Thursday, November 5, 2015

November 3, 2015 - Pen Mar Park (PA-MD boarder) to I70

Picture of the day
My favorite spot on the whole trip 

AT Total to date:  
     Rockfish Gap, VA to Pennsylvania-Maryland Line. Finished 202.7 of 2189.2 miles (9.3%)

This Report:
      Pen Mar Park to I70

A short 18 mile trip to finish the Maryland AT from Pen Mar Park to I70.
Whoowoo! 2 states finished after this trip, West Virginia was very short.

Day one:
On day one of a planned three day trip, I stayed at the Rocky Run Shelter.
I had a company. A guy named Chris.
And he lives in inner city Baltimore and is a teacher there. He's amazing. ...much more to his story.
At his school the class sizes just got bumped to 45. 
This and other things caused him to quit, that's why he's here on the trail this week.

Day two: after hiking down to Antietam Creek and filling up on water I started to get a sinus headache from all the leaf mold. The trail was covered with leaves making it difficult to hike because I couldn't see the rocks.  I planned a 5 mile day then another 5 mile day then a 9 mile day. At some point during the day I decided to make day 2 the long day instead. As the day progressed I saw that it was only a bit farther to the car (about 4 more miles) and thought since my headache was not going away that I'd really like to go home. That meant that I'd have to do a 14 or 15 mile day. Around about 3pm I gave up on that idea, I was really tired. I settled on camping at Pogo campground. But when I got there it was still light out and I'd recovered my enthusiasm for sleeping at home that night. I ate some caffeine gummies (called Blocks), looked at the map and started the last hill climb. It was only 3.9 miles to the car with mostly flat ground ahead. There is also 2 places to camp in the upcoming stretch so I knew I could camp if I wanted. Well, it was a long tough day but what made it possible for me to finish was how easy the trail became. Flat and no rocks, I just flew along. I finished at 7pm, two hours after sunset.


Pen Mar Park, MD

 
Pen Mar Park, MD
 
Pen Mar Park, MD

Sign at Pen Mar Park, MD

 
A view along the AT between Pen Mar Park and Raven Rock Shelter
 
Raven Rock Shelter 

My Campsite at Raven Rock Shelter

 
 Antietam Creek First and only good water source after Raven Rock Shelter

 Nice Fern Garden

 I fell just after crossing this bridge

 Incredible rock wall in the middle of nowhere

 Some unexpected time in the sun

 A Bucolic Vista

 My favorite spot on the whole trip

 The same grassy field as seen in the picture above

 Pogo Campground at 4:30 pm, sunset at 5pm with over 4 miles to go

 Blackrock Vista
 Another  Blackrock Vista

  My GPS Track
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