Shenandoah River
Third morning in a row of big waffle breakfast, coffee, bacon, and fresh fruit. Somehow we managed to go through 2 bottles of maple syrup?! Today wrapped up a great visit and rest with Jimmy and Judy (THANK YOU!!!!). We packed up and they drove us back to Harper’s Ferry mid-morning. After dawdling a bit in the AT Centre then saying bye to J&J, we hit the trail about 1:30pm. The first thing we did was cross the Shenandoah River then head up the ridge 1000ft climb above it. At the top we crossed the West Virginia-Virginia border, having only spent 3 trail miles in WV (it’s the shortest state on the trail). A fairly easy afternoon hike with some ups and downs and a few rocky sections, but we made good time into Blackburn Trail Centre, 13 miles. We decided to stop there to fill up our water and eat dinner, then either camp or head on a few more miles. While we were starting to make dinner the caretaker asked if we’d like some leftover pulled pork and ribs? We weren’t exactly feeling short on good food after our time off but we’re smarter than to pass on good food 🙂 We ate with a northbound hiker named Romeo who went and pilfered us a couple of root beers, too!
We decided to hike on after eating and headed back up to the ridge and another couple miles before finding a flat spot to set up camp. We have a couple new items from REI we’re breaking out tonight – I got a lightweight pillow hoping to sleep a bit better, and we replaced or low-quality Kmart sheet with a silk-cotton blend liner that I unstitched to make into a sheet (and weighs 4.6oz – 1/4 the weight). And, Ryley got a new hat!! So he was sporting that today, too.