(...nope...not leaving...I like it here....)
"Beans., here...back on the (virtual) trail after getting way too pampered and relaxed on my Zero Weekend"
At least the heat of last week (which was oppressive) has broken and it is a comfortable mid-70's now...dipping into the 60's tonight they say!
And, of course, the rain is back.
So there is that.
One of the things they fail to tell you on the onset of this thru-hike I will share with you now...during the few months you CAN hike the trail...you can count on about 75% of the days...it will be raining.
I think that is a pretty important detail to have just left out, don't you?
Me too.
Anyway...after breakfast (waffles in town) and gathering a few supplies we are off, again...
Only 17.5 miles to the Maryland State Line through this sliver of West Virginia.
The other sight to see along the trail in West Virginia besides Harpers Ferry seems to be in Monroe County
Bird Photos taken from Hanging Rock
https://youtu.be/w1Crm2cafdU
Monroe County
Indian Creek Covered Bridge
Cooks Mill (est. 1877)
https://youtu.be/n85re-YYblE
You can understand Denver's lyrics a bit better here
Almost heaven, West Virginia
Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River
Life is old there, older than the trees
Younger than the mountains, blowing like a breeze
Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River
Life is old there, older than the trees
Younger than the mountains, blowing like a breeze
Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain mama
Take me home, country roads
All my memories gather round her
Miner's lady, stranger to blue water
Dark and dusty, painted on the sky
Misty taste of moonshine, teardrop in my eye
Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain mama
Take me home, country roads
Truly a short but beautiful section of the trail.
The scent of Christmas all around. Easy hiking with the fir tree needles cushioning your step, here.
Soon we cross over into Maryland.
Where we will head to the Ed Garvey Shelter
The Shelter built to memorialize hiker Ed Garvey who through-hiked the AT in 1970 and died of heart failure in Virginia in September of 1999.
It has bear boxes available and a water source nearby.
Ed Garvey was the author of the 1971 book Appalachian Hiker which he wrote to raise awareness for thru-hiking The Trail.
Hike from Harpers Ferry WV to Ed Garvey Shelter MD
https://youtu.be/AQ-47pYdyEs
An easy day's hike, and now to fix pinto's to go with the chunk of cornbread I brought with me from my stay at Harper's Ferry & the last of my fresh peaches.
See...coffee and candy isn't the only reason for my trail name.
Later,
"Beans"
