Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1910-06-24
IMPRESSIONS BY The WAY

y $50
IMPRESSIONS BY THE WAY
The following private letter will
be of interest to most of our people,
though not intended for publica-
ton:
THE EVENING STAR,
WASHINGTON, D. C.
June IA, 1910
Dear Mr.. Wood -
Some days ago | received a copy
of your paper containing a para
graph about the visit of Mr.. Stone,
Mr.. Mitchell and myself to Monte
rey on our recent tramping trip
across the Alleghenies. | thank
you for sending it and return this
tardy acknowledgment of your
courtesy.
1t may be of interest to you to
know that we continued our walk
in general accordance with our orig
inal program. Having started at
Buffalo Gap to 60 to Beverly, we
ultimately reached that town, but
did not 60 all the way afoot. I'm
fortunately we suffered from some
bad weather the third day beyond
Monterey and tramped into Hut
louisville from one o'clock until
nearly six in rain storm. Walking
in the rain is not bad in the hills,
but it is hard going in the valleys.
and as you know Huttonsville lies
low, so that the last few miles we
splashed through mud and puddles
and were rather sorry looking
crowd when we reached the town.
But as we look back upon our
experiences our rainy day walks
were in some respects more inter
esting than our dry-day tramplng.
We had, as perhaps you remember,
reached Monterey in the rain, and
the last half day of the walk into
Huttonsville was wet. We had an
other half day of wet walking at
the very end of the trip, when we
crossed the Backbone mountains in
Maryland going from Dobbin to
Oakland.
We rested over night at Huttons-
Vile and took the train next day
for Elkins, stopping off at Beverly
for mail and kilograms. We train
ed from Elkins to Dobbin and then
hiked over the hill to Oakland for
our last bit of walking.
All told we walked one hundred
and thirty miles. Probably the
surveyors will say we did no such
thing. 1t is a case of our pedome-
tiers against the engineers, and any,
one who has tramped over the road
with pack on his back will know
that the middle of the road is not
| the shortest distance between two
points, and on rainy days a pedes.
trian will 90 sometimes a third
again as far as the road is long in
zigzagging to find comparatively
dry spots.
/ want to tell you how much we
enjoyed our glimpse of Monterey
and how much we regretted that
we could not stop and see more OF
it. | think each of us feels that ii
is bounden duty to return some
day and finish our visit. | have
: never seen prettier sight in my
life than the town of Monterey as
it appeared from the top of the hill
as we approached. If our enthusi'
asm spreads to others, Monterey
will become popular summer rest.
ing place for people who are weary
of the cities.
Some day we hope to hit the pike
again and then strike off from it In
to hills. So be prepared to see the
three of us with fourth member
added to the party in the form of q
donkey-some might say another
carrying tent and provisions to
enable Us to leave the highway and
90 into the back country. Com.
Portable as we were at Mr.. Patter.
sons excellent hotel, we liked the
open so we'll that the next time we
will try to sleep out of doors every
night.
With best wishes for yourself and
the success of your work, | m,
Yours very truly,
n A LYONS In.