Appalachian Trail Maryland I70 to POGO Memorial Campsite

This was another short hike to clean up some of my Appalachian Trail miles in Maryland.  It was a great weekend and parking was tight at the I70/US40 parking lot.  I’m glad we got there early, before 0830. The lot was already packed!! Our plan for the day was to hike from I70 past Pine Knob Shelter, Annapolis Rocks, Black Rock, and stay overnight at POGO Memorial Campsite. The trail was relatively easy for the 1st 0.8 miles, after which it ascended up to the ridge at a moderate slope where it leveled off again.  The trail is wide and easy to traverse in this section.  Annapolis Rocks is a beautiful overlook and worth the day hike for that alone.  There are 11 tent sites at Annapolis Rocks, 2 Privies, and a great spring.  Also on site is a caretaker to keep things organized.  It’s a pretty crowded location. After we stopped by there, we continued to Black Rocks another mile or so up the trail.  It is also a great overlook, and much less crowded.  At about 3.9 miles along the Appalachian Trail is POGO Memorial Campsite.  The area is a little deceptive.  We met up with a PATC ridge-runner who was doing a site assessment to determine usage. The obvious camp area west and down of the AT is not an official site and they were moving people from there up the hill to the formal camp area.  There is also a monster fire ring right on the trail that is also illegal and will be removed. East and up is the correct campsite with Privy and all.  There are a dozen or so tent areas, some worse than others, only a couple I’d call really nice. Many rocks and uneven ground make it hard to set up.  There are a couple cool fire rings with rock lounge seats. From the main AT in the North/West side trail, there is a pretty good spring a couple hundred feet away. POGO offers water and privy, but no food hang, picnic tables, or other amenities. It’s a pretty primitive site. At 2 in the afternoon on a Saturday, it was empty. By 5PM it was full. There is a lot of traffic on the main AT coming up from the side trail to visit the cliffs. Most of this traffic has no idea this campsite is here, which is good for the hikers.  The last section we have to complete in MD is from POGO to Raven Rock.  We hope to finish that soon.

Pen Mar Park to Raven Rock Shelter and Devil's Racecourse

 

Did a little more of the AT this weekend as we ‘connect the dots’ with the goal of eventually seeing the whole thing.  Starting to look at doing longer and longer sections and then most likely a through. Total hike distance in, out, and around: 12.0 miles. 

Footage of the Devil’s Racecourse starts at 9:30

Footage of the Spring starts at 6:53

We had a great time with this one and it has a little of everything (easy flat walking, rocky ascents/descents, great views, nice shelter, and weird natural formations).  

This is a moderate day hike for those that are not used to hiking or a pretty simple in-and-out if you camp overnight like we did. From the parking at Pen Mar Park, Raven Run Shelter is about 4.7 miles away. The trail starts off very easy on the way south out of the park. At around 2.4 miles, the trail proceeds steeply up a very rocky section for about 0.8 miles. This section, although not long, is pretty tiring…especially on the way back down. On the way to the shelter, you pass High Rock, which is a blue blazed side trail that goes to a very nice (although graffiti covered) overlook. As you approach the shelter, it is 0.1 miles down a blue blaze trail on the right, and the spring is located 0.3 miles in the opposite direction down near where the old Devil’s Racecourse Shelter (now removed) used to be. The trip to get water from the shelter is a little long and steep, but the water is very good!  Just past the spring, the trail continues unmarked about 0.2 miles to a really weird rock formation that covers the Little Antietam Creek. This is called the Devil’s Racecourse.  I thought it was definitely worth seeing, certainly as much as the many views from peaks available along the AT in Maryland.

Also met “Drips” (Julia), “Clammy - 2013” (Collin), and Stu, who stopped by the Raven Rock Shelter in the evening with some outstanding trail magic (hiked a grill in with burgers). As it should be, totally unexpected, and very well received by the 6 through hikers spending the night. Great people and great company for the evening. Also ran into a familiar face from the Flip Flop Festival preparing for his SOBO from Maine in a couple weeks.   

Link to Pen Mar Park: https://www.washco-md.net/parks_facilities/p-PenMarPark.shtm

Address: 14600 Pen Mar/High Rock Road, Cascade, MD 21719

To get an overnight parking pass for the lot outside the park, contact the park office at: 240-313-2700, or email: ccasey@washco-md.net

Provide them with your cell phone number, vehicle make, model, color, license plate#, and dates the vehicle will be there overnight.

Watch my other hiking videos:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdxYynz7DmRoLfGNWYRI5wsvPi-WJ_OIa