Posting from the Bears Den hostel where we are taking an afternoon respite from the heat and the Rollercoaster of Northern Virginia. It’s like being thrown back into Georgia and seems to be Virginia’s way of saying “get the hell out of my state, you’ve been here for 500 + miles”. In a few more miles we’ll be in West Virginia and sometime after that we’ll be at 1,000 miles. Tomorrow morning we’ll roll into the mental halfway point of Harpers Ferry. The real halfway point is probably later this week in Pennsylvania. We’ve been pulling crazy miles lately; breezed through the Shenandoah in five days. I have a lot…

Misti’s brother here. She called me late this afternoon and wanted me to let everyone know that they are doing fine. Alive and well. They are in some town right now, but there is no computer access. They have had a rough last couple of days. Heading to Shenandoah National Park this week and are looking forward to blackberry milkshakes. Should be checking in at Harper’s Ferry. That is all.

Turn your volume up to hear the baby bear squealing for mom! Look close on the tree!

Reviewing the ATC book for all of the “best of’s” was a good review to remember what we’d done for those first few weeks. Time seems to creep by and go so fast at the same time. Items are in no particular order unless I otherwise specify. Best Views: Tray Mountain 4,430 elev MM 56.1 Albert Mtn 5,250 MM98.0 Siler Bald 4,600 MM 112.0 Rocky Top 5,440 MM 181.6 Charlies Bunion 5,905 MM 208.5 Bradley’s View 5,200 MM 213.8 Max Patch Bald 4,629 MM 252 Lovers Leap Rock 1,820 MM 273.2 Big Firescale Knob 4360 MM 295.7 Overmountain Shelter 4550 MM 379.2 Little/Hump Mtns 5439/5587 MM 380.8/383.0 Best Section: Newfound…

Climbing out of Pearisburg my dad spotted a flower. Turned out to be a flowering lady slipper orchid! SWEET! We’ve seen lots of foliage but haven’t seen anything in bloom yet. On the way out on Wednesday we found a whole bunch of them! Pretty nice to see! I wondered how many other people walked right on by and didn’t notice? Sometimes you get involved in the one foot in front of the other and forget to look around—rather, if you look around you end up tripping on a rock or stump.