Day 78, David Lesser Memorial Shelter to Harpers Ferry

It was made even better when after only about 45 minutes of walking we found a cooler of soft drinks.

Just beyond the cooler of trail magic was Keys Gap.

I mentioned yesterday that the trail was straddling Virginia and West Virginia for much of the way. That could not have been more true than it was here.

Looking to our right, we saw a sign welcoming motorists to Virginia.

To our left was a sign for West Virginia.

The road at Keys Gap was busy with commuters heading to work, so it took some patience for finding a sufficient opening to dash across.

A mile-and-a-half later the trail crossed a power line cut. There were views from here, but I was mostly interested in the wildflowers.

For the next two miles the trail took us along the top of a ridge before reaching a spot called Loudoun Heights. This was also the boundary for Harpers Ferry National Historic Park.

We weren't able to see them from the trail, but apparently nearby on this peak are the stone foundations of blockhouses of a fort built by Confederate forces in 1861.

In 1864, Mosby's Rangers fought a battle near here in the dead of winter. The skirmish did not go well for the Confederates and they had to retreat.

Among those wounded was the Gray Ghost’s brother, William "Willie” Mosby.

As the trail came off Loudoun Heights and headed toward the Shenandoah River, it made a steep and rocky descent. Again we were slowed down from our intended pace.

Finally reaching the river, the trail took us first under a bridge at U.S. Highway 340.

Then we walked up steps to reach the top of the bridge, which took us across the river. As we walked we could see kayakers paddling in the cascading shoals of the river.

Looking back, we could just see where the Shenandoah meets up with the Potomac River. We will cross that river the day after tomorrow as we enter Maryland.

As we entered the town of Harpers Ferry, we took a blue-blazed shortcut to the ATC’s headquarters. This will be our starting point Thursday when we return to the trail.

The shortcut took us through the campus of what was once Storer College, a historically black college that operated here until 1955. The National Park Service now uses many of the buildings for a training center.

Many people know of Harpers Ferry only for its Civil War-era history, but this campus is proof that the area’s role in U.S. history runs much deeper.

Frederick Douglass served as one of the school’s first trustees.
The second conference of the Niagara Movement was held on the campus in 1906. The movement was created by Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois and others to demand for equal rights at a time when some African-Americans, like Booker T. Washington, were willing to accept Jim Crow laws.

Just as we planned, Kim was waiting for us outside the headquarters building. She had only been waiting about five minutes, so despite the rugged trail we weren’t delayed by much time. We arrived just past 11:30.

Being here together made Kim and me realize something we had not thought about in a long time.

Roughly 13 or 14 years ago, we couldn’t remember exactly when, the two of us traveled through here while on a short vacation. We made a visit to the headquarters, and as we wandered about, the first seed of an idea for me to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail was planted.

Kim encouraged me then, and has encouraged and supported me ever since, to make this hike happen.

And now, here we were, with the hike nearly halfway complete.

We thought about that, but I don’t think we wanted to think about it too much. There were still too many unfinished miles to go, with too many possibilities to end the hike prematurely.

At any rate, there were many things that needed more immediate attention, including photo-taking at the front porch of the headquarters.

Thru-hikers are asked to register here, so when we walked inside to do that, I discovered Dotcom was here.

I had met her and her hiking companion Queen on my Day 25. They were doing a section hike.

Dotcom remembered me from that day, which included some nasty weather late in the day.

She had told me when we first met she volunteers every Tuesday at the ATC office, so I was glad it was a Tuesday when I arrived.

Along with signing the register, thru-hikers are given a number and a photo is taken for the conservancy’s files.

My number was 1176. That's lower than the number (1494) I was given at Amicalola Falls State Park the day before I started my hike.

Some people try to make a correlation between the two numbers, but there isn’t a reliable way to do that because hikers aren’t required to register at either location.