Another 19 miles of Maryland and still the rocks have been way overhyped. Sure there are some stretches of rocky stuff, even a few tenths of a mile of nothing but boulders in one or two places, but there’s plenty of Shenandoah-esque terrain as well.
Last night was a bit too warm for comfort as many of these July nights have been. I don’t really sleep comfortably until well past midnight when it’s cooled off a bit more and I’m extra tired. The power of sleep continues to amaze me; seven hours of dozing in and out of rest can sustain a 19 or 20 mile hike fairly easily. After just a couple of those miles today I had my best bear encounter yet. While not an adult this one was significantly larger than the cubs from the Smokies. I spotted him ahead and off to the right of the trail and he moved steadily across the trail in front of me and then off into the woods. It was right near a road and a state park containing the first ever monument honoring George Washington.
There were a couple of overlooks today but nothing spectacular, nothing close to old lookout towers of Georgia and North Carolina, or the balds of Tennessee. The shelter tonight is quite something though. It feels brand new, partly because it’s only 3 years old and partly because it was just cleaned thoroughly this week by the PATC caretaker. It’s a two story shelter and the woodwork looks like something you’d want in your home. I was the first one here and I knew Landon and Miranda would be along. Before they got here though a couple of southbounders showed up, more of the somewhat unsavory SoBo type, tattoos, smoking, etc, but they turned out to not as bad as they looked – keeping mostly to themselves once Landon and Miranda got here. Packrat is back in action too, still carrying his library of books and not talking. Tomorrow is hopefully going to be the longest day yet, time to rest!