Goodbye Harper's, A Plus Day

Post date: Jun 27, 2016 11:23:17 AM

Monday, 6/27. Just finished coffee and muesli for breakfast, sitting at a nice picnic table at Ricky Run Shelter, mile 1039. It's a beautiful morning. Wind blowing, but not too hard, cool, but not too cool. Just right! Hard to hear the birds over the wind, but I did hear the yellow billed cuckoo very distinctly. Nice!

Yesterday I hiked out of Harper's Ferry kind of late. I went to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, which opened at 9, to have my picture taken for their official book of thru hikers, then spent time looking around the town. As most know, John Brown was a major figure here in the Civil War time period and there is a lot to see. Wish I had had more time- I probably would have taken a zero day if the tendon problem had not occurred. Now my cushion is effectively gone. I have 1150 more miles and 91 days to get back home on 9/25, a week before I have to return to work. So, I have to average 12.64 miles per day the rest of the way. Which means if I do less than that, it's a minus day. More, a plus day. New Hampshire will be tough and the average will plummet there, so have to anticipate that too. Yesterday I got to Crampton Gap shelter tired and wanting to end the day's hike. That would have been 11.4 miles- less than the 12.64, so a minus day subtracting from days earned towards a zero. I deliberated for a long time. The shelter looked enticing, resting my legs a dream. Stay or push on? The decision was made when I found that the water source at Crampton had dried up. So, it was on to Rocky Run where I am now, and a plus day at 15.4 miles!

When I returned to the trail at mile 771, I had to average about 13 per day, so I've whittled it down slightly.

Now at mile 1039, Maryland, 6th state, onward to Pennsylvania.

Have a plus day!!