Got up fairly early at 6 o’clock because I knew that today would be a long day. I packed up my gear fairly quickly, skipped breakfast, and got on the trail at about 720. Today would be two ascents including an ascent to the highest peak on the Maryland trail with a significant down into PenMar.

The day was relatively uneventful. The largest up to the top of high rock was difficult. About a mile out from the turn off to the high rock overlook, I began seeing graffiti with spray paint over some of the rocks in the trail, that’s peculiar because I’ve never seen graffiti on rocks before. As I got to high rock, I understood why. High rock, which is a promontory of rocks that looks out over the east was literally covered every square inch in painted graffiti. It was the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. North the graffiti continued on the rocks for about a mile. What is someone thinking that does that?

The down into Penmar was hard there were several large rock fields to traverse that took about 20 to 30 minutes apiece, this is the kind of terrain that is extremely hard on your body and feet. By the time I got down to the regular elevation, there were some good trail into PenMar itself. I saw numerous deer along the way. I had made a reservation at a PenMar hikers hostel named Zero Day. It’s a new place and I highly recommend it. The owner is very conscientious and the place is spotlessly clean. You can do laundry, eat,  take a shower have a private room very nice accommodations. I feel rejuvenated and ready for the next day.

Today’s mileage: 10.0

Total trail miles 41.4

Got a really late start from Pogo campground and decided that I would take a short day and end up at my scheduled stop, which is Ensign Cowell shelter. I arrive there around 5 o’clock, and there were a few slack packers in the shelter, who are not very friendly. So I decided to set my hammock up away from the shelter, ostensibly, so my snoring would not bother them, but really because it would seem to be a better option to be by myself.

About 530, a crew of about 17 Outward Bound kiddos, probably about 14 to 15 years old, marched into the camp. I found out from their leader that this was their first hike, indeed many of them the first time they had been in the woods. They set up their tarp tents all over the place, including across the paths. this was bad enough, but as they got in the sack, a tent next to me, literally 15 feet away from my hammock, was a tent with seven adolescent boys, who proceeded to scream, like little girls at the spiders on the ground. Their leader came over several times, and told them to calm down, but this was to no avail, they didn’t actually quiet down until almost 1030.

The next morning, their leader gave them a fairly stern lecture about camp etiquette, and how to be respectful to others around them. We’ll see if it sinks in. My main thought over the whole thing was, “how can I do the most good with these kids without complaining about them?“ so I didn’t blow my top. I didn’t fuss at them or yell at them. I showed several of them had a tie knots and offered beef jerky which they refused. I can vaguely remember the first time I went backpacking. While I wasn’t as noisy, I probably knew less than they did.

Today’s mileage: 4.4

Total trail miles 31.8