MD AT

Call me "Burgerfeet". I will get to that later.

Prologue:
On Friday morning, Lisa was leaving for her weekend in AC with her friends, and I for my Maryland Appalachian Trail trip with Vijay, but not before we went to Sine's 5 & 10 for breakfast.

I met Vijay in Harper's Ferry, and we left my car there, and shuttled ourselves up to Pen-Mar, to begin the hike. I must say that the view from Pen-Mar Park and the surrounding area is really nice. The views are to die for.

After scouting our parking and trailhead, we swung by Rocky's Pizza to get subs for dinner. This place is in the guidebooks, so we figured that the source was reliable. When we approached, not only did we see 3 Pontiac Fieros parked outside, but we also saw that there was a new banner sign outside, for CJÂ’s Pizza. When we walked in, there were no letters on the sign board, and barely any menus printed up. Vijay quipped how it reminded him of the empty 7-11 in CO. Turns out that CJÂ’s opened the night before we showed up. Talk about odd timing.

Day 1:
We started at 315p, and we continued along the 4.x miles for the next few hours until the Devil's Racecourse shelter. This was the easy destination for our first night, and we had hoped to have enough time to make it to the Cowall shelter, about another 4.x miles down the trail. We ate dinner on the trail, and made it to the Cowall shelter about 730p. We snacked, filtered water, and tried to get to bed, for our early start the next morning. Sleeping was difficult, due to the humidity, my light sleeping, and our sheltermates' need to treat water after curfew.

Day 2:
After an early wake-up at 430a, we got walking by 515a. This was our 20-mile day. The day was so long that a lot of the details seem to run together. We stopped about every 2 hours for a snack, some water, and a little rest. I had a blister by about 9am, which I repaired, and moved along.

We crossed I-70, and only got one honk. On the southern end of the bridge, the trail came up through someone's yard, where they had their own log (and cute dog). This got me to thinking about my dream of owning our "B&B on the AT".

We stopped for lunch at Dahlgren (mile 14), a supposed “hiker’s oasis”. This has an open field for camping, as well as picnic tables, well water, a bathroom, and a shower. An oasis, yes, but worthy of a zero-day, probably not. However, there was an inn/restaurant down the road (beer?). We met up with a diabetic Richard Dreyfus, who was running out of food (and $). I had extra food, and could even use to drop some pack weight, so I donated some to his cause.

This is where I noticed that my feet were beginning to turn into ground chuck. I had about 6 blisters on my feet, and my calves were overworked. Actually, I had a grape on my big toe. We only had about 7 miles left, so I knew I would be able to make it through today, but still left the next day in question. We lost another hour for lunch, water, and bandaging. I drank so much water, but sweatedatted out so much. I hardly recall urinating all day long.

We had our last, and probably worst climb after lunch. This climb totally killed me. About an hour after the climb, I told Vijay that we would have to bail out. I was shot. We called Tracie, who eagerly left from Baltimore to come and get us. She showed up at about 515p at Gathland State Park, and took us to bail out my car in HarperÂ’s Ferry. We ate at The Armory Brewpub, and then went to pick up VijayÂ’s car. As we were approaching Pen-Mar near sunset, we had another display of the scenery from this area. It was great to see the sunset, with the moist air settling in the valleys between the sequential (and sequentially-fading) ridges. I followed Vijay back to his place, where I showered, licked my wounds, and went out for some beers.

Epilogue:
I appreciate VijayÂ’s sunny outlook to my injury, and the damper that it put on the goal. However, our accomplishment places us to have only 10 miles left to finish MD (4 of which are flat on the C&O Canal). I also appreciate the beers on Saturday night, the roof over my head, and the breakfast on Sunday. Thanks to Tracie for bailing us out of a sticky situation.

As of Wednesday, my legs and feet are healing well, although still a little sore, and by LisaÂ’s account, swollen as well. I should be in good condition to tackle the next challenge that may come along.

About us finishing the hike, I hope we do it before September, when Vijay leaves for Nepal and France. We intended to stay at the Maple Tree Campground on Saturday night, but had to scrap that idea. So, we might look into staying there the night before we finish the hike. The place looks interesting. They have treehouse cottages.

Vijay's pictures.