Day 4 - finish our approach to Harper’s Ferry

​we had to climb the hill to get out of the fantastic Blackburn Trail Center, then 12-13 miles left to hike to reach Harper’s Ferry.  The first half of that was some of the best terrain we had seen.  Undulating but mostly flat.  Far fewer rocks.  Speed demon Beeper actually lead us to a 21 minute mile for one of the miles.  Pretty crazy.  Then…the rock garden re-emerged.  And the heat came.  It was a tough finish.  For me, back to watching every single step to keep from turning an ankle or twisting a knee.  Beep and Scott went ahead.  Ed ended up waiting for me.  Much appreciated.  It was a slog.  To add insult to literal injury, the final half mile was downhill and a scramble over tree roots while dropping sometimes 18” at a time.  A long walk over the bridge spanning the incredible Shenandoah River was our (hot) finish.  So happy that Scott/Beep went and got the car and picked us up.  And it was done.

In conclusion, this was easily the hardest and more challenging backpack trip I have done.  I know have 667 miles completed on the AT.  I have seen and experienced some things.  I knew what I was signing up for by going with best friends from college - Ed and Beep.  They are endurance dudes.  I knew they liked doing big miles.  My motivation was to spend time with them, and this was accomplished.  It was easy camaraderie, as it always has been.  But..but..I am not wired for the endurance event.  We didn’t really get to enjoy camping/fires/relaxing.  My body is blown away.  Theirs is not!  It’s been 3 days since we got off and I  am still recovering.  I  am proud of all of us for what we accomplished - hiking one of the most strenuous stretches of the AT.  I do look forward to a next time that is more 5-10 miles a day and more chillin’ though!anyone curious, here was the step counts over those 54 miles, with Saturday being the peak at 46.5k.  -160k steps for 4 days.