Date: 2006-07-03
From: Rod Hollow Shelter

To: Blackburn Center
Miles today: 17.8
Weather: clear sky

After an early start to maximize what little cool temperature the day might hold, I found myself working hard on the infamous stretch of the Trail commonly dubbed: ¢The Roller Coaster¢ ¢ 13 miles of Trail encompassing 10 peaks and gaps, each constituting approximately 500' of fairly arduous assent and descent. Taken together, ¢The Roller Coaster¢ represents a bit over 4000' of uphill work (about the same as the climb from Crawford Notch to the Lakes of the Clouds Hut in New Hampshire¢s infamous White Mountains). I walked ¢ no, ¢strode¢ ¢ determinedly all morning, stopping only for brief gulps of air and water and one mid-morning carbo-break streamside at Sawmill Spring Creek. Otherwise, I was all business all morning.By mid-day (as the sun and the humidity were really starting to get cookin¢!) I arrived at the Bear Den Hostel which is where I had planned to RON (¢Remain Over Night¢ in military parlance). But the committee in my head apparently had other thoughts ¢ ¢It¢s so early in the day¢¦¢ ¢It¢s only 8 more miles to my car at the Blackburn Shelter¢¦¢ ¢If I press on I can sleep tonight in a real bed¢¦¢ ¢If I keep going, I can get a jump on the traffic returning to New York tomorrow¢¦¢ and¢¦ and¢¦ and¢¦The ¢clincher¢ to my decision to keep going came as my clothes were drying on the line and I stepped from a hot shower ($2.00 including towel and soap!) and stretched out in the shade of the lawn (with towel, but without soap!) and realized how good I felt ¢ refreshed, strong and eager. Sitting around all afternoon was not for me; at least not this day. The ¢committee¢ won. I was going on.I was just finishing lunch when ¢Bumblebee¢ and ¢Jericho¢ arrived, both obviously feeling the heat that was now filling every corner of the woods, including even the shadiest of parts. (And what the heat didn¢t permeate, the humidity owned; proving that there was no escaping the ¢Drenching Duo¢ on this summer¢s day!) The three of us chit-chatted as I finished eating and dressed for the 8 miles ahead that included the 4 remaining miles of the ¢Coaster.¢ I couldn¢t help but notice that I was sweating again just from fumbling with my gear. An EBRP (¢Emergency Bunny Relocation Program¢) was undertaken to move a very young rabbit baby from its path toward the front garden where I had, only moments before, I had seen an 8' Black Snake.Then, I was off, grumbling up the remaining peaks and grinding down their backsides, only to do ¢What?!... NOT still another??!! But finally around 5:00 pm, I reached the long four mile stretch of ridge line that leads to the Blackburn access trail. The sun was lower now and a steady breeze swept through the woods and over the ridge parallel to the elongating shadows that lay in a west-east direction like so many railroad ties across the Trail bed. ¢Chug-a, chug-a ¢ here comes the Bumpo train¢¦ moving easy, moving strong.¢I fell in to an easy, gait; walking and breathing in sync with the woods and the cooler, pre-evening summer air ¢ a sweet kind of effortless meditation. I saw turkey, deer and a grey fox. I munched on wild blackberries. I thought of others who had passed along this trail and had seen and done the same¢¦ earlier this day perhaps, this week, this season; those who I met last year and the year before at different points in my journey who had come through here, and those who had passed this way since the inception of the Trail. Maybe Earl Schaffer had walked this same part of the AT that I am right now on his way to becoming the first Thru Hiker ever¢¦At some point the synchronicity of the day led my semi-conscious reverie back 143 years to when, in heat just like today¢s, pack-carrying, blackberry-munching men from all over the country fought and died at Gettysburg, less than a hundred miles from here. Maybe some of them had been Confederate scouts and had taken this same ridge on their way to their destiny. Maybe some of them felt the same breezes and the same connectedness to their present and their past as I did. Or maybe their focus was on their future, whatever it might prove to be. Maybe, like me, they were just walking when they came through here; letting their minds flit from place to place like mine.I arrived at the Blackburn Center just in time for my second shower of the day followed by a delicious Lasagna supper served on the porch along with lemonade and, of course, the inescapable ¢trail talk,¢ so characteristic of such settings. Then, before nightfall, Bumpo was back in his car, heading for ¢Betty¢s Bed and Breakfast¢ (as I often refer to Barb¢s Mother¢s house in Mercersburg) and from there back to New York tomorrow. With today¢s hike, however, I have closed the ¢missing link¢ in my chain of section hikes, making a continuous, connected line from Bearwallow Gap, (25 miles north of Roanoke) to Hanover, NH. And when I add in the other section I¢ve completed from Springer to Waterville School road just north of Davenport Gap, I¢m now well over 1200 miles. Wow! How did that happen?