I arrived at Harpers Ferry, WA, the psychological halfway point of the trail, on June 1st. It is very hard to believe that I've been out on the trail for two months now and that I have hiked over 1000miles! It is absolutely amazing how quickly time passes by. I have gone on many other hiking trips before; my longest one prior to this being two weeks. All of them however, have seemed much much longer than hiking the appalachian trail. Believe it or not, each night I look forward with anticipation to crawling in my tent, not because it provides the opportunity to get out of the vertical realm, but for the comfort, coziness and sense of home it provides me. Upon my return to civilization I may have to pitch my tent on my bedroom floor.
As I mentioned before I developed shin splints hiking through SNP. I was able to get them to calm down until the day I entered the renowned roller coaster. The roller coaster is a 13mile section of sharp inclines and declines. The declines did me in leaving me wincing as I arrived at the free PATC hostel. I only had 12 more miles to go and I'd be at Harpers Ferry; here I planned on visiting my friend Elyse who I had not seen for ten years! Normally I can skip along at 3-3.5mph; however, that morning I struggled to make 2mph. It took me 6.5hrs to get to harpers ferry leaving me very grateful that I started hiking at 5:30am.
In town Elyse and I were successful at finding one another and she was gracious enough to let me spend three nights at her house, just outside Baltimore, MD, so that I could rest up. I really enjoyed my time there. She and her husband were amazing hosts and showed me around town, including going out for delicious crab. Sorry my fellow Nova Scotians I have to say that the crab was ten times more delicious than lobster. I even got to go to a yoga class. It felt great to experience a different form of exercise. The morning of June 4th my shins were feeling better so Elyse drove me back to Harpers Ferry so that I could resume my hike. Hopefully she will join me further up the trail.
In this post I thought it would be fun to sum up some of the highlights of my trip.
In this post I thought it would be fun to sum up some of the highlights of my trip.
Most favourite section of trail: for this I have two answers. The Shanendoha national park for trail quality and the Smokies for scenery.
Least favourite section of trail: the section of the smokies by clingmans dome. It was rocky, extremely muddy and overall a pain in the butt and not at all appropriate for trail runners. It also happened to be the day that I hiked twenty miles for the first time. Needless to say I didn't chat much with my hiking partners that day.
Favourite trail meal: couscous with red lentils, yams, spinach, carrots, red pepper and red onion in a yellow curry sauce. Yum! It might be because that's what I had for supper last night :-)
Least favourite trail meal: jasmine rice, spinach, mushrooms, and nuts in a stir fry sauce. Blah!!! Or the granola that I got Christine to remove from my boxes. Now that was disgusting!
Favourite town: Hot Springs
Favourite place to stay: Elmer's Sunnybank Inn in Hot Springs. The Inn is a very old house that Elmer converted to provide accommodations for approximately twelve individuals. He also cooks a fully organic vegetarian supper and breakfast and serves it family style. Each room had its own unique smell and feel. The atmosphere of the place was great!
Least favourite place to stay: the Relax Inn in Akins. This place was a disaster. I was afraid to set my hiking stuff on the floor and even more afraid to get into the bed. The place cost $45 and it had brown streaks running down the walls, there was a film over the mirror and tv, the grout in the shower was no longer white (it was black) and the bed sagged about a foot in the middle.
Most memorable part of the trail: climbing Mt. Albert to reach the 100mile mark. Out of 1000 miles I've hiked the first one hundred were the most significant.
Animal sightings:
Bear: 3 cubs and 1 black bear
Deer: 56 and one baby fawn.
Rabbits: 4 and 2 babies
Wild turkeys: 5
Pheasants: 2
Squirrels: this country is overrun with this foolish animal!
Number of days without sleeping in a bed: 24
Number of days without a proper shower: 13
Longest distance hiked in a day: 28.6miles
Shortest distance hiked in a day: 3miles
Least favourite section of trail: the section of the smokies by clingmans dome. It was rocky, extremely muddy and overall a pain in the butt and not at all appropriate for trail runners. It also happened to be the day that I hiked twenty miles for the first time. Needless to say I didn't chat much with my hiking partners that day.
Favourite trail meal: couscous with red lentils, yams, spinach, carrots, red pepper and red onion in a yellow curry sauce. Yum! It might be because that's what I had for supper last night :-)
Least favourite trail meal: jasmine rice, spinach, mushrooms, and nuts in a stir fry sauce. Blah!!! Or the granola that I got Christine to remove from my boxes. Now that was disgusting!
Favourite town: Hot Springs
Favourite place to stay: Elmer's Sunnybank Inn in Hot Springs. The Inn is a very old house that Elmer converted to provide accommodations for approximately twelve individuals. He also cooks a fully organic vegetarian supper and breakfast and serves it family style. Each room had its own unique smell and feel. The atmosphere of the place was great!
Least favourite place to stay: the Relax Inn in Akins. This place was a disaster. I was afraid to set my hiking stuff on the floor and even more afraid to get into the bed. The place cost $45 and it had brown streaks running down the walls, there was a film over the mirror and tv, the grout in the shower was no longer white (it was black) and the bed sagged about a foot in the middle.
Most memorable part of the trail: climbing Mt. Albert to reach the 100mile mark. Out of 1000 miles I've hiked the first one hundred were the most significant.
Animal sightings:
Bear: 3 cubs and 1 black bear
Deer: 56 and one baby fawn.
Rabbits: 4 and 2 babies
Wild turkeys: 5
Pheasants: 2
Squirrels: this country is overrun with this foolish animal!
Number of days without sleeping in a bed: 24
Number of days without a proper shower: 13
Longest distance hiked in a day: 28.6miles
Shortest distance hiked in a day: 3miles
Total days on the trail: 68
Total miles hiked: 1019
