad for him. This guy was the stereotype of the person you don’t want to meet on the trail; thinks he knows everything and give you unsolicited advice, which is a big no-no out here.

We headed to the pizza place and saw Buttchins and a few others. We ate and planned our trek out. We decided to keep it simple and keep the same schedule, but only a day behind. 7 miles to go today, and I finished up my posts at the ATC before we headed back out on the trail….

-Spoon

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 59: July 7, 2009
Travel:
From: Harpers Ferry, WVA
To: Ed Garvey Shelter, MD
Beginning: 6:30am
Ending: 9:00pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 7
b) other
c) AT Mile Marker – 1019.8 cumulative
Weather:
AM: Beautiful day, sunny and blue sky.
PM: Dark clouds rolled in and released all of 10 drops and then blew away in place of more perfect weather.
People: Pilgrim, Patch, Capt’n, and everyone staying at Paul’s (Blue Moon).
Animals: Nope
Money: $7 for lunch, $5 to send a package, $15 for dinner. $1062 cumulative.
Notes of the day:
AM: Woke up from sleeping on the floor to work on journal stuff. Spoon jumped on the computer as well. All the while Paul was fixing an insane breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, muffins, homemade cranberry-nut bread, and fruit. Talk about some serious good eats. Shortly after, we packed up our things and headed back to the ATC. Spoon continued to write, I continued to write, and it was generally a lazy day; our first since being in Harpers Ferry.

PM: People came in and out of the hiker area all afternoon (Pilgrim, Minnesota Smith, Big Camera, Iceman, Cattywampus). Around 1pm we met Crow down at the pizza place for lunch. Buttchinz, Big Camera, and another hiker came in as well and we chatted and had a good time while eating. Afterwards we went back to the ATC where Spoon finally finished his novel length entries around 4pm. I had a few more days done but there was no WiFi around so I had to walk a mile down the road to the library just to send two emails. By the time I got back, the ATC was closed and Spoon was waiting outside with our packs. He suggested we get a bite to eat before heading off on the trail so we got some burgers at the Town’s Inn. While we were sitting there Patch came up and we were surprised to see him! He had taken five days off in Pearisburg and now had to get off the trail for a funeral. Hope we see him again soon up the trail. After dinner we walked all the way out of town to where we left off on Friday, only to hike back into town via the AT past Jefferson Rock. We followed the Potomac down until it turned up toward the mountain ridge. The trail was easy, but we started so late, it was dark by the time we got to the first shelter. Pie and cake for dessert, brushed teeth, then bed.

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 58: July 6, 2009
Travel:
From: Harpers Ferry, VA
To: ‘Zero’ Day!
Weather:
AM: Morning started out overcast but quickly gave way to sun.
PM: Beautiful day to be in Harpers Ferry.
People: Mr. and Mrs. Driver, Paul Rosa aka Blue Moon, Crow, Cattywampus and Iceman.
Animals: Not in town
Money: $2 for laundry. $1035 cumulative.
Notes of the day:
AM: It really sucks having my body trained to wake up at 7am everyday because I wanted to sleep in that bed all morning. I dragged myself downstairs and I noticed my feet were still tender on hardwood floors first thing in the morning. We packed up the car and headed out to Charles Town for breakfast, which is just up 340 6 miles, at the Mountain View Diner. I ordered a big omelette with hash browns and rye toast. Delicious. Spoon and I planned out our next couple of days while we waited for our food and explained more things about trail life with his parents. Next up was the grocery store to resupply. We collected two days worth of food, keeping in mind all the goodies we had from Spoon’s parents. Then we tried to find some outfitter called Blue Ridge Outfitters it was a wild goose chase for awhile until we found out they had been closed for a couple years. Oops…

PM: So we headed back to the outfitter in Harpers who really weren’t well stocked this late in the season. They didn’t have the socks Spoon needed and we bought the last water filter replacement cartridge they had and then a can of fuel. We then found out were the coin laundry was, it was back up High street across 340. Nothing about doing laundry was easy because the change machines were broken and we had to walk down the road to get quarters from the office and walk back up to the laundromat. While the clothes were spinning we repackaged food at the picnic table then changed into our hiking clothes once they were done. Last thing we needed was to get dropped off at the library to work on blog stuff. Once there we said our goodbyes to the Drivers and jumped on the computers. The first thing I noticed was the insane level of restrictions on the computer. I could create a new folder but not rename it or add any files to it. This meant I was dead in the water for sending the last pictures off my camera phone before I sent it home. With 5pm coming up and neither of us done with our journals, I still needed to send pictures so I can send my phone home, and we needed to call Lowa about our boots. So I suggested we stay another night at the Harpers Ferry Hostel and finish all of our business. Spoon agreed, so we packed up our stuff and headed toward 340 to try and hitch a ride. On our way down the street we get stopped by a guy in a pickup who asked us if we are thru-hikers, and we said yes. He told us he would let us stay at his place under the condition that we helped finish off a box of hamburgers. Food, Internet, and good company, was everything we could ask for. We hopped into the truck and we headed down to the train station to see if the train was bringing any hikers in. Blue Moon found two; one old guy that wanted a ride to the hostel we were going to and the other was Crow, a deaf/mute that communicated with us via notepad. So we crammed into the truck and headed off to drop the old guy at the hostel. When we got there none other than Iceman and Cattywampus were dragging their feet up to the hostel. I quickly intercepted them and told them about the sweet digs and asked Blue Moon if he had any more room and he said yes so they got in the back and we sped off. Quick stop at the über Walmart for some supplies including milk and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. At Paul’s place he started on the salad while everyone got showers and then I manned the burgers and hot dogs. A feast was laid before us and smiles started popping up from Iceman and Cattywampus finally. They had a pretty rough day coming into Harpers Ferry and really needed the magic. The rest of the night was filled with website updating, movies (Alice’s Restaurant), and ice cream.