Date: 2007-06-04
To: A Shakedown Hike of Sorts
Miles today: 0.0

288 days to go! How can I bear it you may ask? Well I went on a 4 1/2 day hike over Memorial Day weekend. It was from Rt. 30 in PA, south to Harper's Ferry, WV. A total of 58.9 miles. I suppose it was a shakedown hike of sorts as I finally got to use all my gear at once. Everything seemed as though it held up pretty well, even my tent which lacked a rain fly (I used some sort of waterproof spray on it that seemed to keep the rain off). But, fortunately, it only rained about 2 hours out of the entire trip. The weather was right around 80 degrees most of the trip and only really humid one day. It was pretty hot while actually hiking uphill, but otherwise it really was not that bad at all. My pack weighed between 35-40lbs fully loaded with food and water as I started out, and I estimated it got down to about 30lbs by the end of the trip as the food was mostly gone and water empty. Hopefully I can keep my pack weight below 35lbs when I start my thru-hike next year.What did I see? Well I picked up my friend 3FC at the airport around noon on Fri. and we were on the trail by 3ish. We hiked 3 miles uphill and then set up at Rocky Mt. Shelter as a storm was rumbling right above us. Turned out it only sprinkled a little bit and then moved on without raining at all. The next day, Sat., was the hardest for me. We hiked 15.1 miles to just past Penmar, and stealth camped just inside the Maryland border. It was a long day and I did not sleep well Fri. night so it was tiring in that aspect as well. The funny thing about Sat. is that when we finally got to Penmar, the trail goes through a park with a pavilion looking north back into PA, but there was also a wedding going on at the pavilion. We sat on one of the benches and proceeded to nap while listening to wedding reception music and teenagers danced around us. So tired.Sun. for me was not the hardest day, but the climb out of Penmar to High Rock overlooking the Maryland countryside was brutal after just waking up. And I lost my sunglasses. But the view was totally worth it. There were some other hikers with a mastiff up there and some bikers (two of whom were drinking and smoking at 9:30AM, haha). The rest of Sun. was much better for me and we did a total of 14.7 miles to get to Pogo Campsite just as it started to rain. It turned out we camped just short of the campsite with some boy scouts. Earlier in the day I saw the biggest snake I've ever seen in the wilderness. A 4 foot long rattlesnake that at it's thickest was about as big as a nalgene bottle around (I think it was pregnant or had just eaten something). But anyways I didn't notice it until I heard it rattle and hiss at me, at which point I realized I was 3 feet from it as it was lying in the sun just off the trail. Suffice it to say I yelled and jumped back at least 3 feet. For the next hour I was convinced every tree root I saw was a snake in the trail.On to Mon. 15.8 miles from Pogo to Crampton Gap Shelter. The day was highlighted by walking through a civil war battlefield (related to the 1862 Antietam campaign), the original Washington monument erected by the good citizens of Boonsboro, MD in the early 1800's (it kind of looked like an oversized stone jug), and finally we stopped for a free shower at Dahlgren campsite. My feet were really hurting by Mon. night, but it was a general soreness/achyness and fortunately my knees were not hurting. I did not have to use my knee brace at all for the entire trip; it would seem as though the gloucosamine works on some level. Mon. night was perfectly clear and cool and there was what looked like a full moon. I laid awake for a long while watching it through the mesh in the top of my tent as it tracked through the sky. Very relaxing.Finally, Tues. 10 miles into Harper's Ferry. We were on the trail early, and quickly reached our 2nd civil war site, Crampton's Gap. There was also a strange looking arch-like war correspondent's memorial. I will briefly digress regarding the battlefields. They were both located in gaps (small dips in the mountain) in South Mountain, which essentially runs north to south from PA to the Potomac River. The Union army was following the Confederates under Lee during his first invasion of the north in 1862. Lee eventually turned west and ended up behind the Antietam creek with his back to the Potomac River. In front of him was South Mountain. So the battles in the gaps of South Mountain were the Confederates trying to delay the Union army from reaching Lee at Antietam. The Battle of Antietam was the single bloodiest day of the Civil War. I loooooooove me some history. Well we finally reached Weverton Cliffs and had a great view of the Potomac River and south and west into Virginia and West Virginia. My parents met us walking along the canal path into town where they bought us lunch and returned me to my car at Caledonia Park in PA where we had started on Fri. It was a great trip and getting up and going back to work was nearly impossible. As tired and sore as my body was, it was also screaming to me that it should be getting ready to go hiking again and not putting on a suit and going to an office. A few things I learned:- my free tent, while it held up sucked b/c I was nervous about it not having a rain fly and even though it says it is for 2 persons, I had trouble just stretching out myself entirely, and I ain't tall.- I much rather enjoy hiking UPHILL than down, even though it is overall physically more demanding, it is much easier on the feet.- Maryland is less rocky than PA, and has some rock free stretches, but its rocky parts are still as bad as PA at its rockiest (at least the rockiest parts I've experienced so far).- I like cooking dehydrated food by simply adding boiling water to a bag, very easy clean up!- It's going to be hard waiting until March 19, 2008 to start!