Knock 'em Down

Hey everyone!

we made it through the Maryland Challenge just fine; 42 miles. The day started bright and early at 4am and we took a taxi from our hotel room back to the Patomac River to the border. We made good time thoughout the day while still taking our time to have breaks at 16.5, 28, and 36 miles into the day before the finish. On our last break we saw a single black bear in the state before hitting PenMar park, and getting hit by a thunderstorm for the last few hours before Pennsylvania (good way to end a long day). Surprisingly, it didn't seem like our hardest day, just long. After walking into the state of PA, we discovered it was getting dark and that 42 miles tires you out a bit, so we decided not to hike 5 more miles to the shelter and went back into the park where we slept on an empty ampitheator during the rest of the storm (another great hobo moment).

The first section of PA was realy nice; extremely well maintained and the shelters were some of the best we've seen on the trail. After the halfway point (temporary) sign at an old civil war jail ruin we all tried our luck at the Half gallon challenge in Pinegrove state park where you eat a half gallon of icecream to celebrate the halfway mark. Jeph got close (Moosetrack) but was stopped by a solid wall of chocolate. Stewy ate about half, but was eating very very well early in the day and didn't have the normal hunger he usually does (strawberry twirl) and I completed my cherry jubilee in 22 minutes (thinking about a gallon challenge at Katahdin).

The hiking after that was very flat with lots of field walking (beautiful) and road walking (lame-o). Still we made fiarly good time through the state waiting for the "bad" PA rocks to begin. It turns out the lore of the infamous rocks is mostly myth until the last 100 miles where the rocks get MUCH more consistant and pointy. It didn't help that we had our longest days in that section, with a few 30 mile days and a 35 mile day. The whole time in the state we caught 1.5 days of sun and the rest was rain and storms. The last storm slowed us down by a day and we had to stay in a cheap motel to dry our things since the night before we all pretty much slept completely waterlogged (I slept in my boots to keep my toes warm, funky). Some weekenders decided it would be to much to squeeze jeph and I into the 6 person shelter with the 3 of them (next time we will not be as cordial). After that though we had luck with an 8 person shelter when we fit 11 of us including a family into it to stay out of the rain. We missed most of the few views we would have seen because of the storms, but ran into lots of Rattlesnakes along the way (not many other animals because of the lax hunting laws in PA). Still out of PA in 10 days isn't bad.

At Delaware water gap we stayed in a church hostel and ate authentic philly cheesesteaks that were huge and delicious at the town's diner. We had our last 31 miles day for a while to start out NJ where it also rained the whole time. The rocks from PA did not stop there, and only yesterday decided to start letting up to normal levels. Also, most of the trails were flooded out by storms, and we spent most of our time wading through mud and tall grass becuase of the poorly maintained trails. Luckily we got word from a southbounder that a small section of trail was blowndown by a tornado that hit Unionville and we managed to avoid it by walking down the "old" AT which ran parrallel to the trail down a rural NJ road.

We're in NY for the next couple hours at the ex-mayor's house which I can only explain as one of the most refreshing experiences we have had out here. Hot shower, laundry (which we didn't get a chance to do), pasta, dessert, Budweizer, and breakfast in the morning were all we needed to feel human again after a long week and a half of trudging. There is a lot to say about the operation here and it is all hard to fit into words, but basically the old mayor decided to statt taking in hikers a few years ago to honor his wife that died some years ago. Apparently when we was mayor he recalled running into these strange quiet people that smelled and looked like hell, but seemed happier than ever and his wife said "wouldn't it be nice if we were broken down on the side of the road and someone stopped to help us out". Wouldn't it be nice? It is in honor of this notion that he decided to host over 1500 thru hikers the past two years into his home and take respite from the trail.

More to come later! We will be meeting alden and the guys at Bear Mt. in NY tommorow afternoon for our zero day.

PS-slackpacking is where you basically hike a section without your normal backpack, just the simple fod and water stuff.