Q&A:
To all the classes thank you so much for following the blog. I hope you have a wonderful summer break.
We decided to buy a new water filter in Front Royal. We had been using chemical treatment, but we started to think it was not good for us to ingest chemical that kills all bacteria. Nick's using the new pump in the picture, and the water tastes sooooo good.
We made it to West Virginia!
Nick's new friend.
Harper's Ferry, the "mental" halfway point. We got to go to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy there where they took our picture and put us in a book. We were number 62 and 63 to come through Harper's Ferry this year. The lady said the numbers are up 40% already this year. Another thing we had to look forward to in Harper's Ferry is our first vistor. Paul came to visit us while we were here. It was great seeing an old friend, but the visit was way too rushed. He did take me to Wal-Mart so I could get my head shaved....thanks Paul.
Harper's Ferry did not offer many places to stay, so we ended up staying with this former thru-hiker. It was a very "interesting" household, but we appreciated the hospitality.
Ms Donna gave us a ride back to the Conservancy. She fit all of us with our packs in her station wagon. It still makes me laugh to think about how that must have looked.
Harper's Ferry is full of history. Thomas Jefferson mentioned this rock in a journal entry, so they have made it a tourist attraction.
Downtown Harper's Ferry. They even have a John Brown was museum.
That's a long way to walk.
The two guys in the picture with the station wagon had run out of money for the trip, so they decided to spend their last $100 on a train ride to DC and then fly to San Diego to live like bums for the rest of the summer.
You would think this duck could find a cleaner found for her babies to swim in.
I know that you thought the Washington Monument was in D.C., but we are here to tell you that it is really here in the Washington Monument State Park. This is the first Washington Monument.
The Devil's Racecourse. This is what we have heard northern Pennsylvania is going to look like. We made it to Pennsylvania sometime after this rock pile. There was no sign.
We have made it to the halfway point, or in the vicinity anyways. Since the mileage changes every year just a bit they do not put an official plaque up, so Nick has taken on the challenge of building one for this year. He looks so proud in this pic.
And here we are standing by his plaque at mile number 1089.1.
A close up of his hard work.
Sky Pilot and Grins hanging out at the Pine Grove General Store. This place is home to the 1/2 gallon challenge. Hikers try to eat a 1/2 gallon of ice cream as fast as possible. I think the record is 6 minutes. We did not try this, and we are proud of our decision. Everyone that did said they had diarrhea for the next 10 miles.
The general store is located in the Pine Grove Furnace State Park. This is an old furnace used from around 1880' to 1930's.
This is an old picture of the same furnace.
This state park has a lot of rules appartently. I am glad they summed up the bigs ones...no alcohol and the park hours.
Nick at Pole Steeple lookout. This rocky point overlooks the whole state park.
That is a big ant den.
So we were hiking in the mountains in PA, and all of a sudden we came down off the mountains and we walked out of the woods to this. We hiked about 11 miles through fields to reach a different set of mountains. It was a very different day of hiking!!!!!
In the middle of the fields we got to go through a cute, little town called Boiling Springs. This is why they named the town this...because of the boiling water.
Swans on Boiling Springs Lake.
We have crossed all the fields and reached the other mountains, and now we get to look back at what was just hiked across. This morning we were on those mountains in the background.
A foggy view of the Susquehanna River.
Indiana Jones, me, and Lunatic at the Doyle Hotel in Duncannon, PA. It was a very nice place to hang out and eat good burgers. Indiana Jones is from Indiana and Lunatic was born and raised in Hays, KS....can you believe it...a fellow Kansan! He lives in NYC now though.
Our second visitor...Olivia and Jennifer. Olivia happened to be in Pennsylvania for her birthday, so she swung by and picked us up to take us to Amish country.
It was very interesting to go see Amish country, and also kind of sad. It was kind of like going to the zoo since they do not acknowledge us and all the tourists just stare and take pictures.
The kids have a hard time ignoring the toursits though. They try hard not to smile and wave.
We took a buggy ride to find out more about this type of lifestyle. We learned that the people that were born into the religion, but decided not to become members have decided to exploit Amish. These people are the ones that run all the tourist shops...making money off of their knowledge of the religion.
The Amish have some big homesteads!!
Amish trucks?!? I think that is against their rules.
Olivia looked very hard to find this cute covered bridge...and look an Amish family going through the bridge.
What kind of people are the Amish? All over their country they have town names like Virginville and Fertility. This is Olivia standing by the Intercourse, PA sign.
You guessed it...they also have a Blue Ball, PA.
We made it back to the trail after our Amish day, but it has been very rainy. This seems to be the best view we have seen in a few days....a fire drying our stuff out. We did get to go to a Memorial Day picnic, which was very nice...a lot of food. The people were "interesting", and then when we were leaving the picnic we saw a naked man in the woods. It was a strange day.
Josh and Natalie hanging out at the shelter with us trying to try things out. They just started 5 days ago. I hope the wet weather does not kill their spirit. 
2 comments:
Congrats on making it to the "mental halfway point"! It's just me asking a question now since we are out of school. Can you start anywhere on the trail or do you have to start in Georgia? Could you start in Maine and work your way toward Georgia? Thanks for keeping us posted! Take care. Kim P.
Cool Cool Cool! This was by far your longest blog...I think. And since I was in it, your coolest. hee. Glad you made it to the picinic! Looks like you guys had fun. Oh and I really like Nick's halfway marker. He is just so creative you know? :) Hope to talk to you soon. -no need for name because you know who I am in this one. xoxo
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