trip #1 cont'd

the second day of our trip started with a 1000 ft incline pretty much right off the bat. we started walking at about 9am and maybe a mile into the trip uncle tom fell flat on his face. I tried not to laugh but it was kind of funny. he looked like a turtle that couldn't turn over, it was a backpack with arms and legs sticking out. this started the contest of seeing who would fall more during these hikes (currently we're even at 1-1). we walked about another mile and hit the bottom of the incline. we breaked here for a minute to get our bearings before jumping up this mountain. one thing I will say about Maryland's section of the trail is that it is unbelievably rocky. we spent the entire walk up tip-toeing over loose rocks and boulders. I was surprised we didn't fall more going up this hill.
the nice thing about the AT though is that most of the trail is along the ridges of the mountains up the east coast. this means that once you get back to the tops of the mountains you generally stay there and don't have to walk up and down a whole lot. we reached the top of the mountain and had about 8 more miles to walk to reach our final stopping point for the night.
this was our first full day of walking and it was definitely trying. with my pack being too heavy and uncle tom trying to get a better feel for the maps and landmarks, we were dragging ourselves a little bit through the day. as we walked we ran into a lot of dayhikers and stopped to talk to a few to see if we could get a better idea of where we were at that moment. this is when we learned to never trust dayhikers! they will undoubtedly tell you that you destination is " just over the hill." or " you're really close, maybe 20 minutes away." this was always wrong. the hill would last for an hour and then there would be another hill in front of you before you ultimately reached your goal. and that " 20 minutes" they promised you usually turns into about 45 minutes. so my advice to all you rookie backpackers is never take the word of a dayhiker seriously. a minute or two of chit-chat is about all you can get from them.
when we finally made it to the shelter we were staying at that night we were very relieved to have made it before dark. we were hoping to be able to sleep in the shelter that night but it was taken up by a boy scout troop. so we found a camp site close to the shelter and set up camp and changed for the night. we made our dinner which we found a trick to heating the water quicker. we had a wind screen that would help the heat stay contained and boil the water faster. more hikers had come into the shelter and had started a really nice warm fire. my uncle and I decided to head down for a bit of socializing and warmth before bed. the other people were also backpacking and all around 23-25 years old. we got some really good advice and tips from them. I first heard about the hammock tent from these guys around the fire. I had heard of them before but they were all using the hammock tents and had nothing but good things to say about it.
the final day was only about 5 miles. since we were already on the ridge, most of trek was down hill. it was a nice reprieve from the day before with all uphill walking. overall the trip was a good first trip. in total we walked about 17 miles in 3 days. it taught us a lot but not nearly enough to say we know it all.