Day 5: My First Trail Magic, and Back to Civilization

Today I got up at 6:45, and the shelter was empty by 7:15. As I went about my morning, I saw Greygoose, and she asked how it was in the shelter last night. I told her I had slept great. There were four men in the shelter with me, and she expressed concerns about them snoring, which is why she had chosen to sleep in a tent. I told her I woke in the night very surprised to not hear any snoring.

The reunion crew headed out and I wrapped up my morning chores. Today would be a nero day (nearly zero trail miles). I would only cover five trail miles before going into town to resupply my food. My resupply point was Rouzerville, PA, so I would be completing all the AT miles in Maryland today and crossing the Mason-Dixon Line.

As I was packing up to hit the trail, a man came by and chatted with me. He was a section hiker who lives in the area. He was out on a day hike and was doing trail magic. His name was Creaky Knees. He gave me some snacks, which I was delighted to receive.

I met some NOBO hikers on trail who had started in Georgia. They asked if I had received trail magic from Creaky Knees, and I said yes. They said it was only their second time receiving trail magic in their over 1,000-mile journey. I was sad to hear that, but it’s not unheard of since many well wishers will target trail magic to “the bubble”— areas that are densest with thru hikers. I was hiking with NOBOs who were ahead of the bubble, most of them having started in February.

After contending with some rocks and a steep descent, it was a fairly easy walk to the MD-PA border.

The weather at Pen-Mar Park was lovely, and I took the opportunity to use a toilet and throw out my trash while eating a snack. Truthfully, I was procrastinating on my town chores. I decided to focus on finding a place to stay for the night. I would have done it the previous night, but I hadn’t had good enough service at the shelter. When I called the hostel nearby, they didn’t have space. I found another hostel but couldn’t figure out the contact information for the owner. After much searching, I found an email address and tried that, figuring I couldn’t count on it. Eventually I figured my only option was to stay in a hotel for the night. I didn’t feel a strong need to sleep inside, take a shower, or do my laundry. But I felt like it might be helpful for me to go through these motions to get a better feel for town day logistics. I booked a hotel room and got started on my next chore for the day: finding my way to town.

I had chosen Rouzerville as my resupply stop because I could walk 2.2 miles to Walmart if I needed to. A common way hikers get into town is by hitchhiking. I didn’t feel like there was much danger in hitchhiking, but I felt weird asking strangers for a ride. There were a bunch of families in the park. Was I supposed to go up to one of them and ask if they would take me to Walmart? I felt odd about doing this so I called some local shuttle services. No one was available, so I began my 2.2-mile road walk.

At some point while walking, I felt I had made a stupid decision. There was no sidewalk and the shoulder was practically non-existent. Maybe there should be walking infrastructure, but there wasn’t. This part of the world was made for cars.

My road walk made me reflect on how walking done in certain places can be a political statement. Just because this is the only way I can move through the world, doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have access to places without sidewalks. But lately I’ve wondered about the value of these political statements. I have money to get a ride. Am I better off doing that and foregoing the struggle of making a statement that probably has no impact?

I don’t have the answer, but my thoughts were interrupted by more practical considerations once I reached Walmart, like what food I would pick up and what other supplies I needed.

I had spent some time in Pen-Mar Park mapping out the next stretch of my journey. I decided I would pack four days of food. I found some great hiker staples at Walmart, and went with a junk food heavy resupply. Normally this is food that I rarely buy or eat, so it’s fun to have a legitimate reason for choosing it: it’s shelf stable and calorically dense. Perfect hiker food.

I also found a large can of isobutane, which was great because I wouldn’t have been able to cook otherwise. Some hikers choose not to cook, leaving options like cold soaking for meal preparation (think overnight oats, etc). Cooking is a nice morale boost in chilly weather, when warm food is especially comforting. We are still having cooler nights and the warm food has been nice.

Finally, I wanted to get a watch. After offloading my smartwatch due to its limited battery life, I realized I would like a more convenient way to check the time than looking at my phone. I found myself a dumb watch that would do the trick.

With that, I checked into my hotel and started doing my laundry. I have one outfit for hiking and one for sleeping. On laundry day, some hikers wear their less gross sleep clothes, while others wear their rain gear and wash everything. I donned my rain gear to get the full experience. While waiting for my laundry, I made some calls to let my family know how I was doing.

When laundry was done, it was time to get some town food. I ordered a quesadilla cheeseburger from Applebees, which I was delighted to see was A Thing. It was really good. I cleaned my plate.

The last town chore I had was blogging!!! I had not uploaded any trail updates, so I spent a lot of time referring to my notes and composing posts. I went to bed really late, maybe 11 pm, because this took a lot of time. It’s said that town day can be more exhausting than a day of hiking on the trail, and that was certainly the case for me today!

AT miles today: 5.3

Elevation gain: 570′

Total AT miles: 42.8