Date: 2008-08-26
From: Pen Mar State Park

To: Harpers Ferry WV
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

41.6 mile day!!! Mission accomplished.My alarms went off at 3:45am... I rolled out of my hammock and began packing my things. I could see the head lamps of the others about 20 feet away. No one talked, we all just worked hard to get things together and get moving. We were all on the trail by 5am.Spoon hiked ahead and I followed Mango and Grettle in the back. We trekked through the woods with our head lamps lighting the way. The terrain was not ideal for a night hike. We scrambled through jagged, loosely placed rocks and climbed big rock faces that were badly blazed. I went the wrong way several times. At one point I stopped to pee and lost Mango and Grettle.I was climbing mountains in the dark all alone. I took it all in, it was awesome. The only thing that I could see was this little pirifial cone of light in front of me. The night bugs were still in full action and overtook most of the forests sounds. I heard animals in the brush but could only assume that they were the same squirls and chipmunks that I could see during the daylight. At times I would catch a little set of reflective, beady eyes but they would disappear quickly. There was a cool breeze that would stir things up every once and a while. I was so engulfed in the walk and the experience that when there was a breeze I shut my eyes for just a second and would smile... I know there are not many moments in my life that I will be in a similar situation... I just wanted to sponge it all up, I got butterflies from the immense connection with nature.I remained alone through the 2-1/2 hour night hike. I sat on High Rock (peak of a mountain with open view) for about 15 minutes and watched the sun come up... unbelievable! I caught up with Mango and Grettle at about the 10 mile marker, we were one quarter the way done. I felt pretty good. I ate a 700 calorie serving of chicken noodle Mountain House (freeze dried) meal and we pushed on together.I pretty much hiked with Mango and Grettle throughout the day. We stopped at 5 mile intervals to touch base, eat some food and see how each other was doing. At the 20 mile mark I was still feeling good. My body was doing what I wanted it to, and my mind was in a different place completely. I was almost cheery and beginning to act delirious. Mango seemed to be on the same page and we laughed allot together.The 30 mile mark... We stopped at one of the shelters for a bit. I ate 4 oatmeal's (840 calories) and some GORP (peanuts, cranberries, cashews, apricots, goji berries). At this point my body was on full automation. I would have been better off not stopping at all. Even during the break I paced around to keep my muscles hot... but it wasn't enough. Both of my hamstrings tightened up like large cold rubber bands. Getting back in to a rhythm on the trail was extremely painful. At this point I could feel that both of my feet were getting soar on the backs of my heels. I couldn't determine if there were blisters or not... but had to push on regardless, so I did.There were no breaks during the last ten miles. I couldn't put myself through another breaking in period. I'm not sure if my body would have gotten back up If I sat it down at that point. Mango and I were truly in a different world. We were pretending that each of us was a different animal like a lion or hawk... then we would try (and succeed) in taking on that animals traits and glided through the forest. We literally ran for 1-2 miles at a time. What we were doing was childish and sort of embarrassing to admit. However, we had been hiking for over 14 hours straight and our minds were not right. The idea that we could change our perception and believe that we held certain animal quality's that made our hiking not only bearable... but easy was cool with me. I played that game through the last 6 miles of the hike. We moved exceptionally fast at 3.5 miles per hour. The sun had completely gone down at about 8:25pm and the head lamps were back on for the last hour.We arrived at "Hostel International - Harpers Ferry" at 9:38pm. Sixteen hours and 38 minutes to accomplish 41.6 miles! Why did I just do 41.6 miles? Just to do it... just so that when someone asks me in the future what the biggest day I did was... I can say "I hiked the entire state of Maryland @ 41.6 miles". I had a great time and I enjoyed the challenge. I like to hike when I feel like I'm on a mission. For now 41 is enough for me. We will see what the future brings. ~Santana~ "by myself but not alone"