Day 72 - Tuesday, August 23

Linda

Got up and out by 7:10 and walked a couple miles through a sandy scrubby pine area with ant hills everywhere. Glad we met those guys yesterday who told us about the campsite. There wouldn't have been another place to camp for a long ways, and sleeping with the ants would have been miserable. Stopped for a minute at Birch Run Shelter, but the spring was dry, so we went on the Milesburn Cabin in 2.5 miles. We got there at 9:30 and had already come 7 miles. Not bad! We've been in PATC (Potomac Appalachian Trail Club) territory since Duncannon, and they do a great job of maintaining cabins and shelters. Milesburn is one of several we've passed, and is a huge two story cabin close to the road. We didn't go in, since they are for use by reservation only and stay locked, but it looked very inviting from the outside. Would like to come back sometime and stay in one for the weekend.

Went on up to the Ridge Road and stayed on the road for 3 miles. The day was nice, not too hot, so the walking was pleasant. Where the road goes on and the trail goes down to Caledonia, we came across a car that had been really worked over - windows broken, CB ripped out, trunk smashed in. Some hiker is going to be in for a rude shock when they finish their hike. I guess we've been lucky on all our weekend hikes in the past. It's awful to see that kind of vandalism, though - what makes people do that?

We continued the next 3.5 miles to Caledonia State Park before noon with 13.5 miles behind us. Stopped by the refreshment stand for ice cream and Cokes (again, no root beer!) to go with lunch. Called Dad and got some more details about our rendezvous in Harper's Ferry. They have made motel reservations for Thursday night, so we can go on to the motel if we get there early. I'm glad they decided to come up on Thursday instead of waiting until Friday. That will give us more time to visit and sight-see around town. Harper's Ferry is a wonderful town with a restored historic district - like a mini-Williamsburg. We spent a day there after a hiking trip last year, and I really enjoyed it, so was looking forward to going back. We're also looking forward to a little vacation from hiking. After eating we went on toward Snowy Mountain and passed through a summer residential area full of fake log cabins - seriously tacky- then up a rocky trail relocation to who knows where. Stopped at Tumbling Run Shelter for dinner, then continued on for about 5 more miles to a spring not far from Rt. 16. There wasn't really anywhere to camp off the trail, so we ended putting our bags down in the middle of an old woods road at the end of this 27 mile day.

Ron

Our plans are to reach Harper's Ferry on Thursday. We will meet Linda's parents and plan to take our first day off since the start of the hike. It will also be the first time we have seen any relatives since we left in June. In order to make it on time, we will need to push for the next couple days. Fortunately the ridges in Maryland are similar to Pennsylvania, only without the rocks.

The long easy ridge running today should enable us to keep our schedule. We left shortly after 7:00 and made good time despite the rocks. We stopped at Birch Run Lean-to for a snack and headed for Caledonia Park for lunch. We made the 13 miles to the park by noon. During lunch Linda called home confirm our meeting with her parents. On leaving the park we stopped to chat with a couple of Northbounders.

We set out from the park to see how much distance we could cover for the day. The climb up the ridge was easy despite a relocation that took the trail off the road and onto a new rocky trail. At the end of the ridge we stopped at Tumbling Run Lean-to for supper. It was only 4:40 and we had completed 22+ miles. At 6:00 we shouldered our packs for our final evening's run. Up we climbed to another flat ridge. Around 7:30 we found a nice campsite at Baily Spring and called it a day.

We are now less than three miles from Maryland and the outlook for the next couple days is more of the same viewless ridge running. We have managed to travel well the last few days. The long stretches of rocks appear to have disappeared - at least for awhile.

(27 Miles - 1091.8 Total)