The TypeTwoFun Club

“So you finished the trail?! About time!”

“…uh no, I am kinda halfway…a little more…yeah.”

**Disclaimer: I am writing and posting this on a plane. There are several videos I intended to add, but I can’t upload them in SPACE. This post may be edited in the next few days to add them!

Behind Enemy Lines

The weekend before Thanksgiving, Wy&Wo and I headed into hostile territory: the South. Just kidding…mostly. As a Minnesotan who lives in New England, I’m definitely a Yankee by both nature and nurture (to clarify, not by baseball fandom). But we can have a nice time in any locale, even one that for some god-forsaken reason is surface-of-the-sun hot for half the year.

Thankfully, the forecast looked mild as we loaded into the Chariot to drive EIGHT HOURS south. We drove through MA, CT, NY, PA, VA, MD, AND WV to get to Harpers Ferry on day one. We had a late afternoon to kill before meeting up with a shuttle early the next day that took us ~45 miles north to the top of Maryland. Within a mile of the Mason Dixon line (which we passed last year!), we struck south on the trail into Dixie.

Doing what we do best

Tl;dr: this 3.5 day hike across Maryland and West Virginia went off basically without a hitch!

Our Glastenbury training and Wy&Wo’s team of specialists (a GP, a PT, and a Chiro, oh my!) had them both in fighting shape to handle the back to back days, unlike last year when we had to drop our mileage and bail early. I planned the route more like a bell curve: our longest day was in the middle on day 2, rather than building up long days at the end.

We had great luck with weather with two cool but clear days to start. The dry weather could have caused us issues for drinking water, but I had checked ahead and realized that water sources were scarce so I pre-cached gallon jugs of water near each campsite. On both days, our campsites were up on a hillside with lovely views. We watched a stunning sunset on day 2 and had a great snuggle as the temps dropped. We’d done 16 miles that day, which is a lot for the dogs. But the mileage is much milder down there than we are used to up in New England, so it didnt feel so bad; the dogs were clearly tired but not struggling at all.

Day three was calling for big rain. We got a wee early hours start, hiking out while it was barely first light. My goal was to get as much mileage as I could before we got soaked, then get to the shelter to dry out and wait for morning. I at least wanted to get the first two miles done to get the day’s big climb done on dry trail.

So we hiked, and hiked, and hiked. No rain! We got to our water cache, this one 3.5 miles before camp at the only road crossing for the day, and took a break to have a drink and check the weather. The storm was coming, but the time estimate pushed back. Could we make it?!

We got moving on the final leg to the shelter, pushing the pace now that I knew we had a chance to stay dry. The breeze picked up. The sky darkened. The breeze picked up more. We saw the shelter! I did a quick investigation and found it had a separate sleeping loft, fully enclosed and with a stair out back of the shelter—a perfect place to camp out and nest with the dogs for the next dozen hours. The rain came 11 minutes after we got to the shelter.

It rained on and off all night, with a brief break that allowed me to take the dogs down to pee and cache our food. We slept like babies.

The next morning was foggy, moody, stunning. The rain had given up in the wee hours, but it took the full morning to burn the fog and clouds away. Because of this, we missed the iconic clifftop views over the Potomac and Harper’s Ferry, but that was fine. We weren’t expecting every view, we were there to finish.

The trail into Harper’s ferry ended with several miles on a flat straight bike path along the river, and finally a bridge. I stopped us halfway across the bridge and gave each dog a cuddle and a congratulations [and yes, as is on theme for me, I was also audibly sobbing].

Once across, we followed the twisting trail through town, including a brief detour INTO a coffee shop (with permission!) which Wolfy thought was the scariest part of the entire trip. There were still a handful of miles of surprisingly technical trail back up out of town, then along an access road to get to our car. There are only 4 miles of Appalachian Trail in West Virginia and we did nearly 3 of them, so I am counting it for the dogs’ official tally! The dogs got their finisher’s treat and settled down for a looooong nap while I prepped to drive the seven states back up to Thanksgiving dinner.

End of an Era, and Next Chapter(s)

I cannot believe ‘Rush to Harper’s Ferry’ is complete after 4 years of scheming, planning, spreadsheeting, recalibrating, and hiking our little hearts out.

These dogs have hiked (most of the way) through ten states of the Appalachian Trail. They’ve earned their distance hiker retirement. Only fun, easy (or at least easier) trips starting next year…I just gotta get them through one more season of training as I prep for ITI 2026. I love you, Poufy and Bubbles. I can’t believe you made it, while at the same time I never doubted you for a second.

Me? I’m focusing on ITI, my solo ski-ultra marathon across Alaska. Hiking IS training, of course, but after this trip, prep began in earnest.

Soo…will I finish the trail? Yes, I’ll be back to pick up the final +/- 1,000 miles of the AT, but after a good healthy break. I’m in no rush, now. I’ve been racing the clock of aging dogs. Future trips on the AT will involve more typical LASH hiking logistics like flights, hostels and resupply stops, and wont include dogs. For now, I’d really just prefer to play in the woods with my dogs. Don’t worry though—I’m far too much of a completionist at heart to walk away for good.

Plus, I hear the hard parts are all done 😉