Thursday, April 21st

Pine Knob Shelter (1049.3 mi) to Waynesboro, PA (1069.9)

Hiking Miles: 20.6

Total Ascent: 3,589.9 ft

Total Descent: 3,820.5 ft

Total Grade: 356.8 ft/mi

Steps: 46,473

I woke at 4:30 am, packed up my tent and gear, cooked brown sugar oatmeal for breakfast, then did a stupid thing by tapping on Stevie’s tent to see if he was awake and ready to hike. He laughed and made it perfectly clear that he was not getting up that early in the morning (ever), especially when it was dark. That was my warning never to do that again. Any early morning hikes in the dark at this point would likely be solo for me, something I had considered doing prior to launching on the AT anyway. But not just yet! (-:

When Stevie finally got up, I prepared for him 4 packs of the brown sugar oatmeal (the remainder of my breakfast food since we were resupplying that day) to make up for the abrupt wake up call. He packed up his stuff while I mixed it so that saved a little time, and we left the site 6:20 am.

Today was supposed to be warm and sunny, however it turned out cold, rainy and at times miserable. Maryland was very rocky and hilly and quite frankly a strain on my knees. During an early stretch of the morning hike where Stevie was about 50 yards in front of me, I started to realize I had an “ear worm” going on in my head with the Jefferson Starship song “Miracles” playing over and over. That lasted for a good hour and it typically will continue unless you either replace it with another song, or completely focus on a topic. Later I asked Stevie if he ever experienced ear worms (I would think we all do from time to time), and he said “No! Gross, what is that”? He hadn’t associated that term with having a song stuck in your head, but rather something physical like microscopic worms invading your system.

We were able to complete a 12 x 12 (in hiker’s terms that means 12 miles by 12:00 noon), and we reached the “200-mile” mark roughly at 2:00 pm. I scribed a “200′” on the ground. Ironically, there were no small rocks in sight to form the number, so we will save that for perhaps our next milestone.

During the day, we met a bunch of hikers, a few running swiftly past us which led me to believe they were attempting the 4-state challenge. This is when hikers start at the crossing between Virginia and West Virginia (wooded area), then progress thru W. Virginia, Maryland, then cross over into Pennsylvania all in one day. I briefly explain that run in my video below.

During our march over a very rocky section in Maryland (a preview to Pennsylvania), Stevie told me an interesting story about Ludwid (a classmate of his from high school) who videoed himself and streamed it on YouTube for 26 consecutive days (kind of like an around-the-clock documentary of his life). This was one example of our random conversations we had to help break the boredom of seeing the same woody and rocky views.

We eventually crossed the Mason-Dixon Line around 4 pm. Our 4th State on the trail thus far, and a great time for a photo shoot and update video.

At this stage, we were cold and hungry so we decided to stop for a dinner break, and to make plans for a shuttle pick-up for resupply. It was also a good opportunity for us to stay at a motel for the evening to warm up and eat more healthy food. We had just eaten the last of our rationed food (Pad Thai and mashed potatoes). We stopped at a small pavilion with pretty views of mountains. It was there that Stevie texted a shuttle driver named Keystone (not the same Keystone we met in VA). We met him at Rte 16 and he took us to Walmart for our resupply, and then subsequently the Days Inn where we booked our night’s stay.

While waiting for our ride at the pick-up point, we had met a SOBO hiker named Panther who shared a ride with us. He was also staying at the Days Inn. We actually stopped at a Sheetz for Panther to get some resupply, then we all went to Walmart. Stevie and I sat in the backseat along with Keystone’s brown dog named Luke. Keytstone was talkative however quite interesting and informative as he pointed out to us some landmarks in Waynesboro, PA. He also mentioned that he hadn’t taken a drink in 26 years, he successfully completed a half-marathon, and he was currently training for a full marathon. Keystone was a free shuttle service who accepted donations. Before entering the motel, we booked him again for an 8:45 am pick-up in the morning to drive us back to the trailhead at Rte 16.

Once inside the motel, we ate our dinner while sitting right next to the forced air heater. I had a large buffalo chicken bacon sub (bought at Walmart) with chips, Cheez Its and Gatorade. After, I also took a long hot shower that literally took 15 minutes for the water to heat up, and had a wonderful phone call with Teresa. I was totally hurting after the long, dreary day so I sent a few pics and videos to Tarryn, then crashed for the evening.