The Shelter Of Your Childhood Dreams

Day 89

We woke from a good night’s sleep and helped ourselves to a big breakfast of coffee, bagels, cereal, fruit and a cappuccino made by Adam himself. We packed up, waved goodbye to Mitzi and Smoke (Smoke was looking forlorn that she wasn’t coming in the car) and headed out to the trail. First we made a pit stop to the post office to mail back our worn out Darn Tough socks. We love Darn Tough products and you can’t lose with the lifetime warranty. We’ve worn holes into our socks so we will mail them back to be recycled and will be able to get a fresh pair!

Adam dropped us off back in Boonsboro, luckily the spitting rain subsided and we had clear skies. We said goodbye to Adam and the legendary Prius and started hiking south!

We cruised through the winding trail and enjoyed the faint autumn feel. We could smell the sweet smell of some sort of crab apple that had dropped and fermented. We stopped for a quick lunch break of carrots and hummus (love the first day back on trail with all our fresh food!) There was a nice view of Maryland and what we suspect is West Virginia due to the larger size of the mountains.

We arrived Gathland State Park which is home to the War Correspondents Monument as well as Gath’s Tomb. This land is the former estate of George Alfred Townsend (GATH), a civil war correspondent. Even though the museum was closed, we took some time to read the signs and historical markers outside for the events that took place in the area during the civil war. We filled up our water bottles at the spicket and Eric busted out his newest trail mix creation…peanuts and candy corn. Halloween and autumn must have been his inspiration. It sounds strange but it really is tasty!

We moved on and 3ish miles later we arrived at what has to be the shelter of everyone’s childhood dreams. The Ed Garvey shelter is a two story lincoln log shaped structure. The bottom is flat and spacious for several people to sleep with a picnic table out front. The second floor balcony is accessed by a ladder out back. It’s spacious, overlooks the bottom floor and has the AT symbol worked into the railings. We couldn’t pass up something so cool so we set up in the balcony. We marveled at the smooth, sleek, dark brown wooden floors. This structure looks either very new or very well cared for!

We made a fire in the fire pit next to the shelter and enjoyed the rest of our fresh food! Pita bread, cheese, carrots and more hummus! We had a nice breezy night sitting by the fire, however we will be in for a potentially disruptive night…the winds are causing the acorns to drop from the trees which when hitting the metal roof of the shelter makes a loud BANG! Oh well, atleast it’s a cool structure!