(Daily Mi: 6.0) Short day, but I'm really on the AT now. Late start. Early finish. Steep climb out of town. I had planned on spending the day in Harpers Ferry, but I got my supplies yesterday, there was no place to do laundry and I just didn't see the point. Beautiful shelter with a back staircase and loft. Two years old. Freshly varnished. Water is a fair ways off (.4 mi) and down a steep, steep hill. Just beat a quick hard rain coming in.

After the rain let up I heard a haunting melody drifting through the trees. Shortly thereafter a hiker named Piper wandered over to the shelter from his nearby campsite with his Irish tin whistle in hand. Piper was on the third leg of an Appalachian Trail section hike. He had started this year 150 miles south of Harpers Ferry and hoped to make it to Katahdin.

At about 4 pm I met my first batch of Georgia to Maine thru-hikers: Packhorse, Songbird, Swanson and Tanglewood. Very nice folks -- although I could tell they were a little tired of answering the same questions over and over again. Another hiker, Bill, who had just gotten on the Trail at Harpers Ferry came in around 5, and I was glad to have another beginner in the house.