Half-way in Harper's Ferry!

Peppy and I arrived in Harper's Ferry, WV on 7/7 amidst a sudden thunderstorm that soaked us as we dashed the last 500 yards to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy headquarters in town.  We enjoyed a nice zero yesterday, exploring historic Harper's Ferry.  Today we head into Maryland!

Half-way there!

The week in review:

Fourth of July at the Jim and Molly Denton Shelter.  I packed out the makings for s'mores.  Chuckles and Lil Spoon brought hot dogs and sparklers.  It was very festive with an amazing lightening bug display for fireworks.  Peppy didn't like the booming of the real fireworks though and hid in the shelter.

 

Virginia is a jealous state.  After enjoying the company of the hikers for 1/4 of the trail, she doesn't want to let them go.  So they took all the rocks from the rest of VA and used them to build the roller coaster, the last 12 miles of trail in VA.  The final climb was so steep it felt like I might tip over backward and roll back down, never to escape VA.

I did escape though.  And had this last view back over the plains and mountains of VA.  I said my farewells and gladly moved on northward!

1,000 miles!

The six of us made the mad dash down the ridge, across the Potomac bridge, and up into town to the ATC in an attempt to beat the sudden storm. True to the hike so far, we failed and were soaked mere feet from our destination.

My picture in the photo album at the ATC!

Fashion statement of the hike.  I sent my rain pants home, so when doing laundry I had to get creative.  Thankfully my down vest now fits as a skirt!  By pairing my down 'virt' (vest/skirt) with my rain jacket and my new neon hiking boots, I was ready for the runway.

Rain and ticks and bears, oh my! (originally tried to post 6/28)

There are bears abounding in the woods this week.  Today I startled one poor soul, and he fell out of his tree, barely catching himself with a paw on a branch, before crashing off into the underbrush with all due haste.  Total bear sightings thus far are six.  Sadly none of these moments have been captured in film (well, technically I have a picture of the first on my phone, but other than my "That black spot is a bear" comment, no one would know it is a bear).

Ticks are even more numerous than the bears!  Peppy enjoys his daily tick check, otherwise known as a thorough scritching.  Equally copious as the ticks is the rain the past few weeks.  Almost every day it rains at some point.  There is no worrying about dried-up water sources!

I haven't taken as many pictures due to the rain (my camera is hydrophobic), but here is a sampling:



Of course I had to take the quintessential McAfee Knob photo.  Peppy had been hiding in the shade until I walked to the edge and he proceeded to make me very nervous by walking right up and laying down very close to the edge!  I was one nervous parent until he was safely away from the edge.



Some hiking wisdom found on the bulletin board at the parking lot by McAfee Knob.  The last is my favorite!



I met up with Regina Ridgerunner, one of the faculty from the Wild and White Blazing course I took, put on by Carla, aka Zipper. I highly recommend the course if you are interested in hiking the trail!

 



Peppy and I hiked 21 miles in the pouring rain because once you are wet, you just have to keep moving.  Thankfully this was a palatial shelter with plenty of space to dry off.

 



There have been many gorgeous streams and waterfalls!

View of 'The Priest' (the mountain on the left).  At the shelter on The Priest all the hikers were writing their confessions in the shelter log.  Some were funny, some were serious; it made for amusing reading.  Guess away at what my confession was!