I Have Not Yet Begun to Hike

I write this as I sit in the ATC HQ in Harper's Ferry West Virgina.  Yes, I am finally at HF!!!  Mile marker 1023.7, only 116.1 miles left. 

I last left you at Waynesboro VA as we headed out into the heat, and boy was it hot.  Every day for the next our days there was a heat advisory out.  Though it was only technically in the upper 80's and lower 90's (yeah, "only") that paired with humidity made for some nasty temps. 

We had trouble hitching out of town, so we Ubered out to the trail late morning (11-ish) with a 20+ day on the schedule.  Right out of town we entered Shenandoah National Park (SNP).  Fun fact: SNP was originally designed to be a tourist destination for motorists.  Started back in the 1920's, I believe, it was n of the first of the kind.  Then when the AT was laid, it criss-crossed Skyline Drive for a little over 100 miles.

So we did our 22 miles in the heat of the day, rolling in at the hut (what are called "shelters" EVERYWHERE else along the AT are called "huts" in SNP).  We ended up camping since the shelter was full. That decision turned out to be a good one.  Apparently at 2 in the morning, there was a massive ant swarm in the hut, causing a mass-evacuation to the parking lot 3 miles away.  I slept right through all the chaos.

I had a good day and put in a solid 24 miles and camped in Swift Run Gap.  I had set a good pace and got in just before dark.  Tenderfoot, who hikes slower, had stopped at the hut three miles back.  As I rolled up, there was a bear about 40 feet from my campsite.  I scared it off and I set up my bivy.  It was then I realized that Tenderfoot had our bearline.  I had just scared off a bear from where I was going to sleep, and I had no good way to hang my food.

I ended just clipping up my food in a tree and hoped for the best.  I was all okay, for I sit here with all limbs attached and no food stolen.

Yet the bear incident raises the most notable feature of SNP, there were bears everywhere.  My bear sightings going into SNP was two, leaving it was a 8.  We were in SNP for 4 days.

Anyways, we did our first 30+ mile day with a whopping 31!  The long mile in the heat was made possible by a well-placed wayside that had blackberry milkshakes.  We followed it up with an another 31 miles to Front Royal (with root beer floats as the moral-saver) where we were picked up by the Carrigans.

Family friends of Tenderfoot, they had contacted me via Tenderfoot's mom to say that we were welcome to come and hang out.  Mr. Carrigan picked us up that evening and took us to their house where Mrs. Carrigan was waiting with w massive dinner.  We showered up and enjoyed chicken and rice, with coleslaw, veggies, and Rice Crispy bars.  The next morning, after an awesome breakfast of waffles, bacon, sausage, coffee, and a peach, we headed out. 

The original plan was to leave Front Royal Friday morning, and arrive in Harper's Ferry Saturday evening where my Uncle Kurt, Aunt Mimi, and my cousin Elijah were going to meet us.  But we again left town in the heat of the day.  We were climbing up out of town, the humidity had slowed our pace to a crawl.  Then a nasty thunderstorm came out of nowhere.  That, paired with my foot randomly cramping up (it had been fine both 30 days, and all that day) so we ended up only doing 10 to the next shelter.

Plans changed, and the Kurt Jaegers met us at Ashby Gap only 10 miles away.  We picnicked in the parking lot, and ended up going home with them.  We showered, ate, played Bang, went to church with them the next day, and then headed out and hiked 10 miles to the next shelter.  So after two days where we did 30 miles, we did 30 miles in 3 days.

After a nice 23 day, we camped about one-and-a-half miles out of town.  Tenderfoot and I hiked in this morning.  We are hanging out at the ATC HQ (I believe I mentioned that...) but we will head out since we have enough food to make it a bit further. 

This is a great achievement, but we stil have a long ways to go.  We haven't even hit halfway yet, but I still feel awesome.  That's all for now.

-Levi


Bonus pictures:

Hiker food joke

Smeagol frog