June 15 – 21
Miles Hiked: 1088.4
Miles to Katahdin: 1096.9
We’re in the middle of the “roller coaster,” a section of
trail with many steep ups and downs in a row. It’s not nearly as bad as it
sounds. I feel like it must have been named by weekenders. The terrain is
hardly noticeable to a thru-hiker.
When we arrived at camp the night of June 15, it smelled
like a large animal had died nearby. I had to investigate! I was hiking around
in the woods when Muffin Man, who had fallen behind, came up behind me on the
trail and said, “Man! It smells like shit!” Then he saw me in the woods and
tried to disguise his disgust. He thought it might be me!!! I told him I was
looking for a dead animal and he joined me in the hunt. We never found
anything, but the smell persisted and none of us got water from the nearby
stream.
On June 16, we passed the 1,000 mile mark! Woohoo! We’re
ALMOST halfway there. It feels like quite an accomplishment. We also crossed
out of Virginia and into West Virginia!
After talking to the caretaker at the
Blackburn AT Center, we made an unplanned stop at Torlone’s pizzeria. We wanted
to fill up on good water (she said there wasn’t any for several miles) and
avoid an oncoming storm. We left our packs outside and sat down to eat. I
looked outside and saw that it had started to pour. I jumped up to grab my pack
and the rest of the hikers in my group immediately followed. The other patrons
just stared in amazement. I don’t know if they thought we were bailing on the
check or what. It all happened so quickly. No hiker wants wet gear though so we
moved at lightning speed and totally forgot about our hiker hobbles. At the end
of dinner, we were surprised to hear that a local woman had taken care of our
check. Being out here really restores your faith in humanity. People can be so
nice if given the chance and shown some appreciation. Unfortunately, we weren’t
able to thank her because she had already left the restaurant. We’ll all be
able to pay her kindness forward in the future though.
I woke up on June 17 to find a deer tick embedded near my
rib cage. Man! Those are the teeny tiny kind that can carry Lyme disease. I
check myself every night, so I’m not sure where it came from. I removed it with
tweezers and have been keeping an eye on it to see if I develop the telltale
bull’s eye rash. So far so good! Lyme is one of my worst fears on the trail. It
can have lifelong consequences if not caught early, but they say a tick needs
to be embedded for a day or two before it can transmit the disease.
It was a HOT hike into Harper’s Ferry for photos at the
psychological halfway point. My shirt was soaked by the time I made it to the
ATC. I dried it on the sidewalk in front of the building for two hours before
putting it back on for my official photo. I was thru-hiker #636 to pass through
Harper’s Ferry this year. I think I was in the early 600s when I left Springer.
There are a lot of hikers this year! I’m guessing there are at least 500 behind
me!
While I was waiting to have my photo taken for the album, I
flipped through last year’s and this year’s albums looking for my friends. They
have albums dating back many years. I’d love to go back and take a closer look
someday. I didn’t have nearly enough time to look as much as I wanted to.
I left town before the rest of my group and found a
beautiful campsite at an overlook. I pitched my tent near a rock “couch”
someone had set up. As I waited for Bluebird to arrive, a goat appeared. That
goat was relentless! It really wanted some of my food and kept licking my
Ziplocs and even trying to carry some of it away. Then it tried the guilt trip
method. It stood in my line of sight and started chewing on a branch full of
dead leaves. Didn’t work. I didn’t give it any food and I didn’t let Bluebird
either. I think that goat gets plenty of handouts from other campers. I don’t
want to contribute to the problem.
June 18 was another hot one. I got to take a real shower at
a picnic area. You can’t truly appreciate a good shower until you haven’t had
one in several days. The rest of our crew caught up to us while we ate lunch
after our showers. Everyone besides me decided to hitch into town. Our plan was
to meet at Annapolis Rocks, a campsite at an “outstanding” overlook (according
to the guide book) that night. Luckily for the group, the man that gave them
the hitch offered to let them stay at his place overnight. His wife apparently
cooked them a feast! I stayed at Annapolis Rocks riding out a thunderstorm. The
lightning was striking really close to our tents and I was pretty freaked out,
but I lived to tell about it. I was pretty close to running across the campsite
and jumping in Sherpa’s tent for safety, but that wouldn’t have helped either
of us much.
Earlier that day, I visited the original Washington
Monument. It was pretty cool and I met some nice section hikers there. One was
an engineer and one a teacher. They were both men in their 50s and want to
thru-hike someday. I love meeting new people along the trail! We definitely
have a shared passion and sense of ambition.
June 19 was a race against the weather forecast. I lucked
out and each time I checked the forecast, the rain had been pushed back to
later in the day. I reached Raven Rock Shelter just seconds before the skies
opened up. My timing was impeccable. It was mid-afternoon, so the only other
people there were two female section hikers. The shelter was really nice with
polished floors and large windows to let in light. I immediately set up my
stuff and snuggled into my sleeping bag to read and journal in the rain. The
rain on the roof was far too loud to permit conversation anyway. My friends
showed up a few hours later soaked to the bone! They had to forward some
streams too. I’m so glad I hustled to get to the shelter early. Their stuff was
still wet in the morning when we left camp.
We crossed the Mason Dixon Line into Pennsylvania on June
20. I’ve been a bit worried about Pennsylvania for months. It’s known for being
incredibly rocky. I don’t like rocks and it takes me a long time to cross them.
They aren’t supposed to be too bad until the eastern part of the state though.
I hope that’s accurate!
We spent a long time lounging and enjoying trail magic at
Pen Mar County Park. It had beautiful views of the valley below and we gorged
ourselves on the delicious food some former thru-hikers had brought for us.
Most of us were dragging after that, so a few of us decided to stealth camp in
the woods short of a shelter. It’s fun being away from the crowds every now and
then. I threw a picture perfect bear line and the boys hoisted them up and tied
them off. I’d attribute the perfect line to my skills, but really it was the
perfect branch. It was a nice strong, long, horizontal branch extended from the
tree at just the right distance from the ground. Needless to say, no bears got our
food that night!
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