SNP, The Clip Show

Hannah thinks I only stand at the edge of cliffs to annoy her. That's not entirely true!

This photo represents so much of what hiking in Shenandoah National Park is like, and what I dislike about the park. This was at Big Meadows Wayside, the largest wayside, on the July 4 weekend. Hundreds of people were visiting the gift shops, eating at the restaurant, and considering themselves to be rouging it. The Appalachian Trail crosses into the parking lot from the left and continues on the other side of the deer. No one was to be seen on the trail. I don't understand how so many people relish the idea of the outdoors, but wouldn't be caught more than fifty feet from their cars. Without launching into a diatribe on laziness I will just state you cannot preserve the wilderness while plowing over the forest to build roads and restaurants. You cannot expect to be a healthy individual if you consider walking from your RV to the corner store to be strenuous exercise. The icing on the cake, of course, is that many people get around this problem by leaving their RV and getting into their golf carts...

Deer not acclimated to humans are notoriously harder to photograph. I tried, however.

The above photos were taken on that miserable, rainy day. It is a lot more beautiful when you do not have to walk through the rain.

This is Blackrock Mountain. Apparently, 1,000 years ago the top of the mountain just fell off.

Onward!

Shenandoah, Vol. 25

The above picture was taken from an elevation of 3,700 feet from a mountain called The Pinnacle. This view shows the approximate ridge that the trail follows from the right corner, over the rock at the end (Mary's Rock), and then one must descend steeply 1,600 feet over a loose gravel path turned ledge that was often worrisomely narrow. It represented a difficult turning point for me.


While beginning the descent of Mary's Rock, I pulled my right quadriceps muscle making every step down quite painful. At the top, my leg felt very tight so I stopped to stretch. Usually this works quite well, but after only a few steps the tightness returned. Aleve was my next course of action when I started limping (with 1,200 vertical feet to go). It seemed like the worst possible time for something like this to happen. It getting later in the afternoon, we still had some distance to travel, but we had already come so far by this time, 11 miles. This was to be our longest day. For whatever reason, the park decided to make the next shelter a day-use facility only so we were unable to stay there. We rested for a bit. I modified a knee strap to fit tightly over my quad, and we pressed on. When we got to the nearest road, it was only a mile to the next shelter according to our map. It really felt like the longest mile yet. After descending for so long, we were required to start walking up another mountain--it felt like it went up forever. Finally reaching the side trail to our shelter, we were somewhat relieved to learn it was 0.3 miles downhill (which felt like 1.3mi). We were both beaten, bruised and wanted to do nothing more than remove the socks and shoes from our blistered, throbbing feet. With apprehension, we approached a warning sign placed by this trail. Our intuition told us what it said before we got close enough to read it:

WARNING: Problem Bears in area. Several bears in the area of this campsite have been known to approach hikers and display aggressive behavior. Please report all encounters to the nearest park ranger. If you are approached by a bear:
1. DO NOT MAKE EYE CONTACT. Stay calm. Do not drop your backpack. Back away slowly. Leave the area immediately. OR
2. Make loud noises such as clapping, shouting, or banking your trekking poles together. Throw sticks or stones at or near the bear.

To the weary hiker this sign reads:

WARNING: Bears will be coming to eat you in your tent as you sleep. When this happens:
1. Do not provoke the bear by looking at it, and don't leave your backpack because then it wins. OR
2. Do whatever the hell you want to the bear because you are going to die anyway.

Suddenly this changes the woods. Every shadow becomes a bear. Every movement in the woods is a bear. Every twig you step on must be a bear. Your mind has a lot of time to wander when you're in the woods. Well, we never saw any bears on this mountain. We would have been a whole lot more comfortable without the sign...

At camp, there were three guys in the shelter already so we decided to pitch our tent. Meanwhile two hikers and their dog arrived. This was Jonesy, Suzie Q, and Kodiak (the dog). They had been a day or so ahead of us every day of our hike and we read all their register entries. They seemed famous to us. We chatted for a bit. Upon entering Front Royal, VA, they said that they were staying at the Scottish Inn.
"It's a really good deal! It's about $35 a night. You should stay!"
"How is it though, for $35?" asked AJ inquisitively.
"Well...um...the sheets are clean."
That's the mark of a classy hotel.

The next morning, we set out at our normal time. I wrapped my quad and was doing quite well until we had to descend the mountain. I suddenly felt the pain return and every step caused me to wince just slightly. I became quite worried because the 4 miles to the wayside were generally downhill, and afterwards we had a huge mountain to climb followed by a steep descent to the shelter. After some resting and more meds, Hannah convinced me that I was being stupid. Not only was the day going to be any easier, but I risked having to pull off the trail for the summer, tearing the muscle, losing work, etc. We found a side-trail to a bridle trail that led to Skyline Drive, and we did the only thing we could do: hitch hike.

Neither of us had ever hitch hiked before so after a brief discussion of etiquette, Hannah (the more qualified hitch hiker--because who stops for dirty, smelly, creepy-looking guys). The first several vehicles zipped passed, which caused some discouragement. Hannah decided that she needed to put on a cleaner shirt, and I thought I might lay lifelessly on the side of the road to invoke pity. Several more cars went by, some motorcycles, and then a line of RVs. Then, one appeared to be slowing. It was a large SUV from Connecticut hauling a long trailer. It was a middle-aged couple who had spent their vacation in the park and were now going home. They both got out and started clearing all their stuff from the back seat so we had a place to sit. Our destination was just 4 miles up the road, Elkwallow Wayside. Driving in that car was an amazing experience. One who is walking gets a new perspective on the vastness of the country. Vehicles are such amazing technology.

The rationale for Elkwallow was that we could take some time to have a proper lunch, and I could buy a proper Ace bandage while my muscle rested. We sat on the picnic table when a pickup truck stopped by us and suggested we turn around. From the woods emerged these bears pictured to the left. The mama was followed by 2 spunky cubs and 1 shy one who held back, unsure what to do. The crowd, however, knew what to do. They ran in between the bears cutting the mama from the third cub. All the hikers gathered in a group behind the mob shaking their head, waiting to see what a real bear maulin' looked like. A thru-hiker in the group decided to start making noise in order to drive the bears back into the woods. This worked and the crowd dispersed. He was pretty much a hero, but the onlookers didn't appreciate this at the time.

We spent 2 hours at lunch and my leg felt quite good, but then after only a few steps, I could feel the twinge of pain returning with each step. We had to make a hard decision. We went to the road, Hannah hitch hiked, and I hid in the woods. After about 10 minutes, a car pulled over, and I descended the hill.
"I knew there was a boy in the bushes. You had a look on your face, I could tell a mile away!" said Jessica, the girl who picked us up. Jessica was heading out of the park, hitting Route 66. She was on a little adventure herself. After realizing that no one in her family was going to be able to visit her this summer, she decided to drive around the country visiting all of them. She took us a few miles out of the park where we tried to find the Scottish Inn as recommended by Jonesy. After stopping at a gas station for directions, Jessica dropped us at the Inn and drove off on her adventure. We checked in, Shenandoah National Park behind us.

I made it to Maine!

...and it was so much easier driving here.

Some of you may have heard that we are off the trail. It's true. We're home. Now comes the fun part about updating the blog. As luck would have it, I am spending a few days on Peaks Island, Maine, which is just off the coast of Portland. This island, even in the tourist season, retains its quiet, easy way of life. It is a well-known respite for all kinds of artists, writers included. Hopefully I can draw off some of this creative energy and become a prolific blogger. What excites me is that this will be the new and improved blog--the blog with pictures!!

A Quick Note

Currently I'm sitting in the Doyle Hotel and Bar in Duncannon, PA. For those of you that get the reference: it is quite a lot like sitting in the Hot-L in South Deerfield, but with a nice restaurant. The owners are super-friendly to hikers and have really bent over backwards to make us feel welcome. We can just say that the building is "historic." Yes. That sounds nice. It's historic.

Well, right now, I'm sitting in the bar and drinking a Troegs Jolly Scot. It's brewed in Harrisburg, which is not too far from here. Two days ago, we spent a couple of nights in Carlisle, PA. You might say that we are spending a lot of time in hotels at this juncture in our trip. If you are asking that, I say, "screw you." But I say it with love, of course. Well, today we walked across the halfway point in our trip, 320/640 miles to Massachusetts. We've climbed numerous mountains, we've walked through a few corn fields, we've hitch hiked on busy highways. We're tired. I'll tell you--it has been really nice to hike short, 7-mile days and stay in a four-walled structure, eat a nice meal, and drink some good beer. I think we've earned it. From this point, there aren't such amenities for more than a week, so we cannot even be tempted. Hopefully our food supply will last. That would be awesome.

I've been thinking while walking that there is SO much that we need to blog about. We have to amend the normal format of the blog to tell you about these people we've met and the places we've been. The bar has to move the computer to make room for the guitar player, but you should stay tuned for such stories as:

-The fake-haired, fake-contact, stupid (but really nice) girl
-The men and their Ham-MOCKs (they say things funny in these parts)
-TortoiseRear the smartest man in the world (renown historian, poet, scientist, philosopher, and divorcee) "Do you know the story of Homer's Aeneid?" [sic]
-Wrath, the warrior of Jupiter who roams the Earth killing the dark forces when he sees the "star."
-Enterprise Rent-a-car. They'll pick you up (if you ask nicely)
-Hiker's Welcome. But don't walk here.


Oh the things we've experienced!

: )

Cheeseburgers and the trail

The great thing about Shenandoah National Park is that it is somewhat more of what the founder of the trail, Benton MacKaye, originally intended. He wished for the trail to pass through historical sites, past incredible vistas, and to stop at communal inns along the way where the weary hiker could stop, have some tea, have a bite to eat, and continue on his way. Well, Shenandoah has three such days where something like this is possible. These are the three "Waysides" that are found close to the trail within the park. We planned to stop at these three spots because not only would it be delicious, but the extra food supplement would allow us to continue longer and restock less. These Waysides claimed to offer grocery stores as well as gift shops.

On our third day, we left the trail to the Loft Mountain Camp Store and Wayside. Our biggest delight was seeing the recommended hikes that SNP rangers have placed on a billboard. For instance, the section that we just completed was listed. It stated that the 4.5 mile section should take about 5 hours to complete. We just did it in an hour and a half. Ha!

Well, these Waysides are close to car campgrounds and RV parks. As we walked in, we became part of the attraction. People came up to talk to us.

"You walking?"

"Yes."

"Where y'all goin'."

"Back to Massachusetts."

"My God! Well, good luck to you," they said as the whirred away in their golf cart.

We could tell by the way that these stores were set up that they were not meant for hikers. Not many hikers could find use with a bottle of blueberry wine, SNP shot glasses. t-shirts, and necklaces. The food sections were heavy on bulk items and family packs, but didn't have anything for the hiker. Read Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods. He will tell you all about it.

Well, we couldn't restock on anything, but I did have an expensive cheeseburger, and Hannah had a BLT. They were amazing! The only problem about the high prices in the park is they know that hungry hikers will pay them. Bastards.

Our next stop was a few days later at Big Meadows Wayside. This was a much larger place with waitresses and such. It was entertaining listening to the conversations of all the people, which were strangely unique to us after being in the woods. Here are some highlights:
This hiker and his dog Blue were sitting outside the restaurant. At the table next to us, an older man looked past us to him, "Oh look! It's a backpacker! I haven't seen one of them in ages." At the table behind us were sitting the most uncreative people in the universe:
"Oooh, look at me! I'm a hiker. I'm looking at my maps!!"

Brilliant.


Anyway, even after hiking, I had a pretty bad, though expensive meal. I ordered fried chicken, french fries, and cole slaw. I got friend chicken, mashed potatoes, canned green beans, and a biscuit that was burned in the center. Hannah had a Philly Cheese Steak and a milkshake. It looked yummy. She has good taste.

A third stop for breakfast had the staff tell us at 10:44 that they were sorry, but they stopped serving breakfast at 11:00 and couldn't serve us. If my math is correct, there was something wrong with that equation. Oh well. I was able to get some coffee, and it was the best tasting coffee that I've ever had. We also shared a banana. It was the first fruit that we had in more than a week.

Now that we are out of the park, things are a little different. Food has to be rationed a little more carefully. There is only a town here and there, and sometimes it's a 5 mile walk to the grocery store away from the trail. Now that our training wheels are off, let's see how we do. We just stole 6 bagels and 100 packets of sugar from the Comfort Inn in Harpers Ferry, WV to supplement our food stock. I think we're off to a pretty good start.

A New Day

Hightop Hut to Bearfence Mountain Hut. 13.0 miles.

The morning sun not only helped to dry our clothes, it dried our eyes and warmed our hearts. The ground was still damp, but the blue sky promised a beautiful day. So many people have unabashedly volunteered the fact that a trip such as this will put a monumental strain on our relationship. Well, that is true. We spend long, hard days together oftentimes not seeing another soul except in passing. At night, we are worn out and just want to sleep, but we have to cook, filter water, set up the tent, blow up the sleeping pads, hang the food in a tree, etc. We eat far less than we might at home even though we are putting in longer and harder days physically than we would normally. When it's dark, cold, and rainy all day it does not do a lot for our moods. In fact, as you might imagine, that extra weight can be the straw that breaks the camel's back. But that is the battle. No one is forcing us to do what we are doing. It actually sounds crazy when I describe it this way - it is hell; it totally sucks for most of the day at which point it only sucks a little. On the other hand though, it is quite the adventure. We are learning things about each other. We are pushing greater distances under harder circumstances than we ever imagined that we could do. We've met some very interesting people along the way; we've encountered nature uninhibited. We are not seeing it on a screen, there is not a plaque telling us what to look at - there is no glass or fence to protect us. We've equipped ourselves to meet every challenge. When we realize we've come up short, we put our minds together, we come up with a solution. Every time.

It's true. We have some of the comforts of home along with us. But, it is not comfortable. We are surviving - thriving, in fact. We have been away from home for eighteen days. We are changing physically, growing stronger. We are changing mentally as well. Each day allows for almost uninterrupted introspection made possible by lack of almost everything except time. I can look at myself and see these new things. When I look at Hannah, I see she has changed as well.

From our first hike together until now, I can say with certainty that Hannah has gained physical strength. She is able to walk longer hours and more miles. Mentally she has incredible persistence. Those long hours and long miles wear the both of us thin, but she does not stop. She pushes on until we are in camp, and all the tasks have been complete. I think sometimes she surprises herself with what she can do. However, I can tell that this strength has always been with her. Academically, she knows she possess superior skill. She continues to prove that. Now, she is getting an opportunity to push herself physically, and she still excels. I did not need convincing that she is an amazing person. I hope she sees it in herself.

Today was a new day, and it felt good to be alive.

Pinefield Hut - Criminal Plan

Pinefield Hut to Hightop Mountian Hut 9.0 miles

So these people were back, arguing with each other through the night. We stole their books. They were in the tent, and there was no good way to get them back to their owners. There was only one person that knew that we were in the tents; this big, white-bearded man sleeping in a hammock named Boyd. We knew that he wouldn't say anything because he thought these people were 'tards as well. These were our options.
High Risk:
Sneak back to their tent in the middle of the night, after they had stopped arguing and return their books into their tent, or just outside. At this point, we didn't think they noticed that the books were gone. If they noticed them outside the tent, they would have known something was up.

Medium Risk:
Leave our tent in the middle of the night. Place them in the other empty tent and blame it on the people that weren't even there. It would look like their tent was broken into, but not by us. The downside to this is that they would likely also notice that we were outside because our tent was in proximity to theirs.

Low Risk:
Blame someone else.
Score.

In the morning, we packed our things as normal and I placed the books in my pack. We walked down the hill to the shelter. At 6:30 in the morning, Boyd had packed up and left. We never saw him again. At the shelter, Troop 14 was hanging around. It started raining, and it was getting really dark. No matter what happened, today was going to be a bad day. The mystery people were still fast sleep in their tents. Also in the shelter was Pat, a nice man from Alabama that was going from GA to Harpers Ferry where I now type. (I may have mentioned Pat before. We met him coming up from the road in Rockfish Gap. We stayed with him every night from the entrance of Shenandoah to almost the terminal end. He started having knee problems, and was getting into camp later and later each night. We heard that he dropped off the Trail in Luray, VA just short of the end of the park. Hopefully, with a little rest, he will be able to get back onto his goal). Also in the shelter, was a bearded man who was very nice. A thru-hiker whose name we never learned. At 8:30 Troop 14 departed on schedule leaving just 4 of us in the shelter plus the two sleeping idiots on the hill. Pat and the thru-hiker talked, and Hannah distracted everyone (accidentally on purpose). She stated that she needed to go to the privy. As Pat and the thru-hiker looked to see where she was going, I slipped the books out of my pack (already open when Hannah went to get the toilet paper) and placed them on the wall of the shelter next to the register.

All Shelters have a register where anyone staying the night can sign and say anything they wish. These registers are often kept as a trail record at the Appalachian Trail Club Headquarters for the particular club that maintains that section of trail. Next to these registers, hikers will leave items of particular use to those that will come after them. "Trail Magic" refers to any items that are found on the trail that are left as anonymous gifts to hikers. For instance, strictly utilitarian trail magic might include Knorr Sides (formerly Lipton) which a hiker might pack normally. We sure do. They are delicious. More extravagant things are donuts, soda, beer, or even books!! Well, sitting next to the register were two BOOKS by Bill Bryson. As Hannah came back, the thru-hiker started looking around the shelter for some magic. He discovered the books in the corner and started reading one of them. At this point, we decided to leave just because our time had come. The people on the hill never awoke and never confronted anyone. If they came down and asked the thru-hiker what he was doing with their books I imagine he would have said, "I don't know. They were just sitting right over there." It was the perfect crime. Perfect.

What was not perfect was the weather. As I mentioned, it was raining. The forecast for that day called for "scattered showers." The rain decided to scatter and settle right over where we were hiking. Mist rolled in, and my glasses were fogging so bad that visibility was limited to about 20 feet, or less for me. Those who were more visually inclined ( Hannah ) were asked to lead. I kept fearing that there would be some large animal (bear, especially bear with cubs) that I would fail to see. With Hannah in the lead, I felt much better. Well, there was this time when I had to tell her to stop because she almost walked into a deer (deer in SNP are shameless), but I digress.

I was wearing a rain jacket and rain pants. My pack was covered in nylon. My glasses were wet and foggy, and so was the trail. My shoes soaked through in the first twenty minutes, and it was warm. As I continued to walk, I started to sweat. Soon it didn't really matter that I was wearing rain clothes because they were just as wet inside as they were outside. We just had to keep trekking. It was meant to be a long day, but with the rain, it felt like an eternity. By the halfway point, my feet were all wrinkly and white. They burned like they never have before. My skin was tender and ripped easily. Every step was a chore. I was sweating, but I was cold. The biggest reward of the day was to get to camp, pitch a tent in the mud and crawl into a likely wet sleeping bag. I can't say that my mood was good.

The camps kept getting smaller and smaller, and the tent sites fewer and fewer. As we continued hiking, we were joined by more people who competed for these sites. Luckily, only Troop 14 had beat us, so we selected our sites, pitched the tent in record time, and got in. The sleeping bags were dry and so was the inside of the tent. We fell fast asleep for the next two hours. I was awakened by the sounds of neighbors on each side setting up their tents.

The rain had stopped, but it was still a miserable situation to be in. Since it was about dinner time, I thought that Hannah would like to get up as well. I started rubbing her arm and stroking her face. It seemed like it would be a pleasant thing to wake up to, but this was not the case. She sharply remarked that I was being annoying and that I should immediately stop. As she woke up, she was pissed that I wasn't doing anything and that I interrupted her repose. Well, to make a long story short, she was annoyed at me and my time prioritization skills (or lack thereof in her mind). We made dinner by the shelter, but it was awkward because we weren't really talking to those who were there or to each other. The bear bag was hung and we decided to go back to our tent. We talked things over for a while and came to some conclusions. I woke Hannah up with good intentions. If I nap too long in the afternoon, I can never get back to sleep. Since Hannah does not have this problem, I should let her nap as long as she needs. She wakes up faster than I do, it seems. If there is something that needs to be done, I should wait until I'm ready and then let her know. We do things in a different order, but we both meet deadlines. We have to sometimes agree to disagree on the order upon which these things should be done. This is where Hannah gets annoyed with me most. I can do nothing about this, since, in the end, everything does indeed get done. Well, we had this circular and awkward conversation until about nightfall. We each turned over, and I think Hannah dozed off. However, my mind had thousands of thoughts going through it. I hated the rain and not being dry. I missed the comforts of home and my family. I thought of the sacrifices that my parents made to get me what I have. I thought about my social life and how I've changed in some ways, but in others have remained exactly the same. It all hit me at once, and I cried myself to sleep.