States, Memorials and Witches

After hiking over a month in Virginia, today I entered a new state, West Virginia!

Home of Harper's Ferry and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, this stretch generates disproportionate importance to hikers. Many hikers use this as a dividing line between the north and south halves of the trail, and complete the hike in two years. Many others start here and hike south, then flip flop up to Maine and hike back to here. 

It is also the dividing line between the "Appalatchian" Trail to the south and the "Appalashun" Trail to the north.

Harper's Ferry is actually a National Historic Park with much of the old town owned by the National Park Service. A long history dates back to Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, and The War Between the States due at least in part to its strategic location as the Shenandoah River breaks through the Appalachian Mountains to merge into the Potomac River. 

I walk past numerous historical peaks and interpretive centers, most describing battles. Gettysburg is just ten miles away. 

But the Trail includes just six miles in West Virginia. By the end of the Monday I'm in Maryland. 

There is a Four State Challenge, in which hikers (and trail runners) try to cover the Trail from Virginia, through West Virginia and Maryland and into Pennsylvania in a single day, a distant of 50 miles. I'll settle for three states. 

I meet Butterfingers, a 2012 AT thru hiker. This year he is unicycling from Washington DC to the West Coast. Wow. 4000 miles on a unicycle. He might take the northern route through Portland to the terminus at Astoria OR. 

On Tuesday the trail enters the woods above Burkittsville MD, where the Blair Witch terrorized people for 150 years and led to the documentary video The Blair Witch Project. I'm sure the documentary is all true, though it is odd that the students died in the video but could still do promotional tours a year later. 

Jun 3 16.5 miles to Weverton MD

Jun 4 18.8 miles to South Mountain State Park MD.