Date: 2005-04-17
From: Bearfence Hut

To: Rock Spring Hut
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Another wonderful day on the Appalachian Trail! I am so lucky! After a restless ¢so, so¢ night¢s sleep of 10 hours duration (so what it might have lacked in quality it more than made up in length!) I took my time enjoying my breakfast and conversation with my fellow Section Hikers at the hut. A little after 10:00 o'clock, I was on the Trail and soon settled into an easy 2.5mph pace. The terrain was, to my surprise, very accommodating and eight of the eleven miles I covered today were either downhill or flat, making for a very friendly "second day out." As I came through Bootens Gap, I checked my cell phone and was amazed to find I had a signal. After listening to messages and having a brief conversation with my son, Jack, I placed a call to my sister to see if she and Bill might be able to join me for a spontaneous, late-lunch at Big Meadows Campground around 2.00 pm. She was as delighted with the prospect as I was and just a couple of hours later I was slurping down a large cup of her special tomato soup and bolting the sandwiches that she brought along (my personal ¢Trail Angels¢). Roberta and Bill took a little hike on the Appalachian Trail at Milam Gap while I repacked my gear, sending back every ounce of unnecessary stuff with them, while reciting the hiker¢s mantra, ¢Less Weight¢ that I learned from Winston on my first days out last year.The temperature didn¢t get as cold last night as I had anticipated and tonight it is supposed to be even less cold. Nevertheless I still hung onto my two pairs of long under johns and an extra long-sleeved polypro shirt, just in case. (You never can be too cautious when it comes to those unexpected overnight Ice Ages, y'know -- look what happened to all those dinosaurs!) It¢s now 7:30 pm and I¢m sitting at the picnic table in front of the Rock Creek Hut by myself having just finished a Mountain House Meat Lasagna dinner with a side of green peas. The hut and the table are on the western slope of Hawksbill Mountain, the summit of which is at 4050' making it the highest elevation in Shenandoah National Park. The Appalachian Trail remains a good 500' below the summit, but I¢m sure the views from up there are spectacular. From where I am sitting right now, the views "ain¢t too shabby¢ either for just beyond the trees lies the Eastern Shenandoah Valley. Massanutten Mountain is a forty mile long ridge running North-South that protrudes from the middle of the Shenandoah Valley cutting it into an eastern valley and western one.The lights of the town of Shenandoah and of Luray are now coming on down on the Eastern valley floor and soon ¢Bob" (remember ¢Bob?¢ -- the ¢Big Orange Ball¢) will have completely disappeared right over the conspicuous notch of a gap in Masanutten Mountain marking the spot where of Route 211 crosses the whale. Just on the other side of that cut lies the town of New Market where Roberta and Bill live. Here in the mountains, the forest is quiet save the occasional rustle of leaves from feeding white-tail doe. Now the low bark of a pair of crows can be heard as they pass overhead, ¢probably heading home before the streetlights come on¢ was my mother¢s admonition when I was a young boy growing up in the ¢Combat Zone¢of Southwest Hartford. ¢Miss Piggy¢ (my food storage bag) is tethered high atop the bear pole behind the shelter. My water (taken from a gorgeous spring that bubbles out of a cavern of rocks just below where I¢m sitting, which is why I¢m sure they call this place "Rock Spring" Hut, duh?!) is now treated and ready to go first thing in the morning. The last of my two sugar free oatmeal cookies are one bite away from being toast (turning cookies into toast-is it magic?) decaf coffee is cooling quickly in the evening air. I feel really good, partly because I have been following the lesson ¢Freebird¢ taught me last summer while we were hiking in Vermont. He taught me that after a long day on the trail, he'd heat up a pot of water and use his wash cloth to give himself a bath, top down, before getting into the routine of preparing food and going to bed. Having tried it for these past two nights, I must admit that it¢s quite refreshing. But besides being clean and feeling good outside, I also feel good inside ¢ really content. I am glad I am who I am and that I'm able to be doing what I¢m doing. I¢m comfortable tucking myself into my sleeping bag in an otherwise empty hut somewhere in the woods in Northern Virginia. I am comfortable being here ¢wherever-here is-alone. There is something about being ¢Bumpo¢, Appalachian Trail hiker that is peaceful and centering. It may just be a touch of Grace I picked up along the way today.