Date: 2007-06-10
From: Blue Mountain Lakes Rd

To: Millbrook Blairstown Rd
Miles today: 3.9

Sunday, June 10, 2007Blue Mountain Lakes Rd to Millbrook-Blairstown Rd, 3.9 milesAfter Spinner and I finish our hike, we drive west on Rte 88. At Rte 81, we separate, Spinner heading north and me south. I¢ll try to stay in Scranton tonight and see if I can find a place with wifi and electricity. Every day without it, every day without ¢alone¢ time, the backlog of undone journaling grows.No luck finding anything in Scranton. A Pocono NASCAR race weekend. All the reasonable rooms are booked. At the Days Inn the man at the front desk eyes me and says, You can have a suite for $189. I head closer to the Mohican Center and spend the night in the Element. Free.This morning I drive to the Mohican Center and meet section hikers Zephyr and her son Dude and their dog Ashby, a stray they found on the trail near Ashby Gap VA. They¢ve hiked about 500 miles of the middle section of the AT because those sections are close to home. Watch out for ticks, says Zephyr, Ashby got covered in them today.I check in at the office and get the key to Sunset View Cabin. Hello to NOBO 5-String. About 3PM my cousins from South Jersey, Betty, Rachel and Faith, arrive. We set a car at what we think is the Millbrook-Blairstown trailhead. There we meet Snail from North Carolina and her granddaughter Amelia. Snail is section-hiking the AT and Amelia has joined her for this section. Snail¢s husband Energizer, who finished his section-hike of the AT last year, is spotting them in their van. Snail and Amelia hiked up from DWG today, 11 miles. They¢ve been waiting for Energizer for 45 minutes and can¢t understand where he might be.We haven¢t seen anyone. I tell Snail and Amelia they can wait in the Element if they like. Thanks anyway, but we¢ll wait outside. We don¢t want Energizer to drive by and miss seeing us.The 4 of us drive on to Blue Mountain Lakes Rd. First we stop at a parking area that¢s not the AT. Eventually we find the AT parking area. Seeing it again, I recognize the water pump. No worries hiking this short piece of trail. We start out, led by basketball stars Rachel and Faith, who have long legs and a strong pace. They¢re used to trying to keep up with their Dad, who hikes fast. They know just where to put their feet. No need for poles for them. Betty, their Mom, is a runner. No need for poles for Betty either.On the hike south we meet a couple hiking with day packs. Then hello to 5 people affiliated with the Boy Scout troop that maintains this section, doing trail work, including repainting the blazes.Dog ticks are out in force, we brush them off. Don¢t see any deer ticks.Mountain laurel is at peak bloom. Low-bush blueberries have formed berries. In another month that mainstay of their summer diet will be nourishing the bears.We come upon 2 female turtles nesting is soft dirt next to the trail. They¢ve dug ruts and are lying diagonally in the ruts, back ends down. They are about 9 inches long.Out about 5:40. At the finish we meet Snail and Amelia. They¢ve met up with Energizer, who¢d been waiting for them at this exit point along the Millbrook-Blairsville Rd the whole time they¢d been waiting for him at their exit point. Just out of sight of each other. Snail tells us how much of the trail she¢s hiked. Springer to here. Some in the north. She just keeps chipping away at it. She and Energizer plan to write a book about their experiences section-hiking the AT while they were both still working. It¢ll be called The Most Expensive Way to Hike the AT (driving to motel bases for weekend hikes). They travel in a sleep-in van, but the rise in the price of gas means now that way¢s expensive too. Energizer says he finished up in Maine last September after attempting Maine in the summer and getting flooded out. He had a beautiful hike in September. Wait a minute. Energizer. Did I meet you up there last year? Yes. I was hiking with Rabbit, he says. Energizer and I met Sept 19 at Jo Mary Rd when I was hiking to White House Landing, right by the spot where Purple Rose and Zig Zag had hidden my pack. Betty, Rachel, Faith and I return to Blue Mtn Lakes Rd to collect the Element and then we settle in at the Sunset View Cabin. We talk about the old days, about Rachel¢s first year at college, about the pain of losing their beloved dog Molly in late March, a week after I¢d seen them last, about Faith studying French in school but picking up Spanish from the Mexican cooks at the Italian restaurant where she works. Betty has brought all the food! Beef stroganoff on wide noodles, fresh salad and homemade brownies, spiked with chocolate bits! I was trying to think of something you wouldn¢t have been eating recently up in the Catskills, Betty says. Betty is one of the most thoughtful people I know. Thank you! We decide we¢ll get up late tomorrow, 7:30. Teenagers need their sleep. And hike up from DWG because that¢s the most efficient way to set the cars. If that hike goes well and if there¢s time left over, they may hike an additional 7 miles with me from DWG to Fox Gap. Tomorrow night they¢ll go back home (all have to work on Tuesday) and I¢ll meet Purple Rose, Purple Sherpa, Dixie, Brenda and Zig Zag.