Date: 2005-04-16
From: Swift Run Gap

To: Bearfence Hut
Miles today: 9.0

Today was a glorious day as the entire weekend is expected to be! After steak and eggs with biscuits and sausage gravy for breakfast, Bill dropped me off at Swift Run Gap: the same place where he and my sister said goodbye to Fern and me last summer as we headed south to Rockfish Gap. But today I headed north, nine miles to Bearfence Mountain Hut in the Shenandoah National Park where I¢m now sitting on a log next to my tent watching the darkness slowly chase the retreating sun up the west side of Bearfence Mountain.What a day this has been! Everything ¢ the terrain, the condition of the trail, the stage of spring and even the temperature made this first day of hiking for me in 2005 almost an exact replica of my first day of hiking in 2004. It was March 25th of last year when my nephew, Tom Rogers, (Bill and my sister's oldest son) and I started out from Springer Mountain wondering what may lie ahead. Today felt exactly like that day a year ago.After nearly 950 miles of hiking, I now have a pretty good idea of what may lie ahead for me, part of which is that recurring feeling of being back ¢on the trail¢ with a smile on my face and gratitude in my heart. All day long the sky was a deep shade of peacock blue, darker on the horizon, lighter straight overhead. But almost everywhere else everything was a variation on some shade of brown: rocky brown, or tree bark brown or dried leaf brown or dirt brown. But, even so, each brown was so varied and so distinctly itself I never found the "brownness" of it all to be in the least bit drab or tiring or disinteresting. The only notable exception to the varied palate of earth tones that suggested the slightest promise of the Spring to come on this April day is Virginia were the patches of hearty grass running alongside the well-worn rut of the AT. Today was a simple day: blue sky, touches of green grass and brown, brown and more brown. And, oh yes, a sprinkling of an occasional flower or two peeked through here and there. At lunchtime I stretched out on my sleeping pad, legs on a rock in recliner fashion. I was asleep in moments and woke up refreshed a half an hour later feeling the warmth of the sun on my face. After a couple of old standby favorites for lunch, PB&J burritos (followed later in the day by a half a dozen Tums and some Pepto-Bismol -- I guess it takes a while to get used to Trail cuisine again!) I wandered unhurriedly toward the shelter, arriving here around 4.30pm.All day long I only saw a few people and didn¢t really speak to anyone so the ¢extrovert¢ in me perked up when five Section Hikers pulled into the campsite for the evening. They are "DNA Dave" and his wife ¢Spinout¢ from Northern Vermont, a friend of theirs from Texas called ¢Halfday¢ who just had quadruple bypass surgery and ¢Julius¢ who was originally from Hungary but now lives in St. Louis joined the crew. Just before dark we were joined by ¢Just Mark,¢ a forty something Thru Hiker who started out from Springer Mountain on February 22nd, and who recounted his tales of making it through 3' snow drifts in his running shoes across Clingman's Dome. As I sit here and finish my journaling, the day is winding down, and I can hear them finishing up dinner and heading into the hut and their tents. My campsite is about 100 yards or so uphill from the shelter. Since there are no leaves in the trees I can still hear their muffled voices in the cool evening air.Since the temperature dropped to 26 degrees in the valley below us last night (thank you, Bill, for that parting tidbit of pertinent information!) I am preparing for a cold night in the Shenandoah¢s. Even though today¢s daytime temperature was well up into the 60¢s, I'm putting on two pairs of long johns underneath my wind pants, plus three shirts, my fleece jacket and wind breaker. I¢ve also got my ¢Big Agnes¢ down bag and, if that¢s not enough, I brought along the light fleece sleeping bag (the one Fern described as ¢two beach towels sewn together¢) so that I¢ll use as a liner inside my bag. I don¢t think I¢ll be very cold unless an over-night Ice Age descends on Northern Virginia. But I really don¢t think I will be awake long enough to notice how cold I am or because I am pleasantly exhausted in spite of all my recent physical ailments, the broken rib, the rotator cuff problem, and the torn cartilage in both knees, I am here! I¢m hiking! I am happy and so far none of these conditions are keeping me from pressing on tomorrow.It¢s now 8.30 pm. The night sky is dark and a half moon is straight overhead. Yes, I¢m ready to call it a day. An unexpected, stolen, beautiful day! It is so great to be alive and there is nothing like being here on the AT, in the woods, to prove it.