Date: 2005-06-19
From: nowhere

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Hi folks,This is just a general note to let you know what trouble I've gotten into lately. I left my son's place around mid-morning on the 9th of June and was on the trail and the beginning of Shenandoah Nat'l Park by noon. During my hike through the park I encountered 10 bears and was eaten by exactly none of them. Being old and smelly evidently carries some benefit. About 2 days into the park I was hitching a ride with Souleman and Brownie (you don't know them) and we were given a ride by a section hiker named Climber and her husband. During the course of the ride Climber shared that her husband had to return to their home in North Carolina and she would continue to stay at their condo at the Massanutten Ski Resort. Would we like to stay in the condo with her and slack pack through the Shenandoah's? It was a very tough choice. On the one hand was hiking every day with a full pack, eating trail food, no beer to drink, sleeping in a tent or shelter and, my favorite, no shower. The other choice was a ride to the trailhead every day, no pack to carry, return to a luxurious condo at night, hot meals, a huge hot tub, just a little beer, television, and a warm clean bed to sleep in. I, purist that I am, was absolutely against it. Stating the case most eloquently, or so I thought, for continuing to hike the Appalachian Trail as God had intended (suffering like hell every damn step of the way), I was, nonetheless, outvoted by my younger and slacker companions. What was I to do? This is a democracy and reluctantly I gave in, so we slack packed through the Shenandoah's and even spent a zero day in the condo catching up on the t.v. watching and just generally laying around. Thanks God it's over.At the point I parted company with my companions because I sincerely felt their slovenly ways (just kidding here if Souleman, Brownie and Hazy Sonic happen to read this...serious as hell if they don't) were having an adverse effect on my hike. I was in Front Royal, Va and hiked out 15.1 easy miles, staying that night in Dick's Dome shelter (so named not because it's sitting on the "dome" of a mountain, but because it is a geodesic dome shelter...the only one I've ever seen). The next day, 18 June, I started out at 8:11 a.m. with the idea of reaching the Bears den Hostel, a distance a tad short of 20 miles fairly early in the day. My speed has finally picked up to where I average about 2.5 mph (still, though, at the rate of 1.0 Nimblefoots) and I expected a fairly easy day. About 10 miles into the hike I came upon one of those "All who enter hear, Beware" signs advising me that the next 10 miles was over an area called "The Roller Coaster" and that many who enter never exit the other end in a condition of either sound mind or body. Trail hardened thru hiker that I am, this warning was unceremoniously snorted at and I began the challenge.Boy, did I get my butt kicked. It took me about 7 hours to do 10 miles, up a hill down a hill, up a mountain down a mountain. It never stopped. Generally there is some nice relatively flat area between one hill or mountain and another. Not here, at least not on that day. On the weather side of things it was very hot with no hint of a breeze. The sweat rolled continuously into my eyes, completely unimpeded by anything on my head that might be called hair. For the first time on the hike my knee's actually ached. I entered into this great challenge at 1:30 and didn't finish until 8:30. It took me 7 hours to hike less than 10 miles. Boy was I whipped. Currently it is 9:42 a.m. on the next day and I'm sitting at a computer, so you know that I've yet to regain any hiking ambition. I plan to leave here today, but for now being off my feet seems like a really great idea.Today, if I leave at all, three great things will occur. First I will leave Virginia, second I will enter West-By God-Virginia, and third I will pass the 1000 mile mark (with only 1274.1 to go). Everything has gotten to be fun again since taking a break in Richmond. My body and spirit have been restored and I'm hoping my mind will take the hint and follow along...although some say you can't be restored to something you never had. That's it for now, and remember, some of this may have actually happened. Oh, yeah, my current mileage as of 18 June is 988.7 miles (but who's counting).