Harper's Ferry

We've made it to Harper's Ferry, WV. It's at mile 1,013 and in less than a week we'll be at the halfway point at mile 1,089! Mom and Dad and Grandma have come up to visit us for the last time before Maine. Since the last update we have hiked through Shenandoah National Park where we saw our first bears of the trip. The weather is still crazy; sometimes hot, sometimes cold, often rainy and more frequent thunderstorms. We are having a good time and the trail feels like home now. We are no longer in a state that borders TN so it really does feel like we have hiked a long way (plus it even looks far on a map:). The restaurants no longer serve sweet tea which is a dead giveaway that we are entering new territory. The Mason Dixon line is in site!
On another note I want to keep everyone updated with the group we've been hiking with. Rapunzel, who we've been hiking with since day 4, is getting off the trail on the 15th of June, just days away. Her original plan was to get off at Harper's Ferry because she is going to Japan in July. We've convinced her to go a few more days to the actual halfway point. Squeegie, Sunbeam, Halfmoon, and Samwise are still with us. Hammock got ahead when we all went to trail days but we're hoping to catch up to him in Pennsylvania. Colonel Mustard is a few days behind us but he'll catch up. Since Trail Days we have also been hiking with a guy named Mississippi. The past few weeks we've also been hiking with three guys named Bison, Mr. Buffalo Man, and Goof. We've actually known them since the Smokies but our groups are usually a few days apart. Longhaul, who we had been hiking with previous to Damascus, lives around the D.C. area and has been doing some amazing trail magic for us. He had to get off the trail because of an infection in his toe which got into the bone. We keep meeting more and more amazing people out here. We're just a big trail family!