Basketball Blazing

I don't give a damn about professional basketball. Or college basketball, high school basketball or any other kind of basketball for that matter. But our dear friend Monk is a huge fan of the Miami Heat so we have planned our hikes around proximity to a television for pretty much the past 100 miles. 

After our night in Harpers Ferry, sleeping in Bonzos yard, we got a late start, heading out of the historic part of town at around 3:30pm, planning only on going 10 miles at most. Goatman, Beetlejuice and Monk got a ride into DC with Red Knees' parents so out hiking party was down to 2pack, Red Knees, Roadrunner and myself, with the expectation that Beetlejuice and Monk would catch up in the next few days (before my birthday, I warned them, or there would be hell to pay!)

The hiking was quick, easy and flat. Approximately 10 miles into the day we crossed through a state park where we made dinner and charged our electronics. The park was the previous scene of Civil War battles and was littered with monuments and remains of old stone buildings. 

Once we had eaten and the sun began to drop below the trees we packed up our things and headed a bit up the hill and set up our things to stealth camp (the shelter was 0.3 miles off the trail...no thank you!). It was a bit of a tight squeeze but the ground was soft and I was tuckered out.

To continue the theme of basketball blazing, even in Monk's absence, we decided to hike into Smithsburg, MD that evening to watch the game. We woke early and were on the trail by 7:30am. The day went by quickly and was incredibly productive: we were able to stop and shower at a campground 7 miles into the day and completed all 21 miles by 5:30pm, with the exception of some rain, none the worse for wear. 

We hitched into town with two old church ladies with cat litter in the back of the car and were dropped off at the laundromat to clean everything we owned. Finally fully clean, we walked down to the Wolfes Den, a biker bar in the center of town, and ordered dinner and had the TV changed to the game. 

The Heat lost but we won big time. The owner bought us a pitcher of beer and when the game was over the bartender drove us back to the trail head to fend for ourselves. The shelter was only 0.2 miles up but with no headlamp and slightly confusing trail markers 2pack and myself ended up in ankle deep mud, giggling so hard we nearly peed ourselves. 

We made it to camp shortly thereafter and clumsily set up our tents in the dark. Sleep has never felt so good. 

So far today we have done 10 remarkably challenging miles into Pen Mar County Park where we are relaxing before heading on to cross the Maryland/Pennsylvania border as well as the Mason Dixon line (sweet!) Only 8 more miles to go before we rest. I may be asleep by 7pm tonight. No complaints here!