Date: 2008-05-06
From: Rocky Run Shelter MD

To: Ensign Cowall Shelter MD 
Miles today: 15.7
Weather: clear sky

Day 79 ¢ Tuesday May 6 ¢ Ensign Cowall Shelter MD ¢ Miles Today: 15.7 Total Miles: 1042.7We had another dry night and a dry day! We're just not going to know what to do with ourselves now that these April showers have passed. We even slept with the doors to the tent open last night. It was about 54 degrees this morning and in the mid to upper 70s during the day. The tree cover is out providing us a welcome break from the direct sun. We're enjoying our walks in this weather. As we left camp at 7:00 this morning, Bare Fodder and the weeklong hiker were still in their sleeping bags, but obviously awake as they called "Goodbye" when we walked by. We've been studying John's Wild Flower book and today we recognized the Jack-in-the-Pulpit flower. We¢re trying to be better about these things and not just call them the white flowers and the blue flowers and the pink flowers but doubt we'll be fully educated by the end of the trip. Speaking of education, today we passed the Washington Monument and yesterday we passed the War Correspondents' Memorial. And both days we passed lots of Civil War battlefields and plaques. We're in a very historic area.As we neared camp, we ran into a gentleman who was out trail walking after work and he told us that Camp David was nearby. This man did the woodworking for custom-made shutters for the President's private room at Camp David and therefore knows of its location! We're at Ensign Cowall Shelter tonight, which is just .2 mile from Maryland Rt. 17 so we can hear the cars below. It's also real close to Camp David and we've had a couple helicopters go by in the early evening ¢ perhaps quitting time for the staff. Pretty cool. This site sits up on a ledge overlooking the forest below.I don¢t think the MD trail crew likes tenters. The tent pads associated with this shelter all come with huge dead trees right beside them! What¢s up with that, guys? As we sat at out tent site in the early evening, we watched the top half of tree come falling down just 30 yards away from us and our tent! Hmmm, not sure we¢re going to feel too comfortable with where we were sleeping, but we¢ll hope for the best, I guess. Tomorrow we hit Pennsylvania! The states are going pretty rapidly lately and we're just 2 days away from meeting Brakeman's girlfriend and less than a week away from meeting Mr. & Mrs. Grasshopper, so it's a great week and our spirits are up. Even though our hiker appetites have not returned, we are looking forward to seeing our Trail Angles and enjoying the food, food and more food that they provide! After 2 weeks of tons of food, we are back to eating the same quantities we ate at the beginning of the trip and our newly formed little bellies have not disappeared again, yet. Hmph - oh well.We have not seen Bare Fodder or the weeklong hiker today. The tent pads for this shelter are located a ways away from the shelter so we are assuming they finally made it to the shelter but do not know for sure. We had a half hour or so of really good rocks today and I'm sure that slowed them down and it's given us all probably a taste of what the Pennsylvania rocks are going to be all about. Grasshopper's feet are feeling better after the beating they took from the long days and the new shoes in Shenandoah. Brakeman's right big toe is a little tender but it did have some moments of doing OK today. The tender area is underneath his right big toe and down his foot a little bit. Hopefully we can get these kinks worked out fully before we hit the Pennsylvania rocks. Goodnight from just shy of Pennsylvania. WOW!