| 9/1/99 | Doc Alley came into the hostel late last night. We got talking, and he was going to take a zero-day today and he didn't know how his shin splints were going to be. So, Pack-man and I decided to leave Harper's Ferry. We were still bitter about not being better prepared for town and blowing yesterday as a town-day. My boots are having real problems and are starting to hurt my feet. I bought some expensive inserts and they seem to help. I will see how long I can keep these boots going. We climbed out of the river valley with the bitterness of feeling fleeced by the tourist trap of a town. We covered the 12 miles to Blackburn Trail Center. They are run by the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club. It's completely free and they are great! We walked up and the care-taker immediately welcomed us and gave us a cola. She later gave us ice-cream. I have to say the trail that the PATC maintains is some of the best trail that I have seen. Anyway, we met 4x4 here. I haven't seen him in some time. He had gotten off the trail for awhile for a wedding. He will try to work his mileage back-up to the mid 20's. More than I want to do on a consistent basis. Overall a great day. It's far better to be in the woods than in the city. Today's Trail mileage 13.8 Trail mileage 1,172.6 Trail Mileage left 987.6 |