Date: 2009-05-21
From: Laurel Creek

To: Garden Mountain
Miles today: 8.6
Weather: clear sky

Note to Readers: Today is a special journal entry. I would like to introduce all of the readers to Ethan from PA. He is using my journal entries on Thursdays to learn about the Appalachian Trial. The Appalachian Trail is a great outdoor class room. I actually met some high school students who were spending two or three days on the Trail as part of their environmental science class. The most obvious things to learn about are all of the plants and animals. The Park Service does a very good job of posting boards that show all of the plants and animal. There is geology the study of the structure of the earth with special attention to rocks. If you go to April 12 there is a sign and a tunnel with rocks older than mankind. There is a lot of history along the trail because people have lived here for so long. If you go to April 11 Whitehouse Ferry, you can see a mural (wall painting) that shows how they used to cross the river. Four horses would pull a cable attached to a flat wooden sheet and the man and the horses would stand on the wooden sheet while it moved across the water. It cost $.25 for a man and his horse and $.12 12 cents for the man or his horse to cross alone. The area that I am hiking in right now has a log of Civil War history. I have met people from other countries hiking on the trail. So you can learn about other countries from the people you meet along the way.I would encourage you and your classmates to hike on the trail even before you are as old as me. You can start very easy by driving to the trail, hiking one mile and hiking back to your car. If you like that, then another time you can borrow a tent from someone, hike a mile out, put your tent up, cook your dinner and spend the night on the trail. These small trips would let you see if you like it enough to try the trail when you get older. I met two sisters who have been hiking the trail for 13 years. They hike and camp for 10 days. The next year they start where they left off.   You don¢t have to hike the trail all at once. You can divide it into small sections and take as much time as you would like to hike the trail. These two sisters have a third sister who does the driving. She drops them off and picks them up 10 days later.   IV. Question of the Day: Ethan, when you are old enough to hike the trail by yourself or with your friends what will your trail name be? Most of us pick funny names that describe something about us. I have Tic because that was my nickname as a child. Lumpy got his name because when his hair grows long it gets lumpy. There is another hiker named Grizzly because he looks like a Grizzly bear.   V. Person of the Day: Ethan from PA. Ethan, you will be finishing school before I finish the Appalachian Trail. I will on the PA part if the trail in October.   If you and your parents would like to meet me, I will tell you when I am going to be in a place where it is easy to drive to. We will have to keep in touch by e-mail (ticandlumpy@comcast.net) or the trail journal guest book which ever you and your parents prefer to use.Miss P & B for TicPS I am going into battery conservation mode and will send minimal text messages.