This was last nights campsite on the outskirts of Boiling Springs. Perfectly situated between a corn field to the left and the railroad tracks 20′ to the right. ~5 long trains came through during the night.

Today’s hiking was mostly though the farmland of the Cumberland Valley. We were often in swaths of trees next to corn fields.

Here are the Allegheny’s on the horizon as well as some ominous weather.

Amber waves of grain.

Always a welcome sign…This trail angel lived just up the way and left a cooler out with sodas and beer.

Back into the woods.

Back onto farmland (blaze on post).

My friend Gus joined me for the last 6 miles and the climb over Blue Mountain…with good views of the Valley and a storm brewing.

We took a very quick break at the Darlington shelter as we heard thunder rolling in. I was able to get cell service and check the weather radar…not good!

Hi Darlington’s (my Denver friends/neighbors)
We were caught in the biggest rain I’ve hiked through so far and the trail turned into a river. We popped out of the trees just as the rain let up. Unfortunately, this part of the trail had not been mowed in a while (I swear there is a path in there). I got way wetter hiking through the tall grass (known as the car wash effect) then I did in the downpour (with my umbrella).

Here is Gus hiking through the car wash. It was even higher in the previous pic.

The rain and mud (lots of slick mud) was far more palatable knowing I’d have a warm dry bed as well as a shower and clean laundry at Gus and Christy’s house. Christy even set me up with her foot bath massager and fancy therapeutic salts! I could get used to this every night.

Tomorrows plan is to take most of the day for town chores and in the afternoon Gus and I will hike the 9 miles from where I got off trail to Duncannon and Christy will pick us up and bring us home…2 nights in a row in a bed. On Tues morning Gus will drop me back off in Duncannon and hike with me for a bit before we go our separate ways.

This was last nights home. There were also some nice tent spits next to the creek.

Juan Dürrur decided to cowboy camp under the picnic shelter.
At 8am I arrived at the Pine Grove Furnace State Park General Store, home of the halfway-1/2 Gallon Challenge.

Success…

Not quite..those containers don’t quite have 1/2 a gallon like they used to. So we had to eat another pint to finish things out. That’s a lot of ice cream especially at 8am! Took me an hour to recover before I could start hiking again.

Glad I wasn’t doing it for the big prize…the glory was more than enough.
The 1/2-gallon challenge log book had some impressive times. One Shot did it in a very competitive 25 minutes! (He’d be psyched if he could do his Ironman swim leg that fast)

That much ice cream could have made this a tight fit later in the day.

We dropped from the mountains into the farmland of the Cumberland Valley and Boiling Springs, PA.

These are hikers looking very disappointed because the Caledonia State Park pool Snack Bar did not open at 11am or at all even though the sign clearly says Open Daily !

One of the very cool shelters in Pennsylvania…bunks on both sides with a covered picnic table in the middle.

This is a cabin that ATC members can rent… I had lunch under the covered porch while it sprinkled.

After yesterday’s rocks (and more this AM) this was a welcome stretch of soft pine needles to end the day on.

I have officially made halfway on the AT !

Only 1094.55 miles to go. The sign gets moved every year b/c the distance changes as the trail gets rerouted or moved.

This is Wanderer playing his Banjo-lele with One Shot listening. I shot some video I will try to upload when I have wifi. Wanderer actually spells his name: Juan Dürrur

A beautiful start to the day with views of Maryland farmland.

Later that morning the trail got a little rough. These sections of rocks are both physically and mentally taxing. That half mile felt like an eternity!

It’s nice that someone mows a swath for the trail.

I stopped at the Raven Rock shelter for a break… it’s an impressive looking structure.

It even had hardwood floors!
Made it to Pennsylvania. A slight wrong turn at a poorly marked intersection landed me on a road…at least it had a proper welcome sign for a selfie.

Back on the trail…

This impressive shelter setup was home for the night. It had a clothesline, TP in the privy, covered picnic table, a creekside location , cold Cokes in a cooler… And,

separate Snoring / No Snoring shelters.

My feet were more sore than normal today. I think it’s a combination of the miles, the rocky terrain and the fact my boots have over 1100 miles on them. Luckily I have new boots arriving this weekend.

An early start to beat the heat. The bridge crosses the Potomac and we enter Maryland.

Although flat, the 3 miles along the C&O canal path is kind of boring and terribly hot if done during the heat of the day…. A pretty view at sunrise at least.

This is the great looking Garvey shelter I stopped at for a quick snack break.

Mid morning was perfect timing for some trail Magic from Diane who lives nearby…fresh strawberries hit the spot! She has a son who lives in Denver and she has a 2nd home in Breck…small world!

The original Washington Monument

Views to the Valley floor.

Crossed over I-70 today…

23 hours and three turns by car I could be home with Andrea and Buddy !

The sunset from my dinner spot at Annapolis Rocks (camped 100 yds away in the woods)

Tomorrow…Pennsylvania!

A beautiful mornings walk to Harper’s Ferry, WV

This is a trench used in battles from the Civil War.

Crossing the Shenandoah River…our lowest elevation yet (~350′)

Welcome to historic Harpers Ferry…

Home of the Appalachian Trail Conference, where they take pictures of all the Thru Hikers that come by for a visit (most do).
and then they include you in their book of all the hikers for the year They have these books dating back 25 years (in Polaroids). When I left Springer Mtn. I was around thru-hiker #2700 for the year. Now I’m #394 that’s made this far.

The historic lower town and the site of the historic fight with the famous abolishinist John Brown which was essentially the beginning of the Civil War.

Home for the night at the Towns Inn Hostel. The building is from 1847.

The morning started with this ominous sign:

The elevation profile…plus it was really rocky terrain:
Only occasionally did I get a decent view.

A big milestone today; 1000 miles completed.

This is the very cool Bears Den hostel owned by the ATC. It was a nice place to take a break out of the sun and meet some friends who drove from 2hrs away to hike with me!

My longtime friend Gus and his wife Christy hiked a great 7mike section of trail with me on a warm steamy day.

Yet another Milestone, Entering West Virginia.
The Blackburn AT center is owned by the ATC and very hospitable to Thru Hikers. There’s a fantastic screened in porch with lots of Adirondack chairs, a solar shower, cold sodas..what more could a hiker want?

How about a cute little cabin with free bunk space

The day started by grabbing a hot breakfast in Front Royal and then hitching 4 miles back to the trail.

These gorgeous purple flowers lined much of the trail to start the day.

This tree growth reminded me of a rhinoceros head.

The Denton Shelter is one of the coolest on the trail so far, it even has a solar shower…

and a deck with Adirondack chairs.

and a stocked trail magic box (granola bars 🙂

Some more Trail Magi…giving out cold sodas on a warm steamy day hit the spot! The truck is called the Hiker Gypsy Bus.

I was a bit offended that the AT was given a Green Circle rating…but this section of trail was actually quite easy: smooth and flat.

The 24 miles wouldn’t have been too demanding if I had started hiking before 10am. Other than a short stop at the Denton shelter I went almost nonstop until a park bench in the middle of the trail called my name at 5pm after 5 hours straight without taking my pack off. I had an early dinner there before the last 6+ miles to camp. I got in about 7:45pm and was ready to be off my feet.

Temps were very mild this morning and heated up quickly. An hour after this stream crossing I probably would have just jumped in.

Kind of looks like they are caging us hikers from the rest of the world like zoo animals.
“Watch the Hikers in their native habitat and see what happens when a Snickers bar is thrown over the fence…it can get ugly!”

This is 3-Way he’s from Aurora, Colorado and just finished a one week section hike through Shenandoah.

3-Way has been section hiking the AT one week at a time for ~10 years and picks up where he leaves the trail every year (970 miles completed). He figures another 10 years and he will reach Katahdin. In my view, this is a whole extra level of dedication and determination

Even more impressive is that he’s doing the same thing simultaneously with the PCT and the CDT. He’s finished 1700 miles of the PCT and almost half of the CDT. So this is how you become a Triple Crowner while raising kids and supporting a family. I’m hoping 3-Way will start blogging about his effort…I’d love to follow the rest of his adventure.

As promised, here are some bear videos.
Also a cool video I shot in Southern Virginia of the many ridges we hiked.

Bear 1:

Bear 2:

Ridges in Virginia (South of Roanoke):