Got up about 6:00 and ran 5.1 miles in approximately 45 minutes. Ate my usual breakfast of 8 oz. glass of orange juice, banana, toasted home made Italian bread with butter and strawberry jam and a 12 oz glass of milk.
At 9:15 I headed up the hill about ½ mile to the Oakland Mills Village Center for the Cycling Seniors Friday bike ride. Over half of the 25 cyclists are there already for the 34.8 mile Columbia to Olney Ale House ride. I have everyone sign the waiver sheet and give them the ride cue sheet. I redid the route to minimize traffic and eliminate the steepest uphill climbs. People continue to arrive including Anne on her bike and my daughter Kara with grandson Logan. We're off at 10:00 winding our way through Columbia. Bucky Buchleitner has a flat about a mile into the route. Gary Gentry out front misses a turn not well marked and wanders for several miles trying to find his way out of Columbia. Anne and Carol Nelson without cue sheets lags behind as does Margaret Chapman. The rest of the group though strung out stays fairly close together and arrives at the Olney Ale House for lunch within 5 minutes of each other. Gary arrives a little late and then Bucky and Margaret arrive about the time everyone is being served. I am the last to leave and get to meet the Isennocks who arrived at the ride start at 10:30 due to Baltimore traffic. I race back to Columbia catching everyone to finish about 1:45.
After a quick cleanup Anne, Kara, Logan and I drive to a funeral home on US-1 for a viewing of my next door neighbor J. R. Repoza who died Tuesday just short of his 88th birthday. We are back home by 4:15.
Due at 6:00 Jack Bateman with Norma Walker, daughter Machel and son-in-law Ray driving arrive at 6:40. I load my gear and we're off heading south on US-29 to west on MD-32 to west on I-70 to north on US-15 at Frederick to west on MD-55 at Thurmont to the Blue Ridge Mountain Fire Company house in Pennsylvania.
Norma, Jack and I unload our gear onto a covered outside porch. We go inside and register for tomorrows Mountain Club of Maryland semi-annual Hike Across Maryland a one day 40 mile hike from Pennsylvania across Maryland on the Appalachian Trail to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. There are 107 registrants who payed $20 to participate in this event. Pete Flaton and Ron Cully from our Wednesday hiking group are already there. Patty Williams the event director hold a meeting at 9:00 for the participants and 60 volunteers. We are all settled in our sleeping bags outside for the night by 10:00.
May 3, 2003 Saturday Hike 40 miles on AT Across Maryland
We were awakened at 4:00 to pack up and leave our bags inside for transportation to Harpers Ferry. I drank some orange juice and ate several pieces of bagel with cream cheese.
We all loaded on two school buses with our numbers checked and headed for the trail head. We unloaded in the dark and started out trek in the dark at 5:15. We crossed the railroad tracks into Maryland. The trail is wooded and rocky so it is slow going in the
dark. I'm hiking with Dave who I recently met on our training hike. It starts to get gray at the bottom of High Rock so you can see fairly well. I scramble up the mountain and am sweating profusely with a soaked shirt by the top at check point 2 at 2.9 miles.
We wait at the check point to group up. Our group consists of Jack Bateman 73 on his 3rd HAM, Pete Flaton 70 on his 1st HAM, Ron Cully soon to be 69 on his 2nd HAM, Norma Walker 50 on her 1st HAM and Dan McQueen 64 on my 3rd HAM. We hiked together the rest of the hike.
We stopped at the Rod and Gun Club at 7.7 miles for breakfast of pancakes, eggs, sausage, bacon, orange juice and milk. Most check points had water, Gatorade, fruit, salty snacks and cookies. We stopped at Washington Monument Park check point 6 at 20.7 miles for lunch. There was soup, sandwiches, cookies, drinks, etc.
We were past most of the rough trail and hills with Lambs Knoll ahead as the last major obstacle. We were greeted at every check point by friends from our Wednesday hiking group and other Mountain Club members who volunteered for this event. We spent a lot of time at the check points because being a group of five we were always waiting on different members at each stop. We often passed individuals or groups on the trail but were passed in turn at the stops.
We finally crested the mountain above Weverton Cliffs and descended sharply on the
switchbacked trail to check point 9. We had our pictures taken giving the YAHOO sign for the team name we earned. Then we were on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal towpath along the Potomac River for 3 miles. We picked up the pace and crossed the railroad bridge into Harpers Ferry crossing the finish line together with linked arms at 6:37 or 13:22 hours of hiking. Everyone felt good and fresh with no blisters or injuries. All of us could have beaten our time as individuals but we were proud of our time as a team.