Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Our second day of hiking! Many of us gather in the lounge a little before 7:30 to chat and look at the day's newspapers. It is nice that the staff provide three different papers for us and even make extra copies of the daily crossword and Sudoku puzzles. Today's breakfast is pancake, sausage, freshly made scones, hard boiled eggs, plus breads to toast and a variety of cereals.
Today is our Maryland hike -- a long and challenging 10 miles, from Washington Monument State Park to Gathland State Park. Lots of ups and downs and many, many rocks underfoot. Good boots are a necessity on these hikes. We had two great guides who met us at the trailhead -- both women work as Ridgerunners and both are thru-hikers. It was fun to hear from women who had hiked the trail. We started by climbing up to the top of the Washington Monument, a tower built by the local people to honor the first president. The clouds kept us from seeing the full view from the top of the tower.
Then it was on to the trail. The day stayed pretty dry, and we even had a reasonably good view from the White Rocks viewpoint, the day's highest point that came after lunch and at the end of a very, very long uphill climb. We had lunch at The Rocky Run Shelter, a newer and very nice structure. Even the privy was quite fancy!
The park at the end of the hike included this historic monument, built to honor the newspaper correspondents and artists of the Civil War.
We stopped for an ice cream treat in Sharpsburg on the way home -- a nice surprise after the very long hike. Our after dinner speaker was John Clatterbaugh, a retired biology teacher who showed us lots of edible plants that served as a major part of the diet of the Native Americans and the early settlers.
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| The fancy shelter -- and even some sun! |
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| The privy |
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| The group enjoying the view. |
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| Lots of rocks! |
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| Memorial Arch |
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| Beauty along the trail. |
Today is our Maryland hike -- a long and challenging 10 miles, from Washington Monument State Park to Gathland State Park. Lots of ups and downs and many, many rocks underfoot. Good boots are a necessity on these hikes. We had two great guides who met us at the trailhead -- both women work as Ridgerunners and both are thru-hikers. It was fun to hear from women who had hiked the trail. We started by climbing up to the top of the Washington Monument, a tower built by the local people to honor the first president. The clouds kept us from seeing the full view from the top of the tower. 
Then it was on to the trail. The day stayed pretty dry, and we even had a reasonably good view from the White Rocks viewpoint, the day's highest point that came after lunch and at the end of a very, very long uphill climb. We had lunch at The Rocky Run Shelter, a newer and very nice structure. Even the privy was quite fancy!
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