Maryland Section Hike: I-70 to Raven Rock

The Appalachian Trail passes through 14 states. Before leaving for Georgia next month, I plan to have Maryland knocked out. That way, I can take a break from the trail in a few months to come home and check on my house, do some yard work, and maybe take in an Orioles game, before jumping back on the trail at the Mason-Dixon Line. To test all the new gear I've been acquiring, I'm doing some "section hikes" through the 41 miles of the A.T. that meander along the ridge of South Mountain from the Potomac River at Harper's Ferry north through Maryland.

It's always a good idea to leave an itinerary behind...

I taped my itinerary to the fridge. While I was away, my neighbor found a sharpie and added some commentary, most of which was spot on... Very funny, Eric!

After the second "polar vortex" of the season, and another bout with cabin fever, the weather forecast for the last weekend of January called for temps climbing into the 50's. So off to the mountains I went! The plan? Start from the I-70 trail head at Route 40 on Friday morning, hike 14 miles, and camp at Raven Rock Shelter. Wake up early Saturday, hike 5 miles to the Pennsylvania state line, and then 10 more miles back southbound to Ensign Cowell Shelter. On Sunday, hike nine miles back to the car and drive home in time for the Superbowl. 38 miles in three days? Maybe a little bit aggressive.

I was surprised to find a lot of snow on the mountain from the prior week's storm. Instead of bailing out, I decided it would be good practice to hike in cold and snowy conditions. Probably not my smartest decision, but most good stories actually arise from bad decisions.

Hiking in the snow makes for some slow going. What the F was I thinking? Fortunately, I was testing out a pair of Leki Corklite trekking poles for the first time, and I'm not sure it would have been possible to safely navigate some of the slippery slopes without them. I made it nine miles to Ensign Cowell shelter, five miles short of my day one goal. But with only a couple hours of daylight remaining, and rapidly dropping temps, I decided to stay put.

The next challenge would be finding dry wood to get a fire started.  My feet were wet (trail runner shoes), and they were getting cold once the hiking stopped.  Luckily, I got a fire going and dried out my socks and shoes.  And I had an extra pair of wool socks in my backpack... good call! After a couple hours of stoking the fire, watching the stars, and ripping off a few songs on the uke, I called it a night.  It might have been only 8pm, who knows?

I boiled two pots of snow, one for cooking a pasta dish and hot chocolate, and the other to fill a hot water bottle for the foot of my sleeping bag. Trail runner shoes, like these from The North Face, are maybe not the greatest for hiking in snow, but many hikers prefer them because they dry quickly.

This was my first night ever sleeping in a shelter rather than a tent. Pitching a tent on top of snow just seemed silly. But the shelter is basically just a roof and does nothing to keep the cold out. My sleeping bag is rated to 20 degrees Fahrenheit. On this night, it would be tested, as the temps on the mountain dipped to 22 degrees. I wore a microfleece wrap and my winter hat while in my sack, and I stayed warm and cozy, except for my nose and one cheek. The sleeping bag with body heat can serve as a makeshift dryer; put damp socks, gloves, and any other articles in there, and they'll be dry and warm in the morning time!

Sleeping outside in the dead of winter sucks, unless of course you have a Kelty Ignite 20 DriDown sleeping bag and a Therm-a-Rest NeoAir X Therm sleeping pad!

After a delicious breakfast of hot chocolate and some trail mix, and warding off those thoughts of heading back south to my car, I began day two of my weekend adventure. The revised plan? Push northward to the Raven Rock Shelter for lunch, and then decide what to do from there. I stopped along the way to get some water out of a spring. After an hour or so, I met a southbound thru-hiker known as "ManCub." He is hiking from Canada/Vermont to his home state of Georgia during the coldest winter in anyone's memory. Crazy kid. But he has a pretty cool blog that I checked out, called Walk Outside. I hope to run into him again later on in Georgia or North Carolina.

I arrived at the Raven Rock shelter for lunch and fired up some oatmeal with sunflower kernels and dried cranberries. I talked to a trail volunteer named Chris, who was checking on some damage where somebody charred the three year old shelter's floor with what appeared to be a spilled alcohol-burning stove. I also chatted with Ben, who was trail name "Stretch" during his thru-hike a dozen or so years ago, now just out for a nice Saturday afternoon on the mountain away from the family. It got to be after 2pm, and I was still five miles south of the state line. With nowhere to camp up there, and a solid five hour hike there and back, and with the highest point on the A.T. in Maryland in between, I decided to head back south, saving that northernmost section for another day. I would spend a second night in the Ensign Cowell shelter and then have plenty of time to get to my car and home for Superbowl.

It was during the hike back to the shelter that I realized that (1) I was already starving just 90 minutes after lunch (hiking burns lots and lots of calories!), and (2) the backpack I was using, on loan from my neighbor (thanks Craig!), did not fit me properly, was too heavy, and was causing muscle aches in my shoulders. I had to stop every 45 minutes or so to stretch and readjust. Yep, I would have to pony up for a new pack soon. Cha-ching!

Arriving at the shelter just before dark, I chatted with its only occupant, a Navy guy named Matt from California, now living in Severna Park, Maryland. I fixed some mashed potatoes with tuna, and crawled into my sack, feeling cold and exhausted. Matt had hung a hammock, and he did the same. It was lights out at 7:30 pm. So goes the life of a thru-hiker, and now we see why 9pm is known as "hiker's midnight."

Matt and I had both parked at the Route 40 trail head, so we hiked the nine miles back toward our cars on Sunday. The warm weather that had been promised finally arrived, and the snow on the trail turned into a muddy slop. Still, we were making pretty good time, so we made a brief lunch stop at Annapolis Rocks to enjoy the views. Matt wanted to stay another night at the Pine Knob shelter near I-70. The forecast was calling for rain that night changing to snow, maybe five inches, and he wanted to camp in the storm. This did not interest me nearly as much as drinking beer and watching football from my couch. But I stopped to check out the shelter, where we met Earl, the volunteer caretaker of the shelter who does a great job. We thanked Earl for keeping things nice for hikers, and then we all parted ways.

Now, I had been eating granola bars all day, but I had on my mind that McDonald's in Myersville right before the interstate. Hiker food just does not satisfy hiker appetite, so I pulled into the drive-thru and plowed through three McDoubles and a large Coke in no time. Then it was back to Baltimore, with plenty of time to spare before kickoff!

Annapolis Rocks on Superbowl Sunday, with a brand new set of Leki Corklite trekking poles.