Harpers Ferry, WV - Campsite 1/2 mile inside PA: 41.3mi
Start time: 0515 (4/27)
Stop time: 0134 (4/28)
Miles hiked: 41.3
Liters of H2O: 17
Jack Daniels: 2oz
Calories consumed: Over 7,000
People who thought we were insane: 6
# of perfect shelters we left to camp in a thunderstorm with our ultralight 6x10 tarp: 1
We started the challenge by waking up at 4am. I was already concerned since we slept very poorly thanks to two equally sleep disturbing facts. First, the room in the Inn was so hot it felt like a South American sweatbox. We had the window open and cranking the A/C with little effect. Second, we found out that Harpers Ferry is still a rail hub for the area. We hit the bridge crossing the Potomac River into Maryland at 5:15am. It was dark and we began what turned into one heck of an experience. Per are strategy session, we made sure to eat something every 1.5 to 2 hours and made sure we were constantly drinking water to stay hydrated. The morning went well and we even got to spend a little time at the War Correspondents Memorial. There was a slightly awkward moment at lunch, which the Professor will no doubt describe. Like normal, we made sure to hike half the day before eating. It was a weird feeling knowing that after lunch we still had 20 miles to hike. Our next major stop came 10 miles later at a shelter, where we met one of the people who thought we were insane. He basically told us we were insane after we told him he didn't need to move any of his stuff because we were moving on. It was at this point that we switched over to our soft insoles. As we neared the next shelter, we felt rain and we thought that the thunderstorm that was threatening all day was going to unleash on us. So at mile 36 for the day we had to hike uphill for a mile to get to the shelter before the rain. This time Mother Nature blessed us and held out for the 22 minutes it took for us to pound out the mile at a 2.9 mph after a long day. At the shelter, we ate dinner, rubbed our feet, and said goodbye to people #4, #5 and #6 who thought we were insane. The rain still hadn't let loose as we left what at that point was the nearest shelter we had seen to complete the 5.6 miles left in the Maryland Challenge. The time was 10:40pm. I forgot to mention that before we left the shelter the people told us how difficult the terrain ahead of us was. Of course, it didn't matter and we pushed on to the border, the mason/dixon line. About a mile from the shelter, we hit that rough terrain, but after a mile of rocks and boulders it flattened out. When we finally reached our campsite, we were surprised to find a sign at the creek, where we planned to refill water. Apparently, the local water treatment plant decided that last week would be a good time to spill 500,000 gallons of half treated waste water into the creek. The sign said to avoid exposure so we wisely decided to skip drinking it. Unfortunately, this turn of events meant we had a liter of water each to last until we got into town tomorrow. The good news is that in our fatigue induced delirium we did manage to set up our best tarp shelter of the hike. Of course, this was fortunate, since the thunderstorm that had been threatening all day and night finally made good Thanks to the wind and the fact that we need a 8x10 tarp instead of the 6x10 that we have, we had to put on our rain gear and wait out the storm. It started about 3am and let up enough around 6am that we could put up our rain gear and pull out our sleeping bags. We finally got up around 10am. We didn't sleep very well since we were both curled up in the fetal position. However, with Jack Daniels' help we rode out the thunderstorm in the tarp.
Professor
MARYLAND CHALLENGE. Refer to Coach's journal. We are hiking through the suburbs. We are hiking through people's backyards now.
No comments:
Post a Comment