Tuesday, April 19th

Bear’s Den Hostel (1005.7 mi) to The Town’s Inn (1026.1)

Hiking Miles: 20.6

Total Ascent: 3,264.8 ft

Total Descent: 4,203.7 ft

Total Grade: 362.6 ft/mi

Steps: 58,415

I jumped down from my top bunk at 5:30 am, went to the kitchen to brew some coffee, then made pancakes (MY FAVORITE) for Stevie & myself. Yes!!! Best breakfast on trail! Everyone in the Bear’s Den could make their own cakes on the griddle, as well as coffee!!! Did I say pancakes are my favorite?!

Six large pancakes between the two of us turned out to be too many, and we unfortunately could not eat them all. Once again, hiker hunger had not set in yet. Later in the morning after organizing our packs for the day, I signed the hostel book in the living area, took a few pics (below), and said good-byes to whoever was up. Once outside, we shot a morning video, then hit the trail by 7 am.

There was lots of snow on the trail. We finished up the remaining 5 miles of the Virginia Roller Coaster and reached the David Lesser shelter by 1 pm. Most of the hikers at the Bear’s Den had talked about staying overnight at that shelter, so we decided to press on to Harpers Ferry to allow for more space, and to gain miles. While at the shelter, we had lunch and also met Keystone there. He decided to do the same thing and push forward to Harpers Ferry.

During the day, we crossed into West Virginia (another milestone). The crossing took place in the middle of the woods with just a small sign nailed to a tree signifying the boundary. We were so excited. Of course, we had to shoot a quick video.

After hiking 20 miles total for the day, we reached Harpers Ferry at 6 pm. Once we hit civilization, we immediately walked across the bridge directly over the Shenandoah River which was extremely windy. I held on tightly to my eye glasses otherwise they would have blown off into the river below. But the views were gorgeous.

Our feet were wet today and I got a nasty blister on my right big toe. I popped it to relieve the pressure, then band-aided it. We have averaged 16 miles per day over our first 10 days (including one “zero” and our 10-mile storm day). After leaving the roller-coaster, the terrain was “relatively” flat and swift moving.

We stopped at the Town’s Inn and were fortunate to reserve a room with bunk beds, laundry and shower for just $35 each. Optimus Grimes, a NOBO hiker that was doing a long-term work-for-stay showed us the room, and around the hostel. We did see Keystone there like we expected. And we met a chill hiker staying in the finished basement of the hostel named “Yota” – short for Toyota, and his slogan was “Keep on Truckin’”. Yota had toured Harpers Ferry that day and visited a museum. We were hungry so Yota also recommended the Rabbit’s Hole restaurant, which was just across the street, for dinner.

I ordered another favorite of mine, fish & chips, and Stevie ordered a Philly Cheesesteak. The Rabbit Hole had a Canadian Pub feel to it with lots of pics and signs on the wall. We drank root beer with our meal and we thought it was cool that the waiter would refill our glasses with a metal pitcher that he filled at the soda fountain (to keep it chilled).

After dinner, I called Teresa and then sent a bunch of pics to Tarryn. I also thanked Tarryn for the OUTSTANDING job she was doing with keeping up with our uploads on Instagram. She is amazing!