Rain Could Not Dampen the Spirits...

As you may know, I was really excited to go camping this weekend. Since hiking the AT, I have never come across a mattress I really liked better than my Thermarest. Growing a baby has interfered with my sleep somewhat, but I figured if I could overcome the challenge of getting in and out of the tent to pee, I would sleep just as well as in my own bed at home. The Rachel Carson Challenge was so fun that M registered for another one day challenge hike, the Keystone Trails Association Super Hike. Now, I am certainly not up for hiking 25 miles at a time, but I figured it would be nice to get out of town one last time before the baby comes.

"Are you sure you want to camp?" M asked. Yes, I insisted that camping when 8 and 1/2 months pregnant is exactly what I wanted to do. No problems.

"Are you sure?" He asked again, as it started to rain on our way to check in at the Keystone Trail Club. What's a little rain, I thought. I've camped in worse.

"Are you sure you're sure?" He said when the rain turned torrential, slowing our journey, with darkness falling quickly on windy country roads through Amish country. When we finally made it to the trail club headquarters to check in for the hike, about ten minutes before they closed, the road was halfway underwater. We stepped out of the car and immediately sank into a river of cold, wet mud.

So camping? Maybe not. Much to my disappointment, we found a hotel room in York. Although, especially after I saw the updated report on the Weather Channel, I had to admit that setting up a tent in a campground in a floodplain, and then hanging out all day at said campground while M hiked 25 miles in the rain would not have been fun.

Instead, I did a lot of napping and eating of free continental breakfast while M was slogging up and down the Susquehanna River. When I arrived at the finish line for the celebration picnic, I had two surprises. First, M was in surprisingly good spirits despite the truly awful weather, and second, JEB, a hiker we met on the AT a couple of years ago, was there! There is nothing like running into an AT hiker...it's so easy to just pick up where you left off.

According to M, highlights from the Super Hike included some beautiful overlooks of the river, lush rhododendron groves, and rocky waterfalls probably enhanced somewhat by the rain. And of course, when he found out at the finish line that hot showers were available, he was all smiles. It was certainly not as grueling as his last super hike, but M still put in a solid seven hours of hiking and his feet were an interesting shade of gray due to all the stream crossings he did. The best thing about this hike was that M got a chance to scope out another set of trails for us to explore with a little hiker in tow next summer. I can't wait.