Date: 2011-07-11
From: Rocky Run Shelter

To: Free State Hostel
Miles today: 15.5

Day 112 - Other than the nuts hitting the roof I slept ok and got up at 6:55am. I decided to forego eating breakfast and get some miles done before it got too hot. The forecast called for it to be in the mid to high 90¢s today and high humidity. I was on the trail at 7:30am and headed to the original Washington Monument. I arrived at the picnic area of the Washington Monument at 8:55am after hiking 3.7 miles. I stopped and had a late breakfast and drank several liters of water. After that I proceeded up to the actual monument. This was the first monument built in honor of George, built by the locals in 1827. I did not tarry long here, climbed the 43 steps, took a few pictures and was on my way. The view actually looks down where the battle of Antietam (known as battle of Sharpsburg for the CSA) was fought during the Civil War. This battle, fought on September 17, 1862 was the bloodiest single day battle in American history with nearly 23, 000 soldiers killed, injured or missing. It was getting hotter by the hour and the forecast for Fredrick, MD (which was nearby) was a high of 96*F for the day. The thermometer on my watch was already indicating 90*F next to my skin. After crossing I-70 over a walk way my next stop was Annapolis Rocks which I arrived at 2:00pm. These are outcropping of rocks, looking west over Greenbrier State Park. I stopped here for an hour, studying my options for the balance of the afternoon. My initial plans were to go to Ensign Cowall shelter which would have been a total of 15.7 miles for the day. However, my guidebook said that the water there was a spring that was stagnant. The closest water source headed that direction was at a campsite 4.8 miles from the shelter. I knew if I got water there I would need additional water by the time I got to the shelter so I was concerned. In looking at my guidebook a little closer it mentioned a hostel on MD 17, just 0.2 miles south of the shelter. It said that it cost $32.00, which I thought was a little steep but it said that it had a water spigot outside the house. So I left at 3:00pm having 6.3 miles to go to get to the highway. My thought was, I would go by the hostel, which was 0.3 miles off the trail, drink from the spigot and load up all my containers with water in order to get me through the night and to the next ¢clean¢ water tomorrow morning. I arrived at MD 17 at 5:15pm and walked to the hostel. I was pretty well exhausted at this time but pleased that I was at least close to water. As I walked toward the Free State Hostel, I was surprised to see that it was actually a house, so I thought I needed to check that out more closely. I walked in and the hostel area was the upstairs to a house, with a washer and dryer, 12 bunks, pizza delivery service and most importantly a shower. But to top it all off, it was air conditioned !!! I would never imagined when I woke up this morning that I would go to bed, fully hydrated, have a full stomach of salad and pepperoni pizza, would have had a shower, would have clean and dry clothes for tomorrow and be laying down in an air conditioned environment to sleep. Certainly another of God¢s little miracles to help me along the way. I had no trouble forking over the $32.00 either. There were 3 other hikers there so it was a nice evening and the family that lived downstairs was super accommodating. The husband is an orthopedist PA and had thru hiked in 1996.   I did a total of 15.5 miles today and my total is 1,045.9 miles.