Date: 2006-04-21
From: Maupin Field Shelter

To: Rockfish Gap
Miles today: 21.1
Weather: overcast clouds

The only thing exciting about today¢s entry is I did some night hiking. I woke up at 3:34 and was on the Trail by 4:30. I¢ve always wanted to do some night hiking and even though this was only an hour and a half, I kind of liked it. It never cooled off that much last night and the humidity with scattered showers moved in.   Just before I left, I got my food bag out of the shelter and both of the other guys were still asleep.I recently bought several new lighting devices. One is the best strap-on head lamp Petzel makes. I think this summer when the days are in the nineties and the dew point is 70, I¢ll sleep during the day and hike at night¢¦we¢ll see.Even though the hills weren¢t bad there were a lot of ups and downs. Actually, there was this 1000¢ elevation gain from the low point at a stream to the high point atop Humpback Mountain which got me wet inside my Packa. The Packa is this pack cover and parka all in one thing that I bought last year at Trail Days. The only trouble is I sweat inside any long sleeve rain top.I wore the rain pants through mid morning when things started clearing a little.Sixteen miles into the hike I came to the only shelter of the day¢¦Paul C. Wolfe. It¢s a beautiful ¢modern¢ shelter with a full porch positioned just right on the hill. I took a half hour or so break and ate just about all the snacks I had in the Ziploc bag.Since I didn¢t leave anything in the register at Maupin Field, I decided to leave Dog Trainer some parting remarks¢¦realizing he may never get this far. I told him there were no apologies coming from me. He had no intention of washing my tent as he wasn¢t equipped to do so. I reminded him that one day he might just run into someone who doesn¢t like dogs (like I do) and may not be as tolerable. Perhaps he¢ll give it some thought, but it¢s doubtful. You hear from people like him on the forums all the time. They don¢t care what anyone says, as long as the rules permit it, they¢re gonna bring their dog along if they want. And furthermore, ¢it¢s gonna run free and crap where it wants and other hikers will just have to live with it whether they like it or not.¢ I actually read a post where this guy got so mad that he said he took a dump in some guy¢s car to get even for something the guy¢s dog did¢¦I don¢t believe it, but that¢s the kind of emotional issue this can be. The thing that bothered me about ¢Dog Trainer¢ was his callous indifference towards others. I¢m guessing I¢m not the only person he¢s had a problem with. How would you have handled it¢¦what would you have done differently?I got to Rockfish Gap at one o¢clock. I went into town; picked up my box at the post office, got a room at the closest motel and did my wash. After that I drove back out to the Trail a couple of times to see if anyone was coming in that needed a ride into town. The only hiker I saw was Taco going back out to the Trail to hike on NOBO. I figured Guns and that crew would be coming in late if they had to hike back up to the Trail from Rusty¢s after breakfast.The weather stayed crummy. The mountain was fogged in and it kept raining on and off.By now you¢ve most likely discerned that ¢I¢m still crazy after all these years.¢ On a more serious note, I¢ve gotten to the point where I don¢t worry about what people think of me or what I write in my hiker journals. I think readers ought to know who they are following and I just write what I feel¢¦and 90% of it is from the heart.The same goes for my music...I don¢t just listen to it. I try to feel it and, in many cases, substitute myself as the one singing the song. It¢s probably why I take along such a limited collection on my MP3¢¦about 100 songs. One is a heart wrenching song I picked up from Imus on the album, All The RoadRunning by Mark Knopfler and EmyLou Harris. It is people talking on the phone to their loved ones while trapped in The Twin Towers on Nine Eleven, ¢If This is Goodbye.¢ I can¢t listen to it without it bringing a tear to my eye. So, if you find me crying along side the Trail with my earplugs in, this tune is probably up.I¢m going to offer some free advice. If you want to do something and you can afford it, don¢t wait to do it. If you need to tell someone you love them do it now¢¦if you need to tell someone you¢re sorry don¢t wait¢¦if you want to hike the AT get out and do it before it¢s too late.