The Four State Challenge

Friday, May 29

Weather: Partly cloudy and mostly cool, breezy

Miles travelled: 43.9 (+1.4 on side trails)

Total miles on AT: 1064.9

We hiked back .6 of a mile and took our frazzled photos and then sped back towards Harpers Ferry, high on excitement. I could tell we were going too fast because I felt a sharp, severe pain in my right hip. I told South Pole and we made an effort to go slower, although it was the last thing I felt like doing. I saw a groundhog as we were entering town, and we tried not to pause long to read all the historical plaques and gawk at the buildings, which were beautiful. I hope I can come back to Harper's Ferry someday to really appreciate all the interesting history and well-maintained buildings. When we got to the intersection of the outfitter, we called Potter and walked off-trail a few hundred feet back to the store to pick up our packs. He gave us oatmeal cream pies and wished us luck. 

We started walking again and crossed a big river over a bridge that was shared with bicycles and trains, after which we were on a flat canal path for a couple miles. You might think it'd be nice to be on a totally flat path but it was actually very wearing and my weird severe hip pain kept coming back occasionally. I couldn't figure out why it was happening but it seemed to stop when I took smaller steps. I knew if it kept happening I wouldn't want to keep walking, it hurt too much. This was the first time I doubted our challenge. There was some murky water off to our left and I saw a fuzzy duck and her fuzzy ducklings, which were adorable. Twilight  descended and I saw a flickering light in the distance. I was having flashbacks to the last time I saw a flickering light and then a man emerged wearing jeans and carrying an open blade pocket knife... We saw another flickering light, and then another, and then I realized they were fireflies, twinkling along our path. I felt like we were having a grand send off and the fireflies were cheering us on. "Good luck! You can do it! Just keep walking!"

We left our twinkly friends and the flat path to climb up a hill (these aren't mountains) that had quite a few rocks. We stopped for our first break on some rocks overlooking the valley (an extra little path off trail but it didn't say how far and I'm a sucker for a view), and we watched the glittering lights as we ate, even though we weren't hungry. This was when I realized we were already in Maryland. We'd been in Maryland since the bridge out of Harper's Ferry!

We saw lots of frogs on the trail, and worms that would retreat into their holes when our headlamps hit them. The person walking in front would hit all the spider webs and the person in back would get all the moths, attracted to the first light but only fast enough to get to the second light, so we switched off.  Around 11:30 we ran into a tent set up right on the trail. Luckily the people sleeping there were already awake; it was Wild Thing and Five. We all apologized and then South Pole and I climbed around them and continued. Time went fast after that. We chatted and joked and made up more gossip.

We were planning to take our next break at 12:30 but at 12:15 we stumbled upon a grassy park lit by orange lights. There were old historical buildings with plaques and a bathroom, so we decided to stop early on a bench to take advantage of the water and trash cans. I found a lightweight thermarest sit pad on the floor and decided to just take it with me until someone told me it was theirs or leave it in a hiker box if I decided it wasn't worth the weight. 

We got hiking again and it wasn't long before we hit a really rocky section. Around 1, I started to feel tired and played some music aloud on my phone so that South Pole could hear it too. We were both struggling because the rocks were making our feet hurt, and we took another early break at 2. We started hiking again and progress was slow going, with our oncoming exhaustion and all the rocks. At about 3:30 I started to feel more tired and wishing the sun would come out. This was when I began to consider every flat spot as a potential stopping point, and then I would think about everyone I had told I was going to finish and all the people who doubted me and I wouldn't say anything, letting South Pole pull me along in her wake. We stopped again around 4 at another restroom and picnic table area, where I lay on a bench and imagined sleeping, and then got up quickly because I knew I couldn't let myself fall into that trap. 

Soon after continuing, we took a side trail .1 to see the original Washington monument, the first to be dedicated to him after his death and was dedicated in 1827. It's shaped like a milk bottle, and the spiral stairs inside led us to a fantastic view of the valley below. 

It was after this that I really struggled. I felt like I was sleep walking and tripping on everything. I tried every mental trick I could think of but nothing helped. Finally, at 5:50, I told South Pole, "I can't go on. Just go without me, it's light now so you'll be fine, I'll just nap and then go as far as I can". She said "well, let's stop somewhere and cook something." 

Although I just wanted too collapse and not think about cooking or eating, I thought maybe I could handle that much at least, so at the next acceptable log we stopped to cook. As I waited for my spaghetti to cook (I chose my favorite meal as potential inspiration), I nodded my head and fought to keep my eyes open. South Pole offered me her tea or coffee and talked about how she wished we had red bull. It took forever to cook and it wasn't until an hour later that we started walking again, and I did feel better for a while.

An hour or so later, the exhaustion hit again. I played my music and lagged behind South Pole and once again started to envy every flat spot for being flat and comfortable. I finally told her "South Pole, I really can't go anymore. I have to stop. I'll just sleep for a bit." She looked at the map and told me, "well, the shelter is only in 5 miles, I'll just get you there and then worst case you can meet up with me later in the day or the next morning." So we kept going. We went off .1 again to see another rock overlook and ate a snack, which was when we realized we'd broken our personal records: 27.9 miles! And it was only 8:45 in the morning. After that we tried to keep conversation going and time went quickly over the next rocky section, taking an unexpected short break at 11 when we found a nice unmarked view. We'd planned our next break at 12:30 but as we approached a road at 11:45 we found more trail magic! A cooler full of cold beers (I might've preferred a soda with caffeine though...), and two guys in gym shorts and a small-ish dog standing next to it with a large pile of empty cans accumulating at their feet. Their names were Divo and D-Man, and Diva the dog. They had just gotten on the trail a few days ago and were hoping to get to springer and then flip flop, but only had $20 between them. We chatted and drank a beer each, because the cold was nice, and then moved on to leave them to their drinking (which may not have been very thoughtful of them, as there were more hikers behind us who didn't get any beer because it was empty when they came through). 

At that point we had only 10 miles to go, and plenty of time. The next four miles went by slowly. I played music but after two miles or so my feet were really bothering me and I told South Pole I would have to stop at the stream ahead to soak them. It was another two miles, and there were three hikers there soaking their feet also. They'd been hiking 5 miles a day, and were hoping to complete a flip-flop thru hike, starting from Harper's Ferry to Katahdin then coming back and going south to Springer. I tried to soak my feet but they hurt so much in the cold water that I couldn't stay long and ended up lying down with my feet up on a big rock, which helped a little bit.

We had only 6 miles to go at that point. I was following South Pole from a distance.There was no stopping, in spite of the pain and exhaustion. The climb was okay and my feet felt fresh from the stream, but soon they felt just the same as before. 4 miles to go. We passed a shelter, but it was off trail and I barely noted its existence. 3 miles to go. I couldn't see South Pole. I paused on a rock but only allowed myself a few seconds before getting back up and walking some more. One foot in front of the other. Someone was ahead; South Pole chatting with a girl she had just met, Timber. I tried not to glower, said hi, and kept walking. South Pole disappeared ahead of me again, Timber passed. I hit a patch of huge rocks that were difficult to navigate. I stumbled on a rock and my eyes welled up with tears. I took note of how much my feet hurt and then the tears were endless. For no good reason, I was just totally exhausted. I tried not to fall and follow the blurry trail ahead of me. I could hear a road on either side of me, but neither road came any closer. I thought I saw a parking lot and tripped my way closer, hoping beyond hope, but soon enough figured out the cars were only big glossy black rocks. I turned a corner and saw the trail went further. 

Another half hour of misery and tears and trips and excruciating foot pain and I couldn't take it anymore. I took off my shoes and put on my crocs. Stumble. Trip. Cry. South Pole was sitting on a rock in distress, "it never ends!" And that was enough to fill my eyes with tears again. We kept walking. An eternity later, we made it to Pen Mar Park and sat down on a bench. Only .3 miles to the border, and I couldn't muster the enthusiasm to care. We sat for ten minutes and I stared blankly ahead at what was probably a really nice view that I didn't register while South Pole fiddled on her phone and collected water, then we kept walking. Eventually we made it, and in the first picture South Pole took I tried unsuccessfully to look happy, so I asked her to take another one and it was a little more successful. I wasn't crying, anyway. 

I wanted to camp right there on some flat spots, but the train tracks were 5 feet away and I didn't have water so we hobbled another .6 to a stream, where Timber was camped (which I barely registered). I set up my tent and crawled inside and lay down for an hour, falling asleep, before waking up and taking out my sleeping pad and blanket to sleep. I didn't care enough to get water or eat dinner. I thought it might be nice to watch a bit of a movie as a treat so I turned one on and I think watched it for about fifteen seconds and the next thing I knew it was morning. 

Saturday, May 30 

Weather: Sunny, hot, evening showers and thunderstorm

Miles travelled: 6.6

Total miles on AT: 1071.5

I woke up at 6:30 feeling totally stiff, like I was in a body cast. I couldn't fall asleep again, so I called out "South Pole?" She usually wakes up first, but I didn't hear anything. I moved slowly, working the tense feeling out of my toes first, then my feet and ankles, then my knees, then propping up my legs before getting up. I went to get our food bags and lay in my tent, calling out quietly every so often in case she was doing the same, until I heard her stir at 8. Everyone in camp was gone. We packed up slowly and carefully as we checked our maps. I had only one day of food, so to resupply we either had to go back .6 and hitch into town or walk 18 miles to a hostel. Neither of us wanted to walk an extra 1.2 (especially back up the hill), so we decided to go for the hostel. 

After four slow miles we started hearing a big road and I checked google. Our maps didn't tell us anything was on that road but google showed a walmart just down the street, so we changed our plan: hitch into walmart, resupply, hitch back and hike as much as we felt like. We got to the road and stuck our thumbs out. It was a pretty busy road and I felt stupid as usual, but it must've been less than 10 minutes later a red pickup truck coming the other direction turned around and picked us up, having come back to get us after they realized we were hitching and not just standing there (I guess we don't have confident thumbs). It was a couple, Sunny and Patty, who were from the area and sometimes hike on weekends. They said they'd love to thru hike if they had the time but were thinking about section hiking in the meantime. They took us down the road, about a 10 minute drive, and dropped us off at walmart as we thanked them copiously and they wished us luck. Nice of them to allow stinky hikers in their shiny truck!

We spent three hours in walmart, wandering the aisles and taking our time. I was careful not to get much because I'm getting a box in a few days, but I wanted to get tasty snacks that I could eat easily. I think I've become more of a picky eater on the trail and most of the time I choke down food because I have to rather than enjoying it. Town food is different though, and I bought a pint of ben and jerry's ice cream and some wings to eat there. South Pole and I saw that the game room had chairs and outlets and hung out in there until we were organized. It felt kind of... ghetto. Like we were real homeless people. Which I guess we kind of are. But we sat there eating and listening to the Batman arcade game replay its intro music and kids screaming in the walmart while cashiers beeped items. I bought a new rain jacket to replace my tattered useless one. We organized our food and charged our phones and finally thought we should start trying to get a ride back. We were thinking we'd walk around the parking lot and look for someone in a truck to ask for a ride. As we stood up and went to leave the store, we passed a man sitting on a bench who said, "do you need a ride?" 

Of course! It was a magic moment, as his wife and three daughters approached, one of them wearing soccer gear and carrying a small walmart bag. They led us back to their SUV, chatting. Walt, Claire, Hannah, Zoe, and another girl (I forgot her name...). They were all very sweet, and Hannah held our hiking poles in her lap. Walt and Claire said they weren't hikers but they tried to help when they could and one of the men in their church had thru hiked. He built a chicken coop pallet house on his dad's land that he lived in when he wasn't adventuring; it had no electricity or A/C and had only a little stove to heat in the winter. He worked seasonally at the church, just enough to fund his trips. It kind of reminded me of the tiny house I've been planning to build, except a little more ramshackle than what I've been dreaming of. It was a really cool story. 

They dropped us off and we walked a couple miles to the first shelter, feeling good, where we met three people walking and raising money for a rare heart condition, which one of them had. There was also a large group of what looked like weekend college-age students. We sat around lazily for a bit and then kept walking a couple miles, when we hit another shelter. We signed the book and then the college group rolled in and we moved on another .1 to a park, which had a covered picnic pavilion. We sat for a bit and then it started raining so we sat for a bit more and I checked the forecast, which said more rain until after dark, so we cooked dinner and sat some more and finally decided to just spend the night there. We waited until dark and then pushed the picnic tables together so the seats were touching, which made a nice non-visible platform. The road was really close to the pavilion so we were careful about being seen. 

As soon as it was dark and we were settled, we started seeing fireflies in the grass around and in the trees and under the picnic tables. I didn't sleep well because the traffic picked up and cars were noisy, although we were well hidden.