Making miles

Heading out the C & O canal towpath,
leaving Harper's Ferry, WV

 I know it has been a while, but we had a long, hard week (and hot!) of long hiking days, followed by a week of long hiking days in town. Out of Harper’s Ferry, we started with our longest day, 18 miles and change, stopping at the Dahlgren backpacker campground. Great little place with picnic tables, bathrooms, and showers. Slightly grotty, but a shower nonetheless. There was also much entertainment to be had. One of the chief sources of entertainment on the trail is bearbagging. Or at least, watching others try to bearbag.

Pancho crossing the river at Harper's Ferry, WV

In most areas, you should hang your food and anything scented from a tree limb, 10 feet up and 4 feet out from the trunk. Bears are pretty wily, and you hear some awesome stories about them snagging even the best-placed bags. Many shelters and campgrounds have poles where you can hang your bag, though that process can be even more trying than hanging in a tree. Well, this campground had the shortest pole ever. One of our fellow hikers was about 6’4” and basically just reached up to hang his bag. Let’s hope the bears are shorter, huh? So the section hikers next to us were on their second night out. He was in the woods, crashing around for at least 45 minutes. No go. So he drags her out with him, with their headlamps, since it had gotten dark. Don’t know where that bag ended up, but it took a helluva long time. Then, there was suddenly the distinctive sound of a tree falling in the forest. I turn to Eric and say, “tell me that wasn’t ours.” Oh no. That was the guy, who thought it would be better to hang his entire backpack in a tree, which was clearly not up for the challenge. Oy.

War Correspondents Memorial, Gathland State Park, MD

Barn ruins at Gathland SP

We did some of our longer miles between Harper’s Ferry and Duncannon, the location of our next maildrop. Mostly 17-18 mile days, so we were generally exhausted, and with the heat, pretty uncomfortable. My folks wanted to come up for a visit over the weekend, while we were in the Duncannon area. It happened to be Pancho’s birthday, so we invited his mom to come over from DC, planning to pick us up in Boiling Springs, PA, then slackpack us over the weekend.

On the way to Boiling Springs, we hit the AT midpoint. Well, sort of. In reality, it changes from year to year, depending on any re-routing of the trail. One of the many trail traditions is the half-gallon challenge: eating a full half-gallon at Pine Grove Furnace State Park, just short of the halfway point. Since we just started a month ago, we haven’t hit the hiker hunger yet, so we passed up the challenge, knowing we wouldn’t be able to get it done. But we watched several others walking it off—as one hiker put it, after finishing his ice cream in 53 minutes, “no sudden movements.”

Hiking across MD

Do you see a trail here? Not so much.

Cool sign. Not too accurate.
Pen-Mar County park, MD-PA border

Leaving the "Y'all Zone." Bless our hearts.

Mosquito evasion, phase 1.

Mosquito evasion, phase 2. Resorting to the sonic screwdriver.