6/07/01
Today was a monumental day on the AT. The state of Virginia was left behind and the 1,000 mile mark was crossed. It wasn't an easy day by any measure as I left the Bear's Den hostel at 9:30 a.m. to resume the trail. There was still a drizzly mist in the air but the forecast was for clearing skies and warmer temperatures. Colonel and Terrorist left just ahead of me and Gypsy and Little Thunderhawk behind me. I passed Colonel within the first mile, as I was anxious to complete the Rollercoaster and make it into Harper's Ferry for the night. Sure enough, the fog lifted and the sun slowly broke through the clouds as morning pressed on. I rolled into the David Lesser Memorial Shelter at lunchtime, just catching Terrorist as she was leaving and finding Sundial eating his lunch. Sundial shared the great aquablaze adventure with me. I was correct in my thinking about the Shenandoah River. The little group of adventurers only rafted 5 miles and got all their gear wet in the process. They ended up sleeping in some woman's backyard along the side of the river and she gave them a ride back to the trail yesterday morning. For all their effort, they progressed 5 miles on water and then skipped 20 miles of trail to get back on track. Nevertheless, they certainly had a lot of fun in the process and have a funny story to tell their friends back home.
I put the pedal to the metal all afternoon, finally arriving in Harper's Ferry about 6 p.m. The town is very spread out and accommodations are weak for thru-hikers. After locating Colonel, he and Sundial and I went to King's Pizzaria for dinner. It was time for a feast. Colonel and I both ate a large salad, followed by garlic bread and lasagna. When we were finished, Colonel announced that he was still hungry and I agreed, so the two of us then split a 16' pizza. That did the trick, but between us we spent nearly $40 on food at a relatively inexpensive restaurant. Terrorist, Leslie, and Surefoot snagged the last room at the nearby motel. Fortunately the owner of the H.F. Outfitter offered us her front porch for a free place to sleep. The porch is on the second floor of the building right on Main Street. We could barely fit and our feet had to hang over the end out over the street. Colonel, Gypsy, Trail Dancer, Sundial, Reader, Ziti, Cedar (the dog) and I were all spread out over that porch. I kept wondering if the old (probably historic) building could hold all that weight as I lay trying to fall asleep. Then my thoughts drifted to the Civil War as I wondered how many bullets and cannon shot were felt by the old building during Stonewall Jackson's successful assault on the city. Finally sleep took over until the multitude of trains rocked us through the night. They brake as they wind their way around Maryland Heights over the Potomac River and the reverberating noise was deafening as each train sped through town.
Now that I've mentioned aquablazing, I guess I better give some more information on some trail language:
White blazing: actually walking or hiking the AT
Blue blazing: taking a side trail. Usually blue blaze trails take the hiker to a view, a point of interest, to a shelter off the AT, or to a water source.
Yellow blazing: advancing down the trail by some means other than hiking the white blazed AT. Usually accomplished by hitching a ride
Purist: Someone who hikes all of the white blazed AT in lieu of using a blue blaze to advance down the AT or yellow blazing or aquablazing
Ultrapurist: someone who doesn't miss a single foot of the AT along the hike. For example, if a northbounder takes a blue blaze into the shelter and another blue blaze leads from the shelter back to the AT, the ultrapurist makes sure he/she resteps the originally used blue blaze trail to the exact point he/she left the AT to resume hiking at that point. Thus far, the Rabbit has been an ultrapurist. No slackpacking yet (carrying less than a full pack for part of the trail) for the Rabbit and no missed parts of the AT. My philosophy on the trail is for every hiker to hike their own hike. Those who yellow blaze, aquablaze, blueblaze, or otherwise aren't purists are equals on the trail and we're all sharing the great adventure regardless of our personal approach to the trail. Now, on to today's stats; low 57 degrees, high 78. Drizzle, then partly sunny. Today's mileage: 20.3; cumulative mileage; 1004.0 ! ! ! !
The halfway point is just a few days away. It's going by much too quickly (except missing home and family).
