Why is Myron undressing in the snow?

So, why IS Myron getting naked? Who is Myron . . . . .

We had the third hike with complete strangers brought together by the internet, it was pretty good, but VERY cold. Friday, the temp was just below 32 degrees, but there was a 30 mph wind hawking through the valley as we were hiking. It warmed up to a balmy 33 degrees on Saturday, and the wind disappeared. All in all, a good hike. We went from just north of the Pennsylvania border south to Washington Monument State Park. Some of the terrain was challenging, there were some good ups, and fierce downs, it was definitely AT hiking, there were a lot of rocks, some very pretty streams, good views of the valley and snow. Andrew (from my first MD section hike) and his climbing buddy Myron (pictured above) joined me for the hike.

We started off by shuttling cars around, so we had a car at either end of the section. This almost caused a Strategic Hiking Error (SHE) on my part: We left the parking lot on the north end, hiked about a mile when I realized that I had left the keys to my truck in Andrew's car. Luckily, I recovered and went back to the car and got the keys. That would have been really bad. After the key recovery, we hiked about 7.5 miles into MD and stayed at the Raven Rock Shelter, older shelter, but big enough for me to hang my hammock inside the shelter. Now, this would normally be poor hiker etiquette, but I waited until about 7:30 PM to hang the hammock, so there was really no chance that another hiker would come through, especially with the temperature dropping down. Who, in their right mind would be hiking on that weekend? Even in the shelter, it was kind of a cold night, I had another SHE: I left the end baffles on my hammock quilt open, so it wasn't as effective as I really needed it to be. I realized this about midnight, got up and made the correction, snug as a bug in a rug after that.

Saturday we started off about 7:45 and hiked pretty steadily throughout the day. The highlight of the day was Myron crossing our second stream of the day . . . .

Myron's Demise:

Stream crossing on the AT can be kind of iffy, especially on Saturday, cold weather + water + rocks = some icy rocks. On this stream crossing, Andrew went first, found a pretty good path, pointed out a very icy rock for the next guy to avoid and waited on dry ground. Myron made it to the second rock, but hesitated on rock #3, there was a bit of ice and he probably should have gone on to rock number 4. He hesitated slightly, which is BAD when crossing streams - - -you lose your momentum. Then, he went into a climber's pose, tried to get a third point of contact on the rocks, then went in. If it wouldn't have been 32 degrees or so, it would have been kind of funny to watch, and after it was all over, we all did get a chuckle, but, Myron took a spill off or rock #3. For the record, Andrew laughed first, I had two thoughts: 1. Damn, I bet that is cold. 2. "I wish I had a camera . . . . " (a quote from the Peony Park accountant-hag, Smokey). I couldn't get my camera out quick enough, so I went across to stream to see if I could help out. Myron quickly changed into dry clothes and we kept on hiking.

Myron's final resting place, just in front of the tree.

The rest of the hike was pretty tame as far as the AT goes, some ups, some downs, and some very urban hiking areas, good hike. We ended up at the Washington Monument, which as per AT tradition was at the top of a hill. Myron was a good sport about it, and admitted he would probably hike again, but would really rather wait til it warmed up a little bit. I agree with him, I think our next hike will be Marchish.