It was quite chilly in the morning (chilly overnight too and extremely windy) and I hiked with my t-shirt, thermal undershirt, long sleeve shirt, puffy, shorts, rain pants and wool cap for the first hour or so. Bit by bit I disrobed. By mid afternoon I was down to shorts and t-shirt. Now the sun is setting and it’s cool again but not cold like this morning, and no wind.
Mid afternoon I saw a sign that said someone at a campground was giving out trail magic. I wandered through the campground but saw no trail magic. Back on trail I met Ground Control. He was trying to catch up to Major Tom. He had already hiked 20 miles and was planning another 9 to the next wayside. Ah youth.
The highlight of today’s hike was a one mile side trail east of the main trail that goes over some pretty serious rock piles. The FarOut app had a warning about broken bones and sprains, but I saw entire families scrambling over the trail. The ups and downs were fun, mildly challenging, and the ups led to some great views including one 360 degree view. It’s inspiring to be able to take in so much landscape at once, and at the time I said to myself, I really want to live somewhere with mountains.
I haven’t mentioned this yet, but my Durston Kakwa 55L pack had developed a rip in one of the belt straps, and I was worried it would eventually rip off. I had emailed Durston a few days ago asking for guidance on how to repair it. Their reply yesterday was that the tearing was a known defect in the 2024 design and could I please send an address on the trail they could air express a replacement pack. Gotta say Durston has excellent customer service. I have a Durston tent too, and I’ve seen lots of their tents and packs on trail. Their gear is well designed and people know their reputation for standing behind their products. Plus they’re Canadian.
So now I’m committed to staying at the Halfway Hideaway Hostel in Harper’s Ferry, since that’s where I told them to ship the pack, and I can’t get there too fast since the shipment could take a few days. Harper’s Ferry is only 99 miles ahead.
Luckily, Sheila (my wife) is planning a trip to Columbus Ohio starting tomorrow to visit her mom, and she discovered there is an Amtrak train from Harper’s Ferry to Connelsville PA, which is a town kind of on her way home to Toronto. (We visited it a couple of years ago on a trip to see Frank Lloyd Wright’s house Falling Waters – there’s nothing to do in the town itself though.) So not only does that give me some breathing room on when the pack arrives, but I get to spend some time with Sheila. (Still firming things up on that plan.)
I arrived at the second wayside around 5. It had a store with food supplies and a cafeteria similar to the first one. I had a Beyond Meat burger, a 1 oz bag of chips (what’s the point of one ounce of chips?), sides of mac’n’cheese and three bean salad, and a raspberry milkshake. Enough to mostly fill me up for dinner. I needed more tortillas for lunch wraps but I could only find hamburger buns, which are now getting squashed in my food bag.
Two Esses, Lone Star and Hootenanny were at a table but didn’t invite me over. I’m getting the impression they either don’t care for me or they’ve decided they’re a closed tramily. I think I may have said something that offended Lone Star, as he’s the most aloof (he clearly doesn’t think much of my refusing to eat meat, he’s from Texas after all), but maybe Lone Star is just an aloof kind of guy.
After dinner I got back on trail and walked half a mile, looking, based on some comments in FarOut, for a stealth campsite just before the Big Meadows paid campsite. I didn’t find anything that was clearly a tentsite, but I did find a flatish spot for my tent. I set up camp, ate a handful of nuts, and hung my food. There was a great sunset. Now it’s dark and time for bed.
Mile 907.3 to mile 927.4 = 20.1 miles.
Why is this dead ash even able to stand?
