Appalachian Trail SOBO Day 69 – Historical Harpers Ferry
3rd october 2023
Harpers Ferry
Daily miles: 0
Total miles: 1180.4
I slept like I normally do in town… kind of badly. It was hotter than hot in the dorm room and my body was throbbing. I also couldn’t lie on my left side because that bite or sting or whatever it is was too sore with pressure on it, and it was burning up.
I woke naturally around 5am but then after telling my body I didn’t have to get up I slept until about 7:30am
There would be no way I could walk around DC for the day. The focus is rest. I lay in bed a while and did all the updating I needed to do. It’s actually a lot to keep on top of and it would be really nice to just lie back and watch a movie or something.
The bite sting thing must have oozed something in the night because it really hurt when I took my pants down and it were stuck to them and I ripped it off, unknowingly.
Around 9am we walked into town to get some breakfast, which was about a mile, but mostly downhill so it wasn’t too bad. We went to a bakery where I got a chocolate milkshake (the good kind made with ice cream and made extra thick for me) and a bacon, egg, cheese, spinach and avocado sandwich.
Delicious breakfast sandwich
We went to the outfitter because I wanted to ask about shoes. I was planning to find a better pair but they had no shoes at all in my size. So I’m stuck with these ones which are not great, but it’s all I’ve got for now. We also wanted to do Darn Tough exchange but they don’t stock Darn Toughs.
Next it was time to go back to the ATC and we walked up the trail instead of the road so we actually walked 0.5 miles of trail today; a nero rather than a zero!
We had been talking a lot about the big monument in Washington DC, we saw this little one instead
Harpers Ferry
It has a lot of history for America
The trail alongside the river
At the ATC I picked up my package from a trail angel called David which was huge and I carried it back to the hostel on my head because it was heavy and it was about half a mile, my arms weren’t strong enough for that!.
My box of British snacks from trail angel David
Back at the hostel I opened the package of British snacks he had very kindly sent to me and and took the things I liked the most and then distributed the remainder to my friends – it was too much for me to carry all of. After an hour of faffing about I walked back to the ATC because I had to do something on the computer, which was very handy to have, they have this hiker lounge where you can hang out and use the facilities.
Harpers Ferry hostel
The British snacks
After that I walked back to the hostel via the post office and picked up a package from my 2018 friends Peaches and Jukebox. I had so much stuff sent to me that it meant I didn’t need to resupply.
I managed to get a couple of hours of lying down time; watched the new series of Taskmaster with my feet raised. Cal’s friend came to see him and gave us a ride to Walmart. I didn’t need any food but I got some corn plasters in the hope I can get rid of this corn.
More trail magic
A box of goodies
Awwww
So much love for these two
They think I should eat more vegetables!
We picked a bunch of food to have for dinner. Pyro’s mum said she would like to buy is dinner – it’s his last day with us today as he has to go home and prepare for more adventures in New Zealand – so that was really nice of her.
We got chips, dips, a rotisserie chicken (my choice because I’m really unusually craving meat), potato things, salads, taquito things… and a whole bunch of other stuff. We set it out as a picnic outside and of course we got way too much food and couldn’t eat it all.
Family dinner, and Cal is back with the band
Around 8pm I needed to go and lay down.
I should have called my parents today but I didn’t because I was feeling kind of emotional – for reasons unknown – and I thought talking to them might make me cry.
