• Bears Den Hostel (1005.9) to Snickers Gap (1006.5)
• 23 feet ascent, 333 feet descent

Concusiousness hit with a jolt of adrenaline this morning. This is it. I was linking 1975 with 2025. When I stepped out into Snickers Gap today, the impossible would be history. For fifty years, I had a gap in my life called Virginia. By lunch, the gsp would be filled. It is the beginning of the end.

Filling the gap was more eventful than I had expected it to be. I anticipated being wet but I did not anticipate weeks of flooding. I expected to be cold but did not expect temperatures in the 20s in May. I knew it would be to be hot but did not expect weeks of hiking in temperatures in the 90s and 100s. Linking my life a half-century showed me both I, and my world, have changed. 

Breakfast of Champions

The upstairs of the Bears Den opens at 7 am. Hikers are invited to enjoy all you can eat, make your own pancakes.

As we made our way up the stairs to the kitchen, we were greeted by the expectant Great Pyrenees dog. We were assured he was never allowed to eat food from hikers but clearly he expected some day that rule would change. He was an affable mooch. 

The Historian was eager for his fat, sugar, and refined carb fest but I really was slow to warm up to the idea. While I cooked pancakes for him, my eyes fell on a communal can of black beans. Bingo!

I placed a huge pile of pancakes in front of The Historian and a large coffee mug of black beans in front of me. Both of us were delighted with our breakfast. 

On To Snikers Gap

We shouldered our packs and a fluttering heart, set out for our .6 mile hike to Snikers Gap. We made a lot of jokes about whether or not there would be a climb. The Historian decreed he would not go uphill. He was only willing to go downhill to the Gap. When we approached a slight rise, he cried out, “That’s it. I go no further!” 

We both laughed and carried on. We stopped to enjoy the beautiful views of the Piedmont below the rocky hills of Bears Den. Seeing the land slope down toward tje Potomac River was a little heartrending. We were coming to the end of the mountains on this end of the Appalachian Trail as we were coming to the end of this massive effort to walk Virginia. 

Snickers Gap

We came to the busy road at Snickers Gap. The Historian asked me if it looked like I remembered it and I could only say one of the small side roads off the gap looked vaguely familiar. 

After we excitedly took photos at the Snickers Gap sign, we waited for our shuttle driver. He arrived as scheduled and we headed to Harpers Ferry. He had been shuttling hikers for many years and was able to fill in some of the gaps in my memory. 

In 1975, the distance between Snickers Gap and Harpers ferry included a 13 mile road walk. I remembered doing that. I had even told The Historian, on a collect call or by letter about hiking to Maryland border in one day. Ed Garvey had dropped me off at Snickers Gap encouraged me to walk to Maryland that day. The connection was made. 

Harpers Ferry

For the past theee years I have worked with a health coach. So far, our monthly meetings while on the Trail were by email. Soon after arriving at the Halfway Hideaway Hostel, I was able to videoconference with my health coach. It was delightful to get to see her. She was encouraging and proud of our effort. Her affirmation was more fuel for the fire burning within us. 

After the video conference, we hiked to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy office. We had two goals. First, I wanted to get my picture for the ATC records. Second, we had decided to purchase AT tee shirts for travel to New England.

After our visit to the ATC, we stopped off at the Bolivar Bread Bakery and fell head first into the fragrant sour dough breads. We bought two loaves and two brownies along with butter and some cheese. This whole trip we have most craved fresh bread. This was the best of bread. Our next stop was at the Appalachian Snail grocery, which specializes in organic local foods. We bought arugula and fruit. 

Next Steps

After finishing our AT mid-point chores and filling our bellies, we got down to business sorting out our journey to New England.

I have two short bits of trail left to finish the AT. First was a section of the AT between Hanover and Glencliff, NH. I had skipped it in 1975 in order to make sure The Historian, who was visiting me for a couple of weeks, could hike in the Whites. The second section was the within the bounds of Baxter State Park. Since I was there in November in 1975, I could not enter the park. 

In total, I have less than 50 miles to thw end. 

Staging the New England Segments

We lived in Hanover for a couple of years in the 1990s. We hiked some of the section between Hanover and Glencliff then. Also during that time, The Historian befriended and became business partners with an antiques dealer. Over the years their friendship deepened to brotherhood.

Our next step is to get to our friends house to relax, put weight on The Historian, and finish the section near their house in the Hanover area. 

We originally planned to drive from Harpers Ferry to their house. After a thoughtful assessment of how tired we are, we decided not to drive.

There is a train from Harpers Ferry to Washongton, DC where we can connect to The Vermonter Amtrak train to a town close to our friends. Clicking train ticket  “purchase” button was remarkably confusing. 

Although it is possible to take the train in one day, the connection in DC was only 30 minutes at rush hour. We decided to spend the night in DC rather than risk missing The Vermonter. 

Thankfully, we know DC well from years of working there. I was able to locate and book a hotel within a block of Union Station. We even got a very good rate since it was for a Friday night, a time when businesses hotels are often sparsely populated.  

Dinner and Sleep

Decisions made, we were exhausted. Hiking this morning, an hour shuttle, our ATC visit, shopping, and then making train and hotel reservations, was stressful. So many decisons and transitions in one day! Our hardest choices are usually which of our dehydrated dinners we should eat (the heaviest, of course!).

We were startimg to think about dinner when a food delivery arrived. Someone ordered a few thousands of pounds of Kentucky fried chicken. Everyone at the Hostel was invited to partake. We enjoyed the fried chicken and aimed ourselves toward bed. Everyone in our room at the hostel was over 40 so we were all in bed by 8:30 pm. 

We will need a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow is the beginning of the end. 

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Day 26

Start: Tentsite, mile 413.6

End: Trout Lake, off mile 423.8

Miles hiked: 10.2 miles

The NOBOs cleared out early in the morning, waving their goodbyes as I ate my breakfast. Today was another special day: town day! The plan was to head into Trout Lake, eat a hearty meal, and pick up my resupply box. Sun didn’t have a box there, but he was happy to tag along.

With only 10 miles in the day, the hiking was short and sweet. We ascended for a bit and were treated to another magnificent view of Mt. Adams. These mountains never get old. I enjoyed the view for a good portion of the day because I was passing through a burn zone. There were no trees to obstruct the sky. And since it wasn’t too hot and there wasn’t the immediate threat of a tree falling, I enjoyed the burn zone.

More and more NOBOs passed as the day progressed, and soon I found myself back under tree cover. At the bridge about 2 miles from the road to Trout Lake, I found the memorial to the hiker “Colors,” who tragically passed away in that spot during his thru-hike. Taking a moment to think about him, I took the chance to be grateful for the days that I have on the trail. Every day isn’t guaranteed, even when you’re living the dream.

With that somber note, Sun and I hiked the last two miles to the Trout Lake road and were lucky enough to get a hitch immediately. A NOBO PCT hiker who had to get off trail in March had dropped off another hiker as a favor and was headed back to Trout Lake just then. Awesome! Of course we talked trail in the van and shared our trail stories.

Once in Trout Lake, Sun and I immediately went to the cafe and got a burger, fries, and a soda. It hit the spot! Then, we crossed the street and walked about 300 feet to the General Store aka hiker central. We got set up with a campsite, laundry, shower, and got started on our chores.

To me, Trout Lake was a great trail town. Despite there not being too many places for hikers to stay, the people at the general store were super friendly, their selection of food and drinks was great for a small town, and the place was very relaxing. There weren’t a ton of of hikers around, so I figured that most people skipped this stop. But for me, even though I camped at the county park instead of getting a hotel room, I felt very relaxed and comfortable, which is exactly what I want from a zero day.

I spent a few hours in the afternoon chatting with Janitor since I missed him so much. There was no cell service for me in town but the store had WiFi available. When dinner time rolled around Sun, Nik (a young German hiker), and I headed down the road to the pizza place. It was about a mile walk, but the pizza was worth it! We split two pizzas and they were demolished when we left.

We all headed back to the campground after chatting with NOBO who was consistently hiking between 30 and 40 (sometimes more) miles per day. Although we weren’t going to hike that far tomorrow, we still needed our rest. The campground was quiet despite other non-thru-hiker campers being around, and I slept peacefully through the night.

And that’s a day in the life of a PCT SOBO hiker!

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By Thai An