Date: 2009-06-13
From: Rocky Run Shelter

To: Free State Hostel
Miles today: 15.5

I had to get up sometime after 6 because a mosquito would not stop buzzing around my head. Last night, my heels got bitten up while I was eating, but the mosquitoes seemed to have gone to sleep while we did, so we were not that bothered during the night. I really wanted to make a cup of coffee from the grinds I got from Single Speed's unused food bag and enjoy it at the cafe table. After I cooked my oatmeal at the table and ate it there while T-Suds sat in one of the cafe chairs, that is just what I did! The sunlight was pretty and I enjoyed a leisurely morning. Sometimes, life on the AT is not so rough...   I set off on the trail after 8, and hoped to do a good 20 miles that day. It wasn't long before I came to another historical site- that of a Civil War battleground. I would never want to do the 4 state challenge and rush from point to point, oblivious of everything around me. There was a lot of information and sites to see in this area. It was a very humid morning and I had already sweated out a lot of fluid, so I stopped in at the Dahlgren Backpack Campground bathroom to drink and collect more water. There, I met '357 Magnum', who had just started his flip-flop hike (he had also thru-hiked in 2007). I continued on, through more areas with historical signs, and then headed to the Washington Monument State Park. A nice woman who was walking in the opposite direction asked if I wanted my picture taken, when she found out what I was doing (seeing that I was alone and didn't have that chance very often). At the Washington Monument itself (a bee-hive shaped stone monument build in dedication to George Washington by the locals), I met several other day hikers who were excited to meet a thru-hiker! One quickly passed by and said, "I'm going to tell my boyscout troop that I met Morning Glory!" I saw a couple of hikers picking some berries off a tree, so I went over to see what they were. Mulberries! I picked one and it was good! It was a nice treat to taste a fresh berry. I next met several struggling hikers coming up a hill. One commented that it was much easier in my direction (ummm... Does he have any idea of how many hills I have climbed?). The next one admitted it would be easier if he were in better shape. I agreed!   I decided to have my lunch at Pine Knob Shelter, which turned out to be farther away than was listed in my guidebook pages, and very crowded! I found my own little area with a large rock to sit on, away from all of the bustle. The next section to Annapolis Rocks, was the most crowded part of the trailI had so far experienced. There were a lot of day hikers out! Two of them knew about thru-hikers and spotted me as one. They kept congratulating me! The rocks were farther away than I thought, and were a quarter mile off the AT. A family was sitting at the sidetrail turnoff and started asking me all kinds of questions about my hike. They told me that I would have a similar view from the rocks ahead and that the Annapolis rocks would be crowded, so I decided to skip the sidepath. They thanked me for taking the time to talk with them and wished me well. It turned out that there was no obvious view or sidepath ahead, but I did see a campsite with a little path behind it, leading to a limited view that I had to myself.   I later stopped at the Pogo Memorial Campsite to collect more water. A frog jumped up on the rock beside me as I steripenned the water, and sat and watched me.   The next section of the trail became increasingly rocky, and one section had no dirt to walk on at all. It was very slow going and energy consuming. I came across two boys who had found a lookout point to wait for the rest of their group, and who had also befriended a stray cat- a surprising and sad sight in the woods. They had fed it beef jerky and now it would not leave them alone. Up ahead, I caught up with a few more members of the group. One boy looked up at me and commented, "This is not so easy, is it?" (No... It's not!)   I had intended to get to the Raven Rock Shelter, 10 miles away, but when I got to the Enseign Cowall Shelter at 5, I was tired! I really didn't want to press on for five more miles. There were three day hikers at the shelter, and the nice girl offered me a Golden Delicious Apple! It was really good. Later, when they found out I was thru-hiking, she offered me a granola bar with pieces of dark chocolate in it! I read through the registry and saw that T-Suds had signed in, saying that she had stopped in at the hostel and got ice cream. Hostel?! What hostel? Ice cream?! I then realized that the last road I was on was the one that the Free State Hostel was off of. Hmmm.. What to do... I had no need to go to a hostel then, but I knew the shelter area was going to be crowded, I didn't feel like going on for 5 more miles, and I already smelled and could use a shower. I called Erik to help me decide, and then decided to backtrack to the road and go the extra half mile plus to the hostel. Bone Pac's wife said I looked tired when I got there. I don't know why... I had only hiked 15 miles! Maybe it was the heat. The hostel area was located on the 2nd floor of the house, with the entrance all the way around the back... I thought I was going to be the only one there, but it turns out that Bison was spending his second night there, as he was feeling sick with the flu. I took a shower, did my laundry, and then went out to the back steps to cook my dinner on my alcohol stove (a little kitchen area would be a nice improvement to this hostel!). Then, I wrote a couple of trail entries on the computer and slipped into my bunk for another night of sleep indoors...