The Sprout Day 18 (Thursday, April 14th)

I woke up today to a beautiful Maryland sunrise! I wanted to get up a little earlier but it felt so good in my sleeping bag that I couldn't get moving!  We got up at 7:00 and got on the trail at 8:30.

Sunrise today

Since I shared what I do when I reach camp (last night) I thought I would share what I do each morning.  First, I gather all of my equipment in the tent (or around my bag if I'm in a shelter).  Then, I pack everything in it’s designated stuff sack.  My sleeping bag goes into a compression sack and an additional waterproof stuff sack.  The compression sack makes the sleeping bag get tiny.  It’s amazing!

Next, we take down the tent and get the food from the bear pole/box or tree.  Sometimes we make coffee and eat breakfast right away, sometimes we get a few miles down the trail to a cool spot and stop for breakfast. Today we made coffee and mixed oatmeal with peanut butter at the campsite.  We also talked to this cool guy, Paul, for a while.

Sometimes you come across a memorial to someone who loved the trail

It was a perfect hiking day, cool in the morning and it warmed up in the afternoon. It's supposed to be 36 degrees tomorrow morning and around 70 degrees during the day. I love this weather!

We hiked through Gathland State Park today.  While hiking we came across Gath’s Empty Tomb.  The sign next to the tomb stated:

During the 19th century few people bought burial lots in public cemeteries as we do today.  Instead, a small parcel of their own land was usually set aside as a private cemetery.  If enough money was available, a mausoleum (tomb) was often built for certain family members.

Gath, concerned with his own burial, built his lonely tomb about 20 years before his death, which came on April 15, 1914 (side note:  that was 102 years ago tomorrow!) in New York City.  By this time his great wealth had dwindled and the near Penniless Gath was buried in a Philadelphia, PA cemetery instead of his own tomb as he had desired.

Gath’s Empty Tomb mutely symbolizes the uncertainties of Life, Fame, and Fortune and the certainty of death.

We sat at the state park for a bit while we charged our phones and hung out with Two Steps.  We also found a charger left in the bathroom.  We have tried to find the owner but have not had any luck yet.  If you lost your charger at Gathland State Park in the bathroom we still have it.  If you e-mail me and describe the charger it’s all yours! (flipflophikers@gmail.com)

Gath's Tomb

Gath's Tomb

War Correspondents Memorial Arch at Gathland State Park

Ruins in the state park

Messing around on the trail

Being goofy!

After spending two hours sitting at the park we realized that we had to get moving.  We would have liked to spend more time looking at the history of the park but we had charged our batteries long enough.

When I got to Rocky Run Shelter I set up the tent like a champ.  I was quick and the lines were tight.  Each time I set up the tent I get better at it and I’m getting pretty good!  We did 9.1 miles today. That puts us at 177.5 total miles!

Rocky Run Shelter
Stay on Trail
to Prevent Erosion

The old Rocky Run Shelter

A view we saw today

Day:  18

Miles hiked:  9.1

Total Miles hiked on the trail:  177.2

Bears:   0

Butterfly:  7

Chipmunk:  1

Crawfish:  1

Deer:  20

Really Big Dog:  1

Mouse:  1

Nest of bugs:  1

Skunk:  1

Snail:  1

Squirrels:  11

Turkeys:  4

Turtles:  107

Woodpecker:  1

Bubbles Day 18 (Thursday, April 14th)

When I woke up today I was happy to see that even though my fingertips are burned it’s not as bad as I thought last night.  They still hurt though.  I also started the day by giving myself a foot massage.  The sunrise was incredible so that really helped to improve my mood!

Jeff and I got into a huge fight this morning.  I told him he couldn’t just leave a fire going without helping to put it out.  He was really mad and stormed up the trail.  When I got to the shelter this afternoon he acted like nothing happened.  I hope this is the end of our fighting!

There are two shelters here.  The new shelter is beautiful.  The old shelter is by the spring and had a low roof but it still looked cozy to sleep in.  We decided to sleep in our tent (we do most nights because it’s nice to have privacy).

Cozy old shelter at Rocky Run Shelters

I heard from Ox today.  He is on the mend!!  He thinks he’s going to be able to get back on the trial in 7-10 days.  This is great because he originally thought that he would be out for months!  He was so helpful to us when we started and I can only hope for a positive outcome and hike for him.

We met four people at the shelter today.  Finn and Daniel were a father and son duo who were section hiking during Finn’s spring break (he lives in California with his mom).  Daniel lives in Baltimore.  They were the nicest, kindest (I know means the same thing but there needs to be a word that means more than nice) people.  They offered to let us use their pot and stove if we wanted to and we had great conversations with them.  Unfortunately, they were heading southbound.  We would have loved to camp with them again.  Shout out to Finn and Daniel!  You’re the type of people that make the trail special!

T-Bone was also camped out at Rocky Run Shelters.  T-Bone worked on the West Virginia Turnpike for 34 years before retiring.  He is a super nice guy.  Hopefully we will get to camp with him again!

The last guy we met was a guy named Woodchuck who is a section hiker.  He told us his favorite trail story.  He said this was real trail magic.  I might have the trail names mixed up but here is the story:

Inchworm and Happy were hiking the AT in New England (not with each other.)  Inchworm became disoriented and lost.  He started to become hypothermic.  The hypothermia made his brain go crazy and he took off his backpack and his warm winter coat.  He was stumbling through the snow and was at the point of dying from exposure to the elements.  Luckily, Inchworm stumbled into Happy’s campsite, running directly into his tent.  Happy realized what was happening and ripped Inchworms soaking wet, half frozen, clothes off of him and stuffed him into his personal sleeping bag.  Then, Happy ran to the nearest shelter to get help and a rescue team was sent in.  Inchworm survived.

The following year both Inchworm and Woodchuck were on a thru-hike.  Inchworm was telling Woodchuck the story of how a man saved his life on the trail the year before.  After telling the story he said the man who saved me is named Happy.  Woodchuck had just spent some time with Happy and knew that he was only a shelter ahead of them (he could tell because of the shelter log books.)  Inchworm immediately packed his things, threw on his pack, and hustled up the trail to meet the man who saved his life!  They ended up hiking together for a while (Woodchuck could tell by the logs).  He said this kind of thing happens on the trail because it’s a small community and everyone becomes connected.

Bubbles and WoodChuck

Bubbles and T-BONE