Date: 2004-07-17
From: Pine Knob Shelter, Maryland

To: Goodbye Dixie, Hello Keystone State
Miles today: 22.3

Last night at 3:00 a.m., I woke up from the sounds of tent poles tapping each other. A small group of hikers had arrived and were setting up their tents near my hammock. I slept restlessly after that.When it became light out, I quietly broke camp as these people snoozed away in a couple of tents. I never saw who they were but suspect that they were weekend hikers. My restless sleep caused me to feel tired while hiking.Early in the morning, I crossed paths with an elderly Japanese man¢a tourist I think¢who was hiking with a headlamp on his head. He told me that he had slept in a shelter, woke up at 4:00 AM, and began hiking shortly thereafter.I passed a campsite where hikers Wipeout (from day 1 in Georgia) and Tarzan, a man in his mid twenties, were encamped. Wipeout told me that on the previous day, someone had been soliciting recruits for the Union Army. Apparently, there was a Civil War battle reenactment planned and the organizers needed some last minute enlistees to fill the ranks. Wipeout told me of two hikers who agreed to participate. I would have jumped at the opportunity.I spend much of each day looking down at my feet to decide where each step will land. Today, I had to avoid stepping on daddy long legged spiders; they were all over the place.I usually visit shelters to eat lunch. There are sources of water at shelters. I read the registers at shelters to catch up on messages from other hikers. Most shelters offer the convenience of a picnic table. Today at midday, the nearest shelter was located one third of a mile down slope from the Appalachian Trail; that was too far, so I did not visit it.Instead, I sat on a log and ate my lunch. It was an unpleasant experience because mosquitoes and gnats were attacking me. Flies were buzzing around my food. That said, I have lately noticed that flies show little interest in an open jar of peanut butter.Tarzan and Wipeout caught up to me during my lunch break and we hiked together.We rested at a spectacular viewpoint called High Rock. The site is accessible to vehicles. Lots of people were hanging out and enjoying the view. When we arrived with our backpacks, some people asked us where we were hiking to. We told them that we were attempting to walk from Georgia to Maine. When they heard this, they pumped us with many questions about our hike. After leaving the viewpoint, we hiked for three miles toward Pen-Mar State Park. Our feet were sore, we were low on water, and we were hungry. The three miles seemed to last forever.We entered the grounds of the state park and encountered a woman and her daughter. Greetings were exchanged, a conversation began, and the next thing we knew, the woman was inviting us to visit a nearby picnic area where her relations were enjoying a reunion of the Buhrman family. We accepted her invitation and followed her to the gathering. There this woman¢her name was Jill¢introduced us to her relations and told us to help ourselves to the food. What a generous offer! And what a feast, especially for three hikers burning up thousands of calories per day.Jill told me that her mother had given birth to sixteen children. She told me that because she was one of the last of the children born, she did not know her older siblings very well.One of her relations mentioned that four of these sixteen siblings had become Roman Catholic nuns. I told this person that I was raised in a Catholic family and one of my late aunts was a nun. I enjoyed chatting with these people and I think that they too enjoyed the conversation.After thanking Jill and her relatives for their generosity, Tarzan, Wipeout and I shouldered our backpacks and hiked a short ways to a railroad crossing. We crossed the rails and reentered the woods where another delight awaited us. A sign identified the location as the border of Maryland and Pennsylvania. Another sign identified the spot as the famous Mason Dixon line. We joyfully posed for photos of each other at this milestone along the Appalachian Trail.We pushed on a few more miles and made camp at the Deer Lick Shelter. Here, I had difficulty finding a suitable location to string up my hammock. The trees were dense, a condition which makes it hard to open up my tarp. I settled for a sub par spot and erected the tarp and hammockFor supper, I ate only dry food. That feast back at the campground had left my tummy full.