Date: 2009-06-04
From: Dahlgren Back Pack Campground

To: Devils Racecourse Shelter
Miles today: 18.8

It was a stormy night but luckily the rain stopped in the morning long enough for me to pack up my tent and get hiking. I hit the trail around 7:30, shortly after Mudflap and before Radio Freq. The woods were gloomy and dark but the rain held off until noon or so. The trail goes right through Washington Monument State Park...lots of history here! I'm glad I went through on a rainy weekday because I bet the park is packed on weekends and in the summer.The trail for the first half of the day was flat, it was great! I was averaging 3.5-4 miles per hour and made it 7 miles to the first shelter by 10am. I stopped in to the shelter for a quick break and met Cricket, Saw Man, Intents, and Spaceship. They are all about my age and are a fun bunch, I hope to hike with them a little bit. I moved along and eventually caught up with Mudflap and we hiked together for a few miles. The second half of the day was ROCKY and really tough on my feet. My feet do fine with large bouldery rocks but the rocks sticking out of the ground today were sharp and pointy and made my feet scream. I came to a road that goes 0.3-mile to the Free State Hiker Hostel where I had a maildrop waiting for me. I really think that one of the most dangerous parts of hiking the trail is the road walking! The road was a narrow back road but the cars were whizzing by me so quickly and barely moved over. Ugh! I made it safe and sound to the hostel and had a chance to dry off, wipe the mud off my legs, sort through the food in my maildrop, and check my email. This hostel was really nice, I was seriously tempted to stay because of the weather but knew I should move on if I ever wanted to catch up with Hot Sauce, Plunger, and Mr. Right who were half a day ahead of me.   The last 5 miles of the day weren't too rocky but there were some unexpected uphills that were tough at the end of a long day. I finally saw the sign for the shelter I was staying at tonight, which is always a welcome sight. I walked the 0.3-mile off the trail to Devils Racecourse Shelter to find Mudflap waiting there with his pack on, clearly debating whether he was going to stay or not. The shelter was a dump, you could not pay me to stay in it! Part of the roof was just a tarp and there was a gross, ripped tarp hanging in front of the shelter. I peeked into the shelter through the rips in the tarp and saw a somewhat creepy dude wrapped up in a blanket sleeping. Mudflap and I decided not to stay in the shelter even though it was raining and wasn't supposed to stop until Saturday. We got water and made the trek back up to some campsites just off the AT. Too bad the shelter wasn't a nice one because it would have been nice to dry out our wet gear and clothes.After we set our tents up, Cricket, Spaceship, Intents, and Saw Man arrived and we told them about the shelter situation. It was already 5:30 and the next shelter wasn't for 7 more miles, so that wasn't really an option. Spaceship and Cricket ended up tenting next to us and the other two opted to stay in the shelter. I'll be curious to hear about it in the morning!I am so cozy in my tent, sitting back in my trekker chair while making dinner and listening to Andrew Bird on my ipod. It's supposed to rain all night so I rigged up some shields around my tent to prevent a potential splatter issue tonight. The temperature has dropped significantly today which will make for a very pleasant night of sleep. The only thing I'm not looking forward to is putting on my wet, smelly hiking clothes that are currently in a heap at the far end of my tent. But other than that, life on the trail is good Looking forward to crossing the border into Pennsylvania tomorrow morning!