Havre de Grace, MD, to Glen Cove Marina, MD
section miles: 16 total miles: 56.0
I'm falling a bit behind on the trail notes and am trying to quickly get caught up here. My memory these days is solid for a good, oh, two hours, and it's been almost two weeks since we walked the leg from Havre de Grace to Glen Cove, so forgive me if I get the experience all jumbled up.
The hikes are starting to get more difficult. Not just the walking, mind you, but the getting up before the sunrise to shuttle cars to the drop offs, a good hour and a half away at this point. Miss Organization has her things packed and ready, maps fully annnotated, and GPS programmed about five days in advance. Naturally, I prefer the more manly approach of falling out of bed and stumbling around bleary-eyed in the dark to collect my gear the morning of, much to her chagrin. But the fact remains that this was the most difficult section yet. Ups and downs along the steep (and long) hills flanking the Susquehanna river for roughly sixteen miles over eight hours into a headwind left us exhausted and stumbling to the finish. I'm still incredulous about that 2 MPH pace, but I'm also resigned to scientific fact at this point. On the bright side, we're pausing often to take in all the sights and sounds, which is a convenient excuse to lean heavily our trekking poles until our hearts stop pounding. It ain't exactly an assault on Mt. Everest, but we did pass one sign that said, in big red letters, "Susquehanna Ridge Trail... Extremely Difficult", complete with two black diamonds for added emphasis.
The section began with a relatively nice stroll out of Havre de Grace along a rail-to-trail section, save for the seemingly requisite encounter with a man-eating dog. We knew we were in trouble when we spotted a 100-lb rottweiler literally stalking us, dragging his owner behind. Passing by, it was all the guy could do to keep this dog under control as it snarled and jumped and twisted to get at us. Thankfully, our instant religious conversion worked and the leash held. Later in the day we shuffled meekly past a camouflaged crew tethered to a pit bull the size of a small moose. Not sure what all these people are afraid of... each other, I guess. A dog arms race in northern Maryland.
Not too far out of town you hit your first challenge - clambering hand-and-foot up a boulder-strewn hillside that likely has some relationship with a nearby quarry. A wide swing of road-walking takes you west around the quarry, eventually returning to some spectacular vistas overlooking the Susquehanna river across from Port Deposit. From there you drop down to the beautiful Rock Run Historic area, site of a 200-year old grist mill and former toll house right on the river. It is from here that you launch off on the aforementioned Ridge Trail, which, to be honest, is not really "Extremely Difficult"... it's just "Uphill". You're on the ridge for a few miles, then you drop down to the tow path along the river below the Conowingo dam. Swing west around the dam, and you start your ascent once again to the top of ridgeline.
Up and down and up again. For miles. You're getting the gist of this section. But make no mistake - it's fabulous. Great views of the river, picturesque fields, interesting historic buildings, challenging rock scrambles, and plenty of long stretches through quiet woods make it a delight. We spotted bald eagles and rafts of wintering ducks along the river. On the ridge we jumped a herd of deer that must have been 40 or 50 strong - the forest literally shook from all the commotion.
With fond memories and fading strength we finally tumbled our way down the last hill into Glen Cove marina to our waiting car, and then back to Havre de Grace for some pizza. We bought an extra large, thinking we'd take some home to our neglected nestling, but alas, ramen noodles for him. Turns out one pizza is no match for eight hours of hill climbing.
Postscript
It took us several days to recover from this adventure, and we made the mental note that sixteen miles is about as much as we care to tackle in a single day. The ups and downs are hard on your joints, and we creaked around for a while with sore muscles to boot. I mentioned the trekking poles... as ridiculous as that may sound for a day hike in the mid-Atlantic, they are very helpful, particularly on a section like this one. They absorb some of the joint-shock of the downhill, steady you on the steeper pitches of the uphill, and are invaluable for keeping your footing and balance while fording the occasional stream.
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