Mid-Atlantic Backcountry Discovery Route: Day 4
So there I was, lying in the darkness in my tent, my knife ready. I’d been up for hours, listening. Something was creeping around outside. I was hoping it was a deer … or a raccoon … anything but what my imagination was telling me it had to be. This Yankee Mama’s Boy just wanted to get some sleep. It sure wasn’t going to happen tonight.
The day had started well enough. We’d had some breakfast with some good ol’ southern boys at a local diner, then begun riding in Green Ridge State Forest in Maryland. Moving through Maryland, we rode by a lot of really cool farms and over bridged water crossings. The landscape was wide open, the rivers were huge, and the sky went on forever—I felt like a tiny bug (literally) inching across the land.
Near mid-afternoon we passed Horse Camp. It was so cool, just some guy’s house and farm, a little slice of heaven. We stopped, snapped some pics, and enjoyed the hospitality. I loved the “weather rock,” especially since it was nice and dry and still on the fence.
After Horse Camp, we kept riding, still cruising next to the rivers. Eventually, we crossed the state line into Virginia and ended up in George Washington State Forest in Bluegrass, where we camped. For the day, we ended up riding 200 miles over 8 hours.
To find a campsite, we rode off-trail a little ways. It felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. After setting up my tent, I decided to go exploring. Not 50 yards from the camp, I spotted something in the woods. Drawing nearer I realized it was an outdoor toilet. Closer inspection revealed some freshly used TP.
I thought Jim would find my discovery interesting, so I ran off to get him. He loved it, and we were both chuckling a little until he told me about how he and a buddy had picked up a fellow near Cannon Mountain last December. The guy apparently told them he lives in the woods. That really spooked me. I couldn’t shake the feeling that the outdoor toilet’s owner was going to pay us a visit that evening. And it didn’t help that once the sun set, this was the darkest place I’d ever been in my life.
So needless to say, I didn’t sleep a wink that night! First light couldn’t come fast enough. And when it did, I couldn’t have been happier to get back on the trail.
