After having moved from hostel to hostel in 3 miles of flat walking next to a river, we arrived and had a blast for another town night. We decided to only go a nice 15 mile day to Rocky Run Shelter which was so new that it seemed like you were sleeping on someone’s living room floor. This was also the last day walking with First Man who has a beginning of August deadline. Before the slow parting of ways, we ran into Nickel going south to Harper’s Ferry and we caught up briefly with him in one of our many breaks. After an epic parting of ways, First Man went on to start his 25 mile per day regiment and we went to Rocky Run. There was also one of the most awesomely beautiful springs ever perfectly piped to the point where you could almost take a shower from it.
When First Man left to go ahead, there was some trail name changing to show the recent changes. Magellan became War Cry and K25 became Abolitionist. Dun dun dun.
The trail through Maryland was awesomely flat in most parts minus maybe two 1000ft climbs and one 3 mile stretch of boulder hopping. There were also long stretches of mountain laurel lining the trail.
We had an amazing lunch break at Annapolis Rocks which ironically faced left away from Annapolis. But, on the bright side, we had a sweet 2 and a half hour lunch break lying all over the boulders. There was the second awesome spring of the day, almost the same as the last. We listened to an oldies station on the crank radio and devised one of our most brilliant plans yet. Luckily, there was enough cell service to work the plans out via text messages. From there, we headed 6 more miles to the Ensign Cowall Shelter and ran into Bronco giving ridiculously awesome trail magic including a cooler full of soda, pizza, rides to town, and a general good time.
According to the weather band, there was going to be a huge thunderstorm with a threat of hail. That meant that everyone gathers around the shelters. That night, we fit 14 people and a dog in an 8 person shelter. Surprisingly, it was not the snoring that kept me awake at first, it was the chorus of farting as everyone tried to sleep. The epic hail storm was actually not so epic and it was fine by the morning. The problem: everyone and their brother was around each other and nothing was nice and spread out.
To alleviate that problem, we did another nice and relaxing day of 15 miles to Deer Lick Shelter. We had a large lunch break at Pen Mar park and crossed the Mason-Dixon Line which disappointed me in that it was not marked at all. While we did manage to avoid the large bubble of thru-hikers, we did not avoid the beginning of the massive wave of bobbling Memorial Day Weekenders with no trail manners and large groups. Then on came the boy scouts. Ick.
Deer Lick actually had two shelters meant for 4 people each. Abolitionist, War Cry and I took over one and only made room when Felo and Sidetrack caught back up to us and we squeezed the 5 of us in one.
From there, I headed out to do 9 miles to hit PA 233 to meet Jeremy who was coming to hike the weekend with me. I got there, had my lunch break, and waited until he was ready. Then we had a nice relaxing 7.5 miles to the Quarry Gap Shelters which were ridiculously nice…they even had flower boxes, a board game, and an outhouse staffed by a book. Jeremy also resupplied me for a few days and brought some Mike’s Hard Lemonade, 2 liters of wine, and a bit of Tequila for the weekend since I FINALLY finished my 21 day antibiotics Saturday morning.
We all had a blast on at the nice shelter. It was so hot out; I did sit in a cold stream for a bit. There were not too many swarming weekenders. The next day, we headed another nice relaxing 13.5 mile day. At our lunch break, we ran into ridgerunner Darrel, a friend of War Cry’s and he told us there were 70 people at the shelter in which we ate lunch. Damn boy scouts! The last 6 miles were actually awesomely easy and the trail was wide and pine needlely.
We relaxed at the Tom’s Run Shelters. I decided to tent to try to avoid some bugs which did work well. I also managed to successfully lay up to my neck in a freezing cold creek to cool off. Then for the second night in a row, we ate couscous ramped up with fresh peppers and mushrooms and garlic powder all thanks to Jeremy. Awesome. Something fresh. Sweetness. That night, Felo and Sidetrack caught back up again and we hung out with them and eventually met Sonic, a gigantic dude with half dreaded hair from Washington State with a 5 pound jar of peanut butter.
In the morning, we passed the official mileage halfway point and then took a break at Pine Grove Furnace Park where the General Store has a half gallon ice cream challenge. Unfortunately, there was no soy or rice dream, so I watched Abolitionist and War Cry start working through a half gallon of ice cream each. They made it in 42 and 31 minutes respectively. Sonic somehow slammed through one in 14 minutes, then got half way through a second half gallon…or 6 pounds of ice cream.
Jeremy and I headed on because he had to make a shuttle time with Trail Angel Mary. We walked until we found a creek with a swimming hole and ate lunch there. When we continued, the one spot of rain predicted got bigger and started a rumbling thunderstorm. Since we were near route 34 and there happened to be some kind of thing to get out of the rain and sit in, we went and sat out the 45 minute storm there and called Trail Angel Mary to pick him up 2.5 trail miles early at route 34 instead of 94. There, War Cry came soaking wet and sat with us for the second half of the storm, then Abolitionist, also soaking wet, but at the end of the storm. When Trail Mary came, she brought us some fresh fruit and a bottle of ice water…awesome!
Then we did the last 7 miles to Alec Kennedy Shelter where we bunked with Trail Trash, Easy Hiker, Felo, Sidetrack, Hobbs, Moose, Tumbleweed, and Skyrocket. It was thoroughly refreshing to just see thru-hikers for once.
In the morning, we took an easy morning and didn’t leave the shelter ‘til 9am. Then we managed to do all 12 miles of the day by about 1:20pm with a break about 4 miles in. There, we met my awesome mother with a cooler full of beer, cookies, and fresh fruit. Here came in our brilliant plan. My mom picks up Abolitionist, War Cry and I and takes us to her friend’s house, Master Chief Rummel. Tomorrow we will head to Hershey Park for a zero day. We got some nice showers, laundry and HAIR CUTS Annnnnd massive amounts of food that we have been talking about eating for at least a few days.
Enjoyed reading your journal. Thanks for posing for a quick photo at Dahlgren Camp Ground. It turned out nice. The photos of Veggie and Lil Dipper and Redwing have been inspiring to my daughters. They’re talking about maybe doing the AT together as sisters.
God speed to Katahdin!