Dan and Hannah Hike the Appalachian Trail in Maryland

We’ve not found a better place to hike the AT than Maryland.  The trails are easy on the feet without the insane inclines that we find in VT, NH, and ME.  We can catch a good hiking rhythm that allows for random and multiple topics of conversation.  The Maryland AT is both near and far.  We are less than 60 miles from Washington, DC and yet in an out-of-the-way location where nature’s quiet is our amphitheater. 

Leaving suburban Vienna, VA during the rush hour, we go against the incoming morning commute by taking I-495 west, then north on I-270.  We head past Frederick, MD to the sleepy town of Middletown on this cold and dank late April morning.  It’s 44 degrees in the mountains and overcast.  Dressed in pants and sweatshirts, I can’t imagine sleeping out in this cold and wet overnight like AT hikers do, day in and day out.  To repeat, we are fairweather hikers.  As Plato said, Know thyself.

After climbing Route US Alternate 40, we turn right and enter Washington Monument State Park. 

Though chilly, the early morning has a spring green innocence and birds chirping welcome us to the AT.  With my Diamond Back trekking sticks, I look forward to another gentle ridge line hike through Maryland.  (See blog from November 26, 2011 for a previous AT hike in Maryland to the Ed Garvey Shelter hike.)  

You always knew she was a tree hugger.

The trail leads south towards Harper’s Ferry, WV in an easy descending path of dirt, roots, and leaves. 

Wondering whether we would meet any thru-hikers (those hikers who walk the 2179 miles of the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine or Maine to Georgia in one calendar year) this early in the season, we soon meet Ti Bhu (his trail name, given by his guru from India) who turns out to be 35^th hiker heading north from Georgia.  Thru-hikers check in at the Appalachian Trail Conference center on Washington Street in Harper’s Ferry, WV, get their picture taken for the thru-hikers wall, and are counted as they head north.  A former marathon runner who gained 30 pounds to hike the entire AT, Ti Bhu has traveled 1,032 miles in 48 days from Springer Mountain in Georgia.  (My Appalachian Trail Thru-Hikers Companion gives me the precise mileage.)  Having already lost 25 pounds, he’s just been through last week’s 12 inch snow in Virginia and is roaring through the AT at 20+ miles per day.  As your faithful reporter, I blew it by forgetting to ask him why he’s hiking the AT!

Across the Maryland valley near alternate Route 40

In minutes, on this easy up and down trail, I get the chance to redeem myself as we meet John who has not yet taken a trail name.  Not wanting to miss my “go to” question, I ask him why he is hiking the AT.  His response is why not?  I can’t believe it.  I think:     

   

Why not?  Is that all you got!  Nothing cosmic or life changing?  Why not?   Really, why not?  You are telling me that “why not?” motivates you to sleep in wet clothes, endure the snoring of others in shelters, eat the same Spaghetti-O’s and granola day after day, and endure the tedium of swearing you’ve seen these same trees and this same trail every day for the last month!  Really!  Maybe I should have given him some multiple choice options!  A. To find myself?   B. To mend a broken heart?  C. To avoid getting a real job?  D. To challenge myself physically and mentally since I’ve taken the easy way out my entire life?  E. To meet women?  I’m guessing it’s E.

After trying a few trail names for myself (e.g., Flagstaff for my affinity for my Arizona experience and hiking in the West), I found none of them felt right.  And then 2600 fell into my lap thanks to our son Will.   Let me explain, I have been taken by my phone camera as a means of recording our travels.  At the Verizon store, I picked up a $20 mini-disk to insert in my camera phone that allows me to store 2600 pictures.  2600!  I can indiscriminately snap all day.  And perhaps, I have reminded our kids a little too often of the joy of being able to take 2600 pictures.  They smile, snicker, and I have a trail name!  By the way, Hannah's trail name is Two-ply.

The conversation is enjoyable with Hannah as we are on last full day of our six day seeing-Molly-and-Tip vacation.  We hike a mile from the Washington Monument State Park across Route US Alternate 40, past the Dahlgren Backpacker’s Campground, pass Fox’s Gap, and head to the Rocky Run Shelter.  Warming up nicely on this still chilly morning, we arrive at our destination, the brand spanking new Rocky Run Shelter, ninety minutes later. 

Rocky Run Shelter on the AT

With a picnic table on the 8’ x 12’ deck, the shelter has a loft that sleeps 20 and a privy some 200 feet away.  There I pee into wood shavings which soak up the urine.  I’m guessing that’s a little too much information.   Sorry. 

Privy behind the Rocky Run shelter

No one is about and we enjoy our peanut butter sandwiches and apple slices pleased that we are back on the AT once again.  We check out the trail register which is in each shelter.  The comments include “extremely nice shelter” and “beautiful shelter.”   It’s early in the season and the poets have yet to arrive at the Rocky Run shelter. 

2600 on the AT

As we head for home, we meet Rambo, a 17 year old high school kid who graduated early in December so he could hike the AT.  Why is he hiking the trail?  It’s a family thing.  He used to do it with his Mom and in fact she hiked with him just yesterday and brought him some supplies as he took a zero day.  (A zero day on the AT is when hikers head into town to rest, recuperate, or meet friends and don’t hike on the trail at all.)  Though a couple miles behind Ti Bhu on the AT due to his zero days, he was 21^st through Harpers Ferry.  He favors peanut butter Snickers and Oreos and has lost 20 pounds so far.  His plan is to return for his high school graduation by June 15^th.  That means he has 1,150 miles to go to reach Mount Katahdin in Maine in six weeks.  Bless the young, their drive and their bionic legs!  While many hikers begin the AT with packs of an unsustainable 55-60 pounds, they soon shoot for 35-40 pound packs; Rambo’s is 20 pounds.  And the trail name?  He began the hike with a 9-pound Rambo knife that he no longer carries.

Returning to Washington Monument State Park, we complete the eight miles of hiking in less than four hours, throwing in time to talk up thru-hikers and have a relaxed lunch.

Upon our return we drive a half mile into the Washington Monument State Park to see the first Washington Monument. 

The first Washington Monument (1827)

Just another fabulous hike in the great state of Maryland. 

I look forward to returning to Maryland in the fall for the wedding of my fabulous nephew Jon and his equally wonderful bride Lauren.