Date: 2007-06-24
From: Antietam Shelter, PA

To: Caledonia State Park, PA
Miles today: 10.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Sunday 24 June 2007 Day 100There's this thing on the trail called the Four State Challenge. It involves hiking from the Virginia/West Virginia state line, through Maryland to the Pennsylvania state line--about 43.5 miles--in 24 hours. I found doing 15 miles a day for six months to be quite enough of a challenge, so there was no way I was destined to attempt the Four State Challenge. However, we had the misfortune to almost meet several hikers who apparently successfully attempted the challenge, then kept going past the state line, stumbling loudly and drunkenly into the Antietam Shelter at 4:23 in the morning. I think there were three of them, and I don't recall if I asked them to shut up, but when I attempted to answer a call of nature, Gus asked me not to confront them. Poetically just, one of them confronted a low beam on the front of the shelter, and after he loudly cracked his head on it, the group decided to press on. I woke in the morning, a little crankier than usual, to find a nearly full beer can on the picnic table in front of the shelter. We later heard from Sven and Uffda that the same clown show had blown into Pennsylvania past their camp late at night, waking them, too.We watered up at a picnic area near the shelter and headed up the trail. A few hours later my MP3 player/radio betrayed me. I was paying too much attention to it when I kicked a root and crashed down on my right shoulder, with my pack driving it into the ground. (I'm still feeling it five weeks later.)The injury forced me to alter my hiking style. After getting back to my feet and finding that my shoulder hurt like hell (duh?) when I tried using my trekking poles, I cradled both poles in my right hand, tucked the lower ends under my right arm, and held my right wrist close to my side with my left hand.Our plan for the day was to hitch to Henicle's Market outside Fayetteville, PA on US 30 near Gettysburg. It was Sunday afternoon and the highway was as busy as if it was rush hour. We managed to get across the road, and the first car by stopped and took us to the market. He offered us dinner and place to stay for the night if we were there on his way back later, but our plan was to push on to the next shelter a couple miles up the trail. The store sucked as a resupply. The shelves were half-bare, and offered few of the things we had been eating. My MP3 player ran through batteries at about one every 12-14 hours, which for me at this point meant one a day. I found one two-pack of AAA batteries. The only Tylenol available (for my shoulder) was Tylenol PM. We made our purchases and were sitting on a bench outside the store snacking when a man stopped and engaged us in conversation. Turns out he was responsible for some trail magic near the highway--Kool Aid and Rice Krispie treats--and had three campsites at Caledonia State Park on the north side of the highway. He convinced us to stop for the night at his outpost. He called his group the Appalachian Trail Ministry--a Christian ministry that helped hikers without preaching.We rode with him back to the trail, then he dropped our packs at his campsite while we did our only slack pack of the hike--about a half mile past the creek, picnic area, and park swimming pool, and then up into the campground. When we got there, the kids with him offered us lemonade, regular Tylenol, and a four-pack of AAA batteries better than the variety I got at the store.We relaxed the rest of the day, had a big meal with lots of ice cream for dessert, and got a decent night's sleep.Day 100--10.8 miles; cumulative 1076.8; average 10.7