Jun 6 - Maryland

DAY #82
START LOCATION: Sandy Hook Bridge/US-340/Harpers Ferry Hostel
FINISH LOCATION: Pine Knob Shelter
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 21.6
TRIP MILEAGE: 1,037.0
MILES TO GO: 1,142.1

Smoke and I were up really early... 6AM. Many of the hostellers were
stirring. We packed up and had hiker breakfast as we didn't want to
wait in line for pancakes.

We hit the trail at 8AM and screamed through the remaining 1.5 miles
of the C&O towpath. We saw Mimi on the towpath and thought it weird...
She left about an hour before us. Turns out she was driven to the
hostel yesterday, so she didn't realize the towpath was on the
hostel's side of the river and actually crossed the Potomac on the
Sandy Hook Bridge. Oops.

It started to rain as the trail turned up into the woods so we donned
our raingear... But like every time we put on our raingear, the rain
doesn't last long. Not complaining! We cruised. Besides a few rocky
sections, the Maryland AT is a breeze. We stopped at the Ed Garvey
Shelter for an hour for brunch. Then we rolled a few mote miles to
Gathland State Park. It's a park rich in Civil War History. Some
amazing ruins there. I loved the place... Great water spigot,
restrooms and two vending machines... One with Cherry Coke! It even
took my sweaty dollar bill! Smoke borrowed a buck from me and tried to
buy a powerade out of the other machine. It ate the money. I laughed
as I sipped my cold beverage. The nice folks running the museum
replaced the dollar though. We had lunch there for an hour.
Thundestorms were imminent however.

As we cranked out some more miles to the Rocky Run Shelters, a vista
gave us a glimpse of some awesome lighting shows to our east. We knew
we'd probably catch a piece, and sure enough within minutes before
cruising into Rocky Run the skies unleashed. We stayed here for an
hour til the sun came back out. The Rocky Run Shelters are a compound
of tentsites, an old shelter and a 2008 vintage 16 person shelter. The
place was fantastic... No graffiti or stove burns. We wished we could
have stayed there. The spring was a gushing 8" pipe too.

Our next stop was the Washington Monument State Park. It was almost
5PM and the thunderstorm brought in a nice dry cool front into the
area... 75 degrees and gorgeous sunshine. Smoke cooked some food and I
snacked, dried out my pack and hiking shirt. It was fantastic to be
able to dry out. Lately, the humidity had been oppressive so the
ability to dry out is so great.

We were pretty tired at this park, so we decided to push to the next
shelter about 4 miles up as opposed to the campsite about 7 miles up.
Again, nice cool weather and flat ground... We flew. We cruised into
the shelter to find Stambler, Rock Steady, Stumble Wolf and another
who's name escapes me.

There were also two flip-floppers who started the day before from
Harpers. They are from Ayer, MA. For those who don't know, a flip flop
hike is one where you start somewhere along the trail, hike to a
terminus in one direction and then hike the remainder in another
direction. It's convenient for those who can't thru hike because of
the limited time window a thru hike requires. Their flip flop will
take them from Harpers Ferry to Katahdin, then from Harpers Ferry to
Springer... They'll finish at Springer around Thanksgiving.

Smokestack, Mimi and I are camping at tentsites near the shelter. It's
a gorgeous night and with no rain in the forecast until Wednesday i'm
leaving the rainfly off my tent and gazing up at the stars and
enjoying the breeze. It's a perfect night for sleep. About to get on
that...

-natedog