Saturday, 7 June
Destination: Harpers Ferry – Quality Inn (1026.2)
Start Location: Ed Garvey Shelter (1032.9)
Today’s Miles: 6.7
Trip Miles: 41.0
Since we are in a hotel tonight with WiFi I have had the opportunity to fix the photo links for each day. You have to look at the bottom of each day to see the pics. Bob’s photos of this half of the trip are below mine in this post.
My famous last words to Bob yesterday at 6:30 were, “I think we will be the only hikers here tonight.” Shortly after, two young guys showed up and dropped off their packs to go back and help the rest of their crew. A hiker from Bavaria arrived and decided to share the shelter with Bob and I. The young guys were back with three or four others. They headed to the far tent sites. An exMarine and a young lady came in, He decided to sleep upstairs in the shelter, she decided to tent in back of the shelter. An older couple who were hammocking brought their packs into the shelter since they were worried about rain on their packs. Another three hikers came in and added to the upstairs in the two story shelter. Along with the MREs left behind, the guys we saw earlier at the state park left more food and trash upstairs. When we woke, there were an additional five tents added to the area, they arrived after dark. I was naive to think it would be a quiet night on the weekend. The shelter is only about three miles from the road.
It was another warm night but comfortable and quiet in the shelter. No mice. With all the late arrivals, Bob and I were questioning our plan to stay in the shelter instead of setting up our tents. The decision turned out to be correct when it started to rain around four. It is no fun to have to pack a wet tent. Bob checked his weather app and we were hoping for a break about 7:30. No such luck and we left with a light rain. We put on and took off rain jackets and rain skirts. When it is warm and raining, you can either get wet from the rain or from sweating inside your rain jacket.
Today’s hike started with a long, steep downhill section, the offset for yesterday’s climb. Bob and I were careful to not slip on the wet rocks and mud. After about three miles the AT follows the C&O Canal Towpath so the next three miles were flat. The trail crosses the Potomac River on an old railroad bridge. That completed Maryland and we were in West Virginia.
First and most important stop was at the outfitter for new shoes. I picked up a pair of Altra Olympus 6 trail runners. These are zero drop, designed with no difference in height between the heel and forefoot of the shoe, creating a flat sole. They have more padding than my previous trail shoes and feel really comfortable. Looking forward to not having to worry about my shoes for the rest of the trip.
Almost as important as the shoes was the hamburger for lunch at Almost Heaven and the ice cream (Cappuccino Crunch and Moose Tracks) next door. Hiking is worth it to be able to eat like this and not feel guilty. We had about another mile on the trail to arrive at the Quality Inn for tonight. Hot showers! The hotel washing machine is broken so we washed some clothes in the sink and used the dryer. Clean clothes for the second leg of this trip.
Bob and I headed to Alstadts Ale House for dinner and back to the room for an early night. We have a shuttle scheduled for tomorrow morning to take us to Front Royal and we will hike back to Harpers Ferry.