July 10 Mile 1031

Remember the song by Credence Clearwater Revival " Stuck in Lodi".
Well, that's the way we felt about Harpers Ferry. Let us out of here. The town is not a hit with hikers. It's very expensive, for no good reason, and has very little that we want in the part of town we hiked through. No grocery store, no Wifi, or even a decent coffee shop. Our hostel was nice, but twice as expensive as it should have been. With the hot weather and our illness we were there 4 nights! Far longer than we wanted to be. On the good side, I was glad to be in AC and a bed when I was sick. But as soon as we could walk, we were ready to leave, even though I did not feel 100%. On the contrary, the morning we left I feel rather poorly still.
It rained during the night before we left, and at about 7 AM we had coffee on porch with Radar and Peru a very nice thru hiking couple. Peru and I compared notes on how to help numb toe pain and knee pain. She had some good advice.
The hike out of Harpers Ferry is very cool. You hike flat on nice gravel for about 2 mikes on the old  C&O Canal.
into Maryland. The canal was part of a great public works project to move stuff by water, until the railroads came along and blew them away back in the 1830s. Still, it was quite a monumental undertaking, digging all the canals, and using all the great stones for the sides. Still impressive to me.
Maryland has only about 40+miles of AT, but it is not easy. Up and down and rocky. Had a great amenity today-
Gathland Park -vending machines, fresh water,  bathrooms. It was too much! Up until Shenandoah never had public parks like this on the trail. The park is very cool. It was the home of a Civil War correspondent and writer. He built all these stone  buildings on 100 acres. The most impressive is the War Correspondents arch, dedicated to the Civil War correspondents and artists and photograhers. Also, a Civil War battle was fought across his property just prior to Antietam. We
hiked the  ridge all day- lots of rocks!
It was not too hot and we were able to do 17 miles, not bad after being sick.
Went by Dahlgreen state park- glad we weren't staying there - as it was Sat nite, the place was packed  and there was no room for us to camp. Fortunately for us my Fraternity brother Rich Marshall had earlier very graciously offered to pick us up just past the Park and take us to one of our favorite places to eat-
Shoneys! All you can eat, even in my poor state, I looked forward to their salad bar. He took us to get  groceries and then to his house to bed. He kindly offered me a beer, but, I must really feel bad, cause I declined. Actually, when you're hiking, a beer is not the best thing to be drinking, even off trail cause it can really dehydrate you. Gatorade stuff or water is the best.
Well, I'm not feeling my best. I ate pretty well at Shoney's but I sure
hope my appetite returns. Can't do miles without energy.


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