Day 74 - Thursday, August 25

Linda

Got out at 7:30 and started toward Harper's Ferry and our first day of visiting and resting. The trail wandered up and down for a couple miles, then went up a long winding road to Lamb's Knoll. There is a fire tower there, but it's behind a locked fence, so we didn't stop. Just before Lamb's Knoll we came across Dahlgren Campground, designed especially for backpackers. It had showers, picnic tables and fireplaces. That was such a rarity, we could hardly believe our eyes. Why weren't there any places like this further north? I can think of a few places where I would have killed for a shower. We arrived at Gathland State Park with all its Civil War memorials around 10:30. We stopped to sip and munch a bit. For being such a small state, Maryland certainly has a lot of state parks. We've passed through four beautiful ones in the past four days. We're starting to get spoiled.

From Gathland it was 6 miles to Weverton Cliffs overlooking the Potomac River. We blitzed (even though we said no more blitzing, this was an easy exception to the rule) along a very nice trail until 1:00 when we arrived at the cliffs. We went out on the rocks and got a beautiful view of the whole area. The day was warm and clear and we could see for miles. We'd heard from some other hikers that the 1,000 foot descent from the cliffs was a knee killer, but it was all graded switchbacks, and turned out to be one of the best downhills we've seen in a long time. From the bottom of the descent, the trail follows the original towpath along the abandoned C&O Railroad canal. We had walked a little ways along this path almost exactly a year ago, as a side excursion after a hiking trip in the Shenandoahs, and I had been looking forward to walking the path again.

The towpath is so peaceful - a broad flat tree shaded trail between the old canal and the Potomac. It was like being out for a Sunday afternoon stroll, and was very pleasant. The only trouble was that we were so anxious to get into Harper's Ferry that we hurried more than we probably should have. We passed by the Sandy Hook Bridge where we would have crossed the Potomac if we were continuing the trail. Since we were stopping in Harper's Ferry, we crossed the river on the railroad bridge which goes right into the restored historic district of town. The AT used to go that way until the other bridge was built.

Harper's Ferry sits up on a bluff at the point where the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers converge. It's a spectacular sight, and a great area for whitewater rafters and rock climbers as well as hikers. The town is steeped in history, and its old buildings are gradually being restored to preserve them as a living history museum. There were many significant events at Harper's Ferry, but probably the most well know is John Brown's Raid in 1859 just before the Civil War. Well, enough of the history lesson.

The first thing we did was head for Shenandoah Street and the Swiss Miss Ice Cream Stand that Ronald loves so much. He had been to Harper's Ferry several times when he was a kid, and he remembers coming to Swiss Miss once when he had his beagle Kate, and she had eaten an ice cream cone with them. We gobbled down a cone ourselves then walked up the hill to the Appalachian Trail Conference Headquarters which just happens to be located here. We spent a few minutes looking around the office and signed the register and talked to the receptionist. She told us how to find the Cliffside Motel and a laundromat, but no one there seemed ready to offer us a ride, so we went back out to the highway. Walked a ways, then got a ride from a guy in a pick-up. We checked into our room, and I immediately took a shower to wash off the days of crud. After getting my body clean, I walked down to the laundromat at a KOA to get the clothes clean.

Got back around 6:00 just before Dad called to say they had arrived and had just checked into their room. We hurried over to meet them. It sure was good to see them. It's been so long. We've kept in touch all along the way by phone and mail, but we haven't seen any friends or family since we left Richmond on June 8^th. We went to the Hilltop House Restaurant and caught up on the last two months over a wonderful home-style steak dinner with all the trimmings. After comfortably stuffing ourselves we came back to the motel and watched the slides of our journey to date. We had been sending home all our film to be processed, so it was nice to finally see some of the fruits of our labor. At least the families had been able to watch them and see some of the places we've been. Then they can at least get a small sense of the adventure. Overall we were pleased with the way they are turning out, although some seem to be missing, and of course, there are a few duds. It will still provide a record we will be able to keep for years. Midway through the show we took an ice cream break at the Ho-Jo in Charlestown, then came back and finished up about midnight. Quite a full day - 18 miles by 2:45, a restful afternoon, a reunion and an entertaining evening. Went to bed content and looking forward to tomorrow.

Ron

After a good sleep we on the trail by 7:30 for the final dash into Harper's Ferry. The condition of the trail made for easy hiking. The miles seemed to fly by. Only a few places were rocky enough to slow us down. A high pressure system had moved in behind the storm to create a beautiful day for hiking. The air was cool and the sun bright. It is the kind of day that makes hiking a joy. A short stop was made at Gathland State Park get a drink and eat a snack. The rest of the ridge to Weverton Cliffs was easy hiking. We stood out on the cliffs over looking the Potomac River. We had made the 14 mile trip to the cliffs by 1:00.

The trail down to the Potomac towpath was beautiful, new and had switchbacks. The towpath was easy walking, but I believe it would be pretty boring if we had to walk a lot of it. Someday we may come back and do it by bike. The trail crosses the Potomac into Harper's Ferry, West Virginia on a railroad bridge. Crossing the river, we had completed our ninth state with five more to go. We had crossed Maryland in less than two days.

On the way to the Appalachian Trail Headquarters, we stopped for and ice cream cone. We stayed at the Headquarters about and hour to catch up on trail conditions and such before heading to our hotel. The rest of the afternoon was spent cleaning up in preparation of meeting Wally and Carol (Linda's parents). They arrived around 6:00 and we all went to the Hill Top Inn for supper.

We spent the rest of the evening looking at the slides of the trip. Throughout the trip I had been sending off rolls of film to Kodak for processing. We bought all of our film with prepaid processing. At Post Offices we would send them in for developing into slides. Kodak would then forward the slides to my parents. That way all of our relatives had a pretty good idea of how we were doing.

(17.1 Miles - 1133.2 Total)