Harpers Ferry, WV

1,000 miles down, only 1,080 miles to go! We are so stoked right now. To celebrate our 1,000 mile mark, Megan and I decided to take two days off from hiking and go to Washington D.C. to visit my friend Kate. Our feet and knees needed a little break from the rocks of northern Virginia. Megan's boots finally had to hit the graveyard, she broke down and bought a new pair of trail runners in Harper's Ferry, only after the heel of her boot cracked off. I made her swear an oath to her feet that she would no longer love a pair of boots more than her blessed feet.

We definitely enjoyed the hike in the Shenandoah National Park. The grade of the trail was great most of the time. There were a few lodges that were close enough to the trail that we could walk to and eat breakfast, lunch, or dinner. We hiked with a group of about five others most of the time in the park and declared one of the days as "Celebrate Virginia" day. We ate three full meals at Skyland Lodge and still hiked 16 miles to boot! Of course we didn't set up camp until 10 p.m. that night. But it was definitely worth it.

A few days out of the Shenandoahs we stayed at a hostel called Bears Den. It is run by the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club and was built in the late 1800s. It looked like a castle from outdoors. We were fed one Tombstone Pizza each, and a pint of Ben and Jerry's Icecream. Yummm! We didn't really want to walk out of that place, but Harpers Ferry was only 19 miles down the trail, so we made our way there.

Our ten day summer break is coming up quickly. We will be catching a ride home to Indiana to visit our friends and family on June 30th. I have lots of stories to tell!