Date: 2007-10-25
From: Deer Lick Shelters

To: Bulldog's House
Miles today: 23.2

mi. 23.2sleep house, bedDest. I-70, Bulldog's house day 105 A great night in the hammock. Right after I got the rain came. I woke up to hear it really coming down. I was great except that my pack was just a little too far over and got wet. I should have put it underneath me. I managed to get packed up and started just after 7am. If your keeping track it is now getting light after 7am and getting dark dark by 7pm. It is only going to get worse. Time to start the night hiking. I crossed over the Mason-dixion line into the south today. Once again it wasn't well marked. You would think the trail clubs would make a big deal about crossing into their state. I could see why people rush through this state. Not because I want to, but because you can. It was rocky in spots, but yeah this is the mountains. The rest was really chill. I was having a lot of problems getting my energy up to par today. I stopped and ate a couple times and keep snacking on candy. By noon I had only done 9 miles. If I was going to be at the road by 8pm I really had to step it up. I decided that I needed a cook lunch break. At around 1:30 I stopped at a shelter to fix my emergency romin plus whatever else I could throw in. I only had 3 more miles to do at that point. I came up and found someone sitting there. At first I thought he was a section hiker. But he is a flip flopper fulling in missing sections by the name of Misplaced. He was even nice enough to give me some water since the spring looked to be dry or a ways away. He just got on 4 miles back after summiting Big K 2 weeks ago. He is taking it slow and stopping before the next shelter. I ate up and texted Bulldog to let him know when I would be there. Then I took off. It took me awhile to get going. But when the meal kicked in I was feeling great. I am thinking I may have to start cooking lunches. I will try it a couple days and see how it goes. It will take longer, but if the energy is there it will be worth it. I didn't end up seeing Torque at anypoint today. He said something about going into town to celebrate being back in the south. I think I got in front of him. I ended up making crazy time. Averaging 3 mph with some slow sections and picture breaks. It felt good to open it up a little. Today was one of those rare days where the clouds and sun was just right for everything to look grey. It doesn't sound as good as a sunny day, but I love it. I tried to get some pics of it with the trail and the changing leaves. I hope they turned out. I will have to work on taking them and capturing the full greyness of the light. I got to Annoplis rock and called Bulldog to let him know. I ended up only being able to text him, and had to call him later. I was still 40 minutes out from the road at this point. H ended u walking u and meeting m just before the shelter a mile up. We talked o the walk down. It was a little strange walking ith someone again. The first order of business was food. He took me and bought dinner at an Ryans's and AYCE buffet. That was really nice of him, I was planning on buying his to thank him. He said helping me was his way of returning the help that he got while he was hiking. I only got 3 plates. The 3rd was a work of art. I got compliments from the staff. They are not used to getting hikers here. A dinner plate (none of the dessert plate nonsense) with apple pie, cherry and peach cobber, sugar cookies, 3 different types of soft serve ice cream, and sundae topping. Lets just say I was full for once. After going back to his place and showering/laundry he took me to a Dick's sporting goods. No luck on a headlamp or pad. It was a long shot, but worth a shot. Next we hit up the Walmart for a resupply. I am going to be carrying way too much food again but oh well. I'm not going to be going hunry. I spent the rest of the night talking with him and his dad, watching a little tv, and repackaging my food. Great people. I met Bulldog at traildays and know him from online. I also recovered my guide book. Both covers fell off and I was starting to loose important pages. I think I am going to label it the Hitch hiker's guide to the AT. A little more fitting. Gear update. I don't know if I mentioned it, but an important piece of gear gave out just before the half way mark. It has surved me well when other things failed. I am going to miss it. Yup you guess it, my gatoraid bottle started to leak. I know, no need to get emotional but it's hard holding back the tears. It was bought in my hometown and has served me well since Katadin. After 102 and over 1000 miles it finally started to leak. In that time I went through 4 hydration bladders. I picked up a new one today. Doesn't quite seem the same.