DCUL triumphed at the 4-state challenge this year. 5 hikers started, and 5 hikers finished! And to make things intersting, David O and David U wrote the two halves of the trip report – without seeing what the other person wrote. Well, keep reading below to hear their perspectives! -Karan
First Half Written by David O. (Spider-Man)
I sat alone in my car as the rain thumped loudly on the roof. Other than the sound of the rain it was quiet; and very dark. It was 10:00 p.m. I had parked my car in the Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia overflow parking lot. Having turned off my car’s engine and headlights, the drumbeat on my roof sounded amplified. Yet, I could hear my gentle breaths. Almost no other cars surrounded me in the large lot. Why would any be there? Why was I there? As if needing proof that I retained some sanity, I began second-guessing at least one life choice—this trip.
For a reason I had forgotten, I chose to be there in that car with a plan to get out and hike the wrong way, southbound, up almost 1,000 feet over 3.5 miles in that dark, cold rain. I would hike that night in the rain, set up camp for a few hours for a brief, unlikely slumber, only to rise at 2:00 a.m. to begin hiking northbound back to where I started, continuing until I reached Pennsylvania. My goal: to camp in both Virginia and then Pennsylvania less than 24 hours later after backpacking 44 miles on the Appalachian Trail (“AT”) across the borders of those two commonwealths plus the states of Maryland and West Virginia.
Ah, but that cold rain . . .
Why not stay in the car? I could remain dry, nap a few hours until almost 3:00 a.m., and then hike the short distance to the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers. I’d be there just in time to meet my DCUL friends and skip that meaningless 7 mile jaunt up and down Loudoun Heights. I reclined my seat and closed my eyes.
I opened them after only a few seconds when I realized the rain on my roof changed character. No longer was it reverberation from a bona fide shower. It was the inconsistent drips of water off the leaves of an overhanging tree. Had the rain stopped? I looked at my weather app. The second of two bands of rain passed according to the radar map. I would not have to hike to the Virginia border in the rain! I raised my chair, opened the door to the deeply humid air, and hefted my pack.
I hiked by headlamp down to the Shenandoah River and to Harper’s Ferry. My headlamp illuminated the clouds from my breath making visibility difficult. The dripping water from the trees was heavy enough that I deployed my TRDD (Tactical Rain Deflection Device—definitely NOT an “umbrella.”)
I climbed out of Harper’s Ferry, passing a large group of people in headlamps. We all looked at each other, blinding ourselves with our lights in mutual confusion at seeing anyone else outside this late at night. I’ll never know what they were doing there. It was too late to stop and make introductions. They probably assumed I was a superhero on a crime fighting mission. I’m often mistaken as one.
I wished I was a superhero as I was halfway up the mountain to the Virginia border. My headlamp caught the reflective eyes of an animal the size of a big dog. Coyotes are active in that area. I knew that predators smelled fear, so I put on some Deet. Maybe that would mask my odor of terror, I thought. At least, it would protect me from ticks if the wild K-9 didn’t get me. I later learned that this “beast” was only Bambi. There were a lot of deer on the trail among other wildlife. We later saw a beaver, several squirrels, and a newt.
Eventually, I neared the summit and saw some tents off the trail. I assumed they were other DCULers. I checked my gps to see that I was still shy of the Virginia border, so I hiked onward. I passed another pair of tents just on the Virginia side of the AT, but there was no good spot to camp without waking the occupants. Hiking on, I saw another tent and rechecked my gps. I definitely crossed well into Virginia so I quietly took off my pack.
It was just before midnight. With a plan to wake at 2:00 a.m., I quickly did the math. Gosh! Two in the morning was only 2 hours away! Not seeing the point of setting up my tent only to rest for two hours, I unhitched my sleeping pad, put on my rain kilt (which is definitely NOT a “skirt”) to keep my shorts dry, and lay down “cowboy-style” using my TRDD as a mini tarp. I soon regretted this decision.
Either the rain had not fully stopped or the trees held a lot of water in their leaves, but an irregular drip fell on me. The TRDD kept my head and upper torso dry, the kilt kept my lower torso and legs above the knees dry, but the cold water on my bare lower legs became uncomfortable. Nonetheless, I fell asleep. I awoke on my own and looked at the time. It was 1:00 a.m. I was only asleep for an hour and, after cooling down from my earlier climb, was getting chilly. My legs and shoes were truly wet. I zipped up everything I could zip which made me feel a bit better and I tried unsuccessfully to go back to sleep. Twenty minutes later, I was chilled again. I considered pitching my tent, but the only thing worse than pitching a tent for only 2 hours is pitching a tent for only 45 minutes. I tried to tough it out and curled into a fetal position. I started lightly shivering and looked at the time—1:30. Wow! That 10 minutes felt like a long time! I started doing stomach crunches and pushups to warm up. This worked and I stopped shivering—for only 10 minutes. That was enough. I got up, ate my breakfast of muesli, hefted my pack, and started the Four State Challenge.
Whoever was in the tent next to me had not stirred and I assumed he or she was not a DCULer. I hiked by headlamp in the foggy dark to the second set of tents I passed on my hike up two and a half hours ago. Kyle (“Water Dog”) and Jonathan (“Shenanigans”) were throwing the last of their possessions into their packs.
No one saw our other friends, David U (“Baseball”) or John (“Ketchup”). They posted that they set up camp at a sign marking the Virginia/West Virginia border, which was a couple hundred yards away. So, we assumed they would soon “ketchup.” I never saw Ketchup on the trail. Baseball caught up to me only two miles from the Pennsylvania border, at a time when neither of us felt like talking. So, I have to invent the conversations we would have had in this Trip Report.
Had they been with us, I would have been packing up as they lingered in their tents, clinging to precious moments of slumber. Here is how our conversation would have gone, them questioning me on the timing of my departure and protesting that it was too early:
Baseball & Ketchup (on seeing me packing to start hiking): Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet near day: It was the nightingale and not the lark, that pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear. Nightly she sings on yon pomegranate-tree: believe me, Spider-Man, it was the nightingale.”
Me (“Spider-Man”): It was the lark, the herald of the morn, no nightingale: look, Baseball and Ketchup, what envious streaks do lace the severing clouds in yonder east: night’s candles are burnt out, and jocund day stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops. I must be gone and live, or stay and die.”
With this, I started hiking. (Yes, we always talk like this. Some say that backpacking is like poetry. My apologies to William Shakespeare).
Without Ketchup or Baseball, I hiked down Loudoun Heights to Harper’s Ferry with Shenanigans and Water Dog. We congratulated Shenanigans on his triple fortune; it was his 40th birthday, he got engaged a few days prior, and he got to spend the next 44 miles with us!
The beginning of the Four State Challenge is easy. After a 3.5 mile descent into West Virginia, one then crosses the Potomac River into Maryland for a 2 mile stroll on the flat C&O Canal tow path. Leaving the tow path, we started our first ascent. We variously hiked together and separately up the mountain and along the long ridge.
We reached our first checkpoint, Gathland State Park, in the dark. DCULer Steve (“Baconator”) was there and his smile, bright enthusiasm, and fraternity reinvigorated us. (The hot coffee and sweet rolls he offered us did not hurt!) He usually hikes the Four State Challenge but, coming off a knee surgery after a ski injury, he wisely chose to give his knee more recovery time. I noted that we already hiked well over 10 miles, easily scoring a “10 before 10”— ten miles before 10:00 a.m. No one seemed to care; it is not so impressive when one starts at 2:30 a.m.. I passed on Baconator’s snack so that I could put moleskin on a growing blister. This was very early for a blister for me. I suppose getting my feet wet from the trees dripping water on me for two hours may have been a poor decision. We did not linger long with Steve. These miles would not hike themselves!
Baconator neither saw nor heard from Baseball or Ketchup. Had they been hiking with us, this is how our conversation would have gone:
Baseball and Ketchup (on seeing cows): “Hey, Spider-Man! Look at those cows!”
Me (sounding a bit like Christopher Walken due to my huffing and puffing up the mountains): “Where? I don’t. See them. They must need. More cow. Bells!”
Baseball and Ketchup: “Hunh?”
Me: “I have a fever. And the only prescription. Is. More. Cow. Bells.”
(Apologies to SNL).
At some point Kyle attempted to jog the trail and win a Four State Challenge personal speed record. Initially, he was not good at it. Shenanigans and I, who only walked, kept catching up to and passing him. Like the tortoise and the hare, we would leapfrog him when he stopped for water, or to relieve himself of that water, or to adjust his gear. Eventually, he found his groove and I never saw him until Pennsylvania.
The sun rose soon after we left Baconator. Stowing our headlamps felt nice. For the rest of the hike the temperature was variable and I consistently raised and lowered my hood, zipped and unzipped my sun shirt and light fleece, and raised and lowered my sleeves. It was dry and I felt comfortable.
A nice Fall day on a weekend on this part of the AT understandably attracts hikers of all sorts, so we hiked among the masses as we moved toward the overpass of I-70, the psychological half-way point. There seemed to be two major groups of hikers: day hikers with dogs, and backpackers with way, way, way too much “junk in the trunk.” I’ve fully embraced the “ultralight” theme of “DCUL” and dropped my base pack weight for this trip well below 10 pounds. I also lowered my water carry to save weight. I hiked with very little water and acted like a camel. When at a water source I would drink as much water as I could tolerate and only carried a half liter at any moment and less than 3 liters total. I also only brought cold food to save the weight of a stove. Thus, even with consumables, my total pack weight was only 10 pounds. It is so much nicer to hike with this reduced weight that I wanted to shout to the unfortunate backpackers carrying enough heavy gear for an Everest expedition that there was a better way! However, unsolicited advice is not as popular as one would think. So, I kept my thoughts to myself as I relatively sprinted past those poor pack mules slogging up the trail in their heavy leather hiking boots.
We soon reached the I-70 overpass and our second checkpoint. Karan (“BA”) was there with encouragement and bagels, along with Baconator who brought us news. Ketchup and Baseball each reached the first checkpoint and were not too far behind us. He reported Ketchup lamenting, “O Spider-Man, Spider-Man! Wherefore art thou Spider-Man!”
Second Half Written by David U. (Baseball)
I arrived at the I-70 check-in station at 11:27am to a warm welcome from Karan who had lots of lovely goodies to share. I quickly devoured a cream cheese bagel, a banana, and a sprite. A quick glance at the logbook, captained by Steve G “Baconator”, told me I was about 30 minutes behind the others. No big deal. What was a big deal, however, was that Baconator hadn’t thought to bring us any Bacon. Sad and crying on the inside, I pushed onward. The good news was that we were now at the halfway point and making good time. I had been hiking alone since about 2:50am. We had all agreed to start at 3am, but I later learned that a conspiracy had been initiated at the behest of David “Spiderman” because he wanted to make me look bad on the check-in sheets. Pssssh…this is the kind of stuff we have to put up with at DCUL.Okay fine, I admit that I just woke up later, but it feels good to blame someone else for my problems.
The section of the A.T surrounding I-70 is always busy, and a beautiful fall weekend didn’t help matters much. The short climb up to Annapolis Rocks involved us worming through many hordes of people, but after that it was relatively smooth sailing. At some point a strong wind picked up and didn’t die down until very early the next morning. I arrived at the Wolfsville Road check-in station just in time to catch up with Ketchup and Spiderman. Adam “Too Early” was there and shoved a bottle of coke and honeybun in my face. If that isn’t trail magic I don’t know what is! Karan had made us all some lovely ramen, and Ryan had driven down from Philly to come support us. Steve “Baconator” still didn’t have any bacon, but the support was appreciated nonetheless. Water Dog and Shenanigans were already out in front, and by making very quick stops at the check-in points they were able to make good time. I didn’t have that kind of willpower so I stuck around for a while chatting with everyone, stuffing my belly and preparing myself for the final 10 mile slog into PenMar. I glanced at Spiderman, and I thought that he looked tired. It struck me as unusual, because Spiderman is always so energetic and full of life, and honestly one of the fittest guys I’ve ever seen for his age. But to be fair, we were all exhausted. Even Shenanigans, who at I-70 had written down that “Age is just a number”, had now written “I was wrong, Age is real”. Indeed it is!
After Wolfsville Rd we had our final 10 mile slog into Penmar. The four-state challenge is particularly cruel in this way, because not only did we still have our biggest climb of the day up to Raven Rocks, but we also had some very ugly rock fields to go through. My knees felt like Jello, but the glory and bragging rights kept me going…and also the pizza. I caught up to Spiderman and we hiked the final few miles into PenMar together…and onto the red carpet that Karan had laid out for us. Water Dog and Shenanigans were already finished, and John wasn’t far behind. Karan, Baconator, Adam, and Ryan all cheered us on as we walked our final steps…and we were all swearing we would never do the four-state challenge again. At this point all I wanted was to devour some pizza and climb into my sleeping bag. The wind was still quite brutal, and it was getting chilly.. so that’s pretty much what happened. But not before devouring many slices of Pizza…and cupcakes courtesy of Jonathan’s fiance. A big shoutout to Jonathan “Shenanigans” for not only being newly engaged…but also completing the four-state challenge for the 4th time…on his 40th birthday! What an absolute boss!
And so the 2023 DCUL four-state challenge came to an end. We had traveled 44 miles over 15 hours of non-stop hiking…from Virginia to Pennsylvania. Our names are now forever etched in glory in the DCUL Hall of Fame. As we were eating breakfast the following morning at the Mountain View Diner, someone asked whether we would ever do the four-state challenge again. And everyone agreed that they would. Only a short few hours prior, we were all hating ourselves and swearing to never do it again. All it took was a little rest and good food, and we were ready to crush the miles like we always do. Travel light, wake early, walk far. That is the DCUL way.
Huge thank you to Karan, Steve, Ryan, and Adam for coming out and supporting us. Your dedication and support was invaluable and made the whole experience better and more fun, and we are so grateful to you.
DC UL Backpacking 