Date: 2007-04-26
From: Pen Mar County Park, MD

To: motel, Waynsboro PA
Miles today: 2.8

Thursday, 5 pm, Waynsboro, PA (5 miles off trail)I'm at a pizza shop, a block from my Best Western room, anticipating a meatball sub and salad with blue cheese dressing . My mouth salivates as I write those two little words, "blue cheese". I left the motel room with everything in my back pack hanging up somewhere - from hangers hung on curtain rods, from the towel racks, closet racks, and even from the lamp shades. Everything got damp from yesterday's rain, as did my spirits. I washed my clothes in the sink and am feeling a little "nude" walking out in only my rain pants and fleece (shhh!). Its been days, way back in mid Maryland that I wrote in this journal. I was awaiting my daughter Usha, Max (6) and Cassia (3). Let's see....I was sitting in Pine Knob Shelter reading my geology notes when "George" ("just 'George'. I've been George for 80 years and I don't need any other name") came around the corner at almost a trot. "Where's the spring?" he asked without further ado. Quenched, I tried to engage him in conversation, as I was most curious about him. He wasn't much interested in me, probably because I'm such a newbie. He'd thru-hiked the whole trail two years ago and was just out for a few days jaunt. However, when in doubt, there's always one subject that any hiker warms to: giving advise! I asked questions about how he's learned to lighten his pack and he readily made suggestions. Usha rang me on my cell phone and I headed down the hill to meet her. What a joy! The two little guys and my beautiful daughter! It was a grand hug-in and I was so very happy to have my arms around them. Mostly we just hung out at Maryland's Greenbrier State Park, a gorgeous facity that comfortably accomodates hundresds and hundreds on summer weekends. But this was a weekday and only Spring, so we shared the lakefront with only 8 others. Beach is beach and the kids had such fun with sand and water. Usha and I pretty much just chilled, both of us tired. By the time we reached the hotel Cassia was too done in to go out, so Usha and Max brought us all volumes of Chinese food and later snuck out to treat us to ice cream desserts as well. I have no idea why I couldn't sleep, what with happiness, secure walls, and a cuddly grandson in a soft bed beside me. Oh, well. It was 2:30 Tues. when they walked me back to Pine Knob Shelter to see me off and return themselves to DC. Bouyed by my 24 hr. R and R my legs kicked butt and I just kept going, past Pogo campsite (4 miles) and on to Hemlock Hill Shelter just south of Rt. 17. I found two campsites but not the shelter itself and was just too tired to worry about it. As with Alone-At-Night the First, Alone-at-Night the Third left me sleepless. This time it was because SOMETHING was out there! It made a deep throaty almost "woof!" sound followed by a breathy "whuh! whuh! whuh!" followed by a high pitched yipping! Even as I struggled to free myself from my mummy back to get into a defensive position with my trekking pole at the ready, my mind raced through possibilities: BEAR? (bears don't say woof, do they, or yip?) COYOTE? ("whuh, whuh, whuh"? I don't think so.) MOUNTAIN LION? (high pitched yips?). Being the reasonable individual that I am I had to conclude that it could only be an escaped baboon, probably from the DC Zoo, out in the mountains wistfully looking for a mate. Thank goodness I wouldn't do for it, as I never did figure out how to free myself from the mummy bag. Wed. morning (4/27) promised yet another sunny day and I started out. A mile and a half later I came out to a hiway (RT.77) and ran into "Osprey", a l9 year old (?) who was trying to hitch into Gettysburg. My first encounter with a thru-hiker (someone who started at either end of the trail, Springer Mt. GA or Mt. Katadhin ME). When he saw me in full back pack regalia he immediately engaged in trail conversation. He'd started at Springer Feb. 12!! He'd spent 52 days on the trail already (with some time off to return to his home in Montana to do some tax preparation), but was now feeling burned out from putting in too many miles per day and looking to do some sightseeing in the area. About 1:30 it started to rain gently. Oh, oh. Here's something new to deal with. Everything one reads about trail dangers suggests the biggest is getting wet and cold (hypothermia).   The obvious thing would be to go to the shelter not far away, The Devil's Racecourse shelter. But it wasn't raining hard, it was still so early in the day, and bottom line, I just didn't want to stop yet. I only had 5 miles before finishing "my first state", MD and I decided to keep going. Five miles should take me, what, 2 1/2 or 3 hours at most? Instead, it took me 4 12! Why? Because I just happened to hit the state's most challenging assent/decent! At the peak of this mountain was a mixed reward: "High Point", a cliff, reinforced with concrete, that is regularly used as a (literally) jumping off place by hang gliders. Such a view! The downside was that a road makes this point easily accessible by the general public, as witnessed by grafitti all over the cliffside.As I began the decent nine young people filed slowly past me, struggling up the steep grade. All carried full packs, their eyes were glazed over, and not a one could offer me a smile or greeting - they were exhausted! Their leader (it turns out this was an Outward Bound group) could only mumble, "Its steep, very steep." Decents are always harder than ascents anyway, as its more unstable to be leaning far forward to find firm footing for my trekking poles and its also less steady to lower my body weight down than to pull it upward. My knees suffer a lot with the downgrades! Large boulders add to the problem, often forcing me to "slide" down them on my butt. It takes awhile and "braking" every step adds to the general exhaustion of a long descent.Meanwhile, the light rain continued and it was getting "unseasonably cold". I was greatly relieved to get to Pen Mar County Park, right at the state border (get it?: PENnsyvania-MARiland ) The next trail shelter was still 5 miles away but I was just too tired to continue. I retreated to a roofed over "band shell" space, setting up my tent in a protected corner and wishing I were warmer. A little later " D.J." sauntered in. He was heading south to Harpers Ferry where he was going to purchase a bicycle and head cross country to re-settle in the southwest. He'd started in N.Y. Having thru-hiked the trail a few hears ago he, too, became my mentor regarding easier ways of doing things. The two of us shared the stage for the night. This morning my feet hurt badly, everything was damp from both the rain and condensation inside my tent (I hadn't vented it properly) and I was still cold. Oh, did I want the comforts of a warm shower and clean sheets. Time for a day off. It was an emotional moment for me when I crossed the "Mason-Dixon" line and hiked into Pennsylvania. I'd been aware of the fact that much of my jouney over South Mountain in Maryland followed one of the routes slaves had used to escape the south. I thought of my own family's heritage of this part of America's history -Jim, his family, our children - and it brought tears to my eyes to sense something of what it must have meant for African Americans to finally be leaving "Dixie". A short time later at PA Route 16 I met three of the hundreds of volunteers who maintain the A.T. They were picking up trash at the trailhead. One can't thank them enough! They were kind enough to propose their lunch break as an excuse to give me a ride into Waynesboro and the Best Western. So, here I am, enjoying my blue cheese dressing!