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The following has been transcribed directly from the journal that I kept while hiking the Appalachian Trail (AT).

Sunday, March 11, 2001

    8:38am 33ºF Well, we all pledged that we would get up early and move out quickly, but that is not the case at all.  After a long night of tossing and turning and leg cramping, we are all slow moving.  Yesterday was a long walk.

    Tim crawled out first and rebuilt the fire.  Soon the rest of us were out to eat, filter water, clean last night’s pots and pick up the camp.  By 10:00am we were all ready to go so we drank some more water and moved out.  Within minutes we passed the shelter-a bit miss-marked in the book-and three women heading north also.  Out of the shelter, the trail picks up a small hill that deposits is on a dirt road that shares the trail for a while.  We passed the women and pushed on knowing that we want to knock out today’s miles as quick as possible so we can all begin our drives home sooner.

   The trail leaves the road via a private driveway and we, again, disappear into the woods.  From here the trail follows around a knoll then out into a power line break.  Instead of crossing the open field, the trail turns and follows the power lines for a while.  Eventually we are on top of a very steep, rocky, snowy, icy hill.  We start down slowly trying to be careful not to fall.  Tim jumps on ahead with his ski style of downhill trail walking and scoots right down with ease.  As we near the bottom, Kev takes a fall and breaks one of his shoulder straps on his pack.  Break time I guess.

   We are now presented with a stiff wind that seems to be channeled down this open expanse of wood.  Todd and I move on where the trail enters the woods again.  Tim and Kev rig his shoulder straps and quickly join us again.  

    Now we hit a short but, “Georgia” steep hill full of rocks and snow.  We crest this hill and once again find a road that crosses and leads up a private drive then into the woods in between some beautiful homes.  We continue on the trail and descend down to another dirt road.  Prior to crossing the road we walk through one of the most picturesque valleys I have seen.  It is surrounded by large pines and hard woods, bordered by very symmetrical stonewalls or boundary fences and leads down to a forked stream that is labeled as the town watershed.  We slowly cross the forks of the stream on top of partially submerged rocks and out to the dirt road then climb an even steeper and lengthier hill up and around the summit of another mountain.  Back down, steeply on the other side and to a larger highway that leads back to Fort Ritchie.  Now the trail crosses a 20’ wide fast flowing river, parallels the highway and heads back up the road before turning back into the woods and up a mountain that is even more “Georgia” like.  Full of rocks and switchbacks, this climb takes us higher than the mountain we just came down.  We are going slow and feeling every bit of this one.  In the back of my mind I know that this is small compared to the southern states, but it hurts just the same.  Up we go and finally crest the snow covered top of this mountain on a flat and fairly level, lightly traveled snow covered trail.  I feel my body running out of energy so we stop for a quick break.   I drink some water and eat some beef jerky then on we go.  

    We soon pass the side trail to Devils Race Course shelter that marks 4.7 miles to go.  I finish the rest of my water and am feeling my engine slowing down again so I drop down in the snow and fill me Nalgene bottle with snow and then put it down my shirt to melt it (eating snow drains much energy-melt it first).  Kev and Tim give me some of their gator-aide and more jerky.  That helps a lot!

   12:50pm Hike on!  We continue on along the high ground to a blue blazed looped trail that leads .2 miles to High Rock.  We decide to pass on the view and continue on the trail knowing that we are 2.9 miles from the park.  From here, the trailheads perilously down a rocky, boulder filled steep slope where it is hard to define the trail.  We slowly creep down one rock at a time until we are at the bottom, looking up at High Rock-we can see a concrete structure up there and Todd and Kev believe it is what they drove up to on Friday before dropping his truck off.  

    So, on we go over a barely defined trail looking for signs of civilization, something that will tell us we are almost there.  The trail is only marked by the occasional white blaze on the trees-you cannot see a visible trail on the ground due to the huge rocks and boulders in this area.  It is hard to describe this area, but it is a forest with no dirt or grass-just big rocks and trees.  After seeing High Rock move farther and farther away, all of us are beginning to second guess where we are and wonder if we should have taken that blue blazed trail.  Too late now because I don’t think anyone would climb back up that treacherous slope we just descended.  

   The trail intersects an old wooded trail that is much wider and allows us to walk side by side instead of front to back.  I fade back and walk with Todd.  It’s getting close to 2:00pm and we are all tired and scanning for houses or anything that would tell us we are there.  Up ahead, Kev spots a person on the trail.  A great sign that a trailhead is close by.  As we get closer, we see Pen Mar Park and Todd’s truck.  We all drag ourselves up to and drop our packs in the truck.  We are all very sweaty and tired and my face is covered in dried salt from my body.

   We have a man take a picture of the four us and we decide to drive up to High Rock to see where we would have come out had we taken the blue blazed trail.

   High Rock is a launch pad for hang gliders and is one of the most scenic overlooks I have seen since the Grand Canyon.  The concrete structure that we saw from below is actually the launch pad.  It is painted gray kind of like the paint you see on basement floors: very slick and seemingly out of place.  Standing on the pad, the wind is blowing very hard and the makeshift windsocks are thrashing in the wind.  The cliff below is straight down about 500 feet to the treetops and the rocky fields we just traversed.  Below the base of this mountain is a flat valley pocked with houses and towns and an occasional small body of water.  In the distance, you can see another mountain chain paralleling this one with some ski runs on it.  We all marvel at the skill, moral strength and trust a person must have to walk off of this cliff with a glider on.  One mistake and it’s straight down hundreds of feet.  We have another person take another picture of us on top of the launch pad and then head out to get some Wendy’s and on back to Burkittsville.  On the drive back, Tim laid in the back of the truck zipped up inside of his sleeping bag.  He said he was toasty warm-a testament to the Army’s new modular sleeping bag system.

   4:00pm We arrive in Burkittsville and begin transferring our packs and gear to Tim’s truck then say goodbye to Todd and Kev.  

   We had a great hike and I am excited about Marlboro Man’s first hike on the trail.  I think it opened his eyes to the A.T. and I believe he will continue on.  As for me, this will be my last walk on the A.T. for a while since I am off for a one-year assignment to Honduras hopefully followed by three years in Germany.  We shall see.  Until then, Hike on!

Miles Today:  9.1 miles
Total miles:  29.8 miles