[at-l] little trip report of a littel trip.

["Wisperlight" <miller84@matrix.newpaltz.edu>]

me and my bad typing is back I had a enjoyable week.  did not hike as much
as I wished to but what can  you do. i appoligize in adavce for spelling
mistakes and grammatical mistakes i read it trough a few times and tried to
catch them all. i am sure i did not.

here is a trip report from the C&O a very very flat and hard trail in
maryland.

Day 1
we had woke up early this morning. we had sat around and done nothign the
day before it was a good day but I had wished we had started hiking the
previous day.  it was about 7am when we woke up and about 10am when we got
to the trail.  we were planning on a 10 mile day today. we made really good
time and it was quite warm out in fact a bit hot for the shorts and tee
shirt I was wearing.  the water was good for this entire lentgh of the
trail.   we got to the campsite it was early and we felt good to go so we we
decided to go for the next one.  this day was a real nice one we ended up
seeing hundreds of turtles and a few tiny little ones only about 2 inches
diamater we moved the little guys off the trail as to protect them from the
bikers that would surly come by.   we saw very few people this day.

I had tripped while wearing only sandals  during a little rest at a campsite
mid day I seriously bruised up my large toe and drove a rock underneath the
nail. I cursed a bit and cleaned it out and put a band aid on it.it stoped
bleeding after about a minute  it was an interesting experence the pain when
away after a few minutes.

I ended up walking a bit funny on the foot for the rest of the hike and it
made my heels hurt I was wearing boots on the C&O for the first time and I
think it was a mistake.  next time I will wear a heavy sneaker or trail
runner.  regular boots do not have padding and regualr sneakers are to soft
ont he bottom.

we went to bed early but slept horrible duiring the night.

Day 2
it ended up raining very hard.  so hard in fact that the rain hit the ground
and bounced up underneath my tent fly making the inside of the tent a pool.
it was drizzling in the morning when we woke up and I found out pack
underneath a tarp to be drier then us.  I was using a siltarp 1 and at 8 oz
it is a keeper.  I really liked it. maybe next time I will sleep under it.

we packed up are stuff and being very tired we were passed by a few groups
of  bikers. and we off on the trail around 11am I think.

we were to walk 10 miles today and the walking we did yesterday caught up
with us early .  becasue of the drizzle and the wet uncomfortable grass we
walked more that we did te first time in nice weather . it was chilly and we
kept moving even if we wanted to stop today becasue there was no place to
rest comfortable.

the wet tent and wet sleeping bags made the pack very much so heavy.   it
dirzzled all day. but we saw some very nice things. and stood atop nice
cliffs along the c&O gazing down the river. wondering what it must have been
like when the C&O was still being used as a canal.  we also saw caves and
odd flowering trees and buashes along the way it was much more beutiful than
last time in the summer heat.

we reached the camp site and there was soem oen else there.  you are only
supposed to camp one to a campsite but  you are not supposed to walk on the
trail at night either so we would be breaking rules if we left too.  so we
choose to stay.   the tenters did nto come out of there tent until the next
morning it was around 4 pm when we got there.

we set up the tent in some mud (the only place to put the tent) and we slept
very well if maybe a bit wet and chilly this nigt, the rain never picked up
again.mud make for a nice place to sleep kinda like sand. whiel settign up
another group of about 8 or 10 people showed up and thought nothign of
camping there so we figured those rules are not enforced or heeded at all.

Day 3
it drizzled all night I think and drizzeled well into the morning and kept
either drizzling or down right raining all day too.  we started late again
me and my cousin sleep in to much we got off and the trail around 9am.


we had walked to our lunch time camp site and my cousin said lets got back
to that town the trail passes through and go home. so I asked why he wanted
to go  home. he said he was wet and cold and last night he had been slightly
chilly.  his sleeping bag was wet and he figured he woudl be colder tonight
and he could not seem to get warm.  so I said ok. lets see if I can get a
fire goign at a campstie and at least cook up some tea.  we sat aroudn it
was useless trygin to light a fire and we ate some food drank some tea and
headed back for a town we had passed 4 miles back on the trail.  we got to
the town hit a pizza shop and then amuzed our self drying out  some items in
a laund-o-mat. whe watche da hat do cartwheel in a mostly empty drier.  I
had asked my cousin if he wanted to dry out as much stuff as possible and
then go back to the camp site so he looked up the weather for the next few
days and it only promised to be colder and wetter except for the very next
day he said NO!   we waited around until there was someone I could call
would come home to come pick us up.  we found a large car port looking thing
that was protected from the wind at a old canal buisness turned vistor
center which was closed.    we wandered aroudn the town a bit lookign at the
old buildings and stuff but in the ned we were bored and waited a long time
eventually we got picked up and ate soem dinner at home after showers

Day 4 and the rest of the week.
we spent the enitre next day the only nice day all week  cleeaning up and
drying out our gear. the next day we took a trip to antiedam and hiked
around with my little dog under menacing clouds that never really broke but
it was very chilly.  The day after did some indoor hiking while window
shopping and showing my cousin some more of maryland.

I wish my cousin had been able to continue hiking we were both having a good
time. and I am nto goign to force him espessially if he was really that
cold.  but thems is the breaks.  I really got to test out my Mountain
Hardwear Grade 5 jacket it keep me dry not very warm but dry for abotu 6
hours of rain before it started getting moist insdie and then after 12 hours
it was a bit drippy inside and my vest was gettign wet.    I foudn it kept
me drier than heavier the goretex jacket I have though.  all in all a good
buy I will still prolly were my goretex in the winter months as I find it
much warmer..

Wisperlight the Polar Bear


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