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The following has been transcribed directly from the journal that I kept while hiking the Appalachian Trail (AT).
Saturday, July 29th, 2000
8:45am. I left the curtains open last night so that we would wake up fairly early and not sleep all day. The funny thing about this room is that there is no phone and no clock. Go figure.
After we crawl out of bed we begin to back our gear up. I check the stuff that I hung in the bathroom and it is all dry...unfortunately Todd only put one boot in there, so the other is still soaking wet. We turn on the
TV. and watch, "The Green Mile" on the negative channel (the negative channel is when you try to watch a cable channel that you don't have and it is blocked by the squiggly lines, but you can still hear it and sometimes make out the picture).
9:30am. Across the way we can see the clouds covering the tops of the mountains but it looks like a good day - the weather people say otherwise. Todd and I decide to conduct our own little weather forecast...Heads it rains, Tails it doesn't...Call it in the air: Tails! Hike on!
We retrace our steps back to the trail which continues along between the old canal and the Potomac. We had to wait twice for trains that passed and blocked our path but eventually continued on. Very flat area here. The trail turned left and crossed another set of tracks with another train moving slowly along.
12:29pm. 70 degrees. We finally took a break after a long time of walking. We found a huge boulder to sit on and we quickly pulled out the skittles for a snack. We had some tough switchbacks on the climb to Weaverton Cliffs but since then we have been walking along a ridgeline with very gently climbs and descents. We should be headed towards Brownsville Gap. At that point we will be 1.8 miles from Gathlan Park and then another 1.2 miles from the Post Office in Burkittsville. I parked my car across the street from the Post Office in a church parking lot - suppose it will be ok? Find out in a few more hours.
12:45pm we move on - sure am sore! Todd's feet are hurting from walking in those soaked boots and my shoulders are hurting cause
that's what happens when you carry stuff on them. At 1:15 we pass a break in the tree line and assume that we are in Brownsville Gap which puts us at about 8 miles so far including the walk from the hotel. We continue on along much of the same, relatively easy terrain. We are
skirting a large rock wall/cliff to our right and eventually pass a memorial headstone to a 16 year old who died in 1971.
As we continue on we begin to encounter more people which means road access!
1:50pm we find the Sate Park and leave the trail at Gathland State Park which is the sight of huge 50 foot tall by 40 foot wide War
Correspondent Memorial from the Civil War! Very impressive and looks out of place here in the middle of no where.
No we have a 1.2 mile walk down to the church where we left my car. No rain! Screw the weatherman! Ha! Our walk down takes up past a small
cemetery with an old house on the land - maybe that was the Blair Witch House?
Oh yes, if you haven't figured it out yet, Burkittsville is where the Blair Witch was filmed. Pretty cool but I think I will have to watch it again to remember the scenery. I took a picture of the house in the
cemetery and the town sign. We make it into town, dump our gear and stretch out in the parking lot. Just then, a car pulls up and a man gets out carrying a camera - looking for the Blair Witch also!
By 2:30pm we are packed up and on the road - but first I had to take a picture of the Post Office. You didn't get me this time Blair Witch!
Time to move on.
After a 30 minute drive along the mountains we just walked, we get to the Horseshoe Curve
Restaurant where we have a great lunch.
I am gonna head home from here..."It's not fun but it is fantastic!"
We figure we hiked 2 full days cause we started late on Thursday and ended early today...pretty sore either way (that's what we get for not doing anything in 3 months!)
Today’s total: 10.9 miles
Trip total: 33.9 miles
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