Date: 2008-04-26
From: PenMar Park, MD Ann & Bills House, MD

To: Antietam Shelter, PA
Miles today: 7.1
Weather: haze

Start: PenMar Park, MDEnd: Antietam Shelter, PAMiles: 7.1HammockAhhh....a great nite's sleep inside the dry house. There was a short thunderstorm last nite, so I was glad to be out of it, however, the weather was not forecasted favorably for today either.I didn't get out of bed till 9:00'ish. Bill was already outside with 2/3 of the lawn mowed! Ann got up, and she was so sweet, brought me coffee (Caffeine!!), and we talked for a bit while I played w/Opie. About 12:30 we left to drive to the nearby town called Tawny Town, home of a great Chinese place. Ann treated me to a buffet (thanks again!) and we had a wonderful talk about "people". We both agreed that there's probably not one person out there that doesn't or hasn't dealt with the tough stuff that can make life challenging, and yet, people (in general) are prone to acting like everything is perfect, which then serves to make us all feel isolated even more because we start feeling like we're the only ones dealing with crap.   It is a bizarre game of sherades (I have NO idea how to spell that word), that people play, and to me, it all boils down to a basic mistrust we all have for one another, coupled with the need for safety (emotional/mental/physical). I hope peopl! e can be "real" someday. I really do. Life is not a competition.So before we knew it, time had ticked away, and I still needed to pick up a few things for resupply, so we went next door to the market and I got my stuff.Then we drove back to the house and sadly, I had to say goodbye to my new and wonderful friends, Bill, Ann, and Opie the cat. Folks, I have to say, people just don't get any better than these 2. They treated me like family, made me feel so comfortable, Ann even bought me some snacks and Ben n Jerry's, but believe it or not, after 2 AYCE buffets in a row, I didn't have room! The AT has restored my faith in the existence of basic human kindness, so from the bottom of my heart, thank you Ann, thank you Bill, and Opie..thanks for the cat therapy!Ann drove me back to PenMar, but only after offering to let me stay another nite, because storms were in the forecast. At the time, it was very humid, hot, and sunny, and I couldn't justify not hiking if it's sunny. I fully believed it was going to storm though, I've felt too many days like this in Oklahoma to think otherwise.So @ 3:45 p.m., I was off. I had 2 options, a little over 4 miles to Deer Lick Shelter, or 7.1 miles to Antietam Shelter. I knew I was crossing into PA soon...I hiked, looking for the sign, and wouldn't you know it, NO FREAKIN SIGN!Ok, Hear Ye Hear Ye!! To the states of Maryland and Pennsylvania, I am starting a petition as of this moment (8:07 p.m. on 4.26.08) to get signs posted ON the AT that tell hikers when we're entering your wonderful states. I mean c'mon..it's a BIG deal, and although my guidebook tells me the "state line" exists, I want to know EXACTLY where ok? And while I'm at it, I also want to petition the FAA that they divert all air travel around the AT when thunderstorms are forecasted, so that the sound of the planes don't continuously freak me out when I'm on top of a mountain. Yes, I do realize that would mean all planes have to go south of GA or north of ME, but guess what, they are traveling @ hundreds of mph, and I'm just going 2 mph. I think it's a fair compromise. So I'm hiking along, and my weather experience tells me when the sun starts setting and things cool off, those storms are going to come up and fast. I had a nice steep .7 mile climb first thing in PA where I met a guy from NY who is doing sections. I passed my first person going uphill today! LOLIt was so humid I sucked down an entre liter of water on that climb, so I was looking for the next water source. I was heading down the little mountain and ran into 2 more day hikers who were both carrying these matching 1/2 gallon jugs of water. I asked if there was water close, and they said no. I go like .2 miles further (where they just came from) and there was a huge freakin stream! I died laughing because I realized they didn't consider "that" water!I cameled up ad headed on. The terrain started taking me up (which I didn't like because the air was getting that feeling of possible storms). It was getting soupier, and I could see the sun fading behind a grayish haze. So I'm not hearing thunder yet (but the damn planes fooled me a few times), but my intuition told me I needed to move swiftly.I decided if the Deer Lick Shelter was lower, I'd just stop there. So the sky is getting darker and darker, the wind has an ocassional coolness to it, and I'm getting more and more nervous because I'm still climbing higher. I just kept saying over and over "please let me get somewhere safe, pease let me get somewhere safe."Finally @ about 5:50 p.m, I made it to the shelter, and of course, it is almost @ the top of the climb, but not at the tippy top. I was just torn on what to do. The next shelter was 500 feet lower and in a totally safe elevation, but it was still 2.4 miles away, and I had no idea what type of terrain it was (rocky?). I checked if I had a cell signal ad called Karen with hopes she could check the radar for me. Well, I got through, but she was @ the grocery store and they were having a horrible lightening storm @ that moment. I decided that since I was not hearing thunder yet, it was not raining yet, and I still had about 2 hrs of dayligt left, I was going to go for getting down off that mountain.I knew the highest point was about .3 away, there was a gravel road about 1 mile away, and if I had to, I could walk down that road.So @ exactly 6:00 p.m., I was off. I had SO MUCH adrenalin going through me it was unbelievable. The sky was getting soupier and darker, and where it was safe to do, I actually ran. I hit the gravel road @ 6:12 and kept hiking on the AT, knowing every step was taking me lower in elevation.Have you ever run down a rocky, leaf covered, sometimes muddy and wet trail w/ a 35 lb pack on your back? I probably scared every living thing away, because my cookpot was rattling like crazy.So my rules of engageent were this. Keep going down until it 1. started raining (which happens right before a storm hits) 2. started lightening anywhere,.. or 3. I could hear thunder getting closer. I kept running and running, looking @ my topos, knowing I was getting safer, but 2.4 miles "normally" takes me about 1 hr and 15 minutes. I just didn't know if I had that kind of time.Folks, I shit you not, 37 MINUTES after I left Deer Lick Shelter on top of a mountain, I was at Antietam Shelter, 2.4 miles down the mountain! I was freakin Wonder Woman. So there's this beautiful stream, which had already flooded over, and my next concern was getting caught in a flood area. The shelter has a METAL roof...um...NOPE! Not going to sit out a storm in that thing, even if I'm lower. So I walked to the Old Forge Park (.2 away), no good hanging places, so I walked back and found a place that would allow me to set up in the rigt direction (side of tarp facing the now quickly oncoming storm). It was 6:37, and now I'm hearing pretty constant thunder, and the wind is picking up.I moved like never before, hammock...up, tarp...up, camp clothes...on, tarp deployed for storm mode..duff built up on storm side to block potential blowing rain, all the while, it is thundering A LOT now, the sky is almost black and I know I'm down to minutes before it hits.So if you want to call it the power of prayer, the power of intense mental energy, or just my great luck, or whatever, get this, THE exact moment my butt cheeks sat on my hammock, the rain started and the storm was upon me. I did not have time to hang my food, but thought that placing it like 5 feet off the ground on a branch like 6 feet away would somehow do "something" (like keep those pesky Leprechans from stealing my food).I layed back @ 7:25 p.m., protected by the valley and cupped gently by the mountains around me, kept dry by my tarp, kept warm by my clothes and bag, and just meditated for a moment, to calm my racing heart. It is now 8:46 pm., the worst of the storm has passed, but it is still raining, lightening and thundering. I could hear those horrible intense claps of thunder in the mountain top that I had just fled down from. I feel safe here. It is 64 degrees but cooling off now. I need to water the leaves and get tucked in.Funny thing, I never usually "ran" on trails at home for exercise. Well, during my lunch hour @ my last job, I started jogging both up and down the rocky, leaf covered trail on this little mountain to help develop some agility. Well, it worked. I was able to run down a rocky mountain path with my pack loaded down with 5 days of food today...no injury.I am watched out for and protected out here....I know this.~Certain