Day 82, Ensign Cowall Shelter to Pa. Route 16

We began walking before 8 a.m. under an almost-misty sky. Thick clouds hung low as we walked through an open meadow.

We soon reached a road. Just beyond it was a small cache of water. According to a note attached, my hiker friend from the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, Dotcom, had left it here.

We moved along better than yesterday, without the fatigue we felt then.

At 11:30 we arrived at a spot called High Rock, and it was unlike anything I had seen on the trail so far.

I’m sure many people are disgusted to see this spot covered in spray-painted graffiti. I found it fascinating and beautiful.

To be sure, I don’t condone graffiti anywhere, let alone here in a spot of natural beauty. Still, the painting was kept mostly to the concrete remnants of a three-story observation tower, which stood here from the late 1800s to 1943.

The view from here was one of those that make you want to just stop, sit and look for as long as possible.

After leaving High Rock, the trail became rocky again as it traversed down the mountain. Along the way there were a number of side trails made by day hikers and hang glider enthusiasts. These made the descent a little bit confusing.

At the bottom the trail entered Pen Mar Park. There were only a few reminders of what this park was like when it was first built more than a century ago.

There was a time when the Pen Mar area was one of the most popular resort communities in the eastern U.S. During the early part of the 20th Century there were first-class hotels and more than 100 boarding houses here, which not only catered to regular folks, but also attracted celebrities and dignitaries like President Grover Cleveland and actress Joan Crawford.

Railroad executive John Mifflin Hood, built a large amusement park here to promote the westward expansion of his railroad from Baltimore. In its heyday the park contained a roller coaster, carousel, miniature train and railroad station, photography studio, large dining hall and a dance pavilion.

On some summer weekends 20,000 people or more would flock here. By 1930, however, the park was in decline. It was closed for good in 1943.

A 46-acre county park is all that remains here today. It was established in 1977, 100 years after the opening of the resort area. We stopped here to eat lunch and refill our water bottles.

As we prepared to leave, it became obvious from the rumbling sky that a thunderstorm was approaching. We decided to seek shelter under one of the covered pavilions.

Indeed, it did storm. Rain came down like a cascading waterfall. Besides Ralph, Stick and me there were a couple other hikers here. One of them was Anvil. I met him on Day 23 and had not seen him much since.

Once the rain began to subside we got back on the trail. We passed the foundation of a small building, which once served as a station at the end of a trolley line. In its day, the trolley was the primary means of transportation for weekend visitors heading to Pen Mar Park.

From there the trail continued for a short distance on the former bed of the trolley line’s tracks.

At 3 p.m. we arrived at the state line, which may be the most historically significant of all state lines.

Astronomer and surveyor Charles Mason, and his business partner, Jeremiah Dixon, were hired in 1763 to help settle an on-going border dispute between Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Their survey, which took the better part of four years to complete, remains as the border of what is now four U.S. states, with the addition of West Virginia (originally part of Virginia).

The demarcation line they mapped out, of course, is still known today as the Mason-Dixon Line.

The line took on greater importance and meaning when Pennsylvania abolished slavery in 1781. The line became a division of lands where slavery was legal and illegal.

After crossing the line into Pennsylvania, the trail remained mostly flat and easy. Within 90 minutes we reached Pennsylvania Route 16, where we stuck out our thumbs for a ride to Waynesboro.

It didn’t take long before a friendly couple stopped. They were willing to take us to our motel, even though their small car was already hauling a bicycle.

Sockfat and his girlfriend, Harshini, dropped us off at Cobblestone Inn on the outskirts of Waynesboro.

If you hadn’t already guessed, Sockfat was his trail name. He thru-hiked the AT in 2014, and told us he was glad to pick us up as a way to give back to the trail.