Day 74: Front Royal, VA. 1219.8 miles from Katahdin, 969.4 miles to Mt. Springer

Less than a thousand miles to go! Never would have guessed the thought of 999 miles would be encouraging, but compared to the ground we've already covered, it's nice to have a 3 digit number left.

At the Appalachian Trail Headquarters in Harpers Ferry they have a three-dimensional map of the trail. If they had this at the beginning, it might give aspiring hikers a little more pause. 

The AT HQ people took our photo and informed us that we are #189 & 190 of people that started at Katahdin and made it this far south in 2015.

I am shocked. Fewer than 200 other nutters have done this?!? That is a fairly selective number of crazies we are now included in. There is another batch of 1300-1500 thru-hikers who have walked from the south, but still a pretty low total though all publicity claims these trails are becoming "ever more popular." It seems there is no danger of a long distance hiker boom affecting American life in any way just yet.

With 1200+ miles in 70 hiking days behind us, I was able to convince Forrest to take a 36-hour break from the trail to go celebrate Thanksgiving with nearby family. Never again will we be able to consume as many calories as our current hiking-metabolism allows, so why waste a food holiday? Re-fortified by copious amounts of butter and time in the good company of loved-ones, we are back to conquer The Shenandoahs.

Day 71: Harpers Ferry, WV 1165 miles from Katahdin, 1024 from Springer

We passed the halfway point! Since I met the boys in Pennsylvania, we crossed that marker and the Mason Dixon line-- both halfway markers in different ways.

When I got back on the trail, Travis was 5 days into the famous Pennsylvania rocks.

He had both ankles wrapped in bandages, a brace on one knee, and two sets of insoles in each shoe. 

After 5 more days, he decided to quit and go home. Forrest is bummed to lose a walking companion, but you can't fault someone for being reasonable.

We made it through the rocks of Pennsylvania and into Maryland, which was short (40 miles), but full of Revolutionary and Civil War history signs.

We followed the historic C&O canal towpath into Harpers Ferry, where we were met by Forrest's dad with beer--another great cameo appearance on the trail.

After dinner with him, we are ready to head into Virginia, the AT's largest section of trail.

Day 65: Dancannon, PA. 1051.7 miles from Katahdin, 1137.3 miles from Mt. Springer

This doesn't look like the Appalachian Trail! Because it's not. We escaped and went to Florida to celebrate my dad's 70th birthday. There were so many family members there, this is the most that could be captured on camera at any one time. 

After 5 days of feasting and sunning, Forrest returned to the AT and met his friend Travis to continue south from the EXACT point where we left off.

I, however, went to visit a friend before meeting Forrest back on the trail further south, at Duncannon. 

This is "cheating" at the Appalachian Trail and I feel I could become very good at it. I didn't know a trail could have 'rules,' but my personal rules trump them. My rules have a clause something like, 'if you live in Alaska where you never get to see anyone and you walk 900+ miles within 70 miles of one of your best friends, you stop and see her.' My rules have the benefit of much more calorie consumption.

I have skipped about 120 miles of shoe tearing, rock stumbling path and feel zero remorse about it. 

It is never logistically easy to get to or from the AT, and this detour required "planes, trains, & automobiles." I took an Amtrak train to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's Capitol, and then Ubered (a taxi service you can call from an app on your smartphone) to the trail.

Forrest, who changed to new shoes in Florida, says they are already destroyed-- the rocks in Pennsylvania are that awful.

We still have a lot of Pennsylvania to go, so I didn't even do a great job at cheating.

Day 55: Wind Gap, PA. 912.2 miles from Katahdin, 1273.7 miles from Springer

We made it into state number 8 of 14! Like George Washington, we crossed the Delaware River to get here. Unlike GW, we did it on the bridge of I-80.

Walking over 900 miles in 55 days seems like a lot, but in September, Heather Anderson set the record for thru-hiking the AT self-supported (she carried all her own gear and did her own resupplies, as we are doing). She hiked from Maine to Georgia (2180 miles) in 54 days, 7 hours, and 31 minutes. If I had gone with her, I would be done by now.

As we have walked into the more populated parts of the country, water became scarcer on the trail-- probably because most of it is being dammed and routed to cities.  In New York, kind people leave jugs of water at trail/road crossings for hikers.

The generosity we have received is unending. One guy even lets hikers stay and shower at his cabin on the trail.

We got a visit in New York from my cousin Charlie, who delivered supplies to us from Manhattan via Zipcar, which was a travel form not nearly as convenient as the name sounds.

In New York and New Jersey, many places the trail crosses the road near a deli, where hawking sandwiches to hungry hikers is an easy sell.

Bears are squashed into the little bit of wilderness left in these places. We saw two black bears on the trail, but didn't have any trouble with bears in camp.

The trail is flatter, but starting in New Jersey, it got extremely rocky-- there is no way to place your foot without the edge or corner of a rock stabbing your sole. 

The first people we saw in Pennsylvania was an Amish couple out for a weekend hike-- I could want nothing more from this state besides perhaps a Philly Cheese Steak.