Backpacking Trip: Day 2

View from Annapolis Rocks

The second day of our trip dawned on an overcast morning.  The rain from the night was long gone, and the sky had a promise of sun.  Unfortunately, I can't say the same for my disposition.  I did not sleep during the night.  Between the privy runs in torrential downpours, the changing of wet clothes, the worry about getting my new down sleeping bag wet, the worry my tent would leak and the ever increasing pain in my butt, it's a wonder I didn't wake up mutated into a shorter version of Godzilla ready to destroy Tokyo grumpier than I was.  We ate breakfast and packed up camp and got ready to head down the trail.  I was personally trying hard not to cry and failing.  It really was not a good morning.  I didn't care about the view, all I wanted to do was get moving.  I knew that my aunt had planned to meet us at our stop for the night at Dahlgren Campground.  All morning, I struggled mentally about whether or not I should make the choice to end my hike.  The pain was pretty bad, especially on any inclines, and I knew I had some inclines coming in the next couple of days.  I kept thinking that if I ended my trip, I would be failing, and then I was fighting back the tears again, which made it difficult to breathe while carrying 30 pounds with a bad ass.  I tried to keep quiet and push on.  As we hiked south, we began meeting up with day hikers heading north to Annapolis Rocks.  Annapolis Rocks is a popular destination for the view, hiking and rock climbing.  These people carried nothing except small hydration packs or day packs and some were wearing nothing more than flip flops.  I hated each and every one of them on sight.  The happier they were, the more I plotted their demise resented them.

My cousin, myself and my husband

Finally, we made it to the Interstate 70 overpass.  This was my husband's thrill of the trip.  As a kid (and adult) he passed under that bridge on trips to visit his grandparents, and he always wanted to walk across it.  My cousin and I did our best to muster pleasant faces for the photos that we weren't thrilled about having to take.

Once we crossed over the bridge, we meandered around people's backyards before deciding to take a break and have a snack.  We met a few people out for a day hike who were headed the same direction we were.  One was a Hispanic man in a bright yellow shirt (he's important later).  After resting and eating some snacks, we got up and headed back on the trail.  Our plan was to hike the roughly 3 miles to the Washington Monument (the original one in Boonsboro, MD not the one in DC) and eat our lunch there.
It was a grueling 3 miles because 1. It was the longest 3 miles I've ever hiked and 2. There was a never ending mountain hill.  As we climbed the mountain hill, I had to stop every couple of feet to rest and stretch my butt.  It was about this time that my mom began feeding me lifesavers.  My cousin swore several times that we were "almost there" and several times she came near death when each time we were nowhere near almost there and more mountain hill lay in front of us. Then I spotted something bright yellow making its way down the hill.  It was the Hispanic man we had met earlier.  He took one look at me and said "Jew are berry close, berry close" in his accented English.  I think I said "God bless you" 4 or 5 times to him as I realized that I wasn't in the 4th level of hell  going to be hiking this mountain hill forever.  I now refer to that man as my "Little Ray of Mexican Sunshine".

We did finally make it to the top.  There we met 2 men headed north on a hike and we stopped to chat with them.  I asked how far it was to the Dahlgren campground.  One said less than a mile and his partner said, "No it isn't, remember you can't trust information from other hikers on the trail"  Turned out it was more like 2 miles.  I thought about all the horrific stories we heard about upcoming terrain from The Wannabes and Eeyore and realized the guy was right, you can't trust the information.  They assured us that the hike wasn't too bad and that we wouldn't have any trouble getting there after we ate. 

We got to the monument and sat on the bench for lunch.  The Monument was still closed for repairs.  Prior to our trip, the monument was struck by lightning and damaged.  There were 2 women in it at the time, and one was seriously hurt.  That afternoon it was a sunny, though windy, day.  There were 2 men there bird watching.  I assumed they were watching peregrine falcons, but I was too tired to bother to go ask them.
The vultures were there. Circling.
Normally I would be interested in walking around and looking at the view, but all I wanted to do was die not move.  My mom walked around and took pictures, thankfully.
















After lunch and a rest, we headed out.  At this point, I had made the decision that I needed to end the hike.  My cousin had also come to this decision as she was dealing with some pain as well.  My husband is the one who really pushed that I needed to stop.  So the choice was made, my cousin and I would be heading to her house for the remainder of the trip while my mom and husband continued on.  As we made our way down the trail, we discovered that there was more to the Washington Monument State Park than we realized.  Down the hill from the monument, there are pavilions, picnic areas, a museum and bathrooms.  Had we known, we might have eaten our lunch comfortably at a picnic table. 
As we hiked on, we that we would all have dinner at the Olde South Mountain Inn which was where we were meeting my aunt.  The thought of a hot meal that didn't require me to boil water and a soft bed I didn't have to blow up gave me a little extra energy (not to mention all the extra sugar from the lifesaver candies my mom was handing me). We reached the parking lot of the restaurant and my cousin and I sat on the curb and waited while my mom and husband went to set up their camp at the Dahlgren Backpacking campsite.  When my aunt pulled in, my cousin and I were all smiles and waving.  My aunt commented that we made it past MD 77 which was further than she thought we would make it (like I said, she's hilarious).
When my mom and husband made it back, we all headed into the restaurant.  We weren't exactly dressed for the occasion, though luckily, none of us stunk too bad.  There was a wedding rehearsal dinner going on, and we were all a little self conscious about our clothes.  The staff at the Inn were very nice and treated us just like any other customer who might be in better attire.  Our meals were awesome as was the dessert.  Starting back on day 1 about an hour into the hike, we were all dreaming about food.  I guess when you're hiking through the woods with little to no signs of civilization carrying everything you need to survive on your back, food becomes an obsession.  My mom, cousin and husband started talking about Key Lime pie and continued talking about it right up until we were seated at the table in the Inn. And wouldn't you know it, the South Mountain Inn had Key Lime pie.  I had the chocolate Godiva cake and it was awesome.  This turned out to be a surprise gem in our trip.  We had a great time, ate great food and had a great waiter.  The only odd treatment we received was some hoity toity blonde woman who turned her nose up at us as we walked out (I swear we didn't stink).  For those planning hikes along the trail here, note that the menu is pricey (though so worth it).  After dinner, we said our goodbyes and my cousin and I headed to her place for showers and clean clothes.  It was up there in my top 5 showers (hard to beat the shower I had after living in a field for several days at the UFO Ranch in Washington or the one I had after a weekend of Scout Camporee and nothing but Port-a-Pottys)

Day 3 coming up!

Backpacking Trip: Day 1

 It's taken me some time to get into the frame of mind to blog about our trip.  It won't ruin anything to tell you that I did not make it the full 40 miles.  That was pretty upsetting for me.  My chronic injury caused me some serious pain and I had to stop.  Then I came home and my dog ate my pack and my husband's pack (you can read about it here).  But finally, I'm ready to tell you about our adventure.

l to r: My husband, Me, My Cousin and My Mother

Our story begins along the shoulder of MD Route 491. This is the spot where we ended our first attempt back in October 2015.  The started out a bit cloudy and chilly as we headed out.  There were comments from my dad and aunt (who dropped us off) about waiting for us at MD 77 to take us home.
They're hilarious, those two.
The beginning the the trip wasn't too bad.  My husband and I were carrying about 30 pounds, my mom around 34 pounds and my cousin somewhere around 20.  We were all booking along (and by booking I mean more like going slow and stopping to breathe every 15 minutes) and eventually met our first NOBO (northbound) hiker we referred to as "Duct Tape Boot Guy".  He was planning on hiking 200 miles to the Hamburg, PA area but he had a boot malfunction and used his duct tape to keep the sole of his boot attached. Further on, we came to a large rocky mountain incline.  As we made our way up like a bunch of crippled aging mountain goats, I kept altering my thoughts between "What the hell was I thinking?!" and "If Grandma Gatewood could do it, so can I!"  My cousin repeatedly told us that we were "Almost There!"  but really she was lying overly optimistic as every time we thought we were near the end, there would be more mountain hill in front of us.  Once we finally reached the top, we met an older couple headed NOBO.  They called themselves "The Wannabes" and they were on their Flip Flop thru hike (meaning they start in Harper's Ferry and go north to Maine then return to Harper's Ferry to hike south to Georgia).  We told them the downhill coming up would be a little tricky, and after learning we were headed to Annapolis Rocks, they informed us we were in for it.  I believe the gentleman said "You haven't seen the worst of it yet." I think we all had a moment of silence after that comment, each of us lost to our own thoughts of impending doom what lay ahead.  We wished The Wannabes luck and we continued down the trail.
Once out of earshot, we all started to question what kind of terrain we were in for.  My cousin and I were slightly puzzled by the insistence of the Wannabes that there was really bad terrain ahead.  We are knowledgeable about reading a map and understanding the terrain profile, and we were both under the assumption that once we summited Mount Killamanhiker the hill we had just climbed, we should be following the ridge line without any real troublesome elevation changes.  Confused, we continued on our way.
We were more or less following the ridge line at this point, and we could see some pretty spectacular views through the trees.  I also noticed a pair of black vultures riding the thermals just off the ridge.  I was relatively certain they were following me- sensing my impending death.
The ridge was pretty rocky at the point.  You can see the small boulders in the photo, and we were basically hiking on top of them.  It was pretty cool at first, but it got old pretty quick.  I was thankful for my Salomon boots as I surely would have ended up with sore ankles if not a badly sprained ankle had I not had the excellent ankle support. 

The trail was pretty typical after the boulder field.  It had some ups and downs, some rocks, but we hadn't yet come across any really bad terrain like what the Wannabes were describing.  We ended up taking a snack break for a bit and met another Flip Flopper who, like the Wannabes, cautioned us about the upcoming trail.  Behind him came another Flip Flopper.  We chatted about packs (she also sported the Osprey Aura AG) and she mentioned the man we had just met.  We talked about his someone gloomy demeanor and my mom mentioned he was a lot like Eeyore the Donkey from Winnie-the-Pooh.  This was a spot on description and possibly the start of the man's trail name as the woman was looking forward to telling him about it.
After our break, we continued our journey south.  We came to an area of open field after exiting the treeline, and my husband started twirling around and singing "The hills are alive, with the sound of music..."  We stopped for some lunch at the Ensign Cowell shelter and used the privy.  In case you're planning a trip, Ensign Cowell's privy isn't that great and neither is the shelter.  There are campsites there, and it was a good place to have lunch.  We discussed possible trail names for each other.  My cousin suggested I should be "Seymour Butts" since I was having trouble with my chronic injury that happened to involve muscles in my butt.  Someone suggested my husband should be "The Whistler", I suggested "Maria" after his epic singing and twirling in the clearing earlier.  At this point we were about 6- 7 miles into the trip and had about 3.5 miles to go until we reached our stopping point for the day: Annapolis Rocks.
On the way, we were looking for the Pogo Memorial Campsite as it had a good water source and it was an alternate camping option if we just didn't want to go any further that day.  Pogo was about 1.9 miles from where we had stopped for lunch.  As we hiked we kept wondering if we had missed it.  Finally, we caught sight of a man in the woods and I asked where Pogo was.  Turns out, we were at Pogo, and the man was the area Ridgerunner named Kyle.  A Ridgerunner is someone who's job it is to talk to hikers, pick up trash, clean the privies, clear out any fallen trees, check problems on the trail, etc.  Kyle pointed us in the direction of the spring and asked what our plans were.  We told him we were planning on going to Annapolis Rocks for the night.  He gave us an idea about terrain and the time it would take to hike there.  That's where he was headed himself. 

I took note of a sign saying that Pogo was the former site of the Black Rock Hotel.  Turns out, there was actually a hotel there back in the mid-19th century.
We hiked to the water source at Pogo and filled up our water containers.  On the way to the water, we passed a woman with her dog heading up to Pogo.  Turns out she's also a member of the Women's AT Facebook group, and she had recently fallen and cracked some ribs.  Kyle had come across her and carried her pack for her until they reached Pogo.  She was heading out to get medical attention in the morning.
We finished filling up the water and eating a snack and got ready to head out.  Kyle had mentioned that there was a fantastic view from Black Rock Cliffs just down the trail. The view did not disappoint.  We took some time taking some photos of the view and Kyle caught up with us.  He was picking up some trash from around the cliffs.  He assured us again that the campsite at Annapolis Rocks was just down the trail about 2 miles and we made our way to our final resting place destination.  By the way, the vultures were at the cliffs.  We had seen them off and on all day long.  They must have sensed I was close to death.
The hike to Annapolis Rocks was relatively mild, though we were tired and even the smallest incline seemed daunting.  It seemed as though it was taking forever to get there.  Finally we saw the sign and made our way down the trail to find a good spot.  We picked a large site near the water source which was a pipe coming out of the rock and spilling into a gorgeous pool that fed a stream.  We set up our tents (My husband and I had to move ours because we neglected to noticed the large dead limb hanging above the tent in the first spot we picked) and got our dinner ready.  Kyle came down to get some water from the spring and said hello.  He told us we had the nicest camping spot there; I'd have to agree.
We ate our dinner and prepared to go to bed.  There were storms forecasted for the night, so we all got ourselves cozy.  The rain eventually started and at one point, it was raining so hard, the rain was bouncing up from the ground.  About that time, I had to pee.  I started checking the weather radar to see if there was a break in the storm where I could run to the privy and back, but there was no break in sight.  I waited as long as possible and eventually donned my Frogg Toggs rain jacket and headed out.  I thought the rain jacket would be significant enough on its own without needing the pants.  I learned how wrong I was in about 30 seconds when my shorts became soaked through to the skin.  I trudged to the privy and back, my Crocs filling with mud with every step.  I got myself into the tent and peeled off my clothes trying to keep the water from getting on my new down sleeping bag.  I changed my clothes and got under my bag and laid there.  I got up a few more times that night to pee, but luckily the rain had subsided.  At one point, I got up and could see all the lights down in the valley, and it was breathtaking.  It made having a nearly sleepless night bearable, almost.

Stay tuned for Day 2!

A Good Night's Sleep

On the backpacking trip attempt last October, I took my son's sleeping bag.  Mine was too heavy and didn't fit into the compression sack I had purchased.  Though I tried the sleeping bag out for size to see if I fit in the youth bag, I didn't really try it to see if I could really hunker down in the bag (You know, in case I needed to be comfortable outdoors in a Nor'easter).  Surprise! I couldn't really snuggle into the bag, and I was cold the whole night.  So with the REI member dividend, the first thing I wanted to purchase was a new sleeping bag.
I settled on a Kelty Cosmic Down 20.  I wasn't really looking to get a down bag.  I have this fear of it getting wet and losing its ability to keep me warm.  But this down is treated and is called DriDown.  DriDown stays dry 10 times longer than traditional untreated down, it retains 2.7 times more loft when exposed to moisture and humidity than untreated down and it dries 33% faster than untreated down.  And don't worry about the treatment of the down, the whole process and the treatment were rated non hazardous to human health, safety and the environment from an unbiased 3rd party internationally recognized agency.  Originally I was going to get the women's bag.  But it's a pinkish color.  Let me stop here a moment to ask, why do all companies think women's stuff has to be pink? I hate pink.  I think pink for a sleeping bag is stupid- unless it also has a Disney Princess on it and is sold to a 4 year old.  Seriously, why would any outdoor gear manufacturer think that "Hey women who use this stuff want pink"? 
Anyway, back to my bag.  I checked out the men's version of the bag (in a nice blue color I might add) and found they made a men's short bag.  It saved about 3 ounces of weight compared to the women's bag (and it wasn't pink).  I compared the length (66") to other sleeping bags and found it was comparable to some of the women's bags, so I ordered it.
The bag arrived yesterday, and I immediately took it out to try it on for size.  Definitely enough room to hunker down in, and definitely warm enough.  I was sweating after only a few minutes.

All that is left to do is figure out the food (going with the ease of some Mountain House meals I think), the clothes (waiting to see what the weather will bring) and exchange a leaky sleeping pad and too big compression sack at REI (darn I so hate going to REI....).  That just leaves working on my endurance and planning a test run with the tent and new Tyvek footprint before we go.

The Trip

Here is the photo of our group just before heading south towards Harper's Ferry.  I know, I look like I'm pooping, but I was really just making sure you could see my mother's face.
Anyway, we never made it to our destination.  For those of you considering starting out at Pen Mar Park and heading south, that stretch is the worst part of the MD Appalachian Trail.  It's rocky and up.  Really, there is no other way to describe it except up and rocky.  We got through it, but not without some injury and pain.  So when we reached the Raven Rock Shelter, we stopped for the day. 6.4 miles from the start.  That night, the Nor'easter blew in and no one really got much sleep.  Branches banged the tin roof, the temperature dropped and the wind blew in under the eaves.  It was a long miserable night.  In the early morning, we decided we needed to call the "extraction team" and call it a day.  We needed to hike a 14 mile day to make it far enough to stay on track to be in Harper's Ferry on time.  Injury prevented some from being able to do that distance in a day.  The wind was also pretty wild.  There was a large tree that had been uprooted in the night and would have landed on a campsite if it hadn't caught in the crook of a nearby tree.  So, between safety and injury, we ended our journey.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't massively disappointed.  You can't plan something for over a year and not be disappointed when something prevents you from fulfilling your journey.  But it's not the end, merely a delay until the weather is better.
Live to hike another day as they say