The last update, I was back on the trail after visiting Front Royal, Virginia. 

Day 53: Giggles Express

Late the other night I was made aware a trail friend from the CDT was going to be near for trail magic! Running to a parking lot to see them, she was my first ever trail friend I made last summer. May sound silly to some, but I’m sentimental about little things like that.   

I was at the parking lot before then giddy to see a sweet familiar face. Here it is, Giggles always with the biggest smile on her face! Pulled out the goodies along with camp chairs for us to sit and enjoy also catching up with Sprout, which was lovely! 

Gave Giggles my food bag to slackpack me to Snickers Gap where she’d meet us again with our things and cold drinks! A literal angel sent from above to come to rescue us hikers in this heat dome! 

The Virginia Rollercoaster was nothing to be dreading like everyone around me seems to be doing. 

It wasn’t hard, but the humidity and heat index did make it dangerous and made me stop in my tracks a few times to try and lower my body temperature. Breathtakingly cold Gatorade and a few big hugs from Giggles kept me going today. 

Said my farewells to her as Payday and I were off to the Blackburn Trail Center for the night. The solar shower there was a wonderful treat after today’s scorching temperatures. Ate dinner with a view that could see the Washington D.C. lights in the distance and chatted with another hiker Starburp. Total miles for the day came to 25 and a half.

Day 54: HALF-WAY HARPERS FERRY

Okay, today is an exciting one! I may have seen every hour on the clock last night, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’ll be at the metaphorical halfway today! Just a rock skip and a jump until we’re within Harper’s Ferry Park boundary, but first we must exit Virginia!

Once I start crossing all the boundaries I head straight to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy Visitors Center! This is once again, an iconic AT picture location, next to the sign in front of the white brick building. 

They printed it out for me to fill out my info on and I also got a new number! When I started at Amicalola Falls I was hiker number 2618 and given 827 at Harpers Ferry. 

We sure did visit all the little shops and did all the tourist things! I even got my National Historic Park stamp from the National Park Service among a plethora of stickers. Did all of that on a stomach full of a chicken gyro from Cannonball Deli! YUM! 

Payday and I were done in town and it was time to head back towards the trail. Not without finding a spot to dip into the river and wait out the heat! Sure felt wonderful to talk to loved ones and let them know where I was enjoying a soda in the refreshing river. 

Unsure of how many miles we could do after our many hours near the river we found ourselves at a pavilion eating dinner contemplating cowboy camping here. Demo, Payday and I were soon asleep under the pavilion, awaiting our itchy doom with 23 miles covered today. 

Day 55: One Last Push

Up early to beat the heat one last time! All three of us woke up irritated, itchy, scratchy. I suppose that’s the price we pay for wanting to stealth camp for the night. 

The first 9 miles to the next water source went by super quick! I sure was tired of these big rocks on the trail. It was not kind to my fatigued feet. I’m starting to get numb toes like last summer again. It’s not nearly as bad as it was halfway through the CDT, but the same sad toes are still falling victim. It’s the price I pay for hiking long trails, something new hurts every day taking turns what aches today. 

Another 7 miles to water at a campground and a nice picnic table break. I was starting to get fairly ravenous with my food. The suppressed appetite of the past week is finally catching up to me! I can only imagine what’s going to go down in town tomorrow. 

With 3 of the 7 miles to camp done with one big descent, our feet wanted a break! Payday and I weren’t far apart from each other both making a point to say we’d break at the bottom of this descent. Not even 5 minutes after agreement, a hiker in the other direction tells us there’s trail magic at the bottom! With only fully comprehending the word “watermelon” my legs propelled me to the bottom! I walked up to the pullout greeted by a group of laughing hikers all grateful for some shade and an ice-cold drink! 

This little piggy ate 5 chocolate chip cookies, a 1/4 of a watermelon, 3 mini sodas, and an orange. Excessive? Yes. Blame Kelly, who brought trail magic and told me to keep going! She didn’t want to travel with any of the excess drinks! Say less Kelly! One more mini coke for the trail and we were off to camp arriving surprisingly early! Even with the plethora of breaks, I squeezed out 25 miles today!  

Day 56: Waynesboro 2.0

Only 10 miles to Waynesboro, Pennsylvania! Rushed to the road to start hitching! It still didn’t break my longest wait time for a hitch; 10 minutes we waited. 

Payday and I got dropped off first to resupply and enjoy the Chinese buffet.

I ate 3 plates full of food while catching up on sharing all my pictures with family and friends of what I have seen thus far in my journey! I have to push out as much as I can, as I want to start pushing out bigger miles. Bigger mile days mean less time for everything else. 

We were off to do laundry and let me soak in some Epsom salt, life is good! Emerging from the bathroom wonderfully refreshed and thank you Payday for doing the laundry! The smell of it always makes me happy. Whether it’s life on the trail or life in my vehicle, laundry day is always a great day! 

I ended the evening on my phone doing my other remaining tasks. Downloading podcasts, a little more editing, and looking ahead at the map were all I did for the remainder of the night. All was done simultaneously as I enjoyed an entire container of the cookie dough. 

Day 57: Get Up and Get After It 

We both were dragging our feet to leave the hotel. It felt nice to unwind and scrub off the triple-digit miles we’ve both trekked since our last shower! 

We waited patiently to take an Uber back to the trail and eventually started ticking off our first few miles for the day. It was humid, and my pack was heavy, but I was determined to get 25 miles in before calling it a day. 

Minutes that turn into hours are moving me even closer to the legitimate halfway mile marker of the trail! 

The trail today had stretches of really rocky sections, but this was only going to be the beginning. The beginning of a new state deemed by hikers before me, “ROCKsylvania”. As a rock lover and noob climber I was excited to have my take on this so called rocky state! It sure was starting to get rocky!

I sure did squeeze out my goal of 25 miles to a shelter. I was the last one to show up yet saw some familiar faces, yet many new ones! Didn’t stick around long, just needed to get into my tent to sleep. I will deal with everything else in the morning! 

Until the next update, happy trails and hike on!