Chad came down a little later and wanted some chocolate ice cream. I had to break the news to him that the chocolate had mysteriously disappeared. We had agreed to exchange beer for ice cream so I had kept up my end of the bargain and had one of his beers before bed. Chad was a bit down and admitted that he missed having Shay to hike with.
Breakfast was included with our stay. Chad got his breakfast at 7 and we were up for 7:30. We were sitting around, drinking coffee, and listening to the downpour outside. A few more people had come in last night and they were already getting packed up to leave. The three of us just weren’t very motivated to move. Chad finally stepped outside and decided that he was going to take his 5th zero of his hike. We felt sorry for him and agreed to take our 21st Zero out of sympathy for him.
Once the decision had been made and the other hikers were gone, we all decided to take naps before heading into town. Around noon, a few more hikers appeared on the doorstep which woke us all up. Scott (the owner) was there checking people in, so we asked him to drive us into town for lunch. We thought the new people needed space and time to unwind. They were drenched from the rain and we hadn’t eaten for over three hours.
Scott dropped us off at the best pizza place in town. Chad and I both ordered large pizzas while Bunny ordered a small 12” pizza and salad. I ate all of mine and Chad still almost half of his left. To be fair, he had drank a couple small pitchers of beer while I was eating. Once the beer was gone, he started seriously eating. He finished his off lickity split. Bunny couldn’t finish hers.
The three of us took advantage of the lull in the rain to walk downtown. Chad was meeting up with some friends he knew from the trail. Bunny and I walked around the town for a bit before finding a wine/tea house where we could blog a bit while sipping wine.
Chad called us up around 5 to join them at a local micro brewery. It was only a couple blocks and we were ready for a break. We had a few beers with all of them before calling for a ride back. Bunny and I were still full from lunch so we just planned on having a few snacks before bed.
It had been just a relaxing day with very little activity. We had done our shopping and laundry yesterday with the intention of heading out today. The outfitter had told us the trail was closed leaving Harpers Ferry, so we were in no rush to get there. My trail purity prevents me from skipping sections of trail if at all possible—we just need to slow down a little and the trail will open up when the flooding drops. I’m pretty sure I can convince Bunny to slow down (it’s the speeding back up again that concerns me).
EFG