Sunday, July 3rd

Humpback Rocks Picnic Area (851.3 mi) to Rockfish Gap (864.3 mi)

Hiking Miles: 13

Total Ascent: 1,750.3 ft

Total Descent: 3,100.7 ft

Total Grade: 377.1 ft/mi

Steps: 31,347

After a hotel breakfast, Teresa dropped us back off at the picnic area trailhead, then drove and waited for us to finish our southern section at Rockfish Gap.

Stevie and I slack packed 13 miles in 4.5 hours to Rockfish Gap, the exact point where we started our overall journey during that cold April morning. We took a quick video and a pic at the point where it all began (it was much warmer today). We knew Double Trouble was on his way just behind us so we stopped for food at a Kentucky Fried Chicken and waited for him to arrive so we could also give him a ride into Waynesboro.

It was totally cool when we saw the Ostermillers and DT all emerge from the trailhead together. Teresa introduced herself to the tramily and remarkably addressed them all by name (another cool moment). We gave them all a lift (5 hikers scrunched in the backseat of my RAM 1500) to the Outfitters where Marty had left their rental car. Marty said that he would drive DT into town to save us the trip. Then Marty and Kai would subsequently drive to Baltimore to catch their 4th of July flight back to Utah. It had been an amazing week with the six of us hiking together as an extended tramily. As we drove off, Stevie and I immediately felt that we were going to miss them greatly for the remainder of the journey.

We then proceeded to drive to the AT Conservancy in Harpers Ferry just in time before they closed for the day. Our goal was to have our pictures taken for their record book and to collect our official AT tags (we were #255 and #256 Flip-Floppers).

Unfortunately, they sent all of their remaining tags to Maine for the SOBO’s whereas it was late in the season for flip-flop starts. So once again, we would have to wait until we reached the AT Conservancy in Maine to collect our “official” tags. They did however print out makeshift tags that we cut out (with scissors) and taped the two sides together. Admittedly, they looked cheap and Stevie was not a happy hiker, but we had something, and likewise held out hope that we would collect formal ones in Maine. This was another incentive to finish the trail, although at this point it was essentially becoming a done deal, sans any major injuries.

We then booked a hotel in Allentown, PA and stopped at a Cracker Barrel for dinner along the way. We arrived at the hotel approximately at 10 pm and immediately crashed for the evening.

This concluded our second section of the Appalachian Trail!