Roadtrip, Day 17...A Chance Encounter

Day 17

Tuesday. 6/3/2025

     Occasionally,  something happens on a roadtrip that's just lucky, like all those train encounters.   Today's lucky timing beats them all.   Seriously, it was actually startling.  

     The Appalachian Trail cuts across Maryland twenty minutes west of Frederick.  Today, I planned to hike two and half miles on the trail to an overlook called Annapolis Rocks.  

      At 8A there was plenty of parking at the trailhead.  All the reviews mentioned an initial climb, then fairly easy.

     The first trail juncture.  The AT crosses that bridge, then follows the trail where I was headed.  And yes, it does come back in the narrative.

    Random graffiti.  Some of you will get this.

   That initial climb.

      At the the two and a quarter mile mark, the trail splits.  It's a quarter mile down a gentle slope to Annapolis Rocks.  

       Since the hike was mostly up, it was mostly down from here.  I met plenty of day hikers, and a few through hikers along the way.  I wished them good luck and walked on.

     Years ago, a friend tried to through hike the AT.  Her kids were grown and she thought it a perfect time.  She would post videos every few days of her adventure.  In the end, she only made it to West Virginia.

     A few years later, the brother of a friend tried through hiking and posted updates on Facebook.  At one point he knew he was too far behind schedule to finish before winter.  He almost quit in Pennsylvania.  We convinced him to keep going at least to the New York State Line.  

     Ever since, I've been following random through hikers on Youtube.  Most don't make it.  But, their sense of wonder and exhaustion certainly come though.  

     So far this year, two of the three I've been following have dropped out.  One was a guy my age whose knees only made it to Virginia.  Lesley and Kelsey are still chugging along.

    When I arrived back at the intersection I mentioned earlier,  two women were coming across that bridge.  You can imagine my surprise when it was Lesley and Kelsey.  The conversation began with "Holy crap, I follow you."  

     We chatted for a brief moment, and they asked about the overlook, not wanting to go too far off trail.  Who can blame them.  

      Every day they record a video of the adventure and post it.  You can see the video of the day we crossed paths here:  And no, I'm not in it.  Not that I expected to be.

      It was too early to call it a day, so I took a short drive to Washington Monument State Park.

     All the trail reviews said the same thing.  It's an easy quarter mile.

     The original tower was built here in 1827 and was the first monument built to commemorate George Washington.  It's been rebuilt twice since then.

     

    My one daily brewery  bought me to Idiom Brewing.  I came for the name.. The beer...excellent.

       

      Sunset once again from the Motel 6 walkway