C&O Canal Hike

“Inviting all Yankees.. Especially the PA Bone Heads!!!!!

www.onedayhike.org

Lotta miles// NO climbs...

'32oz”

“What's the point of a hike with no rocks and no climbs?”

“I'm down as a maybe....missed the reg last year by a week or so.

That week is my birthday so seems like a good way to make 'the turn'”

“Wow GNM is hitting the big 25... We need to have a TT bash!!!!!!!

..Nogranola.. SHHHH there really are rocks and climbs, they are just REALLY REEEEEAALLY small..

'32oz
last edited: 1/28/09 5:59:04 AM”

“Where are you starting this hike??”

“Marko.. I will be attempting the 100k, which starts closer to DC.. The 50K starts a little further west...

Its all on the website...

This is from last years.. but it the same starting place this year...

100K Starts: Saturday, April 26, 2008 at Thompson Boat Center, Washington, DC, 3:00 AM
50K Starts: Saturday, April 26, 2008 at Whites Ferry, near Poolesville, MD,10:00 AM





'32oz
last edited: 1/28/09 6:24:49 AM”

“25th April.................geez!

"closer to D.C...."
Thompson's Boat House is in Georgetown!

Oh yeah............thanks!”

“Marko... you're ..... breaki.... up....

repeat..

you..... break.....up..

Oh God I think we lost him....

'32o.......”

“Hey GNM, do you know anybody from this area... Maybe we can find a 'host' LOL

'32oz”

“I used to take White's Ferry on some of my motor sickle rides.
There was a wicked fun hump in the road on the Virginia side.
At about 70 mph I would get about three seconds of air time.”

“...uh.. somehow I don't think motor sickles are allowed.. I will check though...

If so, you could finish early and have the keg iced down for when we get there...

'32oz”

“Where does this killer hump end up?”

“GNM in D.C. ???”

“Harper's Ferry....

'32oz”

“I could be waiting in Harper's Ferry with beer and snacks.

Or would Capri Suns and orange wedges suit ya better?”

“uh... Marko.. It's going to be late...
I would tell you not to wait up, but that would be misconstrued and end up on the OOCQ thread...

'32oz”

“Capri Suns and orange wedges? Who is trolling as MarkO?”

“Hey, that's what the soccer parents took turns bringing for after-game snacks.

Troll dis, ya Bonehead!”

“I guess NoGee didn't know that I was once a soccer mom.

No hockey mom here, thank you very much.”

“I used to love the canal when I lived in Laurel, Md. I'd get out of work, go home, change into hiking duds, and buzz off for an evening walk on the Billy Goat Trail.

I did one overnight canal hike. The flat walking was not easy for legs used to mountains.”

“That's sounds like a good place for an old goat.”

“We did a scout Trip Up To Antietam, and then drove to the Canal.. We did a night backpacking trip along the canal to the campsite just above Harper's Ferry..

We had a full moon so we didn't even need head lights as we were walking the canal..

It was pretty neat..

'32oz”

“Have you been to The Outfitters At Harper's Ferry?”

“Yup a couple times... Hit a pretty decent sale.. Mountain Hardware T's for like $11 bucks or something.. Cheaper then on Steep and Cheap...

Ate and drank at the Armory... Stayed at Bear's Den Hostel..

Looking to stay at the Harper's Ferry Hostel after the HAM and poosibly this hike as well...

'32oz”

“Ah, the Billy Goat Trail. That was kindof a steep drop to the river, as I recall ----

Doncha have to be an amateur dentist to qualify as a Hockey Mom?

(and I vote for Heinekens and pigs'n'blankets with honey mustard)”

“Late??

How freakin' long will it take you to hike a lousy 100K?”

“That would depend on how long we have to walk to get to the bar at the midway point..

Unfortunately Shepardstown WV at MP 73 is after Harpers Ferry which sorta sucks...

'32oz.
last edited: 1/28/09 11:35:56 AM”

“What's cookin' in Shepardstown?

Or perhaps I should say "what's brewin'?".”

“Parts of the Billy Goat Trail were cliffs dropping nearly sheer to the river. I was young and in shape then, so it was a nice evening's scramble. It is along the gorge carved out by the falls as they receded back to their present location.”

“Marko-

Shepardstown is a pretty neat little town right along the Potomac... I don't remember all of the names of places, and I don't feel like looking them up, but there is 'Bavarian Style' Hotel on a cliff over looking the River...

Its pretty awesome driving across the bridge and seeing the inn on top of the hill...

Its a neat little place to visit..

'32oz”

“When I was there the gorge was infested with kayakers,   < WINK >”

“Shepardstown is where those dang Rebs went after dukin' it out with Geo McClellan.”

“yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee—haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw....”

“if you are going to do this you better sign up now... they are down to like 5 slots...”

“Registration just closed...

350 nut jobs signed up already...

Marco, meet you at the Armory Pub Saturday Night?

http://thearmorypub.com/index.html

'32oz”

“'The human body is not meant to do 62 miles in a day... the human body is not built to do 62 miles in one day'...

For the last month, that's all Lightfoot has been telling me.. This from a guy whose backpack for winter camping weighs 11 pounds WITH food and water..

My response was that since you were given 21 hours to complete it, you basically had to hike 3 miles an hour, all day.. How hard could THAT be.

So at 3:00 am Himaintenance, Siri, and myself, along with 155 other certified loonies left Georgetown' Our goal.. Harper's Ferry or bust... 62.1 miles ....100k...

Siri, HM and I had arrive in DC at 8:00 on Friday night. After walking around Georgetown for an hour (man is that place beautiful at night) and downing a Yuengling at UNOs we made it back to the parking garage. Siri and HM crashed in the back of the van for a few hours, as I paged through a bunch of old backpacker magazines. I dozed off for about 20 minutes, and then at 1:30 the alarm went off and it was time to head to the Thompson Boat Center to check in and get our race instructions.

The race started at 3:00 am at approx .15 miles into the C&O.. The first mile or so leads through georgetown and it was gorgeous.

SInce it was not a race, there was no real urgancy in the beginning. Siri HM and I jogged around a pack so we could get ourselves a little space, and then just fell into a pace. HM has always been able to out walk me, and SIri was strong as well, so I kept falling behind and then would jog to catch up.. I was more comfortable doing this then trying to walk real fast.

At Great Falls I left the C&O canal and detoured to get a few pictures... Siri and HM kept going, and in reality I never saw Siri again until after the race.

The first aid station was at 12 miles and I grabbed some snacks and gatorade. We were basically just doing a 4 mile and hour pace.. At 22 miles was the breakfast station and here's where things started to go down hill. HM was already developing blisters, and they were bad. I had doubts as to who long she could last but kept my mouth shut.

Her pace after that started slowing, and since I was more comfortable jogging it didn't work out real well. I was worried about leaving her, so I would jog and then walk slow.. I got to the next station at 30 miles, and sat to wait for HM as I ate PB and J sandwhiches. She arrived about 10 minutes later. Unfortunately, in those 10 minutes my muscles had time to tighten. It was now 11:30, and the heat was starting to build.
HM's feet were horrible, and I thought to myself that there is no way should could continue. But she did.

We left the station and the next 13 miles where probably the worst 13 of my life. The heat, which by one account hit 94 in Harpers Ferry was horrible. I couldn't keep enough liquids in me, and by now I was developing blisters. At one point I sat down to do surgery on my foot and could barely stand back up. I told HM to keep going. It had now turned into a battle of will.

At 3:15 I arrived at the 42 mile aid station and it looked like a mash unit. There were people everywhere getting their feet worked on, and people were dropping out left and right. HM was already, there.. She waved me over and simply said.. I'm done, I can't go on... by this point I was thinking the same thing..

I sat down to examine my feet and thats when the cramps hit... My left calf just knotted, followed by my right... One of the first aid people left the person he was administering foot surgery to and brought me some kind of electrolyte drink... I looked at my watch 3:30... 20 miles to go if I chose to continue...

I looked at HM and told her that I had to try.. After drinking more gatorade, taking some Gu, water, and ibrprofine I started to get up, I almost fell.. Finally I got going.. it was horiible... I limped back out to the check out point, at which point the one lady asked me if I really wanted to continue.. I told her that I at least had to try... 15 minutes later the bandaging on my heel let go and the bister pretty much just disinagrated... I sat down and tried to repair everything the best that I could...

19 miles.. 8 hours... I looked back at the way I had come and thought how much easier it would be to just walk back and tell them that I was dropping out.. I then told myself that if I kept going, in 8 hours I could say either that I did it, or I gave it everything that I had. I headed west...

The pain in my heal was bad, and along with the left ankle that I screwed up on 3 ridges 2 weeks ago and my knee, my whole lower body just felt dead...

While I had been reading a backpacker article I read a quote form a woman, and while I can't remember exaclty what it was, it basically said that you have to get your mind and thoughts away from the pain, so amongst other things I thought about upcoming trips that I was planning... I think that I must have summited Rainier 100 times, and everytime Wolfmother's Colossal played in my head.

I am not sure what it was, but all of a sudden my pace picked up. The milage on the C&O canal is marked so you can easily judge your pace. My next 5 miles were 16, 17, 18, 17, 19, which while not great, were almost as fast as the beginning of the race... in addition, at 4:45 the temp acording to my therm, was still 89. 1 hour and 50 minutes later and I was at the next aid station.. My cramps were coing back, so I asked the gentleman if he had any of that electrolyte mix, and while he didn't know what I was talking about, he dug out these tablets.. He said take these, they are awesome..

I popped 2, did a GU, downed 20 ounces of gatorade and ate a PB&J sandwhich. I then took another PB&J for the road.. The reports of the droppout rate were now filtering down the line.. I heard 40-50%. At one point I heard that 15 people left one station and never made it to the next (I can't confirm any of this)...

After about 20 minutes the weirdest thing happened. I'm not sure if it was all of the different chemicals now filtering through my body, or if it was the fact that so many parts of my body were in pain that my brain couldn't analyze the situation, but for about 2 miles I felt nothing... No pain, no nothing... I was able to crank out 2 more 17 minute miles.. Then my brain once again caught up with the situation. Now instead of feeling no pain, it just hurt everywhere. Having run out of GU I turned to the ever reliable cliff shot, and did one of these.

At about 8:00? I hit the last aid station at 56 miles. I would find out later that this is where Siri had to stop. She had been kicking @$$, alternating between jogging and walking and would have finished at least at least 2 or 3 hours before me, but the heat and blisters were too much.. She has already vowed to be back next year.

The last 6 miles were bad. It was now getting dark and the bugs were out. Not only that, but at a time when your mind is having a hard enough time controlling your body, the sounds of millions and millions of crickets, katydids and locusts is unbearable.. I am not exageringting when I say it was defeaning... I have camped along the C&O canal half a dozen times, but have never heard it this loud. In addition, i found myself in a void, with no other hiker around. Finally at 10:00 I hit the spiral stair leading up to the bridge that the AT follows.. I ran into 2 other hikers and quickly passed them.. I crossed the bridge and headed towards Harper's Ferry...

On the climb up High Street several residents were out on their porches, to enjoy the beautiful night and shout encouragement... I limped up High Street and was about to hit Washington St when HM showed up.. She had been driven back to DC, and had taken the metro back to the car. She and Siri had been in conversation and Siri told her how to get Harpers Ferry.

By now my steps were taking me side ways rather then forward as I struggled up hill. We hit the left for the Bolivar Community Center and I couldn't believe I had made it. I couldn't even muster up the strength to make a dignified entrance, I just kind of shuffled through the door... The time was about 10:40... 62.1 miles

Siri had a couple slices of pizza and a soda waiting, and we talked and cheered as a few more hikers hobbled in.

At about 11:30 we left and headed south. Siri drove and while HM and her talked, I slept in the very back portion of the van..

I havn't been out of bed yet, and I doubt that my legs will actually support me today.....

I now have 6 days to recupperate before the 40 mile one day Hike Across MD..

'32oz”

“Beat me..................daddy.”

“Holy cow. Congrats on making it!

Ouch.”

“Thanks spindle, it was an adventure..

.. and just so you know, I decided NOT to count the 15 minutes of sleep in the van as a bag night... lol

'32oz
last edited: 4/26/09 1:14:29 PM”

“schlepp?”

“Congrats to both of you. Me thinks this makes you an official PA bonehead.

All kidding aside, completing a hike like that is pretty amazing.”

“32oz, I think you can count that one as a bagnight. It was earned, hard. ;)

How are you feeling today? Walking again yet?”

“One of these days when I have a life again, I'm going to do the bike-packing trip from Pittsburg to DC that I planned for last year. Bike-packing via the Great Allegheny Passage and C&O Canal seems like it would be really cool. Maybe some of you boneheads will join me.”

“Creek Dancer, let's see what the Pennsylvania Bonehead judges have to say about that.

I would give him a "ten"........”

“Thanks CD.. You shudda signed up..

Spindle, I finally got out of bed this morning, and actually feel pretty good.. Took some drugs which are helping.. My calfs were so tight I couldn't walk right yesterday...

Looking forward to another 40 miles on Saturday.. LOL

'32oz”

“As you will see, the longer I hiked, the less pictures I took...


http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/571507675PwnLEG

'32oz”

“Nice pics. :)

You're still nuts.”

“Coming from you, that's a huge compliment.. My goal has always been to become a certified PA bonehead.. I will continue this type of behavior until duly annointed..

'32oz”

“I'd say you passed muster with enthusiasm above and beyond all boneheaded requirements.

The Crazy one has been pinged to bear witness.

Ahem...'an den...say it with me...fagiiiiiina...”

“Does this mean that I can cancel my quest for the 4 state challenge on Saturday?

'32oz”