Well, since I made it to Harper's Ferry I have been resting.  Denise flew down to D.C. and we spent the Memorial Day weekend together.  It was fantastic to see her - we haven't seen oneanother since she dropped me off at Logan on March,17.  I arrived at Harper's Ferry ahead of schedule and was going to hike on a couple of days before I came into D.C., but Denise suggested that I take the time to rest my sore feet. I'm glad that I listened to her, because I feel much better.  We had a wonderful time in the city.  We toured around and saw the monuments.  Yes we walked.....it gave me a chance to break in the new shoes Denise brought to me.  We had some wonderful dinners, went to the Smithonian, and saw the Memorial Day parade.  It was sad to see Denise go.  Today, Tuesday, May 29, I am heading back to Harper's Ferry and jumping back on the trail.  The next three weeks will be a fast moving pace ( I hope).  It has been in the 90's this week, and hopefully I will have cooler weather the next couple of weeks. 

I have added another 139 photos for your viewing pleasure.  I am taking a couple of zero days in Harper's Ferry to rest my sore feet.  All of the hikers are coming in with sore feet, shine splints, or knee/ankle problems.  Compaired to most I'm fairing pretty well, but my feet are in need of a rest.

I have made it to Harper's Ferry, today, May 22 at 2:00 P.M.  Halfway Baby. I am thruhiker #184 to make it into Harpers Ferry from Springer Mt. I was  planning on hiking in yesterday, but my feet were sore, and it was pouring rain so I took a zero day at the ATC Bears Den Hostel, 20 miles south of Harper's Ferry.  It was a great place to take a zero day. I am over a week ahead of schedule.

Hi everyone.  Today is Monday, May 21.  I have just come through the Shenandoah National Park.  When I posted last I was in Waynesboro, Virginia.  Waynesboro is a great hiker friendly town.  They have this whole network of trail angel's, who when you call them, will come out to the trail head and pick you up and drive you into town, and bring you back to the trail head the next day or two when you are ready to start hiking again.  I planned on taking a zero day in Waynesboro, then I decided not to do so because I didn't feel tired, then there was this huge rain storm coming in so I decided that I will take a zero day in Waynesboro.  I'm glad I did.  There was between 3 and 4 inches of rain.  At breakfast on Tuesday morning, before I started back on the trail, I met "energizer" who is a section hiker from Saco, Maine, who just completed a 1,000 miles of the trail.  He had hiked from Harper's Ferry to Waynesboro and hiked in the rain yesterday.  He said that I made the correct decision to not hike yesterday in the rain - He said the trails were flooded and the rain was so heavy that he ended up with 2 inches of water in his back pack.  The trail through the Shenandoah Mountains was the easiest section of the trail to hike so far.  It is relatively smooth, and most of the elevation gains and losses are gradual.  The trail parallels the Skyline Drive.  Along the Skyline Drive, and accessible by side trails, are Wayside fast food restaurants and two resorts with more formal sit down restaurants.  I stopped at each one of these and had either breakfast, lunch or dinner.  It took me 4 days to hike through the Shenandoah's and on days 3-4 I had real meals (in addition to what I was eating from my pack).  I have lost 38 pounds and the size 34 inch waist shorts I purchased two weeks ago are too big for me now.  While in the Shenandoah's I have seen a total of 15 bears. For the most part when you hike up onto a bear or bears (mother and cubs) they will run away.  They are more fearful of humans than we are of them.  I had two unique bear encounters.  On my second day on the trail in the Shenandoah's, it was about 8:30 in the morning and I came to the junction of a side trail and the AT, I stopped to read the sign post to get mileage to the trail head I wanted to jump off to so that I could get breakfast at a wayside.  I heard all this ruckus in the treas above me.  I thought it might be turkeys or turkey vultures taking off because I disturbed them.  As I here all this snorting, huffing, and puffing, I look up and there is a female bear with her cub in this huge oak tree right above me.  The female isn't too happy with me, and she is climbing out of the tree towards me while making all this snorting noise.  I took off and ran up the side trail.  I stopped about 40 yards from her and she was watching me and I was watching her.  Finally the cub climbed back to the top of the tree and started eating again, and the female did the same.  Now, I'm on the wrong trail, and didn't want to bushwhack back to the AT, so I ran back down the side trail, and ran up onto the AT.  The bear just looked at me and went on eating.  That night I got to this Picnic Area at mile 904 and was about 6 miles short of the shelter and camping area that I was heading for at mile 910.  It was 7:00 PM and I decided to stop and cook dinner while it was light, plus it would give me the extra boost of energy to hike the next couple of hours, (and I wouldn't be cooking dinner at 9:00 in the dark while everyone is trying to go to bed).  This picnic area was huge, about 3-4 acres of grass, toilets with running water (and soap), and picnic tables. We are not suppose to camp at or within a certain distance of the picnic areas.  I decided that I was going to put in here for the night.  I had my dinner, washed up with soap in the bathrooms, washed my shirts in the sink, and set up my tent.  I found a spot in the back of the picnic area which would be difficult for a ranger to see me if they came through to check the park before sunset or at sunrise.  I figured, there is no one here, I'll put in at dark and be up and out before 6:00 AM, and who will be the wiser, and that is what I did.  No ticket, no fine.  Well, at 9:30, I'm laying in my tent and almost asleep when I here this grunting and snorting, stomping, and thrashing of brush in the woods behind me.  For 10-15 minutes I can hear it getting closing and closer.  I know that this is a bear since I've seen and heard enough of them by know.  The bear comes up to my tent and is sniffing around, then it moves onto the tree from which I have my food bag hanging.  I listen to it for another 10-15 minutes snorting and sniffing around that food bag.  Then by 10:05 I hear the bear move across the picnic area and back into the woods.  The next morning I look, and the food bag is still hanging in the tree.  I also saw lots of dear, rabbits, and snakes.  BIG, Diamond Back Rattlesnakes.  For the most part the Shenandoah Mountains were unimpressive because it was easy hiking and limited views.  However, the third day of hiking was spectacular views, especially the views of Sky Meadows Valley. When I left the Shenandoah mountains, I pulled into a hostel to shower, do my laundry, and eat more food.  I bumped into a couple of hikers that were ahead of me who I had been hiking with a couple of weeks earlier, "Dundee" and "Blue", it was good to see them.  I spent the next morning going into Font Royal to re-supply with a couple of days of food to get me to Harper's Ferry.  Yesterday, when I was leaving the Terrapin Station Hostel at the edge of the Shenandoah National Park, I came across a couple of families and a group of Girl Scouts out for a day hike - Happy 100 Year Anniversary.  Some of them are from Springfield Massachusetts.  I had a blast talking with them - they were fun.  This was the first group of Girl Scouts I came across; I've met a bunch of Boy Scouts out hiking and camping. After two days of hiking from Font Royal (each day about 18-19 miles per day) I pulled into the Bears Den Hostel about 20 miles south of Harper's Ferry.  I decided that since I am so far ahead of schedule and because my feet are swollen and sore, that I will take an unscheduled zero day here on Monday, the 21st and then hike into Harper's Ferry tomorrow.  I'm glad I did it is pouring rain and waterlogged hikers have been coming in all day looking miserable. I soaked my feet last night, and am soaking them in ice water today, and will soak them in Epsom salt water also.  This hostel is awesome, it is like staying at a mansion (well it is a mansion) or a 5 star resort - check it out at www.bearsdencenter.org . I have limited internet bandwidth here and they request that we don't upload pictures here. So, I will wait until I get to a Library and will upload the rest of my pictures - there is a lot of pictures coming.  That's all I've got for now.

I've done it, I've figured out how to add pictures

I've figured out how to add pictures.  Next week, when I get to Harper's ferry I will upload the rest of pictures and add them.  until then enjoy.  I will be on the trail for the next 6 days and won't hit a hostel until the 21st.  If they have internet access I will upload the rest.  Also, if you click on the link to the pictures it will increase the viewing size.

Well I give up.  I have spent the afternoon trying to figure out how to connect my Google Picasa picture album with pictures of the AT to my Google Blogger so that you can see pictures.  I can't make it work, and everyone else is using anything but Google Blogger (because google is a lousy blog format) so I can't get any of the techno people to give me a solution.  SOOOOOooooooooo the end result is no pictures.  Because I just can't figure this out.

OK, today is Monday, May 14 and I am in Waynsboro, Virginia.  I am taking a zero day.  I had planned on taking a zero day here, then I changed my mind and I was going to skip this town and go on to Harper's Ferry.  But when I got the weather report yesterday that we will be getting over 2.5 inches of rain today, I decided to hold up here and get caught up on things and head back onto the trail tomorrow.  I am trying to upload pictures but I am having a difficult time figuring it out.  Hopefully I will get it figured out.  The last few days have been a blast.  Now I know I talk a lot about FOOD and Trail Magic, but I can't tell you how fantastic it is!.  It is great to get the food, but it is also great to meet the people who a providing the trail magic. I think this is some of the most exciting part of the adventure.  I am so enjoying Virginia, and I can't believe I will be in Harper's Ferry in a few days and onto Maryland and Pennsylvania.  Since the last blog entry, I have had my first slack pack experience.  I stayed at a hostel called the Dutch Haus and met up with a couple of other hikers who slacked packed (one guy "daypack" - this is his 3rd AT hike) who convinced me to do the same.  I was driven 20 miles up the trail, took a small backpack  and put in a litre of water, water purifier, camera, phone, and lunch & snacks, and was dropped off on the trail and hike southbound back to the Dutch Haus hostel.  This was a blast.  As I was going south I met up with people I was hiking with and said my good bye's to a couple who would be going onto a different hiking schedule, and I met up with a couple of people who have been ahead of me and who I've been following in the shelter logs.  One hiker, "Doctor Dave" is from South Berwick.  I've heard about him since I started and what a nice guy he is.  I met up with him on the slack packing trip and then this morning I had breakfast with him at the hotel (he was finishing a zero day from yesterday).  I'll catch up with him tomorrow and hike with him a bit through the Shenandoah Mt's.  I will be starting through the Shenandoah Mt's tomorrow, March 15, and expect to complete this section by March 21.  This will be Harper's Ferry.  HALF WAY BABY.  Yesterday was mother's day and I got to a road crossing on the Blue Ridge Parkway around 10:15 (about a half hour after I stopped for a mid morning snack overlooking a view of a huge valley) and there were three trail angel's "king" who hiked the trail in 2010, Joe who hiked the trail in 1973 (when it was really a challenge), and his wife Sarah.  The served breakfast including pancakes, sausage, hot coffee, Gatorade, soda, watermelon, strawberry's, snickers, oreo's, granola bars, and more.  I had so much fun hanging out with them I stayed until 12:00.  They kept trying to get me to stay to have lunch which included BBQ pork chops, grilled potatoes with lots of butter, and more.  When a couple of other hikers showed up I took my leave and headed back onto the trail.  All is well, and I am going to walk over to the Chinese Buffet and stuff myself (I have lost over 30 pounds - my new size 34 inch waist shorts are even too big now).  I will come back to the library later today and attempt to upload photos.

May 11 part 2

So, I spent quite a time this afternoon updating this blog, then it only saved part of the blog.  So here I am again trying to update.  Again.  After I hiked out of Daleville, VA, the trail follows along the Blue Ridge Parkway.  This is kind of interesting because the trail keeps crossing the Parkway.  The second day out of Daleville, I had planned on a 24 mile day.  By late morning it started raining.  I don't mind the rain, it is better than hot humid weather, and generally I can hike more comfortably because I am not overheating.  At mid day I came to a road crossing just before a 2,000 foot climb and I met a nice couple who had lawn chairs set up, their SUV tailgate open with all kinds of trail magic including juice, ice tea, water, homemade bread, zucchini bread, brownies, butter, apple butter, and YUMMY hard boiled eggs (protein is a commodity).  They were very nice and I sat and talked with them for a while and was getting too comfortable, but needed to start climbing.  ( I lost the paper with their names, and hope that if they read this they will comment and leave me their names).  This gave me the added energy for the afternoon climb.  By 3:45 I came to the Cornelius Knob Shelter just five miles short of the shelter I was planning to hike to for the day.  The heavy down pour was due soon, and after reading trail logs from the last shelter and this shelter it looked like the next shelter would be full and I would have to tent in the rain.  I do not like tenting in the rain and prefer staying in the shelters when there is foul weather.  So I decided to stay put and make up the miles the following day.  I got my water, set up my bedding, changed into dry clothes, cooked and ate dinner, and cleaned my dishes.  It was now 5:15 and this clean couple in their late 50's come around from behind the shelter (there is a parking lot on the Parkway about a 100 yards behind the shelter...who knew), obviously not hikers, and carrying tote bags.  They were Zora and Cornelius, the shelter caretakers, who on the day of their 30th anniversary decided to come out in the pouring rain and celebrate with thruhikers by bringing trail magic.  They brought a complete dinner with roasted chicken, fried chicken, potato salad, macaroni salad, cole slaw, and cookies - and their was a lot of food.  Unfortunately for the other hikers, no one else hiked in to this shelter, so the three of us sat for an hour and a half and feasted.  I couldn't believe it.  The next day I continued on to the summit of the mountain and hiked down into the valley along the James River.  By 3:00 I stopped for a mid afternoon snack at a shelter and met up with two other hikers I had been leap frogging with.  I needed two days of re-supply to get to Waynsboro where I planned to take a zero day and make a big re-supply.  So one of the other hikers and I decided we would hike on 2 more miles and hitch hike the 5.5 miles(in the now pouring rain) to the town of Glasgow to get groceries.  We crossws the James river (on this very long foot bridge) and come to a bulletin board in the parking lot that has a handwritten poster stating "AT thruhikers, free ride to town at 5:00 with ride back to trail head, free BBQ, showers, shelter, and re-supply"; It was 4:00 so we waited for this trail magic along with 2 other hikers.  At 5:00 our ride shows up and we all pile into this SUV driven by Jim a retired peanut farmer who brings us into town where another 9-10 hikers are waiting.  They had a BBQ pit on a trailer, served hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, beans, oranges, sweets, coke, strawberry shortcake, and lots of it.  This was provided by two retired couples "Jim and Dawn", and "Tony and Betty".  Now the story is that this is the second time they have done this. Last week was the first time they did this, after Tony and Betty picked up a thruhiker hitch hiking into town who talked about and explained trail magic.  I have to say the best part of this whole trip so far has been meeting the gracious people who go way out of their way to provide a little comfort.  It is simply amazing and has restored my faith in the goodness of people.  I can't tell you how much it means when you walk out of the woods and your tired and you have a big hill to climb and you need sugar (hiker's heroine) to make the next hour or two of climbing and someone walks up to you and asks you if you are hungry and thirsty and sits you down and gives you a drink and a cookie.  These are the most thoughtful people one could ever come across.  The next day, Thursday, May 10, I am now fueled by two days of protein from all the trail magic and have all kinds of energy.  They weather is clear, sunny, no humidity, no rain, and a cool breeze all day.  I had two 2,000 foot climbs, one at the beginning of the day, and one to finish the day as part of another marathon hiking day which was a 26.4 mile hike.  I had views of the James River, Valleys both east and west as far as the eye can see.  This was the most enjoyable hiking day of the 53 days that I have been on the trail.  At the end of the day I was on top of a mountain overlooking Cold Mountain (for those of you who have read the book by that name), sleeping in my tent under a clear sky filled with stars in a huge field (acres and acres). When I approached the camping area there were two other thruhikers here "sprite" and "snag", "sprite " was swinging on a swing hung from a tree.  I got up at 5:00 and finally rolled out of my sleeping bag (which stinks- my cloths stink, I stink, all hikers stink -- especially after a couple of days of rain) and packed everything up ate my breakfast of Wasa bread and Cream Cheese and hike a short day called NERO (nearly zero miles) of ten miles.  I hike to a parking lot from which I and 7 other hikers were picked up from and brought to the Dutch Haus Hostel at Miles 817 (only 200 more miles to Harper's Ferry the home of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and the unofficial and psychological half way point - mile 1092 is the actual half way point.  also only 50% of the thruhikers make it to Harper's Ferry, and only 50% of those hikers make it to Mr. Kathadin.)  I plan on pulling into the Dutch Haus Hostel for one night to get a much needed shower and laundry plus more hot home cooked food.  I meet some other thruhikers, one of them "daypack" who is making his third thruhike in 6 years, and another "Dutchman" just came in from slack packing.  The owners of the hostel brought them 20 miles up the trail and they hiked the 20 miles back to the hostel with just a small back pack with some water and lunch.  Only a couple pounds in the pack vs. a full pack.  After reviewing the next 9 to 10 days it will take me to get to Harper's Ferry from here, I decided that I will stay on here another day and do the same.  This will allow me to skip a zero day in Waynsboro and get to Harper's Ferry in 8-9 days from now.  Early on I had hoped to be in Harper's Ferry by June 1st.  I should be there by May 20th +/-.  With that I am still trying to get pictures posted.  I have moved some from my camera to PICASA and am trying to figure out how to link Picasa to the Blog.  It is a slow and time consuming process, and usually I am restricted on time and access to a computer.  They will be coming sooner or later.  Besides that, all is well, I am healthy (lost 30 pounds and went from a snug 38 inch pant size to a loose fitting 34 inch pant size. Much more to come after Harper's Ferry and Memorial Day weekend.

May 11

OK, it has been a few weeks so this will be a long update.  My last post was from Damascus Virginia.  I had a zero day in Damascus and re-supplied, cleaned up, did laundry, replaced some gear.  Damascus is known the be the AT Hiker town, and the annual AT Trail Days, 4 day, hiker festival is held there in May.  I didn't care for Damascus and couldn't get out of town fast enough.  Most everyone I've talked to on the trail hold the same impression and didn't care so much for this town.  Well the one thing that I was hoping to avoid was snow.  I left Damascus to climb Virginia's highest Mountain, Mt. Rogers.  They were calling for snow.  On the second day out of Damascus I started the 6 hour climb to the summit and the 4 hour climb over the backside of the Mountain, called the Grayson Highlands.  When I started my climb at 6 am, it was cold, and just started snowing.  By 9 am I was hiking in 3-4 inches of snow. I was the first one on the trail and was blazing the way.  By 9:30 "Mouse" (who I first started hiking with near Hot Springs on Easter Sunday), another hiker caught up with me and passed me and she blazed the trail over the Grayson Highlands.  We had constant 30 mph winds with regular gusts of 50-60 mph.  It was wild.  When we got to the top of the Mt. and crossed the Grayson Highlands, it was a guessing game because the "white" trail blazes that mark the trail are painted on the rocks and on some occasional poles and the snow and ice were covering the white blazes.  We made it without getting lost.  The Grayson Highlands are known for this herd of wild miniature ponies.  The weather was so bad we never saw the ponies, but could see their hoof prints in the snow.  A group of us  (mouse, stretch, earlybird)slept in a shelter that night on the backside of the Mt, and we were still at 4000 feet of elevation and the cold wind blew all night, it was the coldest that we all had been on the trail.  It took two days to hike out of this section and we all ended up in the town of Atkins, VA and stayed at this dump of a hiker hotel called the "relax Inn".  We were so grateful to have hot showers, hot hamburgers, and clean laundry.  That night it poured buckets from midnight to 7 am.  After a hot breakfast a group of us headed back on the trail by 8 am.  By 9 am it started pouring and rained buckets until 2pm.  All the  brooks turned to rivers, all the rivers flooded over roads and bridges.  The trail became a makeshift stream.  We were hiking in 3-4 inches of water on the trail, and it when we were climbing it was like a stream running over our shoes.  There was one point that the trail crosses a brook that is normally about 8 to 10 inches deep, but this day there was so much water that the brook turned into a stream and flooded over the bridge by 3 feet.  We went to the farm house next to this brook, now river, and asked the woman for directions back to that trail.. We took a 2 mile detour down some roads and got back to the trail.

I spent had my first 30 mile day, I hiked 34 miles for a hamburger and a pizza and tented by a brook that night.  The next day I had a short hike of 15 miles and stayed at the Woods Hole Hostel.  This hostel is a 100 year old log cabin made out of cherry wood. Then I ended up in Pearisburg, VA. I made friends with the "gunrunner" and "doug aka spok". I took a zero day here and connected with three other hikers from Santa Barbara, CA ("the three amigos") and we rented a car and drove 25 miles to Blacksburg, VA (home of Virginia Tech, nice town) and went to the outfitters for new shoes.  I had worn out my shoes and had little tread left to the point that they were dangerous.  The outfitter didn't have the model of shoe I was wearing and sold me a different model from the same manufacturer.  After 5 days of hiking in these shoes my feet, ankles, and leg muscles were killing me.  When I got to Dalesville I found an outfitter and had to lay over Sunday until they opened on Monday and was able to purchase a new pair of shoes.  The new shoes are working out well and I"m back to hiking comfortably.