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Scouting Manidokan

July 21, 2017 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: mid 90s and brutal humidity

Comments:
Drove up to the new campsite with Lewellyn and Mark after dropping Anna at camp. Started by driving through the town of Harper's Ferry, learning the lay of the land and scouting the AT. Around 11am we parked at the base of Maryland Heights and while Lew walked up and back to the observation point, he and I ran to the summit (Stone Fort) and descended to the observation point and then went back up and back down as is necessary when descending. IT WAS BRUTAL. the heat and humidity were awful. the loose rock surface on the lower half of the mountain was bad enough, but the uneven, often boulder strewn surface of the steeper trail above the mid-way point was even worse. Unfortunately, the risk of twisting ankles renders this trail pretty impractical for the team. The base of the trail is around 300ft and the summit is about 1480ft. Then during the descent (as we went clockwise, the descending trail was even rockier and more overgrown than the ascent) we had to drop an extra 200 ft or so to get to the observation point (which was worth it) before going back up those 200ft before rejoining the main trail to descend the final 4/5 of a mile. the whole journey was 53 minutes on my watch and I'd made one stop at the fork n the way up, along with some much needed pauses at the Stone Fort (summit) and observation point. Was very, very close to walking on that final switchback ascent form the observation point, but pride kept me going. Pace was brutally slow... just laboring to move my feet in a running-like shuffle rather than in a walk. Certainly, with the heat, this ranks up there with my runs up Mount Mansfield, Sugar Loaf Mountain, various California coastal mountains and the Colorado trail I ran two years ago. It was disappointing to realize I can't really assign the team to do the same route as the footing would lead to too many ankle, achilles, and other injury issues.

After guzzling water and gatorade, we drove to camp and talked with Chris for a bit before hiking down the direct "path" to the pool ruins. That wasn't much of a path. Mark and I ran down river along the towpath to find the next mile marker (#64) and back. Mark completed the mile and returned. Lew walked the serpentine path back up to the camp and mark and I explored, at a run, the creek trail up and around the maintenance buildings and back into camp. Found one decent swimming hole and labored at the climb of several hundred feet to regain camp altitude. We also jogged around the dorms and the orange trail. Altogether, this was about 23 minutes. (7:50 pace for the 11 minutes on the towpath.) Some more water and a handful of nuts later and we drove to the far side of camp near the zip line. Mark plowed off to explore one trail and I threw on a shirt and set off to try the blue trail. Nastiest run of the day! Trail rolled up and down a decent amount and my legs were already shot, but that wasn't the challenge. The trail had plenty of blazes and flowed pretty predictably, although it was arbitrary and didn't follow contours, creeks or animal trails. It hasn't been maintained and hasn't been used in at least weeks. Cobwebs struck every 5-10 steps, big, thick ones. In places there were knee high grasses, downed trees, deep dry leaves, low branches, ruts, holes, lumps... This wasn't a trail. It was a series of blazes through a forest. Disappointing and unpleasant. Thank goodness for my shirt, but still ended the 14 minute run coated in webs, dead bugs, and likely, spiders. Mark had the same experience on his trail and actually bailed early to return on the better yellow trail. Nowhere for sweat to go... all the towels we'd brought were soaked. A little demoralized, but excited that there were some decent wider trails at camp and the beautiful towpath, we turned on the AC and drove to AKA Friscos on the way back to DC. Hoppers who are reading this, pray for cooler weather on the week of August 21, bring extra water and dry clothes to camp, don't ask to summit the MD Heights, and get in some hill training this summer. I'm excited, but I also know I'll need to keep up my training over the coming month if I'm going to feel successful at Camp Manidokan.