This was a recent destination for me. I visited this location a day after a UPS 24-hour internal Hackathon that I attended in late June during my internship to essentially clear my mind. While the Hackathon was a successful endeavor, the event took quite a toll on me and I was in crucial need of some nature.
This was a pretty unique area. Yes, I agree graffiti is not good environment wise, but with the amount here, there is a certain beauty to it.
Trail Magic at Pen Mar Park
The weird thing about this trip is that I ran into three thru-hikers that were doing trail magic at the Pen Mar Park, less than a mile down same road I had been on, who I had hiked with in 2017. Those thru-hikers were:
- Legs – I hiked with him on and off consistently from Pennsylvania to Vermont. That is more than 600 miles of trail.
- Nemo – I met him once very briefly early on the trail, most likely at Trail Days if I am remembering correctly. Nemo didn’t finish in 2017, he actually was on his 2nd attempt this year and happened to be passing through, which is why I think the trail magic came to be. Interesting character if you have the pleasure of meeting this fellow.
- Yardsale – I think we originally met through Two Chairs at Gyp’s Tavern in New Jersey and hiked on and off for the next two states.
I actually contacted Legs prior to meeting up with him that I would be checking out High Rock. He lives in the area. In response, while very vague said that he was planning to be in the area for Yardsale’s trail magic. I blanked on the name at the time, but agreed to meeting up. I would happily meet up with any previous thru-hiker of the AT to be honest. It’s always such a breath of fresh air to talk to thru-hikers. Really brings my faith back into society. Upon arriving, I was hugged by Yardsale, again blanking on who this person was. It took me quite a bit to remember how I knew the person hugging me, though a factor for not remembering right away could be a result of my abnormal fatigue.
Aside from that little brain fart, it was super crazy to run into everyone. That all our paths right then and there crossed once again. Super fun to catch up with everyone. : )
As for the details of the hike, there isn’t one. Hike rock is right off the road here. That being said here is the location information:
| Name | High Rock Overlook |
| Location | 39.695274, -77.523516 |
| Parking/Trailhead | Next to location |
| Trail Name | N/A |
| Hike Length | N/A |
I do realize this is off the Appalachian trail, though when I had been passing through on my thru-hike it had been pretty foggy and raining so I skipped this overlook. Interesting fact, I passed by this location on Day 81.
