Bubbles Day 16 (Tuesday, April 12th)

The David Lesser Memorial Shelter was a beautiful place to stay.  We were the only people in the shelter at night (there was a hiker down the hill camping.)  It was only nine miles to Harpers Ferry.  We had originally planned to go into town, grab our mail drop from the ATC (Appalachian Trail Conservatory) headquarters, and be on our way to the next shelter (which is about 8 miles out).   We realized that we had scheduled a zero day in Harpers Ferry so we decide to just get a hotel and stay for the night.

The Sprout on the way to Harpers Ferry (entering the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park)!

Only 0.4 more to go!! (taking a break on some steps)

Potomac River

The ATC was pretty cool.  We got to take our pictures and I’m officially the 25th flip flopper this year (I’m not sure why Sprout and Smudgy Cheeks are 26 and 27 since they were at the ATC before me!!)  It was also really cool because Mayhem was at the ATC.  When Smudgy Cheeks showed up, and then Sprout, he knew I wasn’t far behind.  He had to get going but wanted to say hi so he walked down the trail until he saw me.  This was just the encouragement I needed to finish my hike!! Thanks Mayhem!!!

Smudgy Cheeks, Bubbles, Mayhem, and The Sprout

Man do I want an AT Hammock!

It felt great to reach our goal of making it to the Harpers Ferry ATC!!

The Sprout in front of the ATC Visitor Center

Hiker hunger is the real deal!  For the first 10 days (except when we had Coney dogs) my appetite was not very big.  After we dropped our packs at the hotel, Jeff and I walked to the pizza shop to order dinner to-go.  We walked out with 2-16 inch pizzas, a foot-long Italian sub, a large order of mozzarella sticks, and an order of chicken wings!  Then, I was so hungry while we were waiting for our food to be cooked I ate a bag of chips and a Coke!  

The hotel had a washer and dryer so I did our laundry and we hung out there for the rest the night.  Although it is really nice to take a shower, it is weird taking a shower with short hair.  I went to put shampoo in my hair and had enough to clean 2 feet of hair!  I LOVE having short hair and I'm thinking of going a little bit shorter.

We are going through our food drop and getting ready to pack for our continued adventure tomorrow.

I'm so happy to see spring blooming!

How old do you think this house is?

The Sprout put his hand in here on purpose.  Grrrrr.

St. John's Lutheran Church today

Bubbles Day 15 (Monday, April 11th) Rollar Coaster Day 2!

We thought it might rain so we covered our packs today

We love to come up on streams

We've got to be really careful on these rocks to not roll an ankle!

Crazy that we had to walk over a highway on the trail!  (70 miles an hour!)

I slept really hard in the shelter and woke up happy and ready to finish the roller coaster.

The second day of the roller coaster was difficult and it took us almost six hours to complete.  After the roller coaster we still had about seven more miles to hike until we reached the next shelter.  We passed the Bear Den Hostel which made me think of Ox and how he stayed there.

Sprout and I hiked together for almost the entire day.  He walked ahead a little bit but would wait for me at the top of each hill/ mountain and in the valley on the trial.  After I passed the Virginia to West Virginia line I ran up the end of the mountain with John Denver’s Country Roads screaming, “We made it, we crossed a state line!”  Sprout was like, “What?  We did.”  He totally missed the sign!!!  I was going to walk down the hill with him to get a picture of him with the sign but he said that is okay, and we hiked on!

Half a state down...13.5 to go!

Was Poppa Lip on the trail with us?  Nice finger Sprout!

Directions to hostel on a tree

Flowers on the trail, aren't they cute?

When we were about three miles from camp I was tired and I needed some energy to get me to the shelter.   I stopped to make some coffee and Sprout went ahead. He wanted to get to camp to set up our tents and start to filter water.

Sprout and I finished the Roller Coaster together!!

Cowboy Coffee

Such a beautiful view

I'm not sure if this is a moth or butterfly but it is so cool!

After the Roller Coaster the trail became super easy and was so nice.  There was the perfect amount of wind.  The paths were covered in pine needles and it made the path like a pillow.  I was thankful for that as my feet are hurting!  I definitely think I need a bigger boot size.  My actual foot doesn’t hurt it’s really my toes.  I think they are getting scrunched.

I finally got my hiker hunger today.  I had a tortilla with peanut butter and crushed up cookie on it and it was delicious!

I’m thankful we are staying at the David Lessor Memorial Shelter tonight because it is absolutely beautiful.  There is even a porch swing hanging in the pavilion.  I’m excited to walk into Harper’s Ferry tomorrow.  This is the first town that we will walk through on the trail.  How cool would it be to live in a town where the AT actually comes through!!

Even though this is hazy I thought the evergreen was beautiful