Date: 2004-05-26
From: Pen Mar County Park, MD

To: Day 64: Quarry Gap Shelter, PA
Miles today: 20.7

My wife and I got up on AT Day 64 at 4:30 a.m. in Hagerstown, MD and made it to the Pen Mar County Park trailhead by 7:20 a.m. The park was closed, but we found a vacant lot across the street to park our truck and then we snuck past the barriers to reach the trail. Literally within minutes of starting our hike on this relatively warm (60-70 degrees) and overcast day, we crossed the famed Mason Dixon Line and immediately thereafter the border between MD and PA. Obviously we took the requisite pictures to commemorate these events. Much to my surprise, the trail in PA started out quite easy, no long extended rocky sections. Clearly if I done my homework the surprisingly forgiving terrain we encountered would have been expected and I would have planned for higher mileage. As it was, even with the relatively late start and my wife joining me for the first 90 minutes or so, I was able to make good time and ended up covering an impressive 20.7 miles for the day.Along the way, at the 8.5-mile point I stopped at the Tumbling Run Shelters (that¢s right, there were two shelters, one for snoring and one for non-snoring ¢ how¢s that for being prepared!) where I ate an early lunch with two NOBO AT through hikers, Stealth and Tom. I soon discovered that both of these young men were much faster hikers than I, a realization that has been more and more common as I meet other through hikers ¢ and an additional stimulus to once again see if I can lighten my pack as it is still easily 50% heavier than virtually every one else¢s. Later on in the afternoon, at the 15.1-mile point, I stopped for a snack at the Rocky Mountain Shelters (again, two shelters at one location) and soon thereafter got my first, albeit brief taste of bouldering along the AT in PA.When I reached my original target destination, the Caledonia State Park at the 18.1-mile point, it was still relatively early and given the ease of the terrain (and the $15 camping fee!), I decided to push on to the Quarry Gap Shelters, which I reached with ease by 6:30 p.m. Now I¢ve seen a number of really nice shelters along the AT (and some that were downright depressing), but this pair of shelters has clearly got to rank among the prettiest and best maintained ¢ it even had hanging blooming plants, a roll-down windbreak for the covered eating area, a rock-lined stream to divert the spring water and the list goes on and on. Several of the other overnight guests (Stealth, Swiss Miss, Tom and a NOBO section hiker named Tennessee Walker) remarked that this spot was nice enough to live in permanently. When I arrived, I was planning on tent camping, but given the beauty of the shelter and the threat of thunderstorms, I changed my mind and stayed in the shelter ¢ good choice since it did rain.As an aside: Despite the beauty of the AT, anyone who has through hiked it will admit that the daily grind can get to be boring ¢ especially when the cicadas are make their impressively loud and incessant mating calls. As a result, many of the through hikers, including myself, resort to listening to a radio with earphones as we trudge along. Unfortunately even this can get to you after a while since there isn¢t near enough variety and since the reception is often quite bad in the wilderness, so one plan my wife and I concocted was to try listening to recorded books. Our first experiment was with my very impressively powerful Apple iPod, but as good as it was, it¢s 10-hour battery life simply wouldn¢t do given that there was no way to secure a recharge in the wilderness. Our second experiment was to try one of the new Sony MP3 minidisk recorders since they were reported to be able to run 56 hours on a single AA battery ¢ and of course I could carry extra batteries. The only draw back is the five-hour playtime on a single minidisk, but as with the batteries, I could carry as many as needed.Well on AT Day 65 we gave this new technology a try and all I can say is that now I have a new problem, not getting so lost in the interesting story that I get lost on the trail. I was successful in averting this unwanted extra mileage, but as my wife¢s trail log will reveal, she did get lost for a while returning to our truck. I only had one minidisk for this first try, but I still managed to listen to one complete, albeit abridged novel ¢ Ice Bound, and I found the whole experience to be great. The hours just fly by and with a great many more 12 hour plus hiking days still ahead I am now confident that I have found a way to not only combat boredom, but also to provide me with a convenient way to further my education ¢ assuming I don¢t listen to nothing but adventure novels ¢¦