Day 25: Raven Ridge Shelter to Pen-Mar Road

“Dear Weather, Please stop showing off. We know U R “hot”.

Hike from Raven Ridge Shelter to Pen-Mar Road
At miles: 5.9 miles
Ascent: 812′
Descent: 1412′
Weather: hot, hot, hot and muggy
Sightings: a deer and a chipmunk
High points: Trail magic at Pen-Mar Park, lunch at Applebee’s

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Last night was, umm, interesting. VERY interesting!

I was the first person at the shelter, and when I returned from getting water a nice couple from near Harrisburg Pennsylvania was setting up camp quite a ways from the shelter. Eventually three thruhikers came in. The trio were high school friends from Maine. They graduated college in 2020, and they set off on a graduation hike this sprint! They set up their hammocks fairly far away from the shelter.

Alone in the shelter, I snuggled into my sleeping bag liner (too hot for the bag) and promptly discovered that some kind of animal lived under the shelter. The unknown resident bumped, crashed, and thumped. After listening to its shenanigans for white a long while, I finally got to sleep, only to wake up to a very large rustling in the bushes near the shelter. I shouted out a hello, but the creature did not return my salutation. I am told that in the dark a tiny animal like a mouse sounds like a medium sized animal like a skunk or a fox, and a medium sized animal sounds like a large animal like a deer or a bear. This critter definitely sounded large, more like a bear than a mouse, though I am willing to allow that my imagination may have added a few decibels to the disturbance. The unknown intruder rustled and crashed around for quite a while. Unsurprisingly, I did not manage to get back to sleep. I was up with the birds and on the trail before 7 o’clock.

The first two miles were extremely challenging. I basically had to rock-hop across a non-stop scree slope. I did not feel like disrupting my concentration to take a picture, so this picture is of the trail once it reached a more tolerable level of rocks.

Normally I do not sweat that much — the most I do is gently perspire. With the blistering heat this week I’ve discovered that I can sweat buckets. This morning between the rocks and the elevation changes I was dripping sweat before 8:30!

As I approached the Mason-Dixon Line, the trail did smooth out. I really appreciated the more even footing.

Pen-Mar Park, so-called because it is on the border of Pennsylvania and Maryland, provided me with many wonderful things — a great view, an informative but less-than-entirely-accurate sign (we’re well over 1000 AT miles from Springer Mountain, GA), and some Gatorade from a former thruhiker with the cool trail name Wild on the Trail.

Leaving the park, I had to cross over a train track. I was amused to see that someone had painted a white blaze on the rail!

Shortly afterwards, I walked across the Mason-Dixon Line and officially entered Pennsylvania! (Obviously I am not adept at taking selfies!)

Earlier I had called for a shuttle, so a very nice elderly man picked me up where the AT intersects Pen-Mar Road and dropped me off at a hotel in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. I took a long refreshing shower, spent quite a while on the phone trying to sort out my plans, enjoyed a HUGE lunch at a nearby Applebee’s, and am now appreciating the air-conditioning while listening to a TV weatherman hyperventelate about the extreme heat and how dangerous being outdoors in the heat can be!

Today is a great day for a long walk in the woods! (Well, it would be if the temperature were a few degrees cooler!)