Late mornings make for late nights.

Day 62 - 6/17/10
Took my time getting started today, which was really nice for a
change. I woke up at 7:30, but didn't leave until two hours later at
9:30. One reason was because I took a shower at the campground
facilities. The water was so nice and hot I didn't want to leave.

After about an hour into my hike I stopped in at the original
Washington monument. It's not as large as the one in D.C. but it was
cool nonetheless. Stone structure with a winding staircase up to a
lookout where you can see some towns below. I took pictures, read all
the signs, then moved on. A little after that I passed a side trail
called Bartman Hill. I'm only mentioning this because I'm a Simpsons
fan and Bartman is Bart's superhero alter-ego. I even had a Bartman t-
shirt when I was younger.

Around 11:30 I passed over I-70, then soon made it to the shelter I
had been aiming for yesterday, Pine Knob. I stopped there for lunch,
and met a sectioner named Chick Magnet. He went from Springer to
Harper's Ferry last year and is trying to make it from Harper's to
Katahdin this year. So basically he just started a few days ago. Ace
came pulling in a few minutes later, so we all had lunch together. I
think it's worth mentioning now that I recently acquired a buttpad.
Someone had left their sleeping pad in the hiker box at the hostel I
stayed at in HF, so me and some other hikers cut it up and made a
bunch of them out of it. I've been using it the last two days and love
it. It makes any surface comfortable, rock, stump, log, anything. I
used it while eating lunch with them, and it even made the picnic
table better. It's super lightweight too. Hands down, my best hiker
box find yet.

I left at around 12:30, not much happening for a while. I did come
across a mouse carcass being torn apart by some strange beetles around
2pm. Stopped for a lunch break at 3, finishing the last few slices of
pizza I'd saved from last night. Very good. At 4 I made it to Ensign
Cowall shelter, and stopped for another quick break. Then continued on
until Devil's Racecourse shelter at 5:50. It was .3 off the trail, and
way down a steep hill. I had to go down though because I needed water
and wasn't sure when I'd see any again. I ended up making dinner down
there, but the shelter was so lousy and buggy I just packed up and
carried my dinner back to the trail. And the water source was cruddy
too, so I didn't even fill up. My dinner was a Mountain House meal,
lasagna with meat sauce, so it came in a prepackaged bag that you can
eat straight out of. That's how I was able to carry it along the
trail. It was very tasty too, for being freeze dried and all.

When I got back to the trail I passed a few people that looked like
locals. I asked if there was any decent camping up ahead. They gave a
somewhat hesitant response, so it didn't look promising. Just then Ace
came up the trail. I told her the news, so now we were both trying to
figure out the best option. The local people moved on, but gave me
some water before they left, which was really good because I was low.
While Ace and I were contemplating the next move she cooked up her
dinner. We ended up having a good conversation about the mid-state
doldrums, and how your thinking tends to go south more often. After
that we moved on, and we found a really cool spot pretty close that
had some cliffs where you could see the sunset. I went over to them
and saw two people there, what I would call weirdos, but they were
nice enough. They actually advised us to be careful because we were
close to a road where locals like to come up and party. With that in
our minds we decided to move on, even though by this point it was past
8. We didn't stop until 8:50, with the sun almost gone. We pretty much
had to set up right on the trail, at least she did. I was a little off
to the side. So we set up quick then hopped in our tents. This isn't
what I had planned on, I did a lot more miles then I had in mind, but
it sets me up better for my goal tomorrow. Very tired now.

Small notes. No side effects from the meds yet, which I am very happy
about. Also while I was driving down the highway with Not Worthy last
night he pointed out the rest stop where the D.C. sniper was captured
a few years ago. Uncle G, I remember you were down there when that was
going on, and you also mentioned in a comment recently that you worked
near/in Frederick. I think we were driving right around there when he
pointed out that rest stop. Pretty crazy. Anyway, past my bedtime.
Goodnight.

Total miles: 1053.5 (+/- .5)