Date: 2007-05-26
From: shelter

To: Annapolis Rocks
Miles today: 18.2

I currently find myself in a bubble of not many other thru-hikers around me. Last night was the first in a long time in which I didn't meet up with other northbounders for the evening.   There seem to be two distinct groups on the trail - those in front of me and those behind me, duh, sounds stupid I know but these groups seem to be hiking for different reasons, on different terms, according to different schedules. I began in the first group, but have since decided that I want to hike my hike a little differently, more like those in the second group behind me. If I kept up my current pace, meaning the pace I have been hiking before I took time off for trail days, I could, conceivably, finish the trail in about 4 and 1/2 months. It's easy to caught up in the miles, especially when traveling with a group on such a timeline. Many of the early starters, beginning at the end of February or early March want or need to be finished by early or mid August, either to begin a new job or to head back to college or graduate school. The "athletes" or "six-niners" are in this group as well, treating the trail as an physical competition, racing off to the finish line but quite possibly missing some of the best off-trail trail experiences along the way. I used to try to maintain this pace, but since my supposed job fell through, I am no longer on this same timeline. So I am trying now to slow down and enjoy the hike more, granted still with 20-mile days, but also with enough time along the way to savor the sites, of which Maryland offers quite a few; stop and enjoy numerous breaks, instead of attempting the four-state challenge or more than 40 miles in a day; make the most out of the brief moments I get to spend with this amazing group of people. I don't want to miss anything along the way. The mentality of the second group behind me may be more "stop and smell the roses" than "get me to the finish line." Will they have more fun along the way? I don't know, but I'm willing to find out. While I find myself in this void of hikers, I am beginning to miss the social interaction. The family in the shelter was nice enough last night, sharing their food, reveling in my trail stories, the 12-year old girls wondering how in the world I carry enough clothing for 3 months, I share a special bond that at this point only other thru-hikers understand. So I was ecstatic today when I saw Anonymous coming down the trail. To celebrate our good fortune, we decided to head off-trail to the Dogpatch Tavern, hitching the strenuous .4 mile only to see the parking lot filled with motorcycles instead of backpacks, a sign proclaiming "Welcome Bikers" which I determined to be a misprint with the substitution of a b for an h, for we were quickly welcomed into the midst of leather and black T-shirts. A few drinks turned into a few too many before we headed back to the trail, hitching a ride, of course, with the first car to pass by, the driver of which didn't seem to mind the smell of beer and sweat. Funny how thru-hikers will readily hike 20 miles a day, but balk at the idea of walking .4 mile on the road back to the trail. Not so funny is stumbling uphill for 2 miles, in the dark, without headlamps, to our proposed campsite. And stumble I did, my trekking poles not saving me this time, with the open wound on my knee and blood running down my leg demonstrating to all the kiddies at home why it is a bad idea to hike drunk. Let that be a lesson to me. Fortunately, we made it to our proposed campsite, well sort of nearby anyways. But it was late and already dark, plus I really couldn¢t be bothered to find suitable ground and set up my tent. Instead, we decided, although there wasn¢t a whole lot of thought involved, to cowboy camp by laying down a tarp and sleeping on top of it beside the Annapolis Rocks look-out point, not realizing, or maybe not caring, that the area is strictly off limits to overnight camping. Luckily the caretaker who found us in the morning, covered with dirt and nearly eaten alive by bugs, had a sense of humor and simply asked, ¢So you guys were at the Dogpatch last night, huh?¢ Guess he¢s seen it once too often from those darn thru-hikers.