Date: 2023-05-24
From: Crampton Gap Shelter 

To: Campsite near Footbridge beyond Pen Mar
Miles today: 31.5

I got a later start at 8 than expected, but I also didn't set my alarm. I still figured I could finish in 12-13 hours.I made great time the first five miles to the Rocky Run Shelter junction, where I had a breakfast break 9:40-10. It was also fast and easy to the Washington Monument State Park by 11:15, where I refilled water at a fountain and got rid of trash. I explored the monument for a few minutes, the continued onward, passing over the I-70 bridge sometime past noon.The trail was starting to become more difficult. I last recall hiking this bit of trail two years ago, when backpacking a horshoe route that included a segment of the MD AT, a 2-3 mile road walk, and the Catoctin Trail with DCUL.I made it to the Annapolis Rocks junction at 1:20, and headed up there. The view isn't so great -- heck, the view from Raven Rocks was much better -- but it was a nice spot for lunch. I got back to the AT around 2. I also looked at the similar mediocre view when I reached Black Rock cliff.Then I descended to Wolfsville Road. I was getting low on water, but had no interest in the stagnant water source near the Ensign Cowall Shelter, around 4:30, but did take a short break there, because it was hot, I was starting to do more climbing, and needed some electrolytes.I pressed on another 2.5 miles, past Foxville Road where there is an opening and a walk by a pasture, and found a trickling spring. I was down to just half a liter by now and was concerned. I decided to refill there, which took 30 minutes instead of the 10 I was hoping for. In less than a mile, there was a flowing stream.   This was all in my AT guide, but I was still annoyed by my concern for water and the time it wasted. Maybe if I had done the Four State Challenge more than once in the past, I would have been better acquainted with the water sources on the MD AT.I passed Warner Road. Now the climbs were steep, and it was getting rocky. It was now past 6. The climb up to the Raven Rock Shelter junction took a long time with my pack, as did the rough course of rocks that followed for a few miles.I remember all this from the Four State Challenge. It was an ugly experience then with 40ish miles of hiking (actually, for me, maybe even more due to missing a turn on the C&O trail) and it's an ugly one now too, with less than 30 miles hiked so far today. I had to take another break a bit past the High Rock Loop Trail junction, around 7:30.The trail finally mellowed out a mile and some before Pen Mar County Park, where I arrived around 8:30. A girl screamed when she saw me. Initially, I thought it was amusing, but then I realized she was screaming pretty often. I cooked dinner at a picnic table, got rid of trash, and organized tomorrow's food while I relaxed. Unfortunately, the bathrooms were locked. There were two Four State Challenge finishers near the pavillion at the park overlook. They asked me if that was what I was doing - no, not today.. I just woke up late and wanted to be done with Maryland.I continued on around 9, passed the Mason-Dixon line, and eventually came to a camping spot near a footbridge, where I set up my tent and retired.