Date: 2003-06-02
From: Eckville Shelter 

To: Allentown Hiking Club Shelter 
Miles today: 7.4
Weather: clear sky

Aloha! And Timberrrrrrrr! Look out below... TIMBER!!!! (Got ya curious now, don't I? Sorry, you'll just have to wait until I get to that part of the day. Tee hee!)   Did you per chance even take note for a moment that I only did 7.4 official AT miles today? Only 7.4; not 17.4. I'm so proud of myself. You should be too. For once I did what I said I would do - sort of. Oops, did I forget to mention the 3 unofficial road miles I also did?   With an early rising this morning came the decision to walk the 1.5 miles UP the road to the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary. Lucy had given us the abridged history of this mountain once being the main shooting ground for the hawks, osprey, vulture, etc. that migrate south running the mountain ridge line. At one time some ridiculous number like 500 birds were killed each day. Since that time a family bought the mountain with the help of bird watchers around the world. Due to their diligence, and 25 years of guarding against hunters, this sanctuary is now recognized as a Mecca for hawk watchers and a center for raptor research. It has a visitor area with exhibits and viewing windows along with nature trails. The fall migration is supposed to be an awesome sight with observers recording 20,000 hawks, eagles, and falcons passing over the mountain at something like 150 a day. Now that would be cool!   Now back to my story. I made my way UP there and spent a pleasant hour meandering around the center. According to the director, there is limited activity this time of year so I chose to walk back down, pick up my pack left in the shelter, and once again follow the white blazes. Quasi and ChuckLuck, having joined me from the start, chose to take a blue-blaze trail along the ridge viewing area that connected to the AT. You gotta do what you gotta do and I gotta hike all the white blazes. It was hard though! Very hard... but a good decision.   As I topped my mountain via the white blazes I ran into ChuckLuck whom had just battled his way through miles of huge boulders to find me standing there. If things had gone as anticipated he should have been miles ahead of me. Guess what... NOT! It turns out that though I had to climb the mountain again, it was the easiest way to go. What can I say? Nothing but white blazes for me!   ChuckLuck walked along with me for the better part of the day after that. Since it was such a pretty day I was practicing the art of meandering and I think he needed it after his rock excursion. There was even a point that I was feeling so good that stumbling around in the PA rocks wasn¢t bothering me all that much. I even took the time to follow a blue blaze myself to a vista atop a ton of rock. Hard to believe isn't it?   Having left my pack at the bottom of the pile, I was having such a blast boulder hopping and playing mountain goat. With unusual speed and grace for me I was planting one foot after another in, on and around the rocks. Happy as can be... until Timberrrrrr! Rattler that is! Scared the living whatever right out of me!   As I was bounding from one boulder to the other I was carefully looking at foot placement. What I wasn't looking at is what was near that foot. I had just placed my foot and was looking about for my next step when I happened to look down at the already placed foot. It was literally set right next to a Timber Rattler. No more than a centimeter away. I still can't believe I didn't step on the dang thing. Well I'll tell you - at that moment it didn't matter where my next step was going because I was already gone! Flew to two boulders higher. And I mean flew! Superwoman couldn't have done as well. While flying I did think to remind ChuckLuck to stop as he was following my tracks. Whoa! Close one!   After my heart stopped pounding in my chest, I did lower myself back down to check out my new friend. It seems that he was still quite cold from last night's temperatures and was attempting to warm his cold blood. No movement. Whew! ChuckLuck counted about seven rattles from what he could see of his tail. I just counted one big snake! One too many big snakes! That ended my day of off trail vista viewing too. Timberrrrr!   Quasi joined us while atop the boulders also. It seems that his blue-blaze experience consisted of lots of huge boulders and more snakes (copperheads and rattlers) than you could shake a rattle at. It's going to be fun, fun, fun for those coming through this area in the summer!   After my heart stopper I determined the Allentown Shelter to also be a stopper - mine for the day. ChuckLuck and I have had an enjoyable evening of comparing gear and watching that illusive thing called the sun go down. Besides talking with you, how much better could a day get? Guess we'll see tomorrow for tonight I'm headed down with the sun. I'll probably dream of becoming a logger later in life - TIMBER! You dream of butterflies. TIMBER!BS&T: I broke out into a sweat over the snake but that was about it.A&Ps: Heart attacks are not god for 46 year olds.M&Gs: Rocks and snakes...waah!Critter count; 1x blue bunting, 1x hummingbird, 1x possible eagle, 2x turkey vultures, 6x chipmunks, 3 x squirrels, 1x groundhog. Oh yea, and the snakes.