1/2 way tttttttthere! 1090.5 miles! At Furnace State Park, PA.

Harper's Ferry was good for the body and soul! Tourists seem to think what I'm doing is a big deal, I got a lot of encouragment today. What a beautiful town!

Made it to Harper's Ferry, WV!!! The mental half way point!!

West Virginia!! Now I have to walk 15 more miles to be out of Virginia for GOOD!

Emac got to see a bear with us!! Also a black snake and two turtles. Thanks Shenandoah for making her trip complete! We also had lunch on Skyline Drive!

Aqua Blazing

We just finished our three day canoe trip! We went 50 miles on the river and had to portage over 2 dams! The first day out it was cloudy but still warm. We stealth camped next to a cow pasture. The second day it was sunny. We got a ride into town and ate at a chinese food buffet! An older gentleman in a kayak let us camp in his front yard!! Today it was sunny, and then it started raining. We rigged up our tarp over the canoe, it mostly looked ridiculous! Now we are getting cleaned up and waiting for the arrival of our best friend EMac to arrive tomorrow!! This trip is getting better and better!

Today we are "aqua blazing" (canoeing) the South River. We saw lots of cranes, a muskrat and an EAGLE!

Blue Blazing!

When you hike on the Appalachian Trail it is called White Blazing on account of all the white blazes on the trees that you were to go. When you take a side trail it is called blue blazing because most of those paths are marked with blue. On Thursday Kara and I decided to take a detour. The AT runs right along the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) for 90 or so miles. We hopped off at mile 75 on the BRP and just started walking along the side of the road. It was amazing. Every 2 or 3 miles there was a gorgeous view of the mountains. We became familiar with the park rangers, cleaning crew and campground hosts. Everyone knew who we were, either because they thought we were crazy or because there isn't much to gossip about in the National Park Service! The road doesn't have much traffic because it is just a scenic parkway. Around mile 50 on Friday Greg came into town. He wasn't supposed to meet up with us again but I'm so glad he did! On Thursday we walked 22 miles with no packs on! We threw them in the car right next to the cooler. These girls were hiking in style, every three miles we took a break in the car with AC and sodas! We walked 83 miles in 5 days! Not too shabby! Now we are in Waynesboro, VA. Tomorrow we will be in Shenandoah National Park.

Bear!!

Well folks, 700 miles into the trip we finally saw a bear. It was about 150 yards away and maybe 150 lbs. He was like a teenager bear. We were excited! We saw some turkey vultures today and a doe with her extremely newborn fawn. Also, I started a campfire all by myself!! I know that may not sound like much but I've always been with someone who was a pro fire-starter! This last stretch of trail through Dragon's tooth and Mcafee's knob has been awesome. Well, the views have been awesome, the trail has been horribly rocky.