What Is This Hike?

This is a megahike in anybody's book.  To quote the official one day hike site :

Hiking 62.14 miles in a single day is a challenge, even for people in good physical condition.  It means having to cover a distance that's 10 miles longer than two back-to-back marathons.  It means having to average 3 miles an hour (including rest stops) just to finish by midnight (having started at 3 am).  It means putting one foot in front of the other 110,000 to 135,000 times.

Some Personal History:

If you've looked at my other hiking pages you know that I am not exactly a beginner hiker.  I've hiked the Appalachian trail end-to-end twice and pieced together at least one more and maybe two more completions.  Regardless, hiking 62 miles in one day, even without a backpack is a mind boggling thought.   I first decided to attempt this insane hike last year but there was a serious problem.   In July of the previous year I had contracted Lyme disease and it got to an advanced stage.  This disease affects different people in different ways.   In my case it lead to cardiac problems and a severe loss in strength.  Still, knowing full well that there was no way I would complete the hike I signed up for the 2004 100k one day hike.   I did OK to Old Angler's Inn, got to Seneca late and dragged into White's Ferry around my own self-imposed deadline.   My friend Marghi had come out to meet me there and though I'm sure I could have struggled on to Monocacy, I chose to bail out at that point.   I would like to have done better but I was satisfied with my performance considering the circumstances. 

Training Hikes:

During the summer after my "failed" 2004 attempt, I backpacked the C+O Canal from Swain's lock (mile 17) to Cumberland (mile 184.5) and back to about milepost 80 where I bailed out due to the threat of flooding from a tropical storm (which never occurred).  I did this hike at the very satisfying average pace of about 30 miles per day.  I also backpacked the Appalachian trail from the south end of the Shenandoah National Park to Damascus, VA.  In the fall I set up two hikes on the local roads.  Each was a loop, one of about five miles and the other about twelve miles.   I faithfully did one or the other every weekday trying to work up to five consecutive 12 mile days.  That never happened.  In fact, I never put together two back-to-back twelve mile days.   Eventually, I changed routes a bit just for a change in scenery but no great difference in distance and stumbled upon a local "Rails to Trails" trail - the "W+BA" bike route.   I was crossing this trail twice, once near it's 4.5 mile post (as I was to discover later) and again near it's 3.5 mile post.  One day I just decided to see where it went and set off on it with no idea where I would wind up.   It turned out that it crosses MD Rt. 193 within spitting distance of the Glenn Dale fire station - just two miles from home.   Just a quarter a mile or so beyond Rt. 193 the trail crosses Bell Station Road, a narrow, essentially shoulderless but lightly traveled rural route that parallels MD 193.   So now I had an ideal route to walk.   No more having to watch out for drivers wandering aimlessly down the shoulder yakking on their cell phones!   Unfortunately, despite my good intentions I never did better in a day than walking the W+BA trail out to it's terminus at Race Track Road and back - a distance of just over 12 miles.  I pressed hard when I walked and did succeed in building up considerable strength.   I increased my pace from about a 3.6 MPH pace to a little over 4.1 MPH but I didn't accomplish anything in the way of building up endurance.   One Day Hike day approached and I was faced with attempting a 62 mile hike not having done a hike of much over about 12 miles in more than half a year.

As the deadline for registering for the hike approached I procrastinated.   My house mate, Wendy, egged me on. "Look", she said, "last year you signed up when you KNEW you wouldn't make it and now you're vacillating when you might actually have a chance."  OK, yes, she was right, and yes, regardless of her egging, I knew in my heart that I would try again.  But my training hikes had failed to give me any confidence that I would succeed much beyond doing a little better than last year.  I did sign up and that was my goal - do better than last year even if  I had to crawl into Monocacy at the last minute.

The Hike:

The weather for hike day was predicted to be showers until mid-morning, partial clearing, then thunder showers in the afternoon with a high temperature of 71F.  Wendy drove me to the start point of the hike at the Thompson Boat Center parking area.   The weather so far was as advertised.   It was raining when we left home, continued to rain, sometimes heavily on the drive, and it still continued to rain as I signed in for the hike.   This year is the first year that the hike organizers have assigned event numbers and I received mine - 98.   Most of the hikers were advised to take cover from the rain under a nearby overpass with the promise that they would be notified when the hike was about to start.   I had the luxury of diving back into the car with Wendy to await the start of the hike.   Another hiker had taken refuge in the car parked beside us.   His event number was number 3 and I made a (mock) fuss about number envy - how did this guy get number three?  Why was I relegated to number 98?  (I found out later that the numbers were assigned roughly in order of registrations received.  Thus, since I had registered at what I considered to be the last moment I was surprised to later see numbers in the 140's.)  

Georgetown to Old Angler's Inn:    Forty seven of us started from Thompson Boat Center.  (Sixty six had registered so apparently the weather had already taken a toll even before we started walking.)  There is a short backtrack to around the Kennedy Center in order to make the distance to Harper's Ferry come out right.   Along the backtrack I passed two ducks and asked them how they liked the weather.   The walk from Thompson to Old Angler's Inn was very quiet, mostly in light to moderate rain.   Last year I had chatted with several people along the way but this time I spent the entire first section of the hike completely to myself.  At first we were bunched up but soon the group spread out.  Three passed me jogging near the canal boat in Georgetown.  By the time we had gone about three miles very few of the other hikers were visible.  There was a trio just in front of me and another group somewhat behind me.  On a couple of occasions I passed a hiker who had stopped to make an equipment adjustment or for "the call of nature" but soon he or she would hurry by me trying to catch whomever they had been walking with.  Most hikers used lights but some, like myself, were content to walk utilizing just the ambient light from nearby civilization and the road across the canal.  I wore my headlamp but never turned it on.  I remember that last year I had used it only to read my watch.  This year I was doing a comfortable pace and didn't feel compelled to worry about the time just yet.  At around mile seven, I took a couple minutes standing rest while I ate a couple of granola bars and drank some water.  During that time a young dark-haired woman passed me.  I would see her again several times later.

Old Angler's Inn to Seneca:   I was already feeling slightly tired by the time I reached Old Angler's Inn and that did not bode well for the rest of the hike.  I feared that my inadequate training hikes had come back to haunt me.   I was also quite wet but that was not a problem.  None of my "rain gear" is really water proof.  It is only water repellent.  I decided long ago that I can't stay dry in any sustained rain so I have taken a "keep warm" approach.  The tightly woven nylon shirt and pants that I wear over my other clothes repel the worst of a downpour and retain heat.  It's kind of like a diver's wet suit but for hiking.  I stopped only briefly at the Old Angler's Inn station where   I had a cup of orange flavored "Gater Ade".  It tasted pretty good when I drank it but it left an unpleasant aftertaste.  Not far out from the stop fellow hiker Steve paused to let me catch up.  It turns out that we both had an interest in birds.  I had heard from friends that some bird that was thought to be extinct had been spotted in Arkansas.  Steve told me, yes, it's the ivory billed woodpecker.  We walked and chatted for about a mile but I had to duck into the men's rest room at Great Falls to take some medication and Steve proceeded on.  Upon resuming the hike I shortly passed the young dark-haired woman and some time later near Swain's Lock I caught up with Steve.  He was now hiking with Tim and I stayed with them for quite a while until I gradually pulled ahead approaching Pennyfield lock.  At this point I passed Craig who asked me when the next food stop was.  I replied "mile 22" but soon after I realized that I had probably misled him.  I was accustomed to thinking of next mile posts and 22 was indeed the one just before Seneca but Seneca is almost at mile 23.  I arrived at Seneca, the "breakfast" station, around half past nine.  I was twenty minutes faster than last year's time and I didn't feel any more fatigued than I had at Old Angler's Inn even though I had sustained a good pace.  I never have much of an appetite when I am exercising but I knew that I had to eat something so I grabbed a LARGE muffin, a small bottle of orange juice and a banana.  The muffin took a refill on the orange juice to get down and I stuffed the banana in my pack for later.  While I was resting and eating I watched a very young boy splashing gleefully through the puddles on the trail.  What a   different view of the world the children have from us adults who have been trying to keep our feet dry all day.  Steve, Tim, and Craig showed up and I found out that the young boy is Steve's son.  Craig had signed up for the 100k with a couple of friends but they had been no shows due to the rain so his goal now was just to do a marathon distance since he had never done that distance and was going to attempt to run one soon.  We all tried to convince him to try the entire 100k. 

Seneca to Edward's Ferry:   I departed Seneca the same time as last year - 10:00 a.m..  But this time I had had a half hour rest rather than just ten minutes.  Steve, Tim, and Craig had started out a few minutes before me but I was once again keeping a quick pace and I soon overtook them.  After a short time Tim and I began to open a lead.  Then Steve and Craig came jogging up from behind only to drop back again.  Tim made a nature stop and I continued.  I didn't see him again until I made a short rest stop at Edward's Ferry.  He was having some problems with blisters and availed himself of the first aid supplies there.  I ate the banana I had carried from Seneca and had some water.  It was now only a little less than five miles to White's Ferry and I was confident that I would not stop there this year.

Edward's Ferry to White's Ferry:    Once again keeping the quick pace that I had been doing all day, I reached White's Ferry ten minutes earlier than last year and feeling much stronger.  As I was arriving at White's Ferry, somebody took my picture - I hope I didn't look too startled.  I sat down in one of the provided chairs and was actually SERVED a sandwich, built to my specifications!  One of the volunteers at White's Ferry asked me how my feet were holding up.   "My feet are just fine", I replied, "I have an ankle that I broke 30 years ago that still bothers me sometimes, I've had recent problems with a knee and sometimes my back bothers me on a long hike, but I never have foot problems.   Lots of things may stop me but it won't be the feet."   (I often tell people that I don't have foot problems because I have big wide feet with lots of surface area to absorb the shock.  This may or may not be the true reason but it makes me feel better when I go out on the nearly impossible task of finding shoes that fit my feet.)   Marghi arrived again this year at about 2:00 p.m. but didn't see me and was talking to one of the hike coordinators.   "Do you know his number?",  I heard him ask.   "98!", I shouted but apparently nobody heard.   At this point I knew that there would be no problem of getting to Monocacy but I played martyr claiming that I was duty bound to go to Monocacy because I had told all my friends that I would do better than last year.   Marghi, recognizing that I was in good spirits,  called my bluff, offering to take me home and tell everybody that she had picked me up at Monocacy.  Steve and Tim had both arrived by this time.  Tim was enjoying some food and Steve was at the first aid station having his feet worked on.  I walked over and asked Steve where Craig was.  "He's really slowed up", Steve said,  "His goal is still just to do the marathon distance so he's just taking it easy."  I signed out about 2:10 p.m. but actually stood around talking to various people for a few minutes more.

White's Ferry to Monocacy:  Not far from White's Ferry, I met a group of bicyclists going the other direction.  They all yelled "hi!" and gave me a thumbs up.  There seemed to be a group of hikers following me, but I was still setting a strong pace and they soon disappeared from view.  The weather had never gotten as warm as predicted and the thunder showers never materialized.  The rain had subsided to occasional sprinkles so I decided it was time to shed some of the still quite damp but now too warm clothing.  I stopped at Marble Quarry Hiker-Biker campsite and stripped off the rain shirt and a sweat shirt leaving me with just a short sleeve very light weight top.  I had some chafing from the wet hiking pants so I took them off, took off my underwear, inverted the nylon rain pants so that the smooth side was in, put them on instead of the underwear, and put the regular hiking pants back on over top.  This effectively gave me a pair of long nylon underwear and it worked quite well.  I had no further chafing problems.  Long before I got to Monocacy, I had decided to press on to Point of Rocks.  I was still walking at a good pace and not feeling any more fatigued than I had been at Old Angler's Inn.

Monocacy to Point of Rocks:   Marghi met me again at Monocacy and the two of us sat and chatted with one of the volunteers while I drank two large cups of orange juice.  Number three came and went and I left Monocacy not long after he passed through.  Not far out of Monocacy I encountered a group of day hikers who were striving in vain to see the "birds" making all the chirping noises in the trees lining the canal.  "You won't see them unless they are really close", I advised them.  "What are they?" one asked me. My reply: "Tree frogs!!!!".   I almost caught up to number 3 at Indian Flats Hiker-Biker campsite as he had stopped to use the  facilities there.  I stopped  for the same reason at Noland's Ferry.  Shortly beyond Noland's Ferry I encountered another group of bicyclists that waved and gave the thumbs up.   I once again found my self  behind number 3 and the young dark-haired woman.  She seemed to have slowed up considerably.  Number 3 and I both passed her in quick succession.  I was still feeling strong and and very pleased at how well I was doing.  I had to make a decision at Point of Rocks.  Wendy had already told me:  "If you call me from Brunswick wanting to bail out, I'll come get you but you'll have to walk to Harper's Ferry for your ride."  Well, that was OK as I already knew that I wasn't going to quit at Brunswick.  Actually I didn't think much about that decision.  I was on a roll.

Point of Rocks to Brunswick:   Marghi once again appeared at Point of Rocks.  Yes, I was on a roll.  I was feeling good.  I was feeling strong.  I was  ecstatic.  I made a half-hearted effort to appear tired but even one of the hike volunteers pointed out "the big smile says otherwise".  Somebody took another picture of me.  Part of that big smile was that I was very pleased with my performance.  I had started out with grave misgivings and here I was just 13 miles from the end and , as I maybe imprudently declared with other less enthusiastic hikers within earshot, "It's only 13 miles and I've got six hours - I could crawl it."  Steve had arrived and commented "If you're gonna crawl I'll climb on your back.  You can crawl faster than I can walk."  Marghi decided to go home at this point so I asked her to tell Wendy that I expected to get to Harper's Ferry somewhere between 10:30 and 11:30 p.m. and, considering the parking situation there (basically, none), it would be best for her to arrive around 11:30. About a mile short of the Brunswick check point  I stopped at the Brunswick Family Campground.  There is a small three sided structure just inside the entrance to the campground containing two public  telephones  and I wanted to call home to confirm my pickup at Harper's Ferry.  After doing so, I set off for Brunswick only to realize after about a quarter of a mile that I had left my walking stick at the telephone.  So, I had to  backtrack to retrieve it.  This was the first time that I realized that somewhere between Point of Rocks and here it had gotten dark.  I could see the lights of some of the other hikers coming up the trail.  When I arrived at the check point I heard a familiar voice.  "Hey, he was my boss at CSC!".  It was hike volunteer Jay, a coworker from more than ten years ago.  In actuality, I was not her boss.  I was technical lead on a software project.  That basically meant that in addition to churning out my own code I had to keep track of what everybody else on the project was doing, make coding assignments and assist the other programmers as necessary.  Assistance was very rarely if ever necessary with Jay.  She sat next to me for a while and we chatted.  I didn't recall passing number 3 anywhere but during this time he blew through without stopping any longer than it took him to check in and out.  Now that the sun had gone down it was getting cool so I cut short my rest stop and proceeded but I have hiked this section many times before and  I knew of a good spot to take a short rest near Weverton . Resting at Point of Rocks

Marghi and myself at Point of Rocks
photo by Carol Ivory

Resting at Point of Rocks

MWROP volunteers Maggie Chan, Michelle Bullock,
and Carol Ivory at Point of Rocks
photo by Sanxiong Xiong

Brunswick to Harper's Ferry:  The last six miles!  And I was STILL keeping a good pace!  Beyond Brunswick, there is relatively thick cover on both sides of the trail so it was quite dark but I still chose to walk without my light.  There was just enough backlight to see the puddles in the ruts on each side of the towpath and I let them be my guide and walked straight up the middle.  At this point I began passing some of the 50k hike stragglers.  At Weverton, I stopped for my planned short rest then proceeded. As I approached the bridge over the Potomac River into Harper's Ferry I encountered a problem caused by my somewhat unorthodox walk-in-the-dark preference.  There was a hike volunteer at the bridge making sure that hikers didn't miss the turn and sitting on the ground near him was a very bright light.  I had been walking in nearly pitch black conditions for two hours and my pupils were dilated to the size of half dollars so I was now essentially blinded.  I had been to this spot many times in the past and I knew quite well where the stairs to the bridge were.  I tried to look confident but I stumbled around which led the volunteer to follow me up the steps with his flashlight.  I successfully negotiated the stairs but probably gave him a bit of a scare when I stumbled on the top step.  Once across the river I sat down on the wall along the ramp down from the bridge.  It was now time to dig out the light for safety's sake.  I knew there wouldn't be much traffic in Harper's Ferry at this time of night but I wanted to be visible.  I thought about the irony of walking nearly 62 miles on a vehicle-free trail only to be struck down by an automobile in the last quarter mile.  I had carried instructions to the Highacre end point with me but they were not necessary.  Almost as soon as I got my headlamp on and was moving again I encountered a volunteer who directed me to the next volunteer who in turn was actually visible from where we were.  That second volunteer pointed out the turn up High Street.  Once one makes the turn onto High Street, the walk for the first time all day is steeply uphill.  I hit the hill at my now familiar quick pace and didn't let up until my lungs let me know otherwise.  After about a half a minute resting and going from blue back to pink, I climbed the remainder of the hill.  There I met yet another volunteer who directed me up Church Street to Highacre.  At Highacre they were greeting finishing hikers with applause, cheers, and party kazoos.  I signed in and was told that I was the 18th 100k finisher.  (According to the official results I was 19th and that is just into the last third of those that finished, as it turns out).

Harper's Ferry and home:  Food was available and I filled a plate with some sort of pasta salad and went to sit on the porch. A guy sitting across from me commented "You set a fast pace".  It was number 3!  His name, I finally found out,  is George and he had completed the 80k hike last year.  George needed a ride back to the D.C. area ("any METRO stop will do") and when Wendy arrived she readily agreed to give him a ride.  After riding at nearly 60 MPH for a considerable time George made the comment "Boy, we walked a LONG way!".

How others fared:  True to his plan of just doing a marathon distance, Craig dropped out at White's Ferry.  George, number 3, had finished around half past ten.  The dark haired woman may have been Judy who finished at 11:58 p.m.  Wendy recalls seeing a person fitting my description coming up the Highacre driveway as we were leaving at about that time.  Wendy says she was limping.  Steve finished at about half past midnight.  Tim dropped out somewhere between Brunswick and Highacre.  There had been some fuss at Highacre about a hiker whose knee had locked up and was stranded near canal milepost 60.  That might have been him.  Of the 47 who started the 100k hike, just over half (25) finished.

Being defeated is often a temporary condition.  Giving up is what makes it permanent. - Marilyn Vos Savant

Let's all look forward to next year.

Statistical Stuff:

This is the schedule that I gave to people who expressed an interest in meeting me along the way.  I also used it to check my pace during the hike.   The "earliest" estimates are  not very realistic but set a limit to how soon I could actually get to a check point.  They were really meant mostly for those who wanted to meet me along the way.  I didn't pay any attention to them myself while hiking.   The "latest" estimates were intended to give me a fair idea of how I was progressing.   There is a built-in safety factor of  about 45 minutes before the midnight deadline is reached so getting later than these times, though not fatal, would be cause for alarm for me.   Fortunately, I stayed comfortably within these constraints the entire hike.   In comparing the estimates with actuals, the estimate should be compared to the "ACTUALS IN" time.

DESCRIPTION
 LOCATION
 DISTANCE
 DISTANCE TO NEXT LOCATION
 MY ESTIMATES
 MY ACTUALS
EARLIEST
 LATEST
 IN
 OUT
liquids
 Old Angler's Inn
 13.1
 10.5
 6:25 a.m.
 6:40 a.m.
 6:30 a.m.
 6:35 a.m.
breakfast
 Seneca
 23.6
 8.0
 9:10 a.m.
 9:55 a.m.
 9:30 a.m.
 10:00 a.m.
liquids
 Edward's Ferry
 31.6
 4.7
 11:25 a.m.
 12:30 p.m.
 12:06 p.m.
 12:15 p.m.
sandwich
 White's Ferry
 36.3
 6.7
 12:50 p.m.
 2:00 p.m.
 1:40 p.m.
 2:10 p.m.
liquids
 Monocacy
 43.0
 6.0
 2:50 p.m.
 4:15 p.m.
 3:55 p.m.
 4:19 p.m.
hot food
 Point of Rocks
 49.0
 6.8
 4:35 p.m.
 6:25 p.m.
 6:07 p.m.
 6:34 p.m.
snack
 Brunswick
 55.8
 6.3
 6:50 p.m.
 8:50 p.m.
 8:37 p.m.
 8:54 p.m.
done/dinner Highacre
 62.1
 ---
 8:55 p.m.
 11:15 p.m.
 10:53 p.m.
 ---

The plot below is the elapsed time on the y-axis versus check-in station scaled by mileage on the x-axis.   I thought this would be an interesting looking plot but it isn't.   It should curve upwards as my pace slackens due to fatigue.  It actually does but so slightly that a reference straight line (yellow) is necessary to see it.  I even tried expanding the vertical scale by a factor of four but the plot without the reference line still remains visually a straight line.   I did slacken my average pace by about one mile per hour as I expected but out of 62 miles it just doesn't readily show on a graph.  Having taken the time and effort to make the graph though, I'm determined to inflict it upon other people.

performance graph


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