Date: 2013-05-14
From: Hogback Ridge Shelter

To: Bald Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 10.1
Weather: clear sky

Wow, what a hike today! I had another of those "luckiest girl in the world" moments. Four miles into today's hike, I climbed up to what was generically called "Meadow" in my AT guide. Meadows are nice, but I was not prepared for my reaction to this particular meadow. It was beautiful! A beautiful green meadow, sprinkled liberally with little yellow flowers, going on and on under a brilliant blue sky. The weather was perfect for hiking, bright sun, cool air, cooler breezes. It was so pretty that Nightingale and I got a little giddy, and twirled around and around, trekking poles and all, singing "the hills are alive, with the sound of music". This is harder to do than you might think because A) it's hard to twirl with a 25 pound pack on your back, B) we couldn't remember any of the words to the song, and C) I am no Julie Andrews. Still, it felt good and helped express my feelings on this lovely meadow. It was so spectacularly beautiful, and we were the only people there to see it. So it seemed that, in that moment, it was there, being beautiful, just for us. It seemed to exist for our eyes and hearts only.After coming down from "Meadow" we then climbed up a mountain called Big Bald. It was very high, at 5516 feet elevation. It was huge and spectacular, along the lines of Max Patch. But somehow, my heart had already been taken by the smaller and less spectacular "Meadow", which deserves a better name, and I hereby rename it Blue Tortoise Meadow. But there were four young brothers who climbed Big Bald to camp out up there tonight, the oldest being about 18. They were such nice kids--polite, articulate, friendly and pleasant. They stopped to talk to us on their way up the mountain. They have camped out up there before, so they knew where they were going and what they were getting into. I loved that they seemed to enjoy each other's company. They were carrying a lot of old fashioned gear--big Wal Mart type sleeping bags, etc. And just as happy as they could be. They were able to speak intelligently to adults, made eye contact, their speech not peppered with "dude", "like, like" "you know", etc. I was very impressed. Turns out they are home-schooled. Their parents deserve a lot of credit. When we got to the top of the bald, which is of course very windy, they were already there, setting up their dome tent on the very top. I hope they had a great time!Then we came down the mountain to this shelter. It was very dirty, so I swept it out and gathered up garbage left in the shelter. Grr, you know my opinion on people that don't pick up after themselves! The shelter was a little isolated and I felt a little creepy there, so I was glad we didn't have to stay there alone. Along came a father of nine, Brian, and two of his sons, Seth and Caleb (Moccasin Man and Mayonnaise). Another couple of fine young men, also (coincidentally?) home-schooled. I had a little fire going, not as big as I would have liked, but I had trouble finding enough wood. The two boys didn't talk much, but they went right to work, and Nightingale and I had a good time lying in the shelter watching them. First they took off and came back with LOTS of dry wood, that evidently was hiding from me. They used team work to break the long pieces into manageable firewood size pieces. They got a good fire going, then decided that the fire pit had too much ashes in it. So, without disturbing their fire (!) they removed all the rocks from around it, found a second set of rocks covered in ash inside the first set, cleared out all the ash, and rebuilt the ring. It looked like a mason had laid the stones when they finished. Then Nightingale said something about how difficult it was to get up into or out of the shelter, because it was so high up. Again without saying much, they brought some of the extra rocks from the fire ring and a plank they found somewhere, and built a step! As if all that weren't enough, this particular shelter had a big tarp that could be stretched across the open side. We mentioned that it might be nice if the tarp were put up, maybe warmer in the shelter, and would block the wind that was starting to blow, and next thing I knew, we had a tarp. Another family of wonderful young men. Nightingale mentioned, and it is right, that this is the kind of family that should have nine kids. Every day out here is special. Sometimes it's the scenery, but more often it's the people you meet. The trail is full of very special people.