Date: 2005-01-31
To: My Very First Ruck!
Miles today: 0.0

This past Saturday I drove up to Pine Grove Furnace State Park in Pennsylvania to attend something called a ¢Ruck¢. What is was was a gathering of the Appalachian Trail Community, most of the members of which have hiked much, if not all, of the trail. It's three day event, with much merriment, a greeting of old friends, a sharing of information with wannabee hikers such as myself, and a lot of good eating. Attached below is the email message I posted on the AT-List upon my return home. ----------------------        This was my very first RUCK ever, and it was just AWESOME! I was only able to drive up for the day, and drove home in freezing rain and snow, but BOY was it ever worth it!        If I can ever figure out how to download and share my new digital camera images, I'll post them, but that's likely to take a few days. What they won't capture is how super-nice everyone was to a Newbie/Wanabee like yours truly, or the spirit of comraderie and good humor that prevailed throughout the day on Saturday.         Marsha was incredible in the kitchen, which didn't do my pre-hike getting-into-shape efforts any good at all, but since she's a fellow "Ohioan", I'll have to let that pass. But the warmth in that part of the house was coming as much from her as from the stove.         Mara (Stitches) "tuckerized" my pack, which will help me to get a bunch more ounces out it, which is great! Of course, going in, I thought the exercise would just be one of those "off in a corner -- let's see what you've got -- ok, here's a few tips" kind of deal. When it was time, me and my pack (and, thankfully one other innocent soul and his pack) were invited into the main room where the assembled RUCKERs had pulled up chairs and carpet, and we became the entertainment portion of the afternoon! ("But Mara, I really NEED a four pound first aid kit, because, well, because.... I might need it...)         In all honesty, it didn't go that badly, but only because of all the great advice and tips I had already picked up from discussion threads on this list. If I'd had the 54 pound pack that I did my first AT section hike with, now THAT would have been worth the price of admission!        The discussion session for the Class of '05 was also valuable, as well as entertaining, as prior-year stalwarts described not only some of their most important lessons learned, but the circumstances in which those lessons had been learned. (Take TWO ATM cards AND cash, got it!) Thanks for sharing, guys!         A major highlight for me was the DVD presentation by Weather Carrot covering the hike itself, the trail community, and trail maintenance. Boy was it ever inspirational for those of us yet to get out there and experience a through hike. It was kind of cool to know that there were several of us in the audience from this year's Class of '05 and that we were already experiencing some of that hiker community thing within our own group.         In fact, I was able to add two more names to our Mid-March hiker gang list -- Hey Becky, Hey Wyatt!        Finally, I was also able to place some faces to some of the names whose postings I've been reading about for the past many months. Marsha, for one, and Ms. Janet, and Shelly of the ¢Go, Vols,¢ contingent, Jim and Ginny Owens, and Chase, and Mountain Man and ¢ oh, gosh, now I'm going to go having another one of those senior moments and forget all the rest of the folks I met but didn't write down their names. (Note to self: on the trail, carry paper and pencil; write stuff down....)         Oh, and one more, who wasn't nearly as scary in person as his postings would suggest. He even went out of his way to help me carry some stuff from my car up to Ms. Marsha in the kitchen.   Some guy with a really cool new truck. Now what WAS his name¢¦   McGee?   McGoo?   McGuire?   Mc-something. It'll come to me¢¦. Thanks, everyone -- it was really nice ta meetcha.Longhaul---------------------------Now, let me add a little post-script, here. I don¢t think any of the old timers at the Ruck remembered who I was, and no reason they should, but there WAS sort of a mention of my presence there made by the principal organizer and General of the Kitchen, Ms. Marsha. Here is the relevant portion of her posting earlier today which provided a description of this highly successful event for those not able to attend:¢¢¦Back to the hostel to greet other Rucksters arriving and bringing in soups, chili¢s, breads, lunchmeats & cheese. Some of what was brought in were: Kielbasa & cabbage soup (excellent--and thank you again-please email me with the recipe if you can), potato soup, broccoli & cheese soup, meat & veggie chilies, black bean soup.¢If you read my Journal entry of January 27, you can probably guess who it was that made the Kielbasa & Cabbage Soup (and can she please have the recipe!). So, there you have it. ¢She-who-knows-me-best¢ doesn¢t even go, she just sends her soup with me, and WHO is it they remember and want more of???   I rest my case.Stay tuned,