Date: 2010-02-04
To: What was that?
Miles today: 0.0

No matter whether you¢re at home or your car, if you hear something out of the ordinary, it triggers an alarm. Imagine now going out into the mountain forests where few dare to tread; now imagine how everything that makes a ¢tic¢ or a ¢snap¢ or a whatever, how many alarms will be sounding? Toss in darkness and our imaginations run to borderline panic. In the early days of a thru-hike, when cityness and wilderness haven¢t transposed yet, the tiniest sound can make you jump ¢ after all, there are bears and rattlesnakes in them there woods, aren¢t there? For the most part, you¢ll find your forest fright from a sudden dry leaf tumbling will be one of three culprits ¢ a hoping squirrel, the faster-than-all-get-out chipmunk or the one that always got my neck hairs to stand, the Rufus Sided Towhee. Most Towhees, after attending their famous Bird Academy for the Pursuit of Hiker Hysteria, land their first job along the AT. It is there they start a career of kicking up the forest undergrowth just as we scaredy cats come along. Yea, sort of mean spirited on their part don¢t you think? Man, I¢ve lost track of how many times I was startled by panicked chipmunk or Towhee. The sound that sent chills up some hiker spines is the Ruffed Grouse. About the time we start moving north, Ruffed Grouse start their mating wing thumping. Sounding absolutely nothing like a bird, maybe a Pterodactyl wound be closer since we all know what those sound like, these Grouse will pound their wings like a distant beating drum. Visions of tribal warpath ceremonies may be conjured or that of an escaped Silverback gorilla beating its chest ¢Amazing what basically is a forest chicken can do, all because we lift our butts off the sofa and go to where the wild things are.As our quest for adventure unfolds, the sudden rattling sound of a timber rattler is sure to happen as the temps climb. Although that castanet vibration can rock the most hearty of us, it is nice to get a warning rather than just biting us as we pass. Sounds that frighten no one, which my ears are fond of is the Black Throated Blue Warbler. Reminds me of someone¢s cell phone ringing, quite electronic with a touch of echo as if a hiker lost their phone in a cave (yes, I have a vivid imagination). You just wait, I bet one of you this hiking season will say, ¢Whose phone is ringing?¢ A lot of Barred Owls are in the Appalachian woods, but it¢s the tiniest owl, the Eastern Screech Owl, that is the fiercest sounding. If you¢re using shelters on your journey, the whisper soft pitter-patter of mice feet will most likely unnerve a whole host of you if you forget your iPod or earplugs. And Lord help you if you have neither when one of you fellow hikers launches into their snoring symphony. How odd that they always seem to be the first to get to sleep too, maybe cruel would be more accurate? If you¢re tenting out, those earphones can also help when 400 pounds of heavy breathing is on the other side of your sil nylon fortress ¢ better not to know its coming if its going to come if you ask me. After many days in the woods it won¢t be hard to pick out the sound of humanity, the unmistakable whirl of hard rubber on pavement and V-8¢s motoring by. That sound, however, always sits well with me. I like reemerging into the normal world because where there¢s a road there¢s a town and where there¢s a town there¢s a restaurant. And in several weeks of burning 5000 to 7000 calories daily and calorie deficit grabs you firmly by the stomach around week three, that road holds the promise of the sweetest, most cherished sound a long-distance hiker can experience. Like a Siren song, you know you¢ll soon be hearing that loveliest of sounds, ¢May I take your order?¢