10-31-12

Days since my thruhike began: 196

Happy Halloween! I didn't dress up or do anything festive for one of my favorite holidays. I miss our Halloween parties, Jenn! I meant to be done with my hike by now, but it is clear I will also spend Thanksgiving on or around the AT. Maybe we'll find a Golden Corral to have a Thanksgiving buffet. After extensive planning of the final 430 miles it looks like my finish date will be around December 8th.

We packed and organized today and I caught up on nearly two weeks of my blog. Low Gear took us to the post office, we got stuck in traffic and he treated us to a fried chicken dinner on the way to bringing us here to the Blackburn Center, which is owned by the PATC. Due to Hurricane Sandy, they have no electricity here, but the bunkhouse doesn't have electricity anyway. It has a wood stove, though, and four walls and doors and windows and wooden bunks and folding chairs. It's a 10+ for a shelter. It's not great as a hostel because there is no laundry and only a solar shower that has been drained and shut down for the winter.

With the power out it's just the electric water pump that might cause a problem and keep us from getting water here. We brought extra water and may get some in town tomorrow. We get to slackpack tomorrow! Yay! Stonewall is only 3 miles north of here and Nomad is a few miles north of Harpers Ferry and is going to try to get here tomorrow night. They hunkered down in hostels and churches and made it through just fine. I hope other hikers fared as well.