The Norwegians were suggesting nearly continuous rain for today. I was on trail by 6:40 and the first couple of hours were dry, which was a nice surprise. It also reminded me that getting up early gives you more options. Checkmate was still asleep five minutes before I left, although he roused himself enough to give me a fistbump as I left. We agreed we would probably meet at a shelter about 16 miles down the trail.
I remembered the last three miles of Maryland as being extremely rocky and challenging, but this time around it really wasn’t that bad. It was fun to recognize brook crossings and views I’d forgotten about from last year.
The rain was never very strong and I managed with just my umbrella. My feet were wet but that’s kind of unavoidable.
Around 11:30 I got to Pen Mar state park. It had stopped raining. I knew from last year that there was a good pizzeria nearby. At first I thought I could order delivery, but then I decided to just walk to it. Google Maps estimated 31 minutes and I can usually beat their estimates by a third.
Once there I ordered a large vegetarian pizza and a root beer, and sat down to read and wait. The place was packed. Lots of kids, and the servings were humongous. About half an hour later my pizza arrived.
I had eaten three slices when Checkmate showed up. He had just ordered his pizza and a birch beer. He very politely asked if he could sit with me. He was excited about the birch beer and offered me a taste but we try not to share food on trail because of the prevalence of norovirus. I will definitely try some next time I see it.
We had a nice chat as I worked through six of the eight slices. I felt very full. I got some aluminum foil to wrap the last two pieces, and headed on just as Checkmate’s pizza arrived.
Shortly after leaving Pen Mar I met an old man carrying a duffle bag on the trail. He asked if I would like a beverage, beer or lemonade. I chose lemonade. He opened his dufflebag which had cans of Budweiser and used water bottles that he had filled with pink lemonade. I took one of those. As I drank he gave me a detailed rundown of the trail further north including springs, shelters, roads and which ones were dangerous to cross… We also talked about other hikers he had met. I thanked him for the lemonade and handed him the bottle, which he can wash out and use another day. Such selfless people you meet on trail.
Later I ran into What’s for Dinner, or Dinner for short. I had met him yesterday when he was partway through the four state challenge. He finished it just before the 7:39 pm deadline (he had walked three miles from 6 to 7:30 last night). He was pretty wiped after 45 miles but wanted to hike another 10 to be closer to an ice cream shop that is famous for its half gallon chalkenge: finish a half gallon of their ice cream in one sitting and you get it for free. (That reminds me. At lunch I got a text from Tortoise, whom I haven’t heard from since Damascus. He had just finished eating ice cream at that very shop. He included a photo of two empty ice cream tubs, a pint and a half gallon, and said Slingshot says hi. I recall Slingshot saying he wanted to try the challenge.)
I arrived at Tumbling Run shelters around 6:15. Checkmate was already there. I think he skipped a section of trail on his way back from the pizza place. I sat down at a covered picnic table with him, David (section hiker) and a hiker from the German part of Switzerland whose name I forget. I ate the last two slices of pizza.
Tumbling Run has two shelters. A snoring and a non-snoring. Checkmate was in his tent, the other two are in the snoring shelter. I set myself up in the non-snoring shelter.
Then I went back to the picnic table to cook a package of Knorr Sides since I didn’t think two slices of pizza would get me through the night. At some point we were down to just Switzerland, Checkmate and me – my first truly international conversation on trail!
It’s dark now. A whippoorwill is singing his heart out. I have the non-snoring shelter to myself so I can snore as much as I want to!
Mile 1058.3 to mile 1076.3 = 18 miles
Close to a mile of the trail went through pasture
This sign at Pen Mar state park is inaccurate. The trail is just shy of 2200 miles long, not 2000.
Apparently the Mason Dixon line was made long before the civil war to settle property tax jurisdiction disputes. It’s also the border between Maryland and Pennsylvania.