From Harper's Ferry to the Shenandoah Mountain National Park

I left Harper's Ferry in the afternoon after running errands.  My plan was to hike 12 miles to the David Lesser Memorial Shelter because rain had been forecast. After crossing one of the West Virginia/Virginia state lines [there are two]  it began to pour.  I stood under a AT trail  kiosk because it had a tiny roof ledge where I took momentary refuge from the rain.  I studied the map gathering motivation to step out into the rain and hike on.  I crossed a busy road and headed into the woods.  It was an interesting mix of scrub and deciduous forest.  There were box turtles everywhere. Soon torrents of rain pounded down running into rivets onto the trail.  The trail soon became a river with much debris flowing in the current.  Wading in the water made hiking difficult and it was with relief that I saw the sign for the shelter.  

The David Lesser Memorial Shelter is a newly built shelter and absolutely beautiful.  The shelter has a high roof and front deck surrounded by a railing.  There is a nearby picnic table enclosed in a shelter and a porch swing.  How I wished I was there on a warm summer day sitting there looking out into the woods!  When I arrived there were two section hikers there, already settled in for the night.  I was directed to the water source, an underground spring, located a ways downhill from the shelter.  Finding the spring took me through the tent sites.  There were numerous level sites and more picnic tables. Nice camping area!  Many thanks to the local trail maintenance club who maintains this site for hikers.  It was awesome.  I am only sorry that some of the hikers chose to leave their garbage instead of packing it out.  If I wasn't so far from the road I would of packed some of that trash out.

It rained all night and into the morning.  I got a later than usual start out of camp.  The day turned sunny, warm and beautiful!  I hiked stopping to eat a morning snack on Crescent Rock.  I took off my wet hiking boots and spread all my rain  soaked gear out on the warm rock surface for some sun-drying.  While I waited I watched raptors moving across the sky.  There were kettles of vultures, Broad-winged Hawks and a handful of accipiters. 

I had entered a section of the trail known as the "Roller Coaster."  There are 13 1/2 miles of steep ascents and descents.  Even for me, a seasoned hiker, it was tiresome!  I passed by two inviting and well known places along the trail:  The Blackburn Trail Center and The Bars Den Hostel.  Both places are well know to hikers and get awesome reviews. The Blackburn Trail Center is a free hostel and I understand there is a heated solar shower.  The Bears Den Hostel is a privately run hostel with many ammenities including Ben and Jerry's icecream.  I am sorry about not stopping but I was in a funk about staying focused on making miles, my goal for the day was to reach either the Sam Moore Shelter or Rod Hollow.  I decided to sleep in a shelter again that night to stay dry.  I opted to hike to Sam Moore because water was promised. I had picked up a water finding map at the Appalachian Conservancy in Harper's Ferry. Even though it had rained a lot, good water was still  hard to find.

When I arrived at the Sam Moore Shelter site I found it indeed had a fast moving stream, an excellent water source.   I decided to stay even though the day was early.  I spent the afternoon drying  my damp gear in the warm breeze and worked  at  my painting.  Hanging my bear bag took up a lot of time because there were very few good trees.  I wasn't completely happy with the nearness of my food bag to the tree trunk but my food was still there in the morning.

The following day it began to rain again.  As I was crossing the grassy knoll at Sky Meadows State Park the sky looked dark blue and there were bolts of lightening flashing in the sky.  I walked into the woods and found myself having to climb over downed trees and crawl through masses of vines.  It was time consuming.  I decided to stop at the Manassas Gap Shelter for the night. The shelter had a  underground spring and bear bag poles.  That night I took a lovely shower under the water pipe in the cold rain.  Someone had left a bottle of biodegradeable soap in the shelter and I used it to get all the grime and dirt off my body.  It was deligtful to warm my clean self up in my sleeping bag afterwards.  I went to sleep to the sound of pounding rain on the tin roof of the shelter.  That's the sound I awoke to the next day also. 

After hiking through the morning I took an early lunch at the Jim and Molly Denton Shelter.  Sometimes a shelter looks so good you wish it were time to stop for the night!  I sat at the picnic table shelter protected from the rain sketching Paw Paws that  I had found that morning along the trail.  I  had become somewhat obsessed with Paw Paw finding in Maryland after noticing the rotting fruit along the trail.  It emitted such a tantalizing tropical scent!  I wanted to eat one.  I met a woman in Harper's Ferry who had collected a few.  Together we looked the fruit up on the web finding that it was high in nutrition and something bears love.  When ever I found bear scat with Paw Paw seeds I took the opportunity to search for Paw Paw fruit.  Most often the fruit was smashed or rotten but I had begun to find whole, unblemished fuit still clinging to tree branches.  Thanks to the high winds many trees had shaken loose branches and with those came Paw Paws.