It’s All Relative

So this morning (June 20), I woke up at the Airbnb in Harpers Ferry with S. and Thistle and soaked up the last few hours I had in a nice, air-conditioned environment before heading back to the trail. Now I’m at the Crampton Gap shelter, which is about 11 miles north of Harpers Ferry, in Maryland.

After we left the Airbnb, S. and I returned to the ATC one last time so we could drop off some things in the hiker box there. I had a lot of extra food that I either knew I wasn't going to eat or couldn’t fit into my food bag, but it was all very high-quality stuff — a couple hiker meals, crackers, cookies, nuts, packaged tuna — and some non-edible things, too, like sunscreen packets and an extra bowl and fork. The hiker box was pretty much empty, except for some sugar packets, so it was nice to be able to add some decent stuff to it. [Wife note: Teatime and Schnitzel were there — they came through Beagle Gap when we were doing Trail Magic — so we got to chat for a bit, which was cool.]

And then it was time to head back to the trail. S. drove me back to the park where I’d come into town, and I started hiking at around 11:30. It was a bit of a weepy goodbye, because S. and I don't know the next time we'll be able to meet up. We’ve seen each other quite a few times so far, which has been fantastic. So, there was the beginning of May in Damascus, then again in mid-May when I came home to meet up with Charlie, and then about a week or so later, when I wasn't feeling very well, and then again when I hit the Charlottesville area, just before our anniversary. And of course, just now in Harpers Ferry. So, lots of visits, but now the next one is uncertain. From here on out, we’re going to be too far apart for S. to reasonably drive to meet me, and our pet sitter (who’s awesome) is pretty much booked for the rest of the summer, so S. is kind of stuck until she can find another option. I hope we can figure something out at some point.

Anyway, it was quite toasty today. The trail went through the woods for a little bit at first, maybe half a mile, and then popped out into the historic portion of Harpers Ferry. I guess the whole town is the “historic portion,” really. The extra historic portion, then. And there was just no shade anywhere. I walked down some cobblestone streets and then headed across an old railroad bridge over the river. And at that point, I was in Maryland. And interestingly, for the first bit of the trail in Maryland, you walk along a portion of the towpath of the C&O Canal.

So that was interesting. And oddly enough, I think my body has become so accustomed to constantly going either up or down that by the time I was a few miles into a completely flat walk, my hips really started hurting. I had to pull over for a bit and do some stretches, which seemed to help some, but I was actually kind of worried that it was going to become a problem. Eventually, I hit a couple-hundred-foot climb on the other side of the C&O Canal. And then I was sort of back in the woods after that and walking along a bit of a ridgeline. The hike was generally pretty easy, but the heat made things challenging.

At one point, I bumped into a guy I’d met at the ATC, named Beans, who’d asked me to sign his pack. And he started complaining to me about how he had dropped his pack in the river when he was floating, and even though he’d put it into a trash bag, all his stuff had gotten soaked, and a bunch of things had fallen out. So he’d had to spend the better portion of the afternoon trying to recover his stuff from the bottom of the river. That seemed very strange to me, and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what had happened or why he’d been floating his pack in the river in the first place. But I didn't really want to ask too many questions.

About 10 miles in, the trail crossed into Gathland State Park, which has a monument dedicated to Civil War correspondents. I don't really know anything about it, but it was a very nicely manicured area, and more importantly for me, personally, it had a water source. There was a water faucet next to the restrooms, and those were closed, unfortunately, but having access to potable water was outstanding. Over the first 10 miles of the day, I’d had four liters of water already. I drank some more water there and then filled up another four liters to bring with me to the campsite tonight.

While I was there, I bumped into a hiker named Epsilon, who is doing the third leg of the Triple Crown right now. And before long, another hiker showed up, named Mowgli. I met him the other day at the ATC. He said he’d been in Harpers Ferry for five days, hanging out with his girlfriend, so it was about time that he got back on the trail. It turns out, Mowgli is also on the third leg of his Triple Crown.

So it was really interesting to me to listen to those guys talk about all the things they’d seen on the Continental Divide Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail. I expressed my awe at their hiking achievements, and of course, they both downplayed it all and said that other people do all three trails in a single year. I was just like, “Look, your achievement is incredibly impressive to me, regardless of how long you took to do it.”

But really, it's all relative. I mean, since they’re about to finish the Triple Crown, they're impressed with the people who were able to do it in a year. Since I will most likely never do the Triple Crown, I'm impressed with anyone who does it, in any amount of time. We all talked a bit about that phenomenon, and Mowgli said that once I hit the Long Trail up in Vermont, I’ll meet people who will be impressed with me, because they’re only doing the Long Trail, while I’m doing — or at least attempting — the whole AT.

It's just interesting that there's this sort of whole spectrum of people out there hiking at various levels and different speeds, and there’s always someone who is doing “more” or  “better” than you are. And at the same time, there’s always someone who’s impressed with what you’re doing.

I hung out with Epsilon and Mowgli for a while but then decided it was time to get going and walk the final six-tenths of a mile to the campsite. There are some pretty good tent sites here, but it's a little buggy. I’ve already cooked and eaten dinner, and I have to say, I really missed being able to just go to the fridge and get a cold beer.

Otherwise, things are fine. It’s going to be hot tomorrow but then really hot on Saturday and Sunday. I'm going to try to get up early and cover as much ground as I can tomorrow, because I expect I might not get big miles in over the weekend.