Pen Mar Park, situated at the northern end of Maryland and tucked just inside Washington County, was once the "Coney Island of the Blue Ridge" and attracted half a million people per year taking excursions on the Western Maryland Railroad. Its heyday was 1877 until it was dismantled overnight in 1943 [history here].
Now the park mostly plays hosts to hikers passing through, reunions, picnics and, as it did when I breezed through at 2 p.m. on June 13, wedding receptions.
A stretch limousine pulled up and idled on a drive between between my picnic table and a pavilion overlooking the West from a hill. The driver stood by the engine, smoking a cigarrette in his white gloves.
A red carpet from the back seat of the limo ended at a wooden sign that said, "Appalachian Trail, Main 1,080 miles -> Georgia 920 miles <-".
I hiked 12 miles on the day, crossing the Mason-Dixon Line into Pennsylvania, and arrived at Antietam Shelter in the evening. I started seeing little yellow slips of paper that said something about food for thru hikers, breakfast, lunch and dinner, just up the trail. I was dying of heat, and the babbling creek under the bridge called my name. The shelter turned out to be right off the trail and next to the water, so it was too good to pass up, even though I originally intended to push on. After a fast creek bath, I put on my finest and headed up to a pavilion where Snooze and Pokie, along with about 10 other people I didn't recognize, were having an all-out picnic.
Pootz and M & M, a couple who met on the trail while thru hiking in 2007, were serving up some serious trail magic: Hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, cookies, bananas, strawberries, apples, beer, soda and Gatorade. They had driven 3 hours down from Lockhaven, Pa. to feed us. Everybody went to town and took the party back to the shelter with a sack of Yeunglings.
From left: Pokie, Snooze, Pootz, me, Kogito [New England native hiking incredibly fast].
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