✨️A second day of rest before going back on trail, leaving Harpers Ferry & entering Maryland.
Day 83: A relaxing day in Harpers Ferry
Mile Marker: 1025.7 Miles today: 0
I took the morning slow: waking up with the sunrising is the best, no alarms, just the naturel flow of time… Once I stretched, I got out of the tent & entered the hostel. We made some nice pancakes for breakfast. Once breakfast was done, the crew started to prepare themself for a day of floating on the Potomac (or the Shenandoah River). I stayed behind because I needed to work on my blog.
As much as I stayed awake late in the night when I was in a town to work on the blog & uploading pictures, I did not mind. But it is at this moment I questioned if I wanted to continue with it while on trail. I missed out on a day of floating with friends on a beautiful river for working on the blog… I knew I would get back to finish my blog eventually once I got off, especially since I did write in my journal daily.
Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy a relaxing day and not doing anything physical or in the direct sunlight! I talked to the people who were hanging around the hostel, got lost in my mind, simply enjoying the passing of time.
Once dinner time, came around, we went back to a restaurant in Harpers Ferry. Man on man, did we eat good. It’s one of the reasons I loved being in towns, just being able to eat as much foods as you can ever want & being able to take it! That night, we left the hostel & took a hotel room just outside of Harpers Ferry: having a bed & an access to a shower is amazing. I never want to forget how grateful I am to have access to those commodities.
Day 84: Harpers Ferry – Crampton Gap Shelter
Mile Marker: 1037 Miles today: 10.4
The next morning, we took the time to eat breakfast served at the hotel. We were back on trail at 10h45, late start! But before getting back at the trail head, we went at the post office we missed on Saturday since it closed at noon, and we got the at 12:05… I never forgot to look at the office hours after that. We also did another stop at the AMC building.
Is still remember the feeling leaving Harpers Ferry, the view and the atmosphere, it was a delight a pure joy. In my head, I knew I was approaching the real halfway point! And almost at the Maxon Dixon Line!!! A surreal feeling for me. Toward the end of the day, we took a long break at Gathland State Park … Did I mention the park is in Maryland, an other state boarder crossed!
On South Mountain, close to Burkittsville, Maryland, the public recreation area and historic preservation known as Gathland State Park is situated. George Alfred Townsend (1841–1914), a war writer who used the pen name “Gath” during the American Civil War, once owned the property that is now a state park. The War Correspondents Memorial Arch, one of the estate’s few remaining original buildings, is located next to the Appalachian Trail. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources manages the park. The National Park Service looks after the arch as a National Historic Monument.
We slept at the next shelter after the park where we did a nice fire & where I had my first mashed potatoes on trail with some cheese string in it!!! How good. I waited way too long to have a taste at it 😉
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