Date: 2007-04-27
From: Greenpoint School Rd

To: Rte 645
Miles today: 17.3

Friday, April 27, 2007Greenpoint School Rd to Rte 645, 11.0 miles. Bernhisel Bridge to Trindle Rd, 6.3 miles. Total 17.3 miles.Happy Birthday, Nancy!Last hike of this trip for Purple Rose, and Zig Zag. Sweet Sixteen and I will continue until Sunday or Monday. We¢ll see how far we get. I need to be back in Syracuse on Tuesday morning for an appointment. Sweet Sixteen may come with me and take Amtrak from Syracuse home to Michigan.Start 7:45 in damp mist, about 50 degrees. Overnight rain has swollen Trout Run, water rushing over the stepping stones. Before crossing, I take off my socks. Wearing Crocs, this is quick ¢n easy to do.Mown, non-rutted, non-muddy, 6-foot wide path beside an old field, I remember this from October 2003. Meet 3 former marines, a father, a son and a nephew and their dog. They are hiking south from Swatara to Clarks Ferry Bridge. They are curious about our ages (we must be starting to look them!).The 4 of us commiserate about slow hiking speeds. One of us laughingly laments, ¢I have overtaken only 2 people, and both of them were injured!¢I¢m having fun taking pictures of soaking wet things, grass, rocks, spider webs, may apples.Hello to Rangateer (trailname adapted from the name of a boat, Ranguteer, he used to work on) from Ohio and his dog, hiking south to Harpers Ferry, then will flip to Sunfish Pond and hike north to Katahdin. Rangateer says there¢s blowdown north of Lehigh due to the recent nor¢easter.Blowdown north of Lehigh? I flash back to 2003. On Oct 18, 2003 Hurricane Isabel hit the AT in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. I¢d planned to hike the AT from Port Clinton to Harpers Ferry beginning Oct 19. Due to the weather I postponed the trip by one day, arriving by Greyhound bus in Pottsville on the 19th and starting to hike southbound from Port Clinton on the 20th. The PA blowdown that year was Weather Channel fodder. No ¢grapefruit-size hail¢, the WC¢s favorite meterological catastrophe, but trees were down everywhere, including one massive trunk that had snapped across the roof ridge of the Clarks Ferry Shelter. Mountain Goat and I¢d gotten amazing pictures of the shelter standing there, as if nothing had happened, with a huge broken tree across its roof. Through the 8-foot octagon skylight of the 501 Shelter, LoMoMez from Stuttgart Germany watched tree branches flying through the air, wondering when one was going to come crashing through. His first hurricane. Picking his way along the ridge through rocks and fallen trees between 225 and 325, several times Freebird found himself lost. Three young men who worked at Sight and Sound showed me a shelter hikers caught outside during Isabel had made out of branches and fallen trees for protection from the storm. A section-hiker from Rhode Island took 4 hours to go 4 miles through tree-fall that looked as if a bomb had gone off.This is one of the things I love about rehiking the AT. Being simultaneously in both present and past as present settings, conditions, registers or people evoke memories vivid enough to be happening now.Back to the real present. Hello to Purple Sherpa, who¢s hiked in 3 miles to meet us! We pick up the pace. Out about 2:15.Goodbyes to Purple Rose, Purple Sherpa, Dixie, the new VW and Zig Zag! See you again in June when we¢ll finish PA! Rose and June, thanks for a wonderful few days, and Purple Sherpa, thanks for all you do. You¢re the best!I drop Sweet Sixteen at the Trindle Rd trailhead and take the Element to Bernhisel Bridge. Start about 4:15. Beautiful boardwalk (I don¢t remember this in 2003). More flowering Virginia bluebells.Crossing over a stile through pasture. I think this is the same field where 15-20 heifers rushed over to greet me in 2003. None here now.Past a field on my left with the remains of last year¢s corn crop.Powerlines, interstates, traffic noises.Groundhog, golden in the afternoon sun, running ahead of me down the trail.Along Appalachian Drive, hello to NOBOs Slick Shoes, Ant and Whateva, the Goodfellas, from NC.Past the old cemetery on my left.McMansions, new since 2003. Missing from this scene are 40-foot-high solid fences. Fences mirrored on the sides facing the houses, allowing occupants to enjoy grand views of their houses¢ exteriors. Fences decorated on their other sides with murals of the land the way it looked before the houses were built. Magic murals that change with the time of day, the weather and the seasons, allowing non-occupants to enjoy grand views of natural land.Amoeba, you¢re selfish about this. You want things staying the way they looked when you were young. You¢re not thinking about how things looked to your parents, their parents, your children. You¢re not thinking about other people¢s needs for housing. You are thinking about habitat needs of animals other than humans, and plants.Sweet Sixteen and I have Italian at Rillo¢s in Carlisle. M-m-m-m, lingine with marinara, sausage, green peppers and mushrooms, garlic bread, enough for tomorrow¢s lunch, and beyond.To the Ironmasters hostel, where we meet the manager, Donna, and share quarters with AT hiker Natz, hiking north from Harpers Ferry, a Mom and 2 young children, and 2 men from Philadelphia who are here to golf.