6/4-6/11: Harpers Ferry, WV -> Duncannon, PA

I’ve checked off two more states in quick succession and made it halfway through another big state in Pennsylvania, as well as halfway through the trail as a whole! I participated in a unique tradition in the meantime.

I hiked out of Harpers Ferry on June 4th, my three month trailiversary! In contrast to the first two, the third month felt like it flew by. I’ll be at Katahdin before I know it.

The hostel in Harpers Ferry turned out to be a bit sketchy, or…Loose might be the best word. It was light on details and amenities. All I wanted was to shower in the morning, but it was too much of a hassle to wait for the owner to wake up or the caretaker to show up to let me in to where the showers were, so I decided not to bother. I had just showered at Bear’s Den a couple days ago (you know you’re a thru-hiker when…). Now, the reason for this looseness is that the hostel wasn’t even officially yet. They’re opening next year, and are still very much a work in progress, which is totally understandable. I am glad they’re helping hikers out during this time, but I don’t think they should have been charging full price…if I had been the one paying, I would have been super annoyed.

Getting another cinnamon roll from the bakery on the way out of town set me on a good course, though. Hiking out of Harpers Ferry was very pretty; I love the confluence of the rivers. I crossed the Potomac, and there I was in Maryland already!

I spent two full days in Maryland. It was a very pleasant section on the whole! Much of it was cruisy ridgeline. The shelters were also rather spectacular. Shoutout to the Potomac ATC for doing such a great job there. The weather was also spectacular for those two days and beyond.

That first day, the trail followed the C&O Canal Towpath for quite a while along the Potomac before climbing up to a ridge. I loved the views from Weverton Cliffs!

I also really enjoyed seeing Civil War historic sites along the trail, at Gathland State Park and elsewhere. One reason I’m glad I wasn’t doing the 4 State Challenge is that I could afford to stop and read all the signs!

That night, I stayed at a cool, crowded official campsite specifically for backpackers, with a bathroom and everything. Surprisingly, to my knowledge, I was the only NOBO thru-hiker there, but I enjoyed meeting section hiker Sunny and flip-flopper Sarah, who had just started in Harpers Ferry. As the spiritual halfway point, Harpers Ferry is a common starting point for flip-floppers, probably the third most common thru-hike start point after Springer and Katahdin. I enjoyed hiking around Sarah and Sunny the next day as well.

That second day, I saw, and climbed, the original Washington Monument, and got great views at Annapolis Rocks and Black Rock Cliffs.

The view from High Rock Ledges the next morning was the same, but it was really sad to see all the graffiti and trash on the trail there. The descent down from there was tough and rocky. It felt like a hint of what I expected to come in Pennsylvania, but that turned out to be the hardest part of the day.

Soon after, we crossed the state line, and the Mason-Dixon line, into PA! Officially back in the North, baby! It felt pretty wild to go through two states so quickly after being in Virginia for so long. It also felt strange to already be in Pennsylvania, the seventh state on the AT and the first that I’ve already spent significant time in. That will be the case for all of the rest of the states to come!

The Pennsylvania AT section is rather infamous for its rocks, but I found the beginning of the state to be quite pleasant. I went through several public parks and picnic areas, which was an interesting change of pace. Nice to have real bathrooms and often water spigots. I’ll always jump at the opportunity not to have to filter water.

The trend of awesome shelters continued in southern PA, too. For some reason, a lot of the shelters in this section were actually two small shelters in one spot. This led to some creative use of the space!

There was no better example of this than Quarry Gap Shelter, where I stopped for elevensies the next day. Holy cow! It was the nicest shelter I had seen on the entire trail, with a swinging bench, flower planters, and more all nestled in a beautiful rhododendron grove.

That day was a beautiful and diverse section of trail as I approached the halfway point. I passed by an eerie pine forest, interesting red undergrowth where there had been a controlled burn, and lots of flowers. It made for a wonderful backdrop to cross the official halfway point right at the end of my day!

I sat at the halfway point for quite a while, reflecting on my hike so far. What a wild, varied, wonderful experience it has been. I felt mixed emotions to be there: so excited to have come so far, can’t believe I’m already halfway there, can’t believe I’m only halfway there, I’m not ready to be done, but I don’t have to be because I have so far to go!

The next morning dawned veery hazy. We were finally seeing the effects of the Canadian wildfires. I could smell the smoke as well as see it, and I could feel it making me cough. It did not make for good hiking. Luckily, I was only going 4 miles that morning before a very different sort of challenge at the Pine Grove Furnace General Store.

The general store is the site of the famous half gallon challenge. The idea is simple: eat a half gallon of ice cream in one sitting. Easy, right? I was excited to take it on that morning. Way back at the beginning of my hike, I had promised myself that I would prioritize my health and wouldn’t do anything silly with respect to that; in particular, this meant not doing the 4 state challenge, and not trying the half gallon challenge either. Well, at this point I had a pretty good sense of my hiker hunger levels and my limits, and I figured I could take it on.

When I arrived at the store, I was pleased to run into Meadow and Victory, who I had met way back near Marion, VA! Meadow was working on finishing up her half gallon challenge. Victory had a pint, and was perfectly happy with that.

Now it was my turn! There are strategy considerations when it comes to flavor choice. You don’t want something too heavy, so you particularly want to limit the chunks – no Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough for me. You also might not want to select one of your favorite flavors, since many people never want to eat that flavor again after eating a half gallon of it. In fact, the big containers aren’t a half gallon anymore, but only 1.5 quarts, so you have to get an additional pint to finish the challenge. This allows you to get some flavor variety if you want. I selected simple ol’ chocolate vanilla for my 1.5 qts, resolving to see how I was feeling before committing to a pint flavor (or having one at all). I got the ice cream and it was on.

Meadow and Victory stayed to cheer me on. I had a great time hanging out with them as I ate. I took it slow and steady, and it went down pretty easily! Feeling relatively good after a quart or so, I selected mint chocolate chip for my pint: my favorite flavor. I was out to prove something to myself.

It was rather mediocre Hershey’s ice cream, especially the “Green Mint Chip.” (Yes, I am an ice cream snob, I admit it.) But this actually was a good thing, since it was less rich and far fewer calories than I expected: “only” 2370 total!

I’m glad to say that I totally crushed the half gallon challenge. It took me 94 minutes in all. Honestly, it was way less painful than I expected! I was pleased with my flavor choices, and of course, I’m still proud to call mint chocolate chip my favorite flavor.

I had essentially set aside the whole day for this, thinking that I wouldn’t be in much of a state to hike after the ice cream. But I found myself ready to hike on surprisingly soon, after I digested a bit. Before I could go, though, Cookie arrived, who I hadn’t seen since Damascus! I was the only other hiker there at that point, so I stayed to cheer her on while she took on the half gallon challenge. It was cool to see her again and connect with her. Eventually, Dutch, Heimlich, and Yoga all arrived to do the challenge as well! It was a great time hanging out with them all.

I ended up spending 8 hours there! I was happy to be flexible. I saw the nearby AT museum, which was quite nice and new. Eventually, believe it or not, I was hungry for more food – especially after seeing and smelling the fresh cut fries from the general store all day. I got a delicious hot dinner before finally hiking out for a few more miles. Luckily, the smoke had completely cleared during the afternoon, and it never bothered me again. It was a great, unique day.

The next day, I navigated through a fun, difficult boulder maze. I even took my pack off at one point to get up to the next rock ledge. I also reached the end of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which I had first walked along all the way back at Springer Mountain.

From there, I descended into Cumberland Valley. The next ~20 miles were shockingly flat as we crossed the valley! It was a pleasant change of pace. I walked through beautiful farmland that reminded me of Kansas and made me think of Macy a lot.

I ended my day at a trailhead halfway through the valley, just as a storm was brewing. That last mile was the fastest mile I had hiked on the whole trail, to escape the rain!

There, I met up with a distant cousin of mine, Ethan, who lives in nearby Carlisle, PA. We got Indian food for dinner and had a really nice evening together. I had actually never met him before! The trail brings people together 🙂

Ethan was kind enough to get me a hotel room for the night. I was glad to have the chance to get out of the rain, shower, and do laundry. Unfortunately, when I got back to the hotel, I was told that the dryers were broken and so I couldn’t do my laundry. The guy at the front desk was a real dick about it too. That was really frustrating.

I spent a relaxing morning talking to my family and Macy, who were all in Chicago for my brother’s graduation. Congrats Nick! I really wished I could be there with them all; that was the time I felt like I was missing out the most.

After lunch at the Middlesex Diner across the street from the hotel, I Ubered(!) back to the trail, where I was delighted to find a wonderful trail magic spread courtesy of none other than Cookie’s parents! I only felt a little guilty partaking in the trail magic having yet to hike that day, and having just shown up by car xD It was nice to chat with Cookie’s dad! It was interesting to hear the perspective of the parent of another thru-hiker that I know.

Crossing the rest of Cumberland Valley that afternoon was quite pleasant, and I enjoyed hiking with a pair of nice section hikers, Carmen and Ruth. At Darlington Shelter that night, I was pleased to run into my trail friends Mousetrap and Happy Knees again. I ended up not cooking dinner that night, since I still felt pretty full after lunch at the diner and the trail magic.

That turned out to be a big mistake. I felt tired and hungry and sorta out of it the next morning. It felt like my heart wasn’t in it that morning as I hiked, which was kind of a scary feeling. Was this the Pennsylvania Blues? It was also a hot day, and the trail was pretty rocky – a hint of what I knew would truly come soon enough as I got further into PA. The rocks weren’t too bad, but it was still a tough descent into Duncannon, PA.

Unsurprisingly, I perked up once I had lunch, and especially once I got into town. I hadn’t originally planned to stop in Duncannon, but at this point, I was pretty desperate to do laundry, so I was glad to use the laundromat there, especially with handy loaner clothes from the hostel next door.

I decided to stay in town that night, since it was already rather late, and I was tired and needed a break. You’ll notice that my resolution of being more flexible is going splendidly so far 🙂 Unfortunately, being more flexible often means going slower. There’s a temptation to always go-go-go on the trail, but I have to remind myself that it’s not always about the mileage. It’s hard, but good to strike a balance between taking time to smell the roses and still making progress.

I was glad I stayed the night. Duncannon was a cute little town on the beautiful Susquehanna River. I slept at another nice church hostel, where I happened to be the only one there. It was cool to have the place to myself. I got dinner with Dutch at the Doyle Hotel, an old, famous establishment. The food was good; the lodging, not so much, apparently.

After dinner I was excited to run into several more old friends, Freelancer and Dapper Dan. I got dessert at a great ice cream place around the corner from the church. It was the best ice cream I’ve had on trail so far! It was a fitting conclusion to a good, rejuvenating evening in town after a subpar morning.

Yes, I got mint chocolate chip. And I loved it.