A call from a random point on the trail. Hello Maryland.

The crew slackpacked 12 miles yesterday thanks to a Schubert Magic Angel. She met them at lunch, they raged on diner food, and with weight off and bellies full, they hiked into Harpers Ferry, Va. Today the crew didn’t get out of the Harpers Ferry area until after 4:30 this afternoon. They did a mere 8 mile nero to land up about a mile short of the Ed Garvey Shelter 1021.3 NoBo. They have broken through the 1000 mile mark and should have the first half of the entire A.T. done by Tuesday. They are at a random Campground .2 miles off the trail. 

They got started so late because they wanted to spend the day at The Appalachian Trail Conservancy. This is home base for the whole ATC support team. I strongly encourage you to spend some time at their website. It tells the tail of why the AT is so much more than a path from Georgia to Maine. If you are planning on trying the AT, or even a section of it, it's one of the greatest resources for information.

   From the ATC website: Who We Are: The Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC), established in 1925, is a national not-for-profit corporation that is both a confederation of the 31 local organizations with assignments to maintain the Appalachian Trail and a membership organization with support from all 50 states and more than 15 other countries.

 When you show up and sign in as a thru hiker, they give you a number and take your picture to put in the Yearbook. Hollywood is 440. Coconut is 443. Frodo has been joining them on and off throughout the trail as their hiking schedules coordinate. He and Sno are 441 and 442. When you complete the trail, you can fill out a ‘2000-miler’ application and they will send you a certificate, a patch and you get listed in the May/June issue of AT Journeys; an ATC member’s magazine. Sculler left the trail at Harpers Ferry for family responsibilities. But since they took a nero today and will be taking a zero at Sno’s home town, she may still catch back up. There are so many names of the people that drift in and out of their hiking days that it would take pages to name them and tell the stories. Be sure to pick their brains on their return and you’ll find so many nuggets of awesome tales. 

Sno and Frodo are 2011 thru-hikers. Sculler has been section hiking the trail for a few years now because of work. She is an instructor and only gets the late spring / early summer period off work before going back to her coaching duties. The team has been trying to get her to extent that time as long as possible because they all gel so well together. 

If all goes as expected they will be in Boiling Springs Pa. 1107.6 NoBo on the 19^th. They will zero out on the 20^th. Hollywood will hang out with Sno in his home town and Coconut will have a well deserved visit with her Bo. 

Melissa related that Harpers Ferry is similar to Portsmouth, NH and Salem, MA.  Among the attractions in this history filled and proud town are ghost tours, and historically accurate people walking around acting out what life was like in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. Hollywood appreciated it a little more than the others because she comes from a city that has these same types of attractions in it. They arrived at Harpers Ferry last night around 8PM.

Hollywood replaced her Thermarest in Buena Vista so has been back on a nice comfortable bed for a while now. The old one couldn’t be repaired and was sent home. Sno and Hollywood have picked up radios. Spent all the time getting the pack weight down so they picked up a radio in Front Royal. Now their days are spent having dance parties up the trail. Spirits are running very high. They went to flea market in Front Royal and Sno picked up a sombrero. He looks very interesting hiking up the trail wearing a sombrero and a radio around his neck. Sculler is another gazelle and she was hiking with Coconut while they were all together. Sno and Hollywood keep a slower pace. Nonetheless, they always put on the same number of miles at the end of a day. 

Sno is feeding J-Dog a lot now and the other night he got a double meal. Melissa fed him and Sno did a while later. Bonus for the four legged team member.

As I finished my call with her, they had completed setting up camp and were getting ready for dinner. They are in Maryland now. Out of the Virginia’s completely. West Virginia was only 6 miles before they dipped back into Virginia and, finally, across the border into Maryland. Maryland will be another short state before they hit Pennsylvania. 

Congratulations on breaking the 1000 mile and Virginia borders. Half done…. Hard to imagine considering this all started on April 1^st.

The passage of the Patowmac through the Blue Ridge is perhaps one of the most stupendous scenes in Nature.
... This scene is worth a voyage across the Atlantic ...
Thomas Jefferson