Days 61-69: Harper’s Ferry, WV to Hamburg, PA
Hello from MORE THAN HALFWAY down the AT! I’m simultaneously psyched and not ready to be this far in (and this close to being done) with this journey.
Into the North
I crossed the Mason-Dixon Line at the border of Maryland and Pennsylvania, so now I’m officially in the north. Now that the south is fully in my rear view, I can say that it was such an interesting and valuable experience. Before the trail I had never spent any time in the South, and this experience threw me into the deep end. With my experiences in southern civilization limited to small rural towns, I found myself face to face with many stereotypes of southern culture: I saw confederate flags flying, and I met locals who made racist comments. But I also experienced how people’s deep devotion to religion made them unbelievably charitable and thoughtful, and I really got some true southern hospitality. Part of this thru hike for me was gaining new perspectives, and walking through the south really helped me with that.
Thank you to my trail angels!
This week brought me some of my best and certainly most personal trail magic. I don’t usually keep my phone service on during the day: I leave my phone on airplane mode so that I can listen to my podcasts and books without killing my phone battery. But hiking into Boiling Springs, I needed to download a new podcast episode. When I turned on my phone I got a strange text from my dad:
When I arrived in town and carried out the task, I received the loveliest surprise! My cousins Jeff and Michelle Eisenberg showed my blog to their longtime friends Joe and Maylin Jones, who wrote me the kindest note, and the 4 of them gave me a gift card to the outfitter. I loaded up on fancy backpacker food with it, but more than that it was so nice to get words of encouragement and support!
My other trail magic came in the form of incredible meals, hot showers, a warm bed, and substitute parents for an evening. Rob and Ruth Iosue (the parents of my college roommate Sophie, for those who don‘t know) drove an hour to pick me up and take me home. It was so special to spend time with them and get to see where Sophie grew up! (@roommates I completed the roommate tour!)
Seriously, thank you so much to everyone who went out of their way to give me kindness this week!
My best (spontaneous) day
The day of the Boiling Springs trail magic was probably my favorite day on trail so far. The hike to town was 23 miles, and the original plan was to pop into town (which the trail passes right through) for some lunch, then backtrack half a mile to a campsite right on the edge of town. When we got to town it was raining, so we ducked inside a tavern and ordered a lot of food—Brick ordered 2 full entrees!
While we were eating, we decided that camping out in the rain sounded really tough, so instead we decided to hike 8 more miles so we could stay at a Super8 motel instead. So my 23-mile day turned into a spontaneous 31! Even though my belly was quite full of pasta, I loved those extra miles, and loved my warm bed and dinner at a diner in Carlisle even more!
Pennsylvania is not my favorite state
I had heard that the rocky Pennsylvania is one of the least fun parts of the AT. While so far there have been lovely parts of the state, I’ve also had some tribulations. When Rob dropped me off, we could only get about 2.5 miles from the trailhead before we were stopped by a local fire policeman: apparently a tree had knocked down a power line between where we were and the trailhead, and I wasn’t allowed to pass. So I had to backtrack and hike a 2-mile blue blaze trail, which connected with the AT 5 miles south of where I had left off. So I had to hike 7 extra miles in the 40-degree rain.
This image depicts my mood when, after 2.5 hours hiking, I arrived at my starting point.
All the freezing rain has also made PA‘s flat terrain SUPER WET! Here’s BlackBeard calf deep in the standing water that is supposed to be the trail. It’s not so bad though: once my entire feet get wet, walking through puddles is no big deal.
A fun tidbit
This under construction turret is actually the original Washington Monument! It’s in Maryland, and it was built in 1827.
A note about the news
In case any of you have not heard, a few days ago two AT hikers were attacked on the trail by a man with a machete—one was killed and the other injured. Here is a link to a NYT article about the situation: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2019/05/14/us/appalachian-trail-murder.amp.html
I just wanted to acknowledge that this is horrible and my heart goes out to the victims. And I want to assure anyone who is worried that I am about 600 miles north is the incident, and I am continuing to take care of myself and look out for my safety.
Coming Up
more Rocksylvania! Crossing to NJ on Saturday.