Week 4: Crossings - West Virginia, Maryland and a Flooded River (Miles 161.2 - 202.8)

On Wednesday, May 8, we left Harper’s Ferry in West Virginia and headed toward Maryland. Our walk took us through some of the streets and historical landmarks of the city and eventually across an old iron railroad bridge that crossed the Potomac River. Somewhere in the middle of the bridge we crossed over into Maryland. From there we were directed to a footpath that was wide and flat and actually being paved with some kind of asphalt - over two miles on the AT! Although we were happy to see some flatlands, we also realized how incredibly boring and monotonous that kind of walking is for us now.

Maryland started out as such a gentle hike in comparison to last week’s roller coaster ride. We decided to try to increase our mileage so our first day was 11.1 miles which overall felt pretty good. The terrain was easier and the weather was cooperating. We were able to get to the Crampton Gap shelter by early afternoon. This is also the day we met Rosie. She was starting a flip flop hike from Harper’s Ferry after having to leave the trail last year. She had broken her leg just before entering the 100 mile wilderness. Rosie is just one of many folks we have seen coming back to the trail after a serious injury. Every day we think of how easy it would be to experience not only a trail ending, but a life changing injury.

Thursday morning we awoke to a foggy mountainside and started calling the constant dripping of moisture from the trees -frog (fog rain). We ended up having to put our pack covers on when we realized it was heavy enough to saturate our packs. Hiking this day was a real challenge when you could barely see a few feet in front of you. There certainly were no pretty views available. Just creepy fog. And slippery rocks. And lots of mud. It was a day of just putting one foot in front of the other regardless of the scenery or conditions. And to top it off, we had purchased a new backpack for me in West Virginia. My old one was pulling on my back and pinching a nerve causing it to become very uncomfortable. Come to find out, it was too big for me so I was able to go down a size and get a real fitting done. However, it was still giving me fits which made for painful and irritating walking that day. But then a miracle happened. We met someone doing trail magic at the Old Washington Monument park. His name was Fresh Ground and he hiked the trail years ago and comes back out to support hikers whenever he can.

https://thetrek.co/appalachian-trail/trail-angel-spotlight-fresh-ground/

This dreary foggy day, he was handing out fruit and snacks. He took one look at my pack and asked if I ”liked“ wearing it that way. Uhm...I said no, it’s really hurting me. He reached down and pulled two straps up as tight as he could. And I mean tight. Kind of like getting a corset tied down. And then he checked everything out very closely. He said the pack fit me perfectly but the load lifters were not adjusted well at all. Some of the pain would be just getting used to the pack, but the strap adjustment would help the rest. Then he showed me some exercises to do every morning and evening to get rid of the knot in my back. I am happy to say I can now turn my head when wearing my pack without pain shooting down my neck and can wear it for longer periods of time without any pain at all. What an amazing blessing to run across this guy at just the right time.

So, we hiked on 12.5 miles this day and ended up at the Pine Knob Shelter. Rosie caught up with us and we met a couple other hikers, one of whom was named Shredder. Like Rosie, he had to leave the trail due to an injury earlier this year. KnowIng he couldn’t finish due to time constraints, he decided to jump around and at least hike the sections he really wanted to complete. By evening the sun had started to peek out a bit and brighten everyone’s spirits. There was still a chance for rain the next day but it ended up being a dry evening for us all.

The next morning we had plans to only hike around 8 miles to get a little rest from extending our last two hikes. But the day started out beautiful and sunny and we ended up making it to the shelter by 1:00 that afternoon. So we made a decision to hike on to the next shelter which would be a total of a little over 13 miles. It didn‘t make much sense to just hang around shelter that long with a good day of sunshine. But in the interest of full disclosure, let me say I had a LOT of reservations. I was concerned about 13 miles. And the terrain had suddenly become a great deal more challenging where we were climbing up and down these giant boulder like rock scrambles which is pretty exhausting with short legs. But deep down, I knew John was right. We had to move on. So my body moved on, but my attitude did not. And it did not help when the terrain got even worse. And then it started raining and we were climbing up and down slick rocks and sloshing through muddy bogs in the valleys. At this point I tried putting on my earphones and listening to music but couldn’t find a single song of inspiration. So on we slogged. And then with about 3 miles left, we had a couple hikers pass us and tell us the river ahead was flooded and we would have to walk a mile out of the way to cross over on a bridge and get back to the AT. That’s when I started my downward spiral. John was so incredibly patient and optimistic with me but I was having none of it. We agreed to get to the river and check it out and if it couldn’t be crossed we would just find a place to pitch the tent and wait for morning to cross over. The rain had stopped so we had some hope the water might go down. When we reached the river, there was Rosie. She watched another guy cross over some stones he was able to pick out but didn‘t want to cross alone in case she slipped. So we all journeyed over the river, gingerly picking out the big boulders and making certain we had good trekking pole plants. It was seriously one of the scariest things I’ve done. The water may have only been waist deep but the current was very strong and trying to balance all that with a backpack strapped on my back was certainly above my physical prowess. But we all got across safely and headed toward the shelter. My attitude was a bit more positive as the sun had come out, but the trail suddenly got very cranky. Basically two miles of rocks and cliffs. John had to literally crawl out on the edge of a cliff to fill our water because the shelter’s water was going to be 1/2 mile walk and the Cascade Waterfall was the only option on the way. So now my feet were barking (actually growling) at me and a blister I thought was completely healed started up again. The backpack started pulling again causing shooting pains down the back of my neck and I was soaked from head to toe. But you know what they say, “No pain, no rain, no Maine.” I just want to say I have the sweetest most patient husband ever! He knows me well and is able to see right through my bad behavior and love me through it. We finally arrived at our shelter and regrouped for the next day. Because that’s what you do out here. You just pull your broken self back together and go do it again.

We planned for Saturday to be a Nero Day. (Almost a Zero) We hiked five miles to get to a shuttle pickup to go into the town of Waynesboro, PA for a Zero on Mothers Day. My sweet precious children had a basket of teas and goodies delivered to the B&B for Mother’s Day. Margaret, the B&B owner has been the best hostess. She graciously did all our stinky laundry and has provided a lovely comfortable room.

For those of you doing the math, you can probably see we aren’t yet achieving the daily average we need to complete the trail in 6 months. But, I can say we are getting stronger and stronger and having 12 and 13 mile days under our belts is definitely getting us toward that goal. We still have very positive attitudes (ok minus that one day for me), and we are still anxious to get back out on the trail even after a very comfortable time in town. When we left we told everyone we’d see them in 6 months or 2 weeks, now we really don’t know. Maybe by Christmas?