Harper's Ferry

Julie and I arrived in Harper's Ferry around 1:30 to find the boys sitting in front of the AT headquarters. They were on a zero day and ready for some R&R at the Hampton Inn in Martinsburg. The guys all looked fantastic, though I must say that Spencer looked like he had a bad day at the acupuncturist with the hundreds chigger bites on his legs. After hot dogs in Harper's Ferry and a quick stop at Chick-Fil-A, we checked in the Hampton around 4:00. As I made dinner reservations at the Outback, the guys got busy with laundry,resupply,blog updates,etc. Dinner at 7PM was just in the nick of time, then to Wal-Mart for food and stuff, then back to the room for Zoe's homemade birthday cake(Ben 21,Spencer 20). We were able see fireworks from the hotel parking lot which was nice of the town to do for the boys half way celebration.
Nobody wanted to jog with me the next morning, so I slept in and woke up to the voices of guys planning the next thousand miles or so. After breakfast, we were packed up and on our way back to Harper's Ferry to continue this incredible journey. Ben and Spencer were off about 0945 and Garrett was underway after a trip to the outfitters. Great job guys! Good Luck!

Harper's Ferry - A Zero on the Fourth

We all enjoyed a fantastic zero day in Harper's Ferry, WV and Martinsburg, WV. The Harrington's arrived around 1:30 PM at the Appalachian Trail Conservancy Headquarters located in Harper's Ferry. From there we partook in the local 4th of July celebration with a low-carb hot dog (they ran out of buns), some watermelon, chips, a cookie and a coke. All of that for a dollar! A quick rain storm didn't drown our hunger so we headed to Martinsburg for our Hotel and some more eating. We ate the last Chic-Fil-A we would most likely have until we return back below the Mason-Dixon line, and then settled into our hotel. Yet another meal at Outback followed just a few hours later as we stuffed our faces with appetizers, and STEAK. A trip to Wal-Mart was then in need to get food for our dinners the next few nights. There were quite a few firework shows (including all of us in the Hampton Inn parking lot with sparklers) which were quite enjoyable. New pictures have been added of the past week as well. We are looking forward to the second half of the trip and are ready to really crank some mileage out! That's all for now, stay tuned.

We're halfway there!

Hello! We are in historic Harper's Ferry and having a great time with the Harrington's. We are about to go to Outback Steakhouse for some dinner and then do some grocery shopping for the next segment on the trail. We will blog more after dinner but i wanted to post quickly and say we're here and I've updated the Actual Mileage and added another album to the photo gallery.

More later,
Bandanna Ben

Harper's Ferry, WV

I just got in to Harper's Ferry. If you haven't been to this historic town it is full of Civil War era buildings and a lot of history so check that out sometime. In other news I was visited by a dear friend of mine from Cornell last night. We day hiked up Stony Man Mountain in the Shenandoah park, watched a beautiful sunset, and brought some cold ones and drank with some other thru-hikers while watching the sun drop. It was nice to perform a little trail magic of our own and the sunset was incredible. Today we drove up to Harper's Ferry to meet up with Spencer and Ben who should be here this afternoon. More to come later on today and tomorrow as we take a zero day with the Harrington's for Independence Day. God bless America and all of you who are following our trip with your thoughts, prayers, and support.


-G

Waynesboro, VA

Greetings from Waynesboro, VA. Today we were met by Spencer (Warpzilla)'s mom and his step dad. We utilized the local laundry, the grocery store, and doctor's office. Spencer has come down with a bad case of "chiggers"; we initially thought that it was itchy acne or some sort of rash, but it appears that it is a bad case of this pesky insect. He got a prescription ointment to combat the bugs and they should be under control or gone shortly.

Also this week we decided during our night in the greater Lynchburg area with the Haeseker's that we wanted to lighten our loads a little bit with our upcoming high mileage in the Shenandoah national park. We decided "to go cold" or to basically not heat up any water for our meals in the foreseeable future. We are losing our stove fuel, stoves, and cook sets. This shaves weight, yet also helps with time in that we need to gather less water and we have less to do when we get to camp at night.

Other changes involve dropping various items of gear. I am probably dropping my sleeping bag and shifting to a liner until northeastern Pennsylvania at the earliest. We have decided to move away from Nalgene bottles and are using plastic drink bottles from the store that are recyclable, easily replaceable, and weigh less than Nalgene bottle's. We are constantly trying to shave as much weight as we can, because we are faced with doing the stretch of Waynesboro to Harper's Ferry by the Fourth of July. This is a stretch of about 160 miles that will get us to the symbolic midpoint of the trail in Harper's Ferry at the ATC headquarters and we will cover it in about 5 days. We are going to then take off the Fourth of July in Harper's Ferry and get geared up for Pennsylvania.

This next 160 miles will probably require some long days and night hiking as well, yet we are ready for the challenge and our loads are lighter than ever.

Tonight we are posting some new photos so please enjoy those. Also we are going to try to update the accomplished mileage log as well.

Lynchburg, VA

Hello, today I am spending some time with some old friends here in Lynchburg, VA. Lynchburg is a short trip from Glasgow, VA and it has been amazing to catch back up with some old Raleigh connections. The Hutt's are connected to myself as well as Stephen. Their son Ren was in pre-school with Stephen and I back in 1989. They picked me up at the parking lot by the James River last night, and have fed me well and made me feel like a member of the family. A huge thank you to them for their amazing Virginia hospitality.

I finished the section from Pearisburg, VA to Glasgow, VA on schedule and was able to take it at a little slower pace and I think I may have found not only a shoe that works for me but also my trail legs. I am now on the 7th pair of shoes that I have hiked in this summer, this number is the current record on the trail, I guess that should make me proud I'm just not sure yet. My trail name is "Foot Locker," because of the difficulty I have had with finding footwear that works for me. The shoes that I am using now are popular among many thru-hikers, are stable, low-cut, and I have met people that have done 700+ miles in them so I think durability will not be a huge concern. I am now using the Montrail Hardrock. They did well the last two days from Daleville/Troutville to Glasgow, a stretch that I did in two days at an average of about 28 miles a day. I think I am now ready to jump back in with the crew. The local terrain is easier than earlier stretches, and the upcoming Shenandoah park is supposed to be well-graded and easy to hike through as well. Can't wait to see the other guys, but for now I am enjoying my day off.

-g

Mile Marker 620

Just got off the phone with Spencer tonight, he and Bandana Ben arrived into Pearisburg, VA this afternoon late after completing two 30mile plus days in a row. He sounded good just very pooped. I can't even imagine. The past two days have been the hottest so far, and Troop 215 you have been a life saver with the beverages you left behind. By Friday they should be in Catawba,VA and onto Glasgow by Monday June 25th. Glasgow will mark 1/3 of the way to Maine. Tonight they were spending the night in a real bed in a small local motel. After showers and dinner @ Hardee's, a visit to Dairy Queen, and laundry underway it sounded like they were looking forward to a good nights rest.