DT on the AT: Maryland

There are 41 miles of the Appalachian Trail in Maryland. The Trail follows the crest of South Mountain until it comes down and briefly joins the C&O Canal for a couple of miles before crossing the Potomac River, and entering Harpers Ferry.


The weather forecast for the day included a wind advisory, but plenty of sunshine. I had been trying to do this hike with my buddy for almost three months. Prior opportunities were spoiled by rain, so “what’s a little wind?” I thought to myself.

The hike to Annapolis Rock was 2.2 miles one way. We continued on another mile to Black Rock. Shortly before reaching Annapolis Rock, I fired up my Garmin Colorado and noticed that we were less than a quarter mile away from one of two geocaches on this section of the trail. We bushwhacked our way down the hill and located it without a problem.


I signed the log, deposited my Appalachian Trail Travel Bug into the cache, and we continued on to Annapolis Rock.


It’s amazing how protected you are from the elements while in the woods. Once on the rock bluff, we immediately felt the wind, which was gusting strong enough to make standing a difficult task. After a quick snack and a couple of photos, we continued on to Black Rock. There was another cache here (in a cave) about 40 feet below the rock bluff. Taking the 50mph winds into consideration, we decided that it wasn’t a good idea to go for it and started our return trip.


This is a nice day hike. The trail is definitely more forgiving than any sections that I’ve done in NJ, PA and VA. It felt good to hike on dirt instead of rocks, rocks and more rocks.