Day 75- 1/2 update

Today I am in Pennsylvania, home of Rocky, the Amish, the cheesesteak, and the misplaced redneck. Much More relevant to me, the AT in Pennsylvania is known for rocks, Rattlesnakes, and heat. I’m about to Cross the halfway point of the trail later today and I crossed the Mason Dixon line yesterday. In Harpers ferry West Virginia, the “psychological halfway point”, I stayed at an airbnb with my Dad, Sister, and Dad’s friend, Shawn. They joined me for five days in front royal at mile 972 and we slack packed the last for four days. This was a nice break for me and it was great to see them. Surprisingly, it was also tough because it took me out of trail life and back to being around family, fresh cooked meals, and the luxuries of accommodation. When they left, the first couple of days back on the trail were difficult.

I’m finally out of Virginia after one month and three days. I enjoyed Virginia as it offered slightly easier hiking and I started doing bigger mile days as a result. However it was a challenging time in parts because the monontaunty of the journey started to play a role. It’s been two and a half months since I started. This is known as “the Virginia Blues” among thru hikers. More realistically it’s caused by the amount of time spent on the trail rather than the state of Virginia. Its challenging mentally because so much effort has been put into this and there’s still along ways to go. I’m trying to take it one day and one resupply stop at a time.

The highlights of Virginia for me were the triple crown which includes Devils tooth, Mcafee’s Knob, and Tinker cliffs(devils tooth and Mcafee’s knob are pictured above, apologies for camera quality). My Dad and sister visiting and hiking with me was definitely a highlight as well. I also enjoyed the town of Damascus in Southern Virginia with Ryan and Happy Thoughts. I plan to meet Ryan in two days in Duncannon, PA for dinner and a beer. Happy Thoughts’s foot problem wasn’t tendinitis and ended up being a stress fracture on the top of her foot. She hiked on it for about 150 miles, which I’m still trying to wrap my head around of how that’s possible. The last few days she hiked, I remember her being in agony at the end of the day. She is doing a work for stay at a hostel while her foot heals, which should be another few weeks, she will then resume her hike.

Harpers Ferry was my favourite town so far, I enjoyed learning about the history of the town and its charming lower town which still looks like it would in the 1800’s. In Maryland there were many civil war monuments which I found interesting reading and learning about the battles that took place there.

Wild life sightings- First confirmed Rattlesnake(pictured), Tons of deer. No bears ):