June 1, 2000

Ensign Cowall Shelter, MD · 15 Miles Hiked Today · 1033 of 2167 Miles Hiked Total

A great day. First, at about 9:00, I came across a war monument that was erected for the Michigan Militia. They had come to Maryland to support the Massachusetts Militia against the Confederates and gone to battle at 9:00 in the summer of 1862.  With the detailed description the monument provided, I could picture the battle taking place around me as I hiked.

Then, when I got to the Washington Monument and was taking a break, two school groups asked me to speak. So, for an hour I spoke and fielded questions. It was a blast to hear what the kids wanted to know. "What is the most dangerous thing you did?" "What is the stupidest thing you did?" The two schools were Shady Grove Middle School's 6th grade Outdoor Education class (Derwood, MD) and The Boys' Latin School (Baltimore, MD). I also learned a lot from Park Ranger Russell J. Boback, who was speaking before I started.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. I did see a couple of snakes. First, I saw a pissed off rattlesnake (so irritated that it rattled and coiled before I even got to it). Later, I saw a large Kingsnake. Note: the type of woodpecker I saw earlier in the hike was a Pireated Woodpecker and yesterday I saw two families of Canadian Geese.