With the new addition of Patchfoot in our crew it was time to buckle down and bust out some miles as our dilly dallying was catching up to us. Mt. Katahdin, the northern end of the trail, closes to hikers on Oct. 15. This originally was of no concern, but with over fifty plus zero days (days of no hiking, covering zero miles), we were beginning to realize the importance of moving forward. Patchfoot, however, had not yet acquired his trail legs and needed to start out with small mileage in order to build his muscles.

After our errands in Harpers Ferry Patchfoot and Slap Happy hiked out to the first shelter which was seven miles in. Pemmy and Machete were quickly sidetracked by smoothies and the Shenandoah River, both very refreshing on this scorching summer afternoon. Two days later they would catch up, hiking twelve miles the first day, and an easy seven miles before 11:00 A.M the next. Patchfoot and Slap Happy were getting a late start as they had partied with some rabbits the night before. All together now, team Firestarters and the Bearwatchers were off to a shelter fourteen miles from the bunny campsite. This made a twenty one mile day for Machete and Pemmy. With little more than some sore feet they held their heads high knowing they could still make the long hauls.

It was now time to re-supply so we hiked to the Pennsylvania/Maryland state boundary located at the Pen Mar County Park. From here we hitched into Rouzerville, PA and stuffed our faces at an all you can eat Chinese buffet, satisfying our re-found hiker hungers. With our bellies and food bags full we located Blondie’s Outback. Little did we know that it was karaoke night and that the Ice Cream Trucks would have a surprise performance. Slap Happy broke the ice with Wild Wild West by Will Smith. This impressive display of teleprompter reading got the whole gang up on stage later that night. Closing another bar the bar tender, Crystal, gave us a lift back to Pen Mar where we crashed. With a wedding being set up and several family outings, the park was quite  busy in the morning. Seeing us tired and hungry hikers one family gave us a tray of danishes, our best yogi yet.

Hiking out a whopping three miles, Slap Happy and Patchfoot were craving some Magic the Gathering playing cards. We hitched back into Rouzerville for them to get their fix and for Machete and Pemmy to wash their filthy clothes. Cleanly clothed and enjoying dorkdom we were back to the wilderness for the night. We found a campsite near a spring inhabited by an abundance of abnormally large insects. That night we learned of a pool at the next park on the trail and set our sights on hoofing it fifteen miles there the next day. Unfortunately, the weather did not agree with our plans and we were soaked that afternoon by a thunderstorm. Arriving in a torrential downpour the pool was obviously closed. Luck would have it we walked into the most generous trail magic thus far. A group called ATM (Appalachian Trail Ministry) from Indianapolis, lead by Cook Dr., took us under their wing, and tarps, for the night. These generous people had been doing trail magic here [end excerpt]