Day 96
Start: Sand Spring
End: Harpers Ferry Appalachian Trail Conservancy
Miles Hiked: 16.3
Miles on AT: 1026.0
Follow my journey on Instagram (@jenbrownhikes) for more updates!
This morning I woke up excited for the day ahead – Harpers Ferry day! Harpers Ferry is the psychological halfway point on the Appalachian Trail, meaning I was basically going to be done with the first half of my hike. Crazy! Harpers Ferry is where hikers get their photos taken outside of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) and can look at the photos of the hikers that have passed through before them. I was excited to celebrate this huge milestone and search for familiar faces in the hiker book.
But first, I had to get there. The morning passed in a blur. I had a good number of miles to complete today and I had a deadline; the ATC closed at 4 pm, so I needed to get into town at least an hour before that.
I kept my head down and hiked for the first 10 miles. The terrain only had a few inclines and was mostly flat, so I was able to put down good miles in between stopping to eat blackberries and wine berries (I still can’t pass those by without a taste).
At lunchtime, I reached a road crossing and found myself right on the border of Virginia and West Virginia. If I looked in one direction, Virginia welcomed me, if I looked in the other, West Virginia.
There was a parking lot there that looked like a convenient place to sit and eat lunch. As I was approaching, someone started walking towards me with a big smile on their face. It was Janitor! An equally huge smile broke out across my own face; I wanted to give him a huge hug, but I was too sweaty and smelly. I opted for a smaller embrace instead.
Janitor surprised me to walk the last 6 miles into Harpers Ferry with me. It was such a treat to have him back on trail with me! I ate lunch and we chatted for a while, trying to stay out of the sun as much as possible; it was another scorcher today.
Next up: the last push to town. Again, the trail was mostly flat with a descent to end the day, but the heat and stagnant air still made it a challenge. Janitor was light on his feet since he only had a slackpack, but he now felt sorry for me since he now knew firsthand just how hot the weather that I had to hike through was.
About 3 miles in, we crossed into West Virginia for the very last time. Yay!! Soon, we were crossing the Shenandoah River Bridge and we’re on our way to the town.
At this point, I was getting hungry (I typically eat every 2-3 hours), so the last tiiiny climb to the ATC was a little rough. My blood sugar was plummeting, but I wanted to get there more than I wanted to take a break.
After a few more short steps, we made it!!! There were at least 5 or 6 other hikers there, including Sparkles and G3, the couple I had met in Shenandoah. I got my picture, drank a cold Sprite, and sat down to pour through the book of hikers photos.
If you’ve never been to the ATC in Harpers Ferry and you’re an Appalachian Trail fan, I highly recommend going. They don’t only keep a book of photos of current hikers, but they have books of hikers from decades ago. While I was looking for familiar faces from this year, there was a woman next to me who hiked in 2021 and was going down memory lane seeing the faces of hikers from her year.
I saw so many familiar faces as I looked through this year’s book. I was happy to see my fellow hikers making it, although a few ended their hikes at Harpers Ferry. Plus, there were so many faces I hadn’t seen at all! Funny how that can happen.
Another cool thing about stopping by the ATC is that hikers get a new hiker number. Remember the tag I got back at Amicalola in Georgia? Well, I was hiker #2010 to register my hike. At Harpers Ferry, I was hiker #1136 to pass through. That’s a big chance!
Eventually, I had my fill of the ATC and was ready to get some food. Janitor and I went to a family-run restaurant not too far away after cleaning ourselves up a bit, and then came back to relax. My plan is to take at least one zero day to rest and celebrate this huge milestone.
And that’s day 96.
A version of this post originally appeared on TheTrek.co.